tbq8 by kaspetto from the windsoriteDOTca Flickr pool.

The 101-year-old rail tunnel that connects Windsor and Detroit may soon be getting a $400 million face lift. The Detroit River Tunnel Partnership (DRTP) says an environmental assessment is set to begin within the next couple of weeks.

An update to Hotel Dieu’s latest kerfuffle, and a testament to the media’s tendency to kick ‘em while they’re down, reveals that a drunk ER doctor entered the emergency room early last Thursday and made sexual advances on two nurses. It’s not known if the advances were threatening in any way.

A grade 10 student from Holy Names High School pulled a knife in an after-school fight yesterday, and stabbed his opponent in the arm. He turned himself in shortly after the altercation, and will be charged with assault with a weapon. It’s assumed that the knife-wielder is a common subject of bullying.

Windsor city councilors will now be held accountable for their absenteeism from meetings. Monthly reports on the city’s website will show Windsorites which of their elected officials is missing the various meetings they’re required to attend, along with their reasons.

Butcher Engineering, packers of Ford car parts and a blip in my own employment history, may have to close its doors. Ford has decided to consolidate operations with their U.S. workforce, leaving Butcher with only a couple of smaller contracts that may, or may not, allow the plant to stay open.

365.185 by jodigreen from the windsoriteDOTca Flickr pool.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board turned down a litigation request made by CUPE over a bad-faith bargaining complaint against the city. CUPE claims details were leaked after an in-camera council session, and this (among other things) caused the strike to continue. The OLRB says pursuing litigation will just “reopen old wounds”.

Scandal at Hotel Dieu once again. This time, an emergency room doctor allegedly arrived at the hospital Thursday night intoxicated and proceeded to make advances on a nurse. The accused doctor has been barred from the hospital, and has voluntarily given up his  privileges. The hospital has decided to delay a funding request to the city until they can focus their energy on it, instead of damage-control.

A bold day-light robbery at the CIBC on Tecumseh Road, and a getaway car crash, resulted in the arrest of 5 people from Toronto. Toronto police had been following one of the suspects, but they failed to prevent the hold-up since it happened without warning.

A man trapped under a vehicle after falling from his bicycle was freed by a crowd of helpful down-towners on Friday night. The man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to his shoulder. It’s not known if the injuries were caused by his fall, or from the vehicle.

100.7’s Craig and Matt in the morning are sharing more than necessary on the rock radio station’s most recent set of billboards. The ads have been called classless, but the station defends them, saying they “lighthearted” and “wacky”.

Untitled by plymer from the windsoriteDOTca Flickr pool

New LED streetlights may become a reality for Lakeshore neighbourhoods. The new lighting systems can be controlled more easily, resulting in increased safety for pedestrians and drivers, while decreasing energy usage.

A Windsor native will grace the red carpet at this weekend’s Academy Awards. Robert Habros moved from Windsor to LA for animation school back before digital effects were the norm. He’s worked on blockbusters like The Day The Earth Stood Still and the cutting-edge television show Fringe, and now he will represent the Vancouver-based company Embassy VFX for their work on the movie District 9.

The university is investigating a breached “test bank”, which allowed a midtem exam to be passed around to students for the purpose of cheating. The students will have to take the midterm again. It’s not known how many students this will effect, but those in the psychology department were some that received the letter notifying them of the situation.

The Knights of Columbus Branch #9671 have invigorated a university biochemistry lab researching cancer treatments. The Pandey Lab, run by Dr. Siyaram Pandey, has struggled financially in the past. A strong partnership with the charitable service club has resulted in $26,000 in donations, and just as important, a motivational boost and a connection with the community.

There will be a change in report card formats this fall for elementary school students. Progress reports given out in November will no longer include a letter grade, but personal teacher comments will return. Letter grades will still be given as a final mark.

Campbell School by JohnTIZ from the windsoriteDOTca Flickr pool.

W.D. Lowe Secondary School has been taken off the real estate market. Currently, it houses students from John Campbell and Princess Ann elementary schools, but come September it will once again be vacant. Previous bids on the school, when it was for sale in 2001, were lower than expected, and the school board feels they may have a better use for it.

