August 23, 2021

August 23, 2021 5:55 am Published by

August 23rd is the 235th day of 2021. There are 130 days remaining until the end of the year.

Another hot one for C-K today.

Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for Chatham-Kent, Windsor-Essex, London-Middlesex, as well as most of southwestern Ontario.

Daytime temperatures are expected to reach upwards of 30 C with humidex values ranging from 37 to 40.

On Sunday Ontario reported 722 new cases of COVID-19. 564 cases are in unvaccinated individuals and 158 in partially vaccinated individuals. That’s the highest number of new cases since early June.

Chatham-Kent Public Health doesn’t update on the weekends. On Friday, there were 6 new cases and four recoveries. The active case count locally is at 33. A weekend update will come between 10-11 this morning.

The 2020 Summer Paralympics begin tomorrow in Tokyo.

The Opening Ceremony will be at 6am and the flag bearer will be Priscilla Gagne, orginally from Sarnia, now living in Montreal. She is visually impaired and competes in the judo.

Blenheim’s Alex Hyndman will compete in sport biking and will race on August 31st and September 1st.

You can watch the games on CBC or stream on CBCSports.ca.

A couple of sports notes…

The Toronto Raptors have released thier 2021-22 NBA schedule.

The season will begin on October 20th at home vs Washington. However, the location of that home game is not known yet. The team has not received government approval to host games in Toronto yet. The Toronto Blue Jays, Canada’s three MLS teams and all nine CFL teams have been playing home games since mid-July but those teams play in open-air venues.

One notable game on the schedule will be the return of Kyle Lowry, now with the Miami Heat, on February 3rd.

For the full schedule go to Raptors.com.

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera hit his 500th career home run Sunday in Toronto.

He’s the 28th player in MLB history to reach that mark, and the first Tiger to ever do it. The Toronto fans gave him a standing ovation.

The Tigers plan to honor Cabrera’s accomplishment at Comerica Park with a ceremony on Friday, September 24. Their series opener against the Royals has been dubbed “Miggy Celebration Day.”

A lion sanctuary called GG Conservation in South Africa offers a package where people can go into a plexiglass cage at the centre of a lair with 77 rescued lions. Like a reverse zoo.

Three people can fit in the cage at once, and you’re in there for 45 minutes.

The sanctuary has done this for about two years, and they say safety is a top priority. That said, they also warn visitors that they “cannot guarantee how the lions will react.”

The lions will jump onto the top of the cage, so it’s regularly inspected by an engineer to make sure it can hold their weight, which can be up to 570 pounds.

The sanctuary says the cage is good for the lions too, because, it offers them enrichment in the form of mental and physical stimulation.

This sounds like one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that will cost an arm and a leg, but it’s reasonable. Prices range from about $130 to $200, with the profits going toward the care of the lions.

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This post was written by Chris McLeod