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> Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are Jimmy Carter, the Georgia peanut farmer who became a U.S. president and a Nobel Prize-winning activist for peace and human rights, has died. He was 100. Carter's post-presidency had been widely seen as more successful than his time in the White House, and he called it " more gratifying ." even into his 90s, crusading for human rights, writing books, building homes for the needy with his own hands, teaching Sunday school, and traveling the world in the pursuit of peace. Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy, participated in the Navy's fledgling nuclear-powered submarine program, and served two terms as a Georgia state senator and one as governor before he was elected to the White House. He became the nation's 39th president in 1977, defeating President Gerald Ford in the election more than two years after the Watergate scandal drove Richard Nixon from the Oval Office. Carter had been on hospice care for more than a year. His family announced in February 2023 that he had entered end-of-life care in his home after a series of hospital visits. His wife, Rosalynn , who had been diagnosed with dementia in early 2023, briefly entered hospice herself at age 96 before dying on Nov. 19, 2023. Carter turned 100 in October, bringing a new flood of tributes and accolades. His grandson Jason Carter said it was gratifying for Jimmy Carter to see a reassessment of his presidency and legacy. After losing his reelection bid in 1980, he remained active in public issues, including speaking at age 95 in support of Joe Biden at the virtual Democratic National Convention in August 2020. Some commentators viewed him as the nation's "most successful ex-president." He wrote more than 40 books , including "Faith," which he released when he was in his mid-90s. Days after his 93rd birthday, he offered to go to North Korea amid a nuclear crisis in an attempt to establish a permanent peace between Pyongyang and Washington. And at age 96, he denounced Republican efforts to restrict voter access in his home state. Carter lived longer than any other U.S. president, surpassing the late George H.W. Bush, who died in November 2018 at age 94. When Carter reached that milestone in March 2019, Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said he was still active. "Both President and Mrs. Carter are determined to use their influence for as long as they can to make the world a better place," Congileo said at the time. "Their tireless resolve and heart have helped to improve life for millions of the world's poorest people." U.S. stock markets have historically closed for a day of mourning to honor the death of a president. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia — the first U.S. president born in a hospital. His father ran a general store and invested in farmland. His mother, known as "Miss Lillian," was a nurse. Carter attended the U.S. Naval Academy. During one of his visits home from Annapolis, his younger sister Ruth set up a date with their neighbor and lifelong friend. Upon graduation in 1946 from the academy, he married that young woman, Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, when she was 18. (On July 7, 2023, the Carters celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary , marking a record-long marriage for a first couple.) In the Navy, he served on submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and attained the rank of lieutenant. He joined then-Capt. Hyman Rickover's nuclear submarine development program. He did graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics and became senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the second nuclear submarine, the Seawolf. After his father died in 1953, Carter resigned from the Navy and returned to Georgia, taking over the family farms and becoming active in local politics. He served in the Navy Reserve until 1961. Elected governor in 1971, he was considered one of the leaders of the "New South" — a progressive who condemned racial segregation and inequality. During his presidential campaign, he ran as an outsider, hoping to capitalize on the anti-Washington sentiment in the post-Vietnam/Watergate era. "My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm running for president," a beaming Carter said in the opening of his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in July 1976. He offered to create jobs in a nasty economy with a 7.9% unemployment rate, and to set a squeaky-clean example as a born-again Christian from outside the Beltway, unblemished by Washington's scandals. On the eve of the election, however, he gave an interview to Playboy magazine in which he made this shocking confession: "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times." Still, the man with the huge smile and genteel Georgia drawl handily won the Electoral College by 297-240 but received only 50.1% of the popular vote to Ford's 48%. Once in office, Carter empowered his running