Ecole St. Edmond will be celebrating it’s 100th anniversary this spring. The staff and students are proud of the name, the school’s history, its resilience, and its role in an important struggle Ontarian French Canadians overcame early in the 20th century. You can read more about the history of French education in Ontario here.

A Windsor mail delivery person and the man accused of harassing him spent three days in court, wasting tax payers money and the time of those involved. The kerfuffle was initiated when a Hildegard Street resident’s mail delivery was suspended because his dog was apparently left unrestrained. Bad manners on both parts exacerbated the situation.

District Chief of the Windsor-Essex EMS Larry Amlin is retiring after 38 years of service. The county paid tribute to the dedicated service worker last night, listing off his many accolades. In addition to being an outstanding paramedic, Amlin lobbied for many of the safety related services you find in Windsor today, including the Children’s Safety Village, drinking and driving awareness programs, and stress counseling for EMS workers, just to name a few.

Neighbours duke it out with a hammer and a frying pan in a dispute ending in a bloody mess. The initial assailant, living on the top floor of a duplex on Pratt Place, decided to respond to a break and enter accusation from his downstairs neighbour by surprising him with a hammer whack to the face.

Ambassador bridge-hdr- by Linda Goodhue from the windsoriteDOTca Flickr pool.

A second blow to Matty Maroun’s plans for a twin Ambassador Bridge came from the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard terminated the application process for Maroun, due to his inability to obtain the land needed to build the bridge. This news comes just weeks after the Michigan government ordered Maroun to demolish ramps, toll booths, gas pumps and a duty-free shop he illegally built on city-owned property.

The Leamington woman whose breast had been unnecessarily removed at Hôtel-Dieu Grace is suing the hospital for $2.2 million. Surgeon Dr. Barbara Heartwell, pathologist Dr. Olive Williams, Hôtel-Dieu and Leamington District Hospital are all cited in the law suit. Heartwell has voluntarily stepped down, while Williams was suspended in January following another instance of incorrect pathology causing harm to a patient.

The Essex landfill is looking for more customers. The Cty. Rd. 18 landfill is apparently under capacity, and is pursuing contracts with other regions. Acting general manager of the landfill site Eli Maodus blames trash-hauling to the States and the poor economy for the decrease in revenue at the dump.

The light-hearted, helium-filled stars of the Olympic closing ceremonies were made right here in Windsor. The gigantic beavers, moose, Mounties and hockey players were all manufactured by Dynamic Displays on Crawford Avenue. The gold medals on the hockey players were added last minute.

CUPE Local 82 president Jim Wood says if Windsor decides to contract out garbage collection, it’ll cost tax-payers up to a $1 million more in employee wages. Those garbage collectors that get bumped instead of retiring, will displace part-time and student employees who are paid less.

Walkerville station by DCI Photography from the windsoriteDOTca Flickr pool

Windsor is finally getting a new train station. The federal government is handing out $6.3 million for a new building with “improved and expanded facilities”. The new station will be built near the current site on Walker Road, and is set to open in the fall of 2011.

It’s tax time, and Windsorites with lower incomes can get free services from some volunteer chartered accountants. Households earning less than $25,000 (with dependents), or $17,000 (without dependents), can call for an appointment to have their income tax papers filed by a professional accountant. Dates and locations can be found at the link provided above.

City hall is getting ready to publish Windsor’s operating budget for 2010, and they’re looking for public input. You can view the proposed budget here, and any questions or concerns you have will be addressed at a special council meeting set for Wednesday, March 10th, 2010. In order to become a delegation of this meeting (that is, in order to have your opinion heard), you have to request a spot. Otherwise, written submissions can be mailed in (contact info provided at the link above).

Students at the university might be confused about the campus’ smoking and tobacco laws, and now there’s a committee to determine if that’s the case. A survey has been created to assess the opinion of students regarding smoking, and to see if an outright ban of on-campus smoking is feasible. Check out the survey here.

Essex councilors are concerned over the lack of information being presented to them concerning a proposed 1400 MW wind farm in the lakes surrounding Essex County. The energy company Southwind has scheduled brief town meetings across the county for March 27th to address the public, but the town hopes to meet with them prior to that.