Kingston Whig-Standard
`DESTINED TO COME TOGETHER'
VERONA For two families whose roots run deep in rural eastern Ontario, a milestone anniversary this month is about more than marking time — it's about the bonds that tie generations together through community, culture and shared history. Revell Ford,...
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NEW CHAPTER BEGINS
The city's biggest west-end library returns to its home after a 19-month renovation to the building. The Isabel Turner branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library is to officially re-open Saturday. Renovations to the 29-year-old building included...
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INVISTA CUTS MORE THAN 100 JOBS
More than 100 workers at the Invista plant in Kingston have been given notice that their jobs will no longer be needed. Over a period of 48 hours, conversations were had with those impacted, which led to a series of four in-person staff meetings, the...
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ZOOMIES ACTIVATED
Hannah Carrier of Odessa Public School runs to first place in the bantam girls 1,200-metre race at one of five Limestone Elementary Schools Athletic Association regional track and field meets at Caraco Home Field on Wednesday ahead of the district...
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COIN PAYS TRIBUTE TO RMC
The Royal Canadian Mint has unveiled a special commemorative coin celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), recognizing a century and a half of excellence in military education, leadership development and service...
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`THE BRAVEST THING I'VE SEEN ANYBODY DO'
Katherine Southmayd steps over the threshold into her Kingston home, trailed by two dogs. Trout, an exuberant six-year-old German wirehaired pointer, is hopeful that Kathy will throw a small toy for him as she takes a seat on the sofa in a warm,...
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Tragically flipped
The city's tourism department put up artwork yesterday on the side of a downtown parking lot that showed the members of The Tragically Hip with the caption “Forever Hip.” There was a problem with the design, though: it showed two band members, Paul...
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WOLFE ISLANDER III TRIP COST $63K
Newly released infor7mation shows it cost more than $60,000 to tow the Wolfe Islander III from a dry dock in Hamilton back to Kingston following repairs in January. The expense, tied to the ferry's return trip after mandatory maintenance work, adds to...
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A BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Less than an hour after the gates opened and before large crowds of citizens arrived, an aerial shot taken from a cherry picker shows the scene at the annual Kingston Public Works Day Open House on Saturday, May 23, 2026.
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RUNNERS IN ACTION
Runners in the senior men 110m hurdles compete at the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association track and field meet at Caraco Field on Thursday, May 22, 2026, in Kingston, Ont. For more photos, please see
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City to replace day dock with tour boat transfer dock
One of the two day docks used by local boaters for short visits to the city's downtown is to be replaced by a commercial transfer dock that will be used by cruise ship passengers. The docks at the foot of Johnson Street in Confederation Basin are...
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FIRE IN THE SKY
City of Kingston Victoria Day fireworks explode over Lake Ontario, pictured over Royal Military College from Fort Henry hill in Kingston, Ont., on Monday evening.
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`A TRUE GENTLEMAN'
One of Kingston's most philanthropic citizens, Walter Fenlon, has died at the age of 93. “He would have turned 94 on June seventh,” Fenlon's widow, Linda Ann Daly, said through tears in an interview at her home on Friday. Daly remembered her husband...
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A TINY TERROR
When Mark Pesci went to brush his teeth one morning in 2024, he felt water running down his chin. “I looked up in the mirror, and half of my face was paralyzed,” Pesci said in a recent interview. “Obviously your first instinct is, `Oh no, did I suffer...
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LOOK OF DETERMINATION
Eva Andrecyk of Kingston Secondary School leads the pack, including teammate and eventual race winner Stella Grace, left, over the water pit during the open girls 2000-metre steeplechase race at the Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association...
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LOCAL DOCTOR WINS ANOTHER LEGAL VICTORY
Ontario's highest court has refused to hear an appeal by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) in the case of a Kingston physician ordered to repay more than $600,000 tied to pandemic-era COVID -19 vaccination clinic billings, marking another...
