Parking Garage

Kingston City Council has given thumbs up to spending $18 million dollars on a new parking garage in downtown Kingston.  The garage will be built by Homestead Landholdings on Queen Street…between King and Wellington.  Homestead is planning on constructing an apartment building on that property and proposed building the garage and selling it to the city.

The vote last night was 10-3 in favour of buying the garage from Homestead.

Councillors Mary Rita Holland, Jim Neil and Peter Stroud voted against the deal.

The garage will have approximately 278 parking spaces to replace about 270 that will be lost when the apartment building is built.  Homestead hasn’t revealed plans for the apartment building.

 Break In Charges

A 23 year old Kingston man faces charges after a break in at a home on Raglan Road where the owner was threatened.

Police were called by a man around 1:30 yesterday afternoon saying someone had forced his way into the home and was yelling and screaming that he was going to kill him.

The 23 year old was arrested by police at the scene and faces charges of forcible entry, uttering death threats, assault and breach of probation.

Joseph Street Fire – Charges

A 49 year old woman has been charged with deliberately starting a fire in an apartment at the Home Base Housing complex at 37 Joseph Street.

The fire on Monday afternoon caused about $40,000 damage.

The woman has been charged with Arson causing Property Damage, Assault, and Uttering Threats to Cause Death after a 50 year old woman who discovered the fire was threatened.

Inmate Arrested

A federal offender who was wanted on a Canada wide warrant for being unlawfully at large has been arrested in Kingston.

53 year old Larry Noyes was arrested in the area of Johnson Street and Bagot Street around noon on Saturday.  He was taken to Kingston Police headquarters and transferred to a federal penitentiary.

Drugs Seized – Millhaven

An inmate has been busted trying to get drugs into the maximum security Millhaven Institution.

The Correctional Service says officers seized 88 grams of marijuana last Thursday afternoon.  It would have been worth almost $9,000 inside the prison.

The inmate is now facing charges from police.

Novelis – United Way Project

Volunteers from Novelis are working at the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s new location at 85 Stephen Street this week.  The volunteers are participating in the Novelis Neighbor program.  They’re working on construction projects at the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Novelis employees worked with the United Way to identify the project.

Earthquake

If you felt the earth move a bit last night…there was a minor earthquake that shook the Ottawa Valley area short after 7:30 last night.  Natural Resources Canada says the quake had a magnitude of 3.6 and was centered seven kilometers west southwest of Pembroke.  No injuries or damage has been reported.

Today in History

From Tony’s today in History File…the nation will be tied together by a rail line.

It was on this day in 1880 that John A. Macdonald, the Member of Parliament for Kingston and first prime minister of Canada signed the contract with Canadian Pacific Railway for construction of the Trans-Canada Railway.

The line was completed to the West Coast with the ceremony of the Last Spike on Nov. 7, 1885.