Peterborough police are seeking a suspect in an armed assault at a convenience store on Monday evening (February 20).

At around 6 p.m., officers were called to the business in the Monaghan Road and Chamberlain Street area. After arriving, officers learned a man had walked into the store, pointed a firearm at the clerk, and fired before fleeing the area.

Through an investigation, police determined the weapon was a pellet gun and that nothing was taken from the business. The clerk was struck in the face but did not require medical attention.

The suspect is described as a white man with a thin build and around 5′ 8″ tall. He was wearing a dark camouflage jacket and dark pants, red running shoes, and a dark bandana with a white pattern covering his face.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Peterborough Police crime line at 705-876-1122 x555.

If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at stopcrimehere.ca.

Environment Canada has issued a winter storm warning for the southern Kawarthas region for Wednesday (February 22), with a snowfall warning now in effect for the northern region.

The winter storm warning is in effect for southern Peterborough County, southern Kawartha Lakes, and Northumberland County, and the snowfall warning is in effect for northern Peterborough County, northern Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, and northern Hastings County.

An approaching Colorado low will bring a winter storm to much of southern Ontario, beginning early Wednesday evening into Thursday. In the southern Kawarthas region, light snow will become heavy at times early Wednesday evening. Snow may mix with ice pellets and freezing rain Wednesday night, with total amounts of snow and ice pellets between 15 and 25 cm.

Snow may mix with ice pellets Wednesday night, though snow is expected to remain the predominant precipitation type. Snow or ice pellets will taper off Thursday morning to patchy freezing drizzle. Snow accumulations may be lower in areas that experience a greater period of mixing with ice pellets.

The wintry mix will taper off Thursday morning to a risk of patchy freezing drizzle. Another wintry mix of precipitation is possible Thursday afternoon into Thursday evening.

In the northern region, snow (heavy at times) will develop Wednesday evening, with total amounts of 15 to 20 cm expected. The highest snowfall accumulations are expected south of a line from Bracebridge to Cornwall. There will be reduced visibility in heavy snow and local blowing snow.

Snow will become light Thursday morning and may become mixed with freezing drizzle. Another round of snow, possibly mixed with ice pellets, will affect the area Thursday afternoon and evening.

Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become difficult to navigate due to accumulating snow. Take extra care when walking or driving in affected areas. There may be a significant impact on rush hour traffic in urban areas. If visibility is reduced while driving, slow down, watch for tail lights ahead and be prepared to stop

This story has been updated with the latest forecast from Environment Canada.

There will be intermittent single-lane closures on Kirkfield Road, at Lock 36 near the village of Kirkfield in the City of Kawartha Lakes, from Tuesday (February 21) until Friday.

Parks Canada advises the single-lane closures are needed to facilitate the placement of a crane as work continues on repairs to the Kirkfield Lift Lock. Flaggers will be in place, and the public can expect short delays.

The Kirkfield Lift Lock suffered a severe mechanical failure last September, resulting in the site’s closure for the remainder of the 2022 navigation season.

In January, Parks Canada awarded a contract for repairs to be completed to return the site to full service by the beginning of the 2023 navigation season.

The work on the lock includes repairs to the structural, mechanical, and electrical components of the lock, system improvements to increase safety controls and access improvements to critical system components, and backup system improvements to minimize impacts on future maintenance activities.

Located a few kilometres north of Kirkfield, the Kirkfield Lift Lock is the second highest hydraulic lift lock in the world with a lift of 15 metres (49 feet). The lock is situated at the highest point along the Trent-Severn Waterway at 256.20 metres (840.5 feet) above sea level.

Peterborough’s Sherbrooke Heights Animal Hospital has successfully reached its goal of raising $2,250 in just over a week to purchase medical supplies to help treat injured survivors of the February 6th magnitude 7.8 earthquake in southern Turkey and northern Syria.

On Friday (February 17), veterinarian Dr. Kristy Hiltz presented the donation to Mark Cameron, president and cofounder of the Canadian International Medical Relief Organization (CIMRO), who visited the veterinary clinic accompanied by CIMRO’s disaster response service dog Zaria.

A resident of Hastings in Northumberland County, Cameron had launched an urgent appeal on behalf of CIMRO last week, seeking donations to help the internationally recognized organization purchase needed drugs and medical supplies to treat as many injured people as possible with life-saving surgeries.

Cameron is a friend of Dr. Hiltz and her husband David McNab, a retired OPP officer. Upon learning of CIMRO’s appeal, she launched the “Suitcase Full of Suture” fundraiser and asked people to donate enough money to purchase 15 boxes of suture material that CIMRO can use repair wounds of those injured during the earthquake.

Sherbrooke Heights Animal Hospital matched donations to the fundraiser up to $500. According to Dr. Hiltz, Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto also donated medical supplies for CIMRO.

Cameron will soon be flying to Turkey to deliver drugs and medical supplies to CIMRO’s team on the ground in the region, which includes local physicians.

Family Day is observed on the third Monday of February, except in British Columbia where it’s celebrated on the second Monday of February.

In Ontario, it’s a statutory holiday under the Employment Standards Act and Retail Business Holidays Act, so all provincial and most municipal offices and services are closed. All liquor and beer stores are closed, as are most shopping malls and large retail stores. While all major grocery stores are closed in Peterborough, many are open in other communities. Since Family Day is not a federal statutory holiday, federal government offices and many federally regulated businesses remain open. Regular collection and delivery of mail occurs on Family Day.

