July 9, 2021

July 9th is the 190th day of 2021. There are 175 days remaining until the end of the year.

1 new positive COVID-19 case reported Thursday by Chatham-Kent Public Health.

The total active case count locally is at 8.

There were 210 positive cases reported across Ontario on Thursday. With 25,859 tests processed over the past 24 hours, officials are reporting a province wide positivity rate of 0.8 per cent.

RoseAnne Archibald has been elected the 1st female national chief of Assembly of First Nations after five rounds of voting over the span of two days.

Archibald is a member of the Taykwa Tagamou Nation (formerly New Post First Nation) in northern Ontario. She spent a three-year term as Ontario regional chief.

“The AFN has made ‘her’-story today,” said Archibald in her acceptance speech Thursday.

“Today is a victory and you can tell all the women in your life that the glass ceiling has been broken. I thank all of the women who punched that ceiling before me and made a crack.”

Walk-in clinics will be held this week and next for young people in Chatham-Kent who want their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. No appointments will be necessary for 12- to 17-year-olds or those over 18 who have not yet received their first dose of a vaccine at the clinics at the John D. Bradley Convention Centre in Chatham.

Those who need a second dose are asked to book an appointment at Getyourshotck.ca or call 519-351-1010 and leave a message.

This week:

• Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.,

Next week:

• Wednesday, July 14, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
• Thursday, July 15, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be given.

The Stratford Festival’s highly anticipated 2021 season will officially open under an outdoor canopy on Tuesday, and it just so happens the company’s highly anticipated return won’t be the only thing worthy of a celebration.

The upcoming season includes six plays and five cabarets.

The first of those cabarets, Why We Tell the Story, a celebration of Black musical theatre curated and directed by Festival regular Marcus Nance, will get things started under the Festival Theatre canopy Tuesday.

Four other productions will open in July – You Can’t Stop the Beat: The Enduring Power of Musical Theatre (July 15 to July 31); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (July 16 to August 1); Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters (July 23 to Aug. 21); and Play On!: A Shakespeare-Inspired Mixtape (July 29 to Aug. 15).

Retired teacher from Chatham, Keith Groen is using his pedal power for the Great Cycle Challenge Canada, an annual fundraiser to fight children’s cancer.

More than $21.6 million has been raised since the Great Cycle Challenge began in 2016. Proceeds go to SickKids Foundation, the fundraising arm of The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The Chatham-Kent chapter had 112 participants for this year’s ride as of Wednesday afternoon. All kilometres logged in August count towards their total.

Groen wants to ride 500km next month after covering 450 km in June. He cycles 23 to 25 km almost every day.

Go to greatcyclechallenge.ca for information on how to donate money or register to ride.

Categorised in: 5 Things You Need To Know

This post was written by Jen Marsh