Matthew Van Dongen

3 days ago | thespec.com | Matthew Van Dongen

Homeless residents rallied with supporters Sunday against what they call the city’s “cruel and pointless” clearing of tent encampments from the Hamilton rail trail. Police and city crews closed a section of the trail area east of the Wentworth stairs Friday and Saturday to remove tents, belongings and any campers still living outdoors along a swath of the popular escarpment path.

3 days ago | thespec.com | Matthew Van Dongen

An early Sunday shooting along Upper James Street sent two men to hospital with gunshot wounds. Police were called to the shooting incident in the area of Upper James and Jameston Avenue before 2 a.m., according to a release. That location is just a few blocks south of where an innocent bystander, Harsimrat Randhawa, was killed by a stray bullet during a shooting just last month. On Sunday, first responders arrived to find two men with gunshot wounds.

6 days ago | thespec.com | Matthew Van Dongen

Embattled developer Harry Stinson’s latest school conversion project, the Gibson School Lofts, is in receivership due to missed mortgage payments. But Stinson said in an interview he is seeking a new partnership to help pay out his lender and allow him to finish the redevelopment at 601 Barton St. E. “The best way for both of us, for all of us, including the (condo) buyers … is to come to an agreement that the construction gets completed,” said the longtime Hamilton developer.

1 week ago | thespec.com | Matthew Van Dongen

The 44-year-old lost his lower city seat — once considered a New Democratic stronghold — in a federal election that wiped out the NDP across Ontario and left the orange party with just seven MPs across the country. The same political earthquