London Community News

A party for the perfect princess

Princess Aurora from the story Sleeping Beauty, has always been Andie Morrison’s favourite Disney character.

Thanks to Make-A-Wish Southwestern Ontario, meeting Princess Aurora was transformed from a dream into a reality for Andie and her family, mom Jennifer, dad Shawn and three-year-old sister Hannah. On Jan. 2, the Morrison’s travelled to Orlando, Florida where they spent a week at Walt Disney World Resort.

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/community-story/1491448-a-party-for-the-perfect-princess/

PETA angels Emily Lavender and Brandi Dugall were at the corner of Wellington Road and King Street Thursday (Dec. 13) for a noon-hour demonstration against fur and leather.

Lavender works for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Dugall is a Waterloo student volunteering for the Angels for Animals campaign.

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/12/honk-if-you-hate-fur/

By Craig Gilbert/London Community News/Twitter: @CraigbGilbert

More than 100 students walked out of class at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School on a chilly Monday morning (Dec. 10).

The walkout coincided with the start of a province-wide work-to-rule campaign by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) that has teachers withdrawing from most volunteer-based activities.

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/12/students-walk-out-of-banting-in-protest-of-bill-115/

By Craig Gilbert/London Community News/Twitter: @CraigbGilbert

London Mayor Joe Fontana says he is innocent and that he will not step down while fighting a trio of fraud-related RCMP charges in 2013.

”I am innocent of all these charges,” he said at a news conference at his lawyer’s office Thursday morning. “I intend to fight as hard as I can to clear my name.”

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/11/im-innocent-of-all-these-charges-london-mayor-joe-fontana/

By Sean Meyer/London Community News/Twitter: Newswriter22

A working HIV vaccine could be saving lives in just five years time based on the preliminary results shared by researchers at Western University

The first and only preventative HIV vaccine, based on genetically modified killed whole-virus has been “making steady progress” according to Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, who spoke with media on Tuesday (Nov. 6), at Western’s Siebens Drake Research Institute. Kang, along with Dr. Dong Joon Kim, spokesperson for Sumagen Co. Ltd., said the vaccine being developed by his team at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry “holds tremendous promise for success.”

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/11/hiv-vaccine-possibly-five-years-away/

Photos by Mike Maloney/London Community News/Twitter: mdmaloneyphoto

Downtown London reverberated with the moans of the living dead as hundreds of souls, young and old joined in for the 2012 Zombie Walk on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 27).

Sporting a wide array of gashes and contusions, dragging along severed limbs with vacant stares in their eyes, the procession made their way from the corner of King and Clarence up to Victoria Park and back.

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/10/downtown-with-the-living-dead/

By Chet Greason/For London Community News

Jared Vaughan started his first business when he was 11 years old. “It was a pet waste management company,” he explained. “I picked up dog waste.”

“I learned at an early age I liked buying things … I wanted to support my expensive lifestyle,” he added with a laugh.

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/10/young-london-entrepreneur-braves-the-dragons-den/

Photos by Mike Maloney/London Community News/Twitter: mdmaloneyphoto

Decked out in gold and black, students from Westminster Secondary School (WSS) showed their thanks to a few very generous supporters of the school at its fall pep rally on Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 24).

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/10/wildcats-floored-by-support/

By Sean Meyer/London Community News/Twitter: Newswriter22

The YMCA of Western Ontario has come forward with a plan to save Old South’s former Normal School building, committing an annual $2 million to the operation of a new youth-focused complex.

Unfortunately, the organization is short the $5 million that has been estimated it would take to create the YMCA Youth Centre of Excellence.

Applicants and community members argue over ‘as the crow flies’

By Chet Greason/For London Community News

The residents of the neighbourhood surrounding the proposed methadone clinic at 527 Wellington Rd. voiced their concerns at a public meeting held at the site on Thursday night (Oct. 18).

The proposal is particularly controversial, as it would require an amendment to the current bylaw, which says methadone clinics must be at least 300 metres from schools. 527 Wellington Rd. is only 251 metres from Sir George Etienne Cartier elementary school.

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/10/public-meeting-debates-methadone-clinic-bylaw-amendment/