mate, Walter Mondale, to transform the vice presidency into a policy-driving office. On the domestic front, in addition to stagflation and recession, Carter had to deal with the Love Canal ecological disaster in Niagara Falls, New York, which led to the creation of the environmental Superfund. He also ended federal price regulations for airlines, trucking and railroads; signed the bailout of Chrysler in 1979; and elevated the Department of Education into a separate Cabinet-level agency. One of his biggest domestic problems was the festering energy crisis, which stemmed from the Arab oil embargo that began during the 1973 Middle East war. He termed the crisis "the moral equivalent of war." In symbolic gestures, he wore a Mister Rogers-styled cardigan, turned down the White House heat, installed solar heating panels in the executive mansion, created the Department of Energy and pressed for tax incentives for installation of home insulation. In international affairs, he campaigned for human rights, successfully concluded the Camp David peace accords between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, negotiated the return to Panama of the Canal Zone, established full diplomatic relations with communist China and reached an agreement on the SALT II nuclear arms limitation treaty with Moscow. Then came the fateful end of the year 1979: The disastrous 444-day Iranian hostage standoff began in November, and the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December, resulting in Carter's call for a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by radical student followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Nov. 4, 1979, and the subsequent siege made the Carter administration seem impotent. Even the first lady recalled during a CNBC interview in 2014 that she urged her husband to "do something, anything!" Five months into the crisis, Carter ordered a military mission, Operation Eagle Claw, to rescue the American hostages. The mission ended in humiliation: In the process of aborting the plan because of operational difficulties, a U.S. helicopter crashed into a transport plane at the desert staging area, killing eight servicemen. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who advocated diplomacy over force to resolve the hostage crisis, resigned. "I know this is a matter of principle with you, and I respect the reasons you have expressed to me," Carter said in a handwritten note to Vance. The crisis finally ended with the release of 52 Americans on Jan. 20, 1981, the day the man who ended Carter's single-term presidency took the oath of office — Ronald Reagan. Before the 1980 election between Carter, Reagan and independent John Anderson, Sen. Ted Kennedy waged an unsuccessful challenge to the president for the Democratic nomination. In a 2014 interview with CNBC, Carter said he probably would have been easily reelected had he rescued the hostages. "It would have shown that I was strong and resolute and manly," he said. "I could have wiped Iran off the map with the weapons that we had. But in the process a lot of innocent people would have been killed, probably including the hostages. And so I stood up against all that advice, and then eventually all my prayers were answered and all the hostages came home safe and free." Summing up the Carter presidency, former aide Stuart Eizenstat wrote in a 2015 op-ed in The New York Times that the nation's 39th president had numerous accomplishments. "It is enormously frustrating for those of us who worked closely with him in the White House to witness his presidency caricatured as a failure, and to see how he has been marginalized, even by his fellow Democrats," Eizenstat wrote. "His defining characteristic was confronting intractable problems regardless of their political cost." Carter remained active after he left Washington at age 56. He and Rosalynn volunteered for Habitat for Humanity , building affordable housing for the needy, and he established the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and The Carter Center in Atlanta. Founded in 1982, the center has sent observers to monitor elections in more than three dozen countries. The center has also led health efforts, including the push to eradicate the tropical parasitic Guinea worm disease. The center's motto is "Waging peace. Fighting disease. Building hope." "I still hope to outlive the last Guinea worm ," Carter told CNN in May 2018. (He came close. The Carter Center reported there were only 13 human cases in 2023.) Carter, who also taught at Emory University, traveled extensively to promote peace, human rights and economic progress. In one mission, President Bill Clinton secretly dispatched him to North Korea in 1994 to help mediate a nuclear dispute with dictator Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather. In 2002, Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for what the awards committee called "his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." However, his actions were not always well-received. His efforts