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Queen's alumnus honoured with rare distinction
More than eight decades after enrolling at Queen's University, Alfred Bader returned in spirit on Friday as the institution unveiled a rare international scientific honour recognizing a life that reshaped chemistry, education and the arts. In a...
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GAS PRICES REMAIN STEEP DESPITE GOVERNMENT CUTS
As residents wait for summer temperatures to finally arrive, many are already feeling the heat at the pumps, with gas prices reaching $1.85 per litre in Kingston on May 7, nearly 40 cents more than it was at the beginning of March. The rising cost of...
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ALTO PROJECT FAR FROM NATIONBUILDING, RESEARCHERS SAY
When it was announced some 15 months ago, Canada's high-speed rail proposal promised big things. It was to cut travel time in half through the most populous part of the country, generate $35 billion in the economy and add more than one per cent to...
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`I HAVE TO GIVE BACK'
Those who know Trevor Walsh know him as a Kingston musician who has been performing for close to 50 years. While music is his passion, there is something else that pulls at his heart sing, and that's helping people. In an effort to help those less...
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ALTO APPEALS TO FARMING COMMUNITIES
Following the end of of the initial public consultation period, Alto, the Crown corporation developing the high-speed rail proposal, has begun publishing articles about specific facets of the project. Much of its messaging has been aimed at farmers, a...
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`TIRED OF NATURE TAKING A BEATING'
A group of concerned citizens is gathering signatures opposing the planned cutting of approximately two dozen mature oak trees in Greater Napanee that they say hold environmental, cultural and historical significance. Area resident Dawn Mitchell...
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`GIVE UP OR GET BETTER'
Life hasn't been easy for 26-yearold Tristan Bagnoli. Until recently, he'd been homeless in Kingston with his only saving grace being the Integrated Care Hub. In fact, Bagnoli said he attributes his road to recovery to the hub and spoke to the Whig...
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AND THEY'RE OFF...
Atom Boys runners leave the start line at the Bayridge Road Race on Tuesday in Kingston. More than 1,000 elementary runners participated in the event, The 45th annual Loyalist Collegiate and Vocational Institute Road Race takes place May 7.
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SEMI-PRO SOCCER RETURNS TO KINGSTON
On a cloudy spring day threatening rain, the stands at Caraco Home Field told a brighter story, filling with colour, noise and anticipation as Kingston celebrated the return of semi-professional soccer to the city. The Ontario Premier League...
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RESIDENTS START PETITION TO KEEP AMHERSTVIEW LEISURE & ACTIVITY CENTRE OPEN
For the past 12 years, Lorna Thorne, along with countless others, have attended fitness classes at the Leisure & Activity Centre in Amherstview. The facility, which is located at 177 Upper Park Dr., not only offers fitness classes such as yoga, Zumba...
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`THE STRONGEST OF ALL OF US'
Members of the Kingston community are rallying to help a family struggling as their five-year-old son battles a rare form of cancer. Kingston residents Nicole and Domenic Lazzarino are the parents of twin boys, Lennox and Lawson. In February of 2025,...
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SCIENCE VS. SENTIENCE
A colony of dogs at Queen's University in Kingston has spent decades helping researchers better understand — and potentially cure — hemophilia, a genetic bleeding disorder that affects thousands of Canadians. But as Ontario considers new legislation to...
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`IS IT WORTH LOSING MY HOME?'
Residents from across rural Frontenac County packed the Arden Canadian Legion on Saturday for a town hall meeting that focused on the pending high-speed rail and the sweeping land seizures it could bring. The meeting centred on the proposed Alto...
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`PAINFUL' SAGA DRAGS ON
On a pastoral two acres just outside the town of Perth, a small gang of kids is running amok in the mud. They're covered head to foot in water-resistant clothes and rubber boots, and they're digging, playing, and carrying out their own playful dramas...
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MONUMENTAL DEBATE
A group of Queen's University students, conservative organizers and a university historian have launched a renewed push to return the Sir John A. Macdonald statue to Kingston's City Park. The effort includes a newly launched online petition and a...
