Happy Friday, fellow leaders of London, Ontario, this splendid, contradictory city that lies between two lakes, several melting highways and enough points of view to make your head revolve. Yet here we are, loving Canada’s London because we might as well, and increasingly indulging that little voice that says… “What if it was better…?”
This is your news ROUNDUP, hitting your digital pathways FOR FREE every Friday lunchtime and gathering a selection of the news you need to be an engaged citizen. We’re doing that through the alarmingly-viable1 vehicle of London Ontario Online News, a startup company owned by the five creators in our lineup. And the community is stepping up, with more than 300 subscriptions, more than 50 of them paid2 (!), plus two local sponsors and more to come. It’s exciting!
We could not be more grateful and we will keep asking you for money, sorry not sorry. Every dollar you send is powering independent local journalists to tell stories and highlight the issues that matter to our community. And that’s part of your ROUNDUP - designed to make us all better and coming to you paywall-free.
Let’s go, shall we? Yes!
Soundtrack of the week
So I was on a call with Diana Tamblyn and somehow Bananarama came up, and now I’m sharing the appropriate song Cruel Summer3. Top 80s content here.
As always, you can have the music play while you read, at least until you click on a link. I advise people to have a read through once, and then go back and check out any resources that interest you. Thanks for reading the ROUNDUP.
Feel that World Cup fever rising
Canada are in the final 16 of the World Cup and play Morocco on Saturday at 1 p.m. Excitement is clearly abounding, amid resounding silence from the armchair commentators who love to say soccer is boring or a children’s sport or should have different rules or funny hats or something. Hello, lads!
Here at the Loon, we know all about World Cup fever and not just because Diana Tamblyn wrote this great piece yesterday4. It’s all terribly intoxicating, even if the Scotland men’s team is currently in a longboat rowing towards Ullapool Harbour. For the record, I am now a massive fan of - checks notes - Mexico, who - Oh! look at that! Who would have thought? - play England on Sunday. I’m feeling a deep emotional attachment to the Mexican people and I wish their team well.
Anyway, back to Canada and that wholesome run. As we’ve shared a few times now, Londoners are invited to get behind their team at a free fan event taking place in Victoria Park - with free transit, which is worth noting and remembering for future. Find out more here.
Also, here are the basic details on the City’s website.
At The Loon, we believe in getting involved in the community, even if the outdoors is like the surface of the Sun…
Weather stories R Us
Which brings me to the heatwave. This week, extremely hot weather coincided with a midweek holiday and the accompanying dip in newsworthy activity, so quite a lot of people working in local media, in search of something to fill their news holes, went for the classic: the weather story. Oh my.
Now, I’m not suggesting this has no value - far from it, as you will see in these shares. I’m simply revelling in a marvellous exercise in pointing out the obvious, knowing I’ve engaged in a few over the years.
You may recognize some of the most common headlines in this news subgenre, such as:
It is snowing
It is raining
It is windy
It is still snowing
It is very sunny
There might be a storm
and, this week, it is very hot indeed
But a story is a story, and this event affected a variety of aspects of our lives. So, starting with that heatwave as a news event, reporters and newsdesks developed some Proper Work this week. I’ve put some of it together like a box of chocolates that should really be in the fridge today.
Here are 10 selected tales of the hot weather:
Power outages, loss of water - massive disruptions across the region. CBC London shows the extent.
Taking it wider, here’s a national story about ‘wild weather’ across the country, which also discusses why it’s happening. CBC
Regionally, here’s something about the effects on farms and food - some welcome the heat, some crops damaged. CBC
Back in the city, London paramedics saw a spike in heat-related callouts. London Free Press first, and more recently CBC.
Meanwhile, working in the heat - the amazing story of a brave mascot. CBC
On the roads - Why did they suddenly close and resurface Highway 402? Nobody is directly saying it was the heat, but this also happened last year. Herewith CTV London and, saying it reopened Friday, CBC.
Being homeless - what it’s like to get through this without a roof over your head. CBC
And, safety in the home - make sure to maintain your AC. CTV
Public events were affected - Canada Day went ahead in London, though east London’s event was cancelled…
…and storms wrecked the event over in Brantford. LFP. That’s from the wonderful Susan Gamble at the Brantford Expositor, an absolute stalwart of journalism in Ontario and thoroughly good person.
And, looking ahead, we’re still under a heat warning but it’s supposed to ease off and the weekend looks wet, maybe stormy. Weather Network
See? There might be a storm. Still a story.
Let’s move on.