in his long campaign for peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors included the 2006 book "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid," which was perceived as antisemitic and biased against Israel. In particular, one sentence provoked an outcry: "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel." In an interview with NPR , Carter was asked about the passage. "That was a terribly worded sentence which implied, obviously in a ridiculous way, that I approved terrorism and terrorist acts against Israeli citizens," he said. "The 'when' was obviously a crazy and stupid word. My publishers have been informed about that and have changed the sentence in all future editions of the book." (It became: "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they renounce all acts of violence against innocent civilians and will accept international laws, the Arab peace proposal of 2002, and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace.") In the 2014 CNBC interview, Carter said the Camp David Accords and other peacemaking stood among his greatest achievements as president. "I kept our country at peace, which has happened very rarely since the Second World War, and I tried to work for peace between other people who were not directly related to the United States, like between Egypt and Israel. I normalized diplomatic relations with China, and I implemented a very strong human rights commitment that brought about a change throughout Latin America, for instance, from totalitarian military dictatorships to democracies," he said. "So I would say the promotion of peace and human rights were the two things that I'm most proud." Had he been elected to a second term, he told CNBC, "I could have implemented very firmly the peace agreement that I negotiated with Israel and its neighbors that was never fully implemented." "I'd like to be remembered as a champion of peace and human rights. Those are the two things I've found as a kind of guide for my life. I've done the best I could with those, not always successful, of course," he told CNBC. "I would hope the American people would see that I tried to do what was best for our country every day I was in office." Survivors include sons John "Jack," James "Chip," and Donnel "Jeff" and daughter Amy. Jack ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Nevada in 2006. Jack's son Jason lost a bid for Georgia governor in 2014 to then-incumbent Republican Nathan Deal. Carter's brother Billy, whose antics stirred up unwanted attention during the Carter White House years, died in 1988. On Aug. 12, 2015, the former president revealed that he had melanoma and that surgery on his liver confirmed that it had metastasized there and to his brain. A week after his cancer diagnosis announcement, Carter held a remarkably frank news conference at the Carter Center to discuss his prognosis and the prospect of facing death. "I've had a wonderful life, I've had thousands of friends, and I've had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence," he told reporters. Illustrating that peace of mind, the former president took this picture when he returned home from the news conference: After four months of treatment, including targeted radiation and immunotherapy, Carter announced in early December 2015 that a subsequent brain scan showed no signs of the original cancer spots and no new ones. Then in March 2016, he announced he no longer needed regular cancer treatments. Months later, in July, he addressed the Democratic National Convention by video, urging people to vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump . And at an Atlanta Braves game in September 2015, the former first couple was caught on the "kiss cam." Former President Jimmy Carter smooches wife on Atlanta Braves' kiss cam http://t.co/eq5KbHftsn #NBCNightlyNews pic.twitter.com/QT5Prl6T8f In 2019, at age 94, Carter fell in his home and broke a hip when he was preparing to go turkey hunting. "President Carter said his main concern is that turkey season ends this week, and he has not reached his limit," the Carter Center said. He underwent hip replacement surgery but had to cancel plans to resume teaching Sunday school six days after the accident. Later that year, just before a planned week at an October 2019 Habitat for Humanity project in Tennessee, the 95-year-old Carter fell in his home while heading to church. Although he suffered a black eye and needed 14 stitches in his head, Carter appeared 400 miles away at a concert that night in Nashville to support the project. Wielding a power drill and other building tools, he soon joined the volunteer construction crews. Then, two weeks later, he fell in his house and suffered a pelvic fracture. But in another two weeks, he was back at church, giving a lesson on the Book of Job and talking about facing death during his 2015 cancer treatment. "I obviously prayed about it. I didn't ask God to let me live, but I just asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death. It didn't really matter to