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MAKING THEIR MARK
In this photo provided by NASA, NASA'S Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers aboard is seen as it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, April 10, 2026. HFI Pyrotechnics, a Prescott-area pyrotechnics company, supplied the marine...
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`IT WOULD BE VERY DESTRUCTIVE'
Driving the road that bears his family's name, farmer Edward Embury pointed out the building that house his family's farm operations. Poultry in this building, his brother's beef cattle in another. With 5,000 pigs, 300 head of beef cattle, a corn...
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`VERY UNLIKELY THAT THIS WILL BE STOPPED'
As Canada's Bill C-15 passes into law under recent Royal Assent, residents in the study corridor along the proposed routes for the Alto high-speed train are bracing for the government to begin expropriating land for the massive infrastructure...
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COTTAGE COUNTRY GEARS UP FOR HIGH-SPEED RAIL FIGHT
Summer at the cottage could have a different vibe this year in the lakes around the Kingston area. The study corridor for the proposed southern route of the Alto high-speed rail project covers much of eastern Ontario's most popular cottage...
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TRUMP PRAISES ASTRONAUT JEREMY HANSEN'S COURAGE
Canadian astronaut and Royal Military College graduate Jeremy Hansen and U.S. President Donald Trump had a brief conversation Tuesday not long after the Artemis 2 spacecraft made its way around the far side of the moon and back into radio communication...
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`YOU LOSE BIODIVERSITY'
The gravel road down to MABERLY the ponds was covered by a sheet of ice. It doesn't tell a passerby much about the area now, but it's another story when it's covered by fresh snow. "When you come down this road after the first snowfall, you can see...
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TRAIN OF THOUGHT
City council is to consider providing $400,000 to cover outstanding bills at the Kingston Area Taxi Licensing Commission. The commission, which city council voted to disband and move its services in-house late last year, needs the money to cover...
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SUSPENDED DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF GETS 25% RAISE
The Kingston Police Services Board remains tight-lipped when it comes to explaining why the city's deputy police chief, Matthew Funnell, was suspended with pay in 2024 and continued to be paid throughout 2025 along with his pre-retirement, which...
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Habitat Restore opens doors in Napanee
Countless people were lined up outside the new Restore outlet in Napanee on Saturday morning, waiting patiently for its grand opening. When staff and volunteers welcomed the waiting customers through the doors at 10 a.m., it didn't take long to fill...
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`THIS DRUG PROVIDES SO MUCH HOPE'
When Gord Downie stepped out on stage 10 years ago to perform the first show of his final tour with The Tragically Hip, he was wearing a bright pink leather suit. It was July 22, 2016. Only two months earlier, Dr. James Perry, Downie's...
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WATERSHED WORRIES
The Salmon River roared down the Forest Mills Falls. It's a small waterfalls, but thanks to recent rain and spring meltwater, it provided a good show. Standing on the road above the falls, Susan Moore of Friends of the Salmon River has to raise her...
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RARE, PRECIOUS AND 70 YEARS STRONG
A Kingston couple says a lot of “give and take” has been their secret to a long and happy marriage. Gertrude, 91, and Otto Schmalz, 94, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on March 24. Other than dressing up for the occasion, the couple said...
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FEEDING THE NEED
Kingston Burger Company was at Belle Park on the weekend feeding the unhoused in partnership with the food distribution network Feed the People. The menu offered the restaurant's signature smash burgers from noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Feed the People...
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`NOT YOUR MOTHER'S MAMMOGRAM'
In a bright, welcoming clinical space in Kingston's east end, a local radiologist is using her passion for women's health screening to help more people access life-saving imaging services. Dr. Doris Jabs bursts with enthusiasm as she conducts a tour...
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NEW MUSICAL CENTRED AROUND HIP SONGS COMING TO KINGSTON
A new musical featuring songs by The Tragically Hip is coming to Kingston this fall. It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken will have a 21-show run at Kingston's Grand Theatre from Oct. 22 to Nov. 8, the Thousand Islands Playhouse announced Thursday....
