Prior to the recent touchdown of the Artemis II rocket in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, a target landing site had to be marked out by the U.S. Navy, which used marine markers supplied by Prescott-based HFI Pyrotechnics.<\/p>\n
It came as a surprise to the eastern Ontario company, with representatives first noticing their product in use when watching the Artemis II touchdown on television on April 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially it was, am I really seeing this? And then it was immense pride in our product being part of such a historic mission and in our company and employees that supply this product to the U.S., Canada and countries around the world,\u201d CEO Rhiannon Iles told OBJ.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even before the touchdown, 2026 was already shaping up to be a good year for HFI. Iles noted HFI has increased its shipments globally by over 50 per cent when compared to previous years and is on track to almost double them in 2027.<\/p>\n
St. Lawrence College and Fleming College begin integration<\/p>\n
St. Lawrence College (SLC) and Fleming College, both publicly supported Ontario community colleges, have announced plans to integrate, with current SLC president Glenn Vollebregt serving as the new organization\u2019s president.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement, the institutions cited greater scale, broader access for students to programs and services and improved long-term financial sustainability as some of the key benefits of the integration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an important step toward creating a stronger future for students, employers and communities across eastern Ontario,\u201d said Julie Caffin, chair of SLC\u2019s board of governors. \u201cBy bringing together the complementary strengths of our two institutions, we have an opportunity to build a more resilient college that can respond to changing needs while preserving our commitment to student success and community impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two institutions say there are \u201cno planned changes to local brands, programs, campuses, services or student supports\u201d as a result of the integration.<\/p>\n
The announcement indicates that the process has just begun and does not set a timeline for completion.<\/p>\n
SLC operates campuses in Kingston, Brockville and Cornwall, while Fleming\u2019s campuses are located in Peterborough and Lindsay.<\/p>\n
Cornwall\u2019s population hits milestone<\/p>\n
The City of Cornwall has surpassed a population of 50,000, coming in at 54,346 in Statistics Canada\u2019s 2025 projections, an increase of more than 10 per cent since 2020, the city noted in a press release.<\/p>\n
The broader census division population, including the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry as well as the Ontario portion of Akwesasne, shows 128,617 people, based on Statistics Canada\u2019s numbers.<\/p>\n
The next federal census begins in May.<\/p>\n
Cornwall cuts development charges to boost homebuilding<\/p>\n
With housing permit applications declining, the City of Cornwall is temporarily cutting development charges.<\/p>\n
Council recently approved a reduction in charges to $5,000 per eligible unit, down from $16,367, after staff presented numbers showing the city saw a total of five permit applications for detached and semi-detached properties in January and February 2026 and six permit applications in the fourth quarter of 2025, where it would normally see dozens of applications per month.<\/p>\n
The trial period for the lower rate will conclude at the end of 2027.<\/p>\n
Big dig on downtown Kingston artery begins<\/p>\n
A stretch of Princess Street through Kingston\u2019s Williamsville neighbourhood is closed ahead of what is expected to be about 18 months of construction work.<\/p>\n
The construction will feature the addition of cycling infrastructure, upgraded transit stops, watermain and sewer replacements, beautification improvements and creation of a parkette.<\/p>\n
The roughly 700-metre stretch of Princess Street between Albert and Division streets is home to dozens of businesses and serves as a western gateway into downtown Kingston.<\/p>\n
Ontario Venture departs Picton Terminals<\/p>\n
The first agricultural shipment to leave port from the Picton area in 75 years was shipped out of Picton Terminals on April 7.<\/p>\n
Ontario Venture was loaded with wheat and soybeans bound for Quebec City Terminal and its departure was a major milestone in a 12-year effort to restart operations at the port, which has lain mostly dormant since the late 1970s.<\/p>\n
Picton Terminals also ships salt, steel, minerals and equipment. It is owned by Kingston-based Abna Investments.<\/p>\n
CCHL seeking new Pembroke Lumber Kings owner<\/p>\n
The Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) is seeking a new, Pembroke-based owner of the Pembroke Lumber Kings junior A hockey team.<\/p>\n
The league said it terminated the CCHL membership of owner Alex Armstrong in September 2025 and Hockey Canada recently declined to hear Armstrong\u2019s appeal of the ruling.<\/p>\n
However, in a statement, Armstrong said he is seeking \u201cthe intervention of the (Ontario) Superior Court of Justice to overturn these decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong was suspended by the league in February 2025 after a CCHL investigation into conduct and management of team finances.<\/p>\n
Kingston\u2019s semi-pro soccer team makes debut<\/p>\n
The inaugural seasons of the Kingston Sentinels are underway. The newly launched men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams are competing in the 2026 League2 Ontario season, which is an entry point to the Ontario Premier League.<\/p>\n
The debut marks the completion of one of three goals for Victory Grounds Ventures, an Ottawa-based group that is also striving to build a pro soccer stadium in the Kingston area and eventually bring the Canadian Premier League to Kingston.<\/p>\n
A proposal by Victory Grounds Ventures to construct a stadium at the Memorial Centre in Kingston was withdrawn in March 2025. A spokesperson for the company says a revised stadium project is moving along well, but declined to provide more specific updates.<\/p>\n
The League2 season began April 17, with the Sentinels\u2019 home openers slated for April 25 at CaraCo Home Field.<\/p>\n
South Frontenac campsite loses land tribunal hearing<\/p>\n
Skycroft Campground Resort\u2019s planned expansion will be delayed or cancelled after it lost a case at the Ontario Land Tribunal.<\/p>\n
The camp was seeking to add 118 campsites and 30 \u201chobbit-style, cave-like pods\u201d on a portion of its 42-acre site, but the tribunal denied the required rezoning after agreeing with the municipality of South Frontenac that Skycroft did not complete an adequate environmental review.<\/p>\n
Skycroft owner David Hilhorst alleges it was the municipality of South Frontenac that expanded the required environmental review to include the whole property, rather than the portion being rezoned, in an effort to stop or further delay the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hilhorst told OBJ he will meet with the township to discuss the process, but did not commit to submitting a new rezoning application.<\/p>\n
Brainstim launches Kingston clinic<\/p>\n
A new chain of clinics offering treatments for mental health and chronic pain has opened a Kingston clinic.<\/p>\n
Brainstim was founded in 2017 in Vancouver and has since expanded to Kingston and Perth, as well as Halifax.<\/p>\n
The clinic offers transcranial magnetic stimulation, a non-invasive technology that uses magnetic pulses to regulate brain circuits, offering an alternative treatment path for those with depression, OCD and other challenges.<\/p>\n
CEO Vinay Singh told OBJ that military veterans and first responders are a primary market for the clinic\u2019s services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prior to the recent touchdown of the Artemis II rocket in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-623789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}