News Headlines / December 7, 2007

Action group wants city to stop buying bottled water   A local advocacy group is urging the City of Ottawa to stop supporting the bottled water industry and to encourage the use of municipal tap water.   Concert hall given funding reprieve – for now   “More time” was the order of the day as Elgin Street’s planned concert hall survived a city council vote last week that could have stripped its municipal funding. Instead, council agreed to postpone the deal’s Nov. 30 deadline to the end of February.   Somerset Ward residents fear effect of budget cuts   Ottawa’s newly proposed budget plan has Centretown residents concerned they will lose many of their community programs and services.   Budget cuts may force closure of 10 public library branches   The Ottawa Public Library Board has been forced to recommend the closure of one third of its branches in order to meet the city’s rigid budget constraints.   Resurgence of bedbugs bite into peace of mind   Caitlin Brown still has nightmares about the bedbugs that infested her apartment on Bell Street in August. At first, she thought she had a rash from a new detergent on her sheets or clothes. When she pulled off her bed sheets to throw them in the wash, large amounts of bedbugs were tucked into the crevices of her mattress.   Subsidized snow service launched for seniors   As snow begins to pile up in driveways across Ottawa, city council is looking to lend a hand to those who need it most.   Cat sanctuary used as dumping ground for abandoned pets   As winter approaches, volunteers at Ottawa’s cat sanctuary are worried about the number of cats that continue to be abandoned on Parliament Hill.   Despite popularity, experts dispute value of vegan diet   North America’s largest potluck for raw food vegans takes place every month in a Glebe church basement, but some nutritional scientists call the radical and increasingly popular diet “absurd and unhealthy.”