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`NOBODY IN OUR FAMILY IS SLEEPING'
Standing on the icy driveway in front of her stone farmhouse, Sharon Patton holds a few photographs of her family. Faded colour and grainy blackand-white images of stern-looking men with long beards and women and children in their Sunday best sitting...
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STREET PARTIES CLOSE ABERDEEN
If St. Patrick's Day should fall on a weekday, it's a tradition to celebrate on the closest Saturday, donning green and raising a glass to the saint falsely credited for running all snakes out of Ireland — a strictly fictional folk tale. This past...
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`WE CANNOT `A-FORD' THIS'
Secondary students from LCVI and Kingston Secondary School took to the streets Thursday to protest Premier Doug Ford's decision to reduce grant amounts from the Ontario Student Assistant Program (OSAP) starting this fall as well as lift the province's...
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RATS AND ROUGHHOUSING?
An ongoing labour dispute playing out at construction sites in Kingston, including the display of a giant, inflatable rat, is devolving into threats and violence, according to those embroiled in the battle. For more than three weeks, members with...
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UNEASY STREET
The Sydenham Road shelter operated by Doors of Compassion, has been open to patrons for less than a month and already some neighbours are raising concerns about recent activity. According to the general manager of the Cataraqui Cemetery and Funeral...
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ALT-NO
Almost 150 Stone Mills Township residents and supporters demonstrate against the proposed Alto highspeed train in Camden East on Sunday, March 8, 2026. The proposed high-speed rail system has become controversial in communities where its proposed...
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`DEVASTATION IS THE WORD THAT COMES TO MIND'
Standing on the ice along the shoreline of her Varty Lake property, Heather Coulson Levy ponders what the addition of a high-speed rail track would look like at Varty Lake, a 600-hectare water body ringed by permanent and seasonal houses. In the...
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THE APPLIANCE STORE THAT COULD
In 1932, Fred Warren Black was selling vacuums door-to-door in the Kingston area when he decided to open a hardware store on lower Princess Street, offering things like hardware, home-repair items, paint supplies and vacuums. Soon after, Black opened...
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'IT WAS SURREAL'
Alex Heike and Jeffery Zhao are still recovering and debating whether to ever ride on a coach bus again after the one they were aboard last week rolled onto its side along Highway 401 during bad weather. On the evening of Feb. 22, their Rider Express...
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WINNERS GATHER TO COLLECT PRIZES, SHARE STORIES AT DREAM HOME
Dreams came true on Saturday in Kingston as the local Kinsmen club welcomed the winners of its recent Kinsmen Dream Home lottery to the home to receive their prizes. Most of the 19 prize winners were at the home on Buckthorn Drive on Saturday,...
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`PARENTS HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW'
When Janza Findlay first was told that a student at Loughborough Public School said they were going to bring a gun to school, she was shocked. The school, which is 20 minutes north of Kingston, teaches kids from kindergarten to Grade 8. Not only was...
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UNION TARGETS KINGSTON DEVELOPER
Those driving down Andersen Drive near Rona in Kingston's west end may have to take a second glance at what's parked outside of a high-rise construction site. An inflatable rat that stands more than 10 feet tall and features pointy teeth, red eyes,...
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WHAT GOES DOWN MUST GO UP
A pair of tobogganers walk up the hill at Fort Henry during a snowy afternoon in Kingston on Wednesday. Another snowstorm pelted the region overnight Tuesday as the snowy winter continues.
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`WE'VE BEEN DREAMING OF THIS MOMENT FOR SO LONG'
An Ontario couple is fulfilling their dream of moving to Kingston thanks to the local Kinsmen Club and its annual dream home draw. The 35th Kinsmen Dream Home Lottery announced its winners at Slush Puppie Place on Friday and the top prize went to...
