An outburst at the school board meeting
And get ready for roller skiing! Plus, pollutants in dirty snow. Read to the end for baby fox photos
There was a lot of interest in last night’s school board meeting. Apparently it ws standing room only with a sizable contingent of people there to support SOGI/pro-LGBTQ2S+ education, which local union head Daryll Beauregard ws scheduled to speak on:
But not everyone there was supportive, as one person in the gallery started yelling about division and dictatorships during the presentation, causing for a temporary pause on proceedings as everyone ws told to go outside and later warned that if there were any more outbursts, everyone would have to leave. You can watch two videos of it below:
Ironically, after all of that, nobody spoke when it came time for public comment.
Also, as CKPG’s Caden Fanshaw noted, there was no discussion as the board passed a bunch of motions — which is, I guess, what happens, when the people who disagree with the majority of the board have resigned. Among the items passed was support for anti-racism policies within the district.
Here are the reports on the meeting which provide more details on the meeting and the post-meeting scrum with the board chair:
Dirty snow
I did not know that those giant piles of snow we have at the end of winter could be bad for us. But, apparently, they can be:
Ubong Eduok, a senior research associate in the department of chemistry at Western University in London, Ont., said even small amounts of snow are very absorbent, because they're formed by extremely porous ice crystals.
While that can be helpful — it can absorb the sounds of loud vehicles, for example — research has shown that snow also absorbs tiny pollutant particles. That includes everything from vehicle exhaust, to metals and plastics, to chemicals and compounds that can be dangerous to humans and the environment.
The pollutants can also change while they sit in the snow, spawning more particles with different levels of toxicity.
Eduok said when the snow melts the pollutants are released and become a bigger problem.
"The pollutants follow the runoff into the oceans or Great Lakes, for instance," he said. "It could evaporate into the atmosphere, or it could percolate and completely pollute the groundwater."
Parisa Ariya, a professor in the department of chemistry at McGill University, has also studied pollutants in snow. She said the snow acts as sort of vehicle for pollution.
"Snow has provided another matrix to exchange [pollutants]," said Ariya.
She said other studies have found pollutants preserved in snow and ice in the Arctic.
In fact, one study found the oil sands contaminated meltwater, making it toxic to larval fish.
Gross.
Quick news
With the school board backing out of a lease agreement for a new daycare in College Heights, the city has turned to the neighbourhood association to find a space for it (here is the district’s explanation for why they backed out).
Junk in the Trunk sale is this weekend. So is the annual Spring Cleanup.
West Fraser Timber posts a $42 million loss in 2023’s first quarter.
The Cariboo Regional District weighs in on the gas leak south of Quesnel.
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