me whether I died or lived," Carter told the congregation of 400 people at Maranatha Baptist Church on Nov. 3, 2019, according to the church's feed on Facebook. "I have since that time been absolutely confident that my Christian faith includes complete confidence in life after death." During the Covid pandemic, the Carters decided not to travel to Biden's inauguration, but weeks later, they were fully vaccinated and were back in their usual seats in the front pew of Maranatha Baptist for Sunday services. " It's hard to live until you're 95 years old," Carter told People magazine days after reaching that milestone. "I think the best explanation for that is to marry the best spouse: Someone who will take care of you and engage and do things to challenge you and keep you alive and interested in life." — Michele Luhn and Lynne Pate contributed to this report.
Amalgamated Regional Trading (ART) Corporation says ongoing restructuring will enhance group performance and agility in swiftly responding to opportunities across business units. Group chairman, Dr Thomas Utete, Wushe said in a statement of financials for the year ending September 30, 2024, that the company could deliver the expected financial performance for the year due to the ongoing transformation of the business. He said the changes were severely impacted by unfavourable dynamics in the economic environment. “The bold and defensive decisions taken to scale back investment in the paper segment during the year resulted in significant losses in the paper divisions after taking into account one-off restructuring costs and under-recoveries. “The energy storage, timber, and stationery businesses delivered resilient performances as they remain foundationally strong, but power shortages during the period exacerbated product availability challenges in the peak season,” Mr Wushe said. He said group revenue for the year decreased by 11 percent to US$33,321 million from the prior year’s US$38,227 million due to product availability challenges and the deliberate scaling down of paper production. The group’s export volumes declined by 15 percent compared to the prior year. “The foreign currency shortages in the region continued, resulting in significant payment delays in Zambia and Malawi,” said Mr Wushe. The group’s gross profit margins for the year at 44 percent improved by 2 percentage points, benefiting from the change in sales mix with the slowdown of the low-margin paper volumes. Dr Wushe said operating expenses increased as currency movements drove service providers to move to hard currency and hedge against further value loss. “The group was relentless in its drive to fix, strengthen, and reposition the business,” he said. Dr Wushe said overall short-term bank debt was reduced substantially as proceeds from property disposals were applied towards loan repayments. In terms of divisional performance, overall battery volume in the Energy Storage unit declined by 8 percent from the prior year with the business facing tough economic conditions, power, and supply chain disruptions. Dr Wushe said demand in the market remained high despite increased competition from imports, and technology will continue to impact customer preferences in the segment. “The business broadened its investment in new technologies with the launch of the maintenance-free batteries. “Battery clinics were increased throughout the country to educate consumers who have inadvertently been purchasing counterfeit batteries and low-cost imported batteries without after-market support,” he said. He added that industrial battery volume increased by 16 percent on the back of increased demand from mining, energy, and telecommunication sectors. During the period under review, the stationery division volumes were affected by power-induced product shortages, disruptions in the formal market, and currency instability. As a result, volumes decreased by 10 percent from the prior year. Dr Wushe said the proliferation of low-cost imported pens, during the peak back-to-school periods, was aided by product shortages. He indicated that the new Eversharp pens performed well in the first year, contributing 10 percent of total revenue. “The listing of the Eversharp pens in the Zambia formal retail market during the period is expected to boost exports once product shortages are alleviated. “The Eversharp brand has retained its position in the market with raw material supply and quality challenges having been resolved during the year. “The Clean Schools campaign and National Heads programme were sponsored, affirming Eversharp’s continued support and role in the education sector,” said Dr Wushe. In the paper division, Dr Wushe said the scaling back of production during the period to allow for optimisation of the new equipment and restructuring of the division had to be extended to the end of the year as it became apparent that the worsening power supply situation and unfavourable market conditions would persist into 2025. He said this had come with significant difficulties and trade-off