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`THE HORSES ARE KEEPING JOHN ALIVE'
On a mid-morning in February when a brutally cold stretch had run its course, John Macmillan returned to the barn on his Odessa farm after a week when the weather made it too treacherous to leave the house. He shuffled in, advancing no more than a...
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GOLDEN GAME
Shoppers take time to watch the women's gold medal hockey game between Canada and the United States at a viewing area at the Cataraqui Centre in Kingston on Thursday. Team Canada lost the game 2-1.
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`I CAN'T THANK THEM ENOUGH'
A Kingston man is thankful to be alive following life-saving actions from members of the community. On June 19, 2025, Tim Keeling was on his way to Orangeville with his wife, when the unexpected happened. While stopped at an intersection in Kingston,...
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NEW SYDENHAM ROAD SHELTER OPENS TO PUBLIC
Doors of Compassion, the notfor-profit Christian group running Kingston's newest shelter on Sydenham Road, invited the public for a tour of its space on the afternoon of Feb. 12. The shelter operators, which are based out of Durham, are poised to...
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LASALLE CAUSEWAY'S TEMPORARY SOLUTION COSTING TAXPAYERS $10.5 MILLION, DOCUMENTS SHOW
The cost of maintaining, installing and removing the temporary modular bridge at the site of the Lasalle Causeway is costing Canadian taxpayers $10.5 million, the Whig-standard has learned. The estimated cost includes the inspection and use of the...
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HITTING A BRICK WALL
A Kingston firefighter walks past a vehicle damaged by falling bricks after it collided with a building at the Blackburn Mews in Kingston on Thursday.
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Little local support for highspeed rail, MP Reid says
A high-speed rail line would likely result in widespread expropriation, warned the member of Parliament for a riding that would be split by either of the proposed routes. Since Alto, the Crown corporation developing the project, launched its public...
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BIRD WATCH
A male northern cardinal watches his mate from a tree along Front Road in Kingston on Monday.
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`THEY COULD BE LIKE ME'
Art Veryard is turning the pages of a brown photo album, seated in his east-end Kingston home. The album doesn't contain many photographs, but rather the pages, diagrams, and hand-traced illustrations that Veryard put together in March 1981 as a high...
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`HE CARED ABOUT YOU'
Former Kingston Canadians coach Jim Morrison died on Tuesday at the age 94. Morrison coached the Canadians from 1975 to 1982. In his six seasons behind the Kingston bench, the team never missed the playoffs. In Morrison's second season as the...
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SUSPENDED DEPUTY CHIEF OF POLICE TO RETIRE
A high-ranking member of the Kingston Police force, who was suspended in December 2024, has begun his pre-retirement despite being on leave. According to a news release from the Kingston Police Services Board, Deputy Chief Matt Funnel has confirmed...
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THAT'S THE SPIRIT
Kingston Canadian Film Festival's official mascot, Conrad the Raccoon, is perched in Springer Market Square on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. The film festival is a partner of Spirit of Winter: Enchanted in Kingston, which is taking place downtown throughout...
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THE LAST DAYS OF DARBAR
“Hi, Darbar,” Ashok Kar says into the phone. “No, only takeout and it will take about two hours,” he replied a few seconds later. Before he has time to return the cordless phone to the clip on his hip, it rings again. “You'll have to order ahead as...
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CITY TO MULL $350,000 FOR HIP CONCERT ANNIVERSARY
The city is planning to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Tragically Hip's final concert. City staff are to seek council approval to spend up to $350,000 from the working reserve fund to mark the anniversary. In 2016, the band played the concert...
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SUPPORTIVE HOUSING WORKS: RYANDALE
Residents at the city's new supportive housing homes will be well on their way to getting out of homelessness and the agency that is to operate two of them said it has a track record of success with these kinds of residences. City council purchased...
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SCHOOLS CLOSED AS SNOWSTORM WALLOPS REGION
The City of Kingston's public works department is asking local residents to be patient as they work to clear away snow from a major snowstorm that hit the region on Sunday night and led to the closure of most regional schools, and many area...
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