News Headlines / March 17, 2006

Sex-ed program targets younger students   Immaculata high school is changing its sexual education program to target younger students after recent studies tied a lack of knowledge to a rise in sexually transmitted infections.   Doucet’s toll plan called ‘half-baked bright idea’   Coun. Clive Doucet wants to charge motorists between 25 and 50 cents to drive into the Glebe and Old Ottawa South on a weekday morning.   Free tax service lends helping hand   Death and taxes. For Canadians, one of these two certainties in life is just around the corner, and the Canada Revenue Agency is holding free tax clinics for low income earners.   Foreign students to make up for falling school enrolment   The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board announced earlier this month that it will invest $150,000 over two years to increase enrolment and counter falling funding.   Energy-reduction program underused   Not all the energy-efficient light bulbs are on at city hall when it comes to a program that helps low-income people save electricity.   Citywide Wi-Fi gaining momentum   Ottawa has some Wi-Fi hotspot coffeehouses and a small wireless zone in place – but is citywide Wi-Fi on the horizon?   Council approves sustainability fund   Amid the budget debate at City Council last week, it would have been easy to miss the one word that was very important to environmental activists around Ottawa.   Task force’s report gives homeless a voice   After years of asking questions but getting no answers, the concerns of the homeless reached city council earlier this month when it received recommendations from the Homelessness and Safe Streets Act Task Force, providing possible solutions to the problem.   Chinatown recovering from shock of two murders   “Let’s go to the Fullhouse,” one girl says. Her friends giggle as the three walk briskly past the bar, pulling their fur-trimmed hoods closer around their flushed cheeks and pulling their slender bodies closer into each other. But there is nothing to laugh about. Nowadays, they wouldn’t dream of stepping foot inside the bar.