decisions given the limited cash resources available. “Paper milling in the country faces significant obstacles related to raw material supply, the cost and availability of power, and water. The disruption that technology and advancements in paper making present will continue to challenge our capabilities. “The group, however, remains confident that its experience and investments will, in the long term, withstand and overcome these challenges,” he said. Dr Wushe said the company had identified partners to enhance capabilities and technologies to support the group’s innovation pipeline and talent base. He said tissue converting and trading under the new partnerships commenced in the last quarter with volumes expected to recover on the back of improved product availability. The group’s Mutare Estates sales volumes were above the prior year by 3 percent, with demand for structural sawn timber increasing as the year ended. “Gum volumes orders could not be fulfilled due to extraction bottlenecks. Gross margins increased to 54 percent from 46 percent due to an improvement in recovery rates and blended harvesting around the plantation. Pallet sales were slowed by customer payment delays,” said Dr Wushe. Dr Wushe noted that the estates suffered minimal fire losses as a result of a highly prepared and motivated fire-fighting team. He said the business continues to face disruptions from the illegal mining activity around Inodzi Estate and will continue to engage law enforcement authorities to ensure the estate is safeguarded.In a rare interview, Gan Wei opened up about her relationship with Jia Yueting and reflected on her decision to marry him. She revealed that despite the challenges they faced, she holds no regrets about their time together. Gan Wei emphasized that she believed in Jia Yueting's vision and ideas, and she was willing to stand by him through thick and thin. Their marriage may have had its ups and downs, but Gan Wei's loyalty and devotion to her ex-husband are apparent.
Philadelphia (8-2) at Los Angeles Rams (5-5) Sunday, 8:20 p.m. EST, NBC/Peacock BetMGM NFL odds: Eagles by 3. Against the spread: Eagles 6-4; Rams 4-6. Series record: Eagles lead 23-20-1. Last meeting: Eagles beat Rams 23-14 in Inglewood, Calif. on Oct. 8, 2023. Last week: Eagles beat Washington 26-18; Rams beat New England 28-22. Eagles offense: overall (5), rush (1), pass (22), scoring (7). Eagles defense: overall (1), rush (7), pass (2), scoring (6). Rams offense: overall (17), rush (26), pass (T-7), scoring (21). Rams defense: overall (23), rush (18), pass (22), scoring (22). Turnover differential: Eagles plus-2; Rams plus-4. RB Saquon Barkley. Barkley combined for 198 scrimmage yards and two scores, rushing 26 times for 146 yards (5.6 average) while adding two receptions for 52 yards against Washington. With 1,137 rushing yards through 10 games, Barkley only trails Baltimore’s Derrick Henry for the NFL lead. He had his sixth 100-plus yard rushing game this season, which is the most in the NFL. S Kam Kinchens. The rookie third-round pick from Miami had eight tackles, one tackle for loss, an interception and a forced fumble against the Patriots as he continues to come on strong. Kinchens has three picks in the past three games. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts vs. Rams’ defensive line. Hurts shredded Los Angeles for 303 yards passing and 72 yards rushing last season despite the presence of superstar DT Aaron Donald. After Donald retired, the Rams turned to a committee approach to get after the passer, and it has worked with rookie OLB Jared Verse and DT Braden Fiske fitting in well next to second-year OLB Byron Young and DT Kobie Turner. But they can only unleash their excellent pass rush skills by limiting Philadelphia on early downs. Hurts has been at his dual-threat best over the past five games, accounting for 15 total touchdowns (six passing, nine rushing) against two turnovers. Eagles defensive end Bryce Huff had surgery on his left wrist on Thursday, a move that could allow him to return toward the end of the season. ... WR DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and DT Milton Williams (foot) each missed practice this week. ... Rams RT Rob Havenstein (ankle) looks to be trending toward a return this week. Havenstein sat out the previous two games because of the ailment. The Eagles have won all three games in Los Angeles since the Rams moved back in 2016. ... Overall, Philadelphia has won seven of the past eight. The only setback came in Week 2 of the 2020 pandemic season. Barkley has passed 100-plus scrimmage yards in eight of 10 games. That is tied with LeSean McCoy (2011) and Brian Westbrook (2007) for the most by an Eagle through 10 games. His 198 yards were his second most as an Eagle (199 in Week 9). ... The Eagles have allowed two passing touchdowns during their winning streak. Only one opponent has topped 200 passing yards against them in this stretch, with Cincinnati throwing for 222 in Week 8. ... Hurts leads all NFL quarterbacks with 11 touchdown runs