North Bay Council will be voting on a 2024 municipal tax levy increase of just below 4% at a special meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. Watch live or when you’re done the honey-do list via YouTube HERE. See the city’s budget backgrounders HERE.

For a warm up for the meeting, read Don Rennick’s open letter to the mayor and council posted on BayToday this morning or watch him try to read it out at council, although he was warned about his choice of words when he says staff reports can have inaccuracies and be misleading.

For more background, watch or listen to Deputy Mayor and Budget Chief Maggie Horsfield share her insights and perspective in an Echo Essentials podcast released March 11.

 

Top Shelf

• Autism awareness is vital, mother says
• PFAS meeting packed the library, more to come

Today’s Salute

 

Echo Essentials

How far
would you go
for your child?

Today is World Autism Awareness Day and 2NBWL host Lisa Boivin sat down with Michelle Jackett to talk about her family’s journey.

Michelle shares how she struggled to get care for her daughter and how she made some very tough decisions to ensure her child’s life was fulfilling and well supported.

• Michelle joins the show  2:00
• Trying to find the proper care 6:30
• Advocating to the government 13:30
• How Michelle copes with her journey 23:00

PFAS meeting
was overflowing
with concerns

The auditorium of the North Bay Public Library was overflowing last Thursday with residents concerned about ‘forever chemicals’, specifically in groundwater downstream from the airport. Toxic plastic residue (PFAS – Perfluoralkylated substances) in fire-fighting foam have leached into Lee’s Creek and the city’s drinking water source, Trout Lake, after decades of training sessions. Similar hotspots can be found across North America wherever airport fire fighting personnel used the foam.

BayToday’s Stu Campaigne was at the March 28 meeting jointly hosted by the Trout Lake Conservation Association, Northwatch and Nipissing Environmental Watch, and filed this report while also planning follow up stories with some of the property owners and businesses near Lees Road and Tower Drive. See the story for links to past coverage on PFAS. The Nugget did a feature news piece on the issue in 2001 that said the federal government released test results in 2017.

Next week, the Echo Essentials Podcast is planning to feature a person who lives in the area who can no longer raise chickens or eggs after a Ministry of Environment analysis indicated residual contamination and a recommendation to limit consumption to only a few eggs a week.

Nipissing Environmental Watch members will be discussing the latest public event, among a host of other issues, at their next meeting this Thursday, April 4 in the mezzanine at the library beginning at 7 p.m. See the Northwatch coverage of the PFAS meeting HERE.

………

Today’s Zen Suggestion: Friendships are like sand castles … easy to make and look great in photos but if you’re not paying attention to them they disappear.

 

Sponsor

Thanks to our sponsor Services. Visit yourhomeservices.ca and mention “Echo Podcast” to get your first 3 months of your water heater rental free  *some restrictions may apply*

Echo Network

Echo Essentials:

Check back Thursday afternoon for the next Echo Essentials Podcast. Hosts Dave Dale and Scott Clark interview Nestor Prisco, author of an “adventure” biography entitled: Crown Attorney Arthur George Browning – North Bay Old Boy.

Browning was the first resident lawyer in the village of North Bay, arriving in 1888 and retiring as the Nipissing District’s Crown Attorney in 1911.

There are now 10 episodes in the Essentials directory, with viewers accessing them on the website, YouTube or downloading them from Spreaker, Spotify and Apple platforms.

To North Bay With Love:

Thursday’s 2NBWL podcast features the North Bay Astronomy Club as a lead in to the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8. The club is holding a solar eclipse viewing station at the waterfront on Monday afternoon, in conjunction with the North Bay Food Bank. Bring a donation and safely view the rare event with the club providing protective eyewear.

Last week’s 2NBWL podcast features the North Bay Choral Society with two members, Jennifer Graff and Kathryn Wood, talking about the group’s history, what they love about it and the challenges they overcame during Covid. The next big event for the group is called A Brand New Beat and it is taking place at the Elk’s Lodge April 20-21, both shows at 2 p.m.

There are more than 50 episodes of the 2NBWL podcast to check out HERE.

Frontline:

Catch the North Bay Mitsubishi After Action Report immediately following the final whistle of each Battalion home game. Listen to the discussion HERE.

Cogeco:

Catch the North Bay Battalion playoff action against the Kingston Frontenacs Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The Troops lead the first round series 2-1. Game 5 is back at Memorial Gardens Friday at 7 p.m.

Check out the North Bay YourTV website to watch video stories.

Backroads Bill:

The next Backroads Bill podcast drops tomorrow morning and it’ called Your Next “Grande” Adventure. Bill and Ben are joined by Bernie Moseley-Williams to talk about a recent trip Bernie and Bill went on to the Grande Chute.

They discuss the perfect time to go waterfall watching and how they ended up getting stuck and had to get creative to get free.

Follow the Backroads Bill podcast in video form on the North Bay Echo YouTube channel, on this website under the Echo network, Spreaker or Spotify.

Wingspan Entrepreneur:

Wingspan Entrepreneurs by Joel Arndt is all about financial issues and provides the inspiration and information to lift your business to the next stratosphere.

There are seven episodes of the Wingspan podcast so far. Check out the audio-only show on our website network page or follow on Spotify. If you have an established podcast and want to capitalize on extra eyeballs and episode promotion through the Echo network, email [email protected] to start the process.

Cheap Seats:

Oops We Did it Again! Cheap Seats is back to discuss the new film #RickyStanicky, a new #StarWars trailer, broken appliances, and a way to help you poo. Plus, play along with our game, which this week is about celebrity impersonations.

Listen to the full episode, HERE or find them on Spotify.

Cheap Seats is an eclectic conversation between best friends, Drew and Nick, who love talking about movies and whatever else comes to mind.

 

3-Day Events Echo

Tuesday, April 2

• The Blackbirds Acoustic play tonight at the West Ferris Legion from 7 to 9 p.m., part of the Jazz at the Junction series the first Tuesday of every month, $15 for Jazz Club members, $20 non-members.

Wednesday, April 3

• The Peking Acrobats are at the Capitol Centre in the Betty Spears Theatre at 7 p.m.
• Journey North with John Dunn, ages 12 and up, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the North Bay Public Library, $5

Thursday, April 4

• Sereni-Tea Death Cafe at Nipissing Serenity Hospice from 6 to 8 p.m. Coffee and conversations about death and dying, facilitated by Tracy Davis, End of Life Doula. For more info, email: [email protected] or call: 705-995-3377, ext. 1203
• Pasta Dinner Fundraiser for people displaced by Main Street fire March 26, at the Grand Event Centre, $15, dine in only starts at 4 p.m.
• Super Fun Time Trivia at Moose’s Cookhouse at 7:30 p.m.

 

(For more events further out on the calendar, check Tourism North Bay’s comprehensive events listing guide. On Facebook, check out Creative Industries North Bay and see its April newsletter HERE.)

 

 

First-time reader? Sign up for this free newsletter HERE. We publish Tuesday and Thursday.

If you have something to add to the discussion or an idea for one of Echo’s podcasters or affiliates, email Content Director Dave Dale at [email protected].

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