Sherwood Forest Mall crash
Updating the story based on events at the Goodlife Fitness gym two weeks ago, when a car crashed through the wall. Charges have been laid. Two stories here.
In one, there is praise for our heroic paramedic, who is humbly remaining quiet. LFP
And, one of the victims, the woman who was pinned under the car, has issued a statement thanking those who helped. CTV
City Hall updates
Ward 13 candidate allegations
There’s a serious and important discussion on the Craig Needles Podcast, and you can find the episode here. In this, Craig leads a difficult conversation about allegations involving Ward 13 candidate Nicolas Saika-Voivod. And Craig interviews a courageous individual, ‘Chelsea’, and surfaces the issue well. As I’ve shared in the wards guide, the candidate posted a denial on Instagram.
This issue has been a topic of private discussion in recent weeks and my thanks go to the several women who contacted me. For legal reasons, our local media has been stepping carefully, including here at the Loon where we’re only just getting set up, I’m afraid. And, it’s important to have such issues in the public domain and we should be grateful to Craig for making it happen.
Wards race - talking about the suburbs
Strong story here from Jack Moulton at the London Free Press, talking about how suburban voters might influence October’s muni election. Story is here, featuring the ever-quotable Matt Brown, and I’m always pleased to see media getting into the nitty gritty - I think there are many more stories in the polling districts data but haven’t had time to dig yet.
I’m also pleased to see Jack is launching a subscribers-only weekly column about City Hall politics, coming out on Fridays. It’s great to see the Free Press stepping up like this with enhanced coverage.
The Order of London
So there is a new thing, called the Order of London. It’s an award being presented by the mayor, it seems, and it was presented for the first time this week.
Here’s a story about it. The award went to philanthropist Wayne Dunn.
Almost at the end now. Here are a few more stories, by the issues…
Transit
Councillor Sam Trosow is well-focused on the issue of transit, and takes it up in this LFP story about declining ridership on the LTC.
Housing
There was an interesting story this week about home-building, and an opportunity to select designs from a catalogue. CBC
Lightning round
And let’s GET STRUCK. This is where I add a few more bits:
Canada’s first ‘talking statue’ debuts at Banting House is a great headline but it’s a QR code, not a fancy robot: CTV
Bylaw enforcement is a perennial issue here in London, How did they do? They said they would crack down on fireworks breaches: CTV
Just two this time. Seen more? Ping me!
Meet the locals
Independent storytellers in your area:
The street view: Cedric Richards’ Southwestern Ontario Journal.
Comment: Steve Cordes’ Community Matters.
Discuss: Matt Brown’s podcast.
Reflect: Larry Cornies’ audio blog.
Culture: The Beat Magazine and TheatreInLondon.ca.
Biz: London Inc.
Sports: Gameday London.
Enough
That’s your ROUNDUP for this 4th of July weekend. Let’s leave the Americans to fight in their swampy pool and focus instead on success for Canada5 and cheer for our team!
Special thanks again to sponsors Spero Law and Downtown London, both of whom you should support. This is all about values-alignment and public interest, so our established partners are officially the good guys, or at least we say so. Look out for more announcements as we continue to launch The Loon, and finally do things like a house style and policies and copy edits and bloody hell this was supposed to be a side gig.
Time to move on. I’m spending the afternoon puzzling over my homework for a professional accreditation, and probably spending the weekend doing the reading that will clear it all up. Oh, and Cedric Richards and I plan to add an important ingredient to our podcast recordings: DINER BREAKFAST.
And perhaps later there will be beer. Mexican beer.
Enjoy yourself - it’s later than you think.
- Mike6
The London Ontario Online News lineup
New content every day
We’re teaming up to send you a new feature every weekday:
Monday - Buckle Up - podcast with Matt Brown
Tuesday - Tour with Cedric Richards
Wednesday - City Hall Notes by Mike Donachie - SPONSORED BY SPERO LAW
Thursday - the Forest City Arts and Culture Roundup by Diana Tamblyn - SPONSORED BY DOWNTOWN LONDON
Friday - Reflecting - with Steve Cordes
And free on Fridays: the ROUNDUP, briefing you on the stories you need to know, gathered in one place. Regular analysis of the issues affecting London and the region.
Seriously, you guys, thank you. FOR YEARS everybody has been saying “Nobody’s tried a subscription model” and now we’ve tried it and it seems to be bloody working. I can’t even etc.
We see you guys - thank you for stepping up!
Also congrats to Taylor and Travis, apparently. It’s still a cruel summer.
There is still time to get on the list for our Billy Bragg tickets giveaway - CLICK that link!
and Mexico
go Mexico