and is second only to Henry's 13 scores for the Ravens. ... WR A.J. Brown leads the league in receptions of 30 yards or longer. He is averaging 18.7 yards per catch, the best mark of any player with at least 30 grabs. ... Even before he hurt his wrist, Huff struggled in his first season in Philadelphia with just 2 1/2 sacks and four quarterback hits. His snap count has dipped since he was injured ahead of a game earlier this month against Jacksonville. Huff had 17 1/2 sacks in four seasons with the Jets before he signed a three-year, $51 million free-agent deal with the Eagles. ... Philadelphia has run for at least 150 yards and two touchdowns in five straight games, something it hadn't accomplished since 1949. ... Rams WR Puka Nacua caught his first touchdown of the season in New England. He has at least seven receptions and 98 yards in three of his past four games, with only a second-quarter ejection in Seattle having limited Nacua since he returned from a knee injury. ... WR Cooper Kupp has 614 receptions through his first 98 games, which is fourth most in NFL history through 100 games. Julio Jones (619) is third. ... RB Kyren Williams averaged a season-high 5.7 yards per carry, finishing with 86 yards on 15 attempts versus the Patriots. ... Verse has 11 tackles for loss and 4 1/2 sacks through his first 10 games. Verse is pressuring the quarterback on 20.2% of pass rush snaps, which ranks second in the league overall. ... The Rams were 2 of 8 (25%) on third down against New England, their third straight game converting 25% or worse. ... QB Matthew Stafford has not been sacked in each of Los Angeles’ past three wins. Don’t be discouraged using Stafford, Kupp and Nacua against Philadelphia's pass defense. All three put up solid fantasy numbers in last season’s meeting, even as the Eagles sat on the ball for nearly 38 minutes. Stafford had 222 yards and two scores, finding Kupp eight times for 118 yards and Nacua seven times for 71 yards and a touchdown, so they'll find ways to produce. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.While Chatham-Kent administration and council were able to decrease the previously approved and revised tax increase almost in half, you can’t blame rural residents if they feel they’re bearing the brunt of the cuts as council will be eliminating dust suppression on rural roads and changing the application of gravel on roads from an average of once every three years to four years combined for about $2.3-million savings. The municipality is also beginning plans to divest Clearville Park, located on Clearville Road at Talbot Trail, which is owned and maintained by Chatham-Kent. After two nights of deliberations last week, council approved a tax increase of 4.99% for 2025, which equates to about a $100 hike per $100,000 residential assessment value. The first multi-year budget (2024-27) was passed last November with a 5.53% tax increase for 2024. The council also approved an 8.17% hike for 2025, 7.7% for 2026, and 7.3% for 2027, but these proposed increases will be reviewed and adjusted each year. Administration notified council late in the spring the approved 8.17% increase was up to 9.4%. However, when budget deliberations began on Nov. 26, the increase was lowered to 5.96% thanks to several savings found by the Executive Management Team and a surprising $2,051,265 in funding from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund. Council voted 13-5 in favour of accepting the 4.99% increase at last Wednesday’s second night of deliberations. Ward 3 East Kent Councillor Morena MacDonald was among the 13 who voted for the 4.99% increase. The others were Ward 1, West Kent’s Melissa Harrigan and Lauren Anderson; Ward 2, South Kent’s Trevor Thompson; Ward 4, North Kent’s Jamie McGrail; Ward 5, Wallaceburg’s Carmen McGregor and Aaron Hall; Ward 6, Chatham’s Conor Allin, Brock McGregor, Marjorie Crew, Amy Finn and Alysson Storey; and Mayor Darrin Canniff. East Kent’s John Wright was one of the five opposing voters, along with South Kent’s Anthony Ceccacci and Ryan Doyle, North Kent’s Rhonda Jubenville and Chatham’s Michael Bondy. “It’s good that it’s under five percent, and I would have voted for it if they hadn’t cut Clearville Park,” said Wright. One of the savings administration proposed was divesting Clearville Park, which is owned and operated by the municipality. The property includes a trailer park, campground, parkland and a boat ramp. The 2025 Operating Budget report stated the municipality takes in $243,600 in revenue from rental fees but pays $188,635 in expenses plus another $55,025 in transfers to reserves, so there is no profit or loss. The budget update also anticipates $252,825 in both revenue and expenses for 2025. However, in the long term, Clearville Park will need $4,200,000 in capital improvements over the next 10 years. Wright is upset that the administration was pushing through this plan to divest the property without any input from council or the general public, namely from the seasonal renters. “This is their residence