For your convenience, we provide this list of holiday hours for 284 selected businesses, services, and organizations across the Kawarthas. This information comes from their websites and social media accounts, which may or may not be up to date, so please always call them first to confirm their hours (we’ve included phone numbers), especially where you see “call” or “call to confirm” or if you are travelling any distance. If your business or organization is listed and the hours are incorrect, please let us know by using our content feedback form. We do not have the hours for restaurants in this list as there are far too many to include.

Search by business name, location, or keyword:

Beer & Liquor Stores

Drug Stores, Pharmacies & Health Services

Government Services

Grocery Stores

Malls & Box Stores

Other Stores

Recreation & Leisure

Veterinary Clinics

Almost two weeks after a cybersecurity incident, Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) in Lindsay is still dealing with the aftermath.

“Significant progress has been made in a short period of time due to RMH team members’ hard work, and with the support of local and regional partners, and third-party cybersecurity experts,” reads a media release from the hospital issued on Friday (February 17).

“Given the complexity of the cybersecurity incident and its effects across the IT environment, RMH anticipates that it will be a number of weeks before operations return to normal.”

On the evening of February 5, the hospital declared a “code grey” after staff reported difficulties accessing electronic systems and the hospital’s information technology team identified unusual activity in the systems. At Ontario hospitals, a code grey is initiated after the loss of a critical system such as a utility or information technology (for example, due to ransomeware) that results in the potential loss of use of hospital facilities.

As a result of the cybersecurity incident, multiple electronic systems at Ross Memorial Hospital went offline including email and the Epic electronic medical records system. Haliburton Highlands Health Services also issued a code grey, due to the integrated information technology system it shares with Ross Memorial Hospital, with some email accounts going offline.

Ross Memorial Hospital has already restored some of the affected systems and continues to work to bring all the affected systems back online. There continue to be delays in retrieving diagnostic imaging results, leading to potentially longer wait times for patients.”

While the hospital works to address the delays, patients with less urgent conditions are encouraged to consider alternate options for care, such as their primary health care provider, pharmacist, after-hours clinic, virtual care, or by calling Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0007.

After-hours clinics can often treat non-urgent and minor illnesses and ailments, such as earaches, sore throats or prescription refills.

The hospital says it is unable to provide a timeline for when the code grey will be lifted, but will continue provide updates on its website at rmh.org and via the hospital’s social media channels.

People in rural and remote areas in the greater Kawarthas region who are experiencing mental health and addictions issues now have access to a full range of supports with the launch of ‘The Road Ahead’, a mobile wellness clinic operating out of two vehicles.

The Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (CMHA HKPR) unveiled the new mobile wellness clinic at a media event on Thursday morning (February 16) in Lakefield.

The event was attended by community partners and local politicians including Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith, Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott, Peterborough mayor Jeff Leal, and Peterborough County warden Bonnie Clark.

While one of the clinic’s two vehicles had already been purchased with funding announced by the Ontario government as part of the province’s 2021 budget, CMHA HKPR determined s second vehicle was required to serve the rural communities across the region. Over the past year, the organization raised $300,000 to purchase the second vehicle.

“Thanks to the support of many donors including the Kinsmen Club, Peterborough Police Services, and Bell Canada, we have purchased the second vehicle,” said CMHA HKPR CEO Mark Graham.

The two vehicles offer mental health and addictions services to underserved communities by visiting rural areas across the city and county of Peterborough and County, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, and Northumberland County, where residents may otherwise have difficulty accessing these services because of challenges such as a lack of transportation.

The clinic provides counselling and therapy, support with addictions and substance use, mental health education, medication support, and access to other services such as psychiatry.

According to a media release, the branding design on the vehicles was developed with the support of Peterborough advertising company Outpost 379.

Chosen to be welcoming and positive, the design isn’t specific to mental health or addictions to avoid the stigmas still surrounding mental health and addictions, and the barriers these stigmas may pose for people needing support.

Officials with the City of Peterborough held a ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday (February 16) for the new $10-million fire station to be built at 100 Marina Boulevard.

The site at the former location of Northcrest Arena was approved in April 2021 by Peterborough city council following a detailed site study and public consultation process. Other locations that had previously been on the short list included Inverlea Park and Sunset Park, leading to protests by community groups.

The new facility will be the city’s first building designed, built, and certified as a zero carbon building for both performance and design categories.

“The new fire station will help position and support our fire services workers as they respond to emergency calls in our community,” said Peterborough mayor Jeff Leal. “By building it using zero carbon standards, we’re reducing our environmental footprint in our delivery of this essential service.”

Designed by Lett Architects Inc., the new facility is being built following the Canada Green Building Council’s zero carbon building standard, with building materials selected to address embodied emissions during construction and achieve net zero carbon targets.

The facility is designed to achieve net zero energy performance using onsite renewable energy that will reduce operating and maintenance costs.

The new facility replaces the existing Fire Station 2 on Carnegie Avenue. The needs of fire services have evolved since the existing facility was built in 1967, according to Peterborough Fire Services chief Chris Snetsinger.

“The station has served our community well over the years, but because of its design it has become increasingly challenging to provide the services that are necessary from the existing station,” Snetsinger said. “The new station is designed and strategically located to support our community’s existing neighbourhoods and projected growth.”

The city awarded the construction contract for the project to JCB Construction Canada for $10 million. Construction is expected to be completed in fall 2024.