for some of them,” Wright said. “Some live here for six months and then go down to Florida or Arizona for the rest of the year. You can’t just kick them out.” Wright believes this divestment plan should have been discussed at a Council meeting instead of included in the budget. “We didn’t know, there was no public notice ... ‘let’s just sell it,’” Wright said. “There’s still too many unanswered questions.” Chatham-Kent CAO Michael Duben said the intention is to see if a private operator is interested in purchasing and operating the facility. The decision to sell the property or what to do with it if no buyer can be found would return to council. Wright said it wouldn’t be right to sell the property because the land was donated to the former Orford Twp., which the municipality inherited at amalgamation. Wright added, “The public park on the other side of the trailer park has been a park since 1816; it’s one of the longest-running parks in Chatham-Kent.” McDonald agreed with her Ward 3 partner. “Obviously, I don’t want to see that park go; it’s one of my favourite places,” McDonald said. “It would be good to get the residents’ thoughts on it.” Wright entered an unsuccessful motion to remove the divestment of Clearville Park from the budget, which was defeated 11-7. McDonald, Carmen McGregor, Finn, Jubenville, Storey, and McGrail agreed with the Ward 3 Councillor. Wright said he intends to bring the issue back for review and to seek public input at a future council meeting. Council also voted in favour of eliminating dust suppression service on rural roads, which resulted in $1.35 million in savings—a full percentage point—from the budget. Ward 5 Councillor McGregor entered an unsuccessful motion to put the money back into the budget to maintain the current dust control measures. “I think it’s lessening our service to our rural residents,” McGregor said. McDonald and Wright agreed. “I don’t think it was a good idea to remove the service without knowing more,” McDonald said. “I received some concerns so I figured it would be good to get more information on it.” Wright said he constantly gets complaints from residents about the dust on the roads. “And they’re going to get so many more complaints,” he said. Edward Soldo, General Manager of Infrastructure and Engineering, said the application of a brine compound is ineffective because it gets washed away after one or two rains. “From a staff perspective, it’s not an effective use of dollars, given its limited impact, Soldo said. He said municipalities across Canada have already eliminated dust suppression methods. “There’s a lot of different solutions people have tried, but it just doesn’t keep the dust down,” Soldo said. “At the end of the day, we’re a rural agricultural community; you’re never going to eliminate dust.” McGregor’s motion was defeated 11-7 as Wright, McDonald, McGrail, Harrigan, Jubenville, and Finn voted to maintain the service. Ceccacci entered a successful motion extending the application of gravel on roads from an average of once every three years to four years. A total of $1 million will be allocated to the Gravel Road Conversion Program, while the remaining $650,000 will be used to lower the 2025 tax rate. Administration said gravel roads would still receive their scheduled maintenance, but the $1 million savings will double the budget for converting them to tar and chip surfaces. Carmen McGregor, Jubenville, McGrail and Wright voted against the motion. “Our back roads are just going to take more of a pounding,” Wright said. The budget increase of 4.99% for 2025 includes investments in existing municipal services at 1.88%. In the absence of provincial and federal funding, 2.35% is allotted for investment in social issues, such as homelessness and housing costs. The budget update also includes $4,069,961 in infrastructure spending, allowing for increased spending on future improvements to infrastructure such as roads, drains, bridges and recreation facilities. The approved budget does not close libraries, rural service centres, arenas, or community supports. “Both Council and staff are putting in a great deal of effort to strategically balance inflation, societal challenges, and lack of upper-level government funding while ensuring infrastructure and services are maintained and improved for the residents of Chatham-Kent going forward,” said Mayor Canniff. “This increase, which is much lower than we originally anticipated, will help us maintain our extensive infrastructure and help address our community’s increasing need to invest in social issues that are becoming increasingly common throughout cities Canada-wide.” McDonald said she “learned a lot” in her first budget since taking over from Steve Pinsonneault, who vacated his Ward 3 seat to join the PC Party in the Ontario government in June. “It was great to hear from councillors who had been here much longer than I’ve been, and it was good to see how the process works, said McDonald. “We came in lower than last year, but we’re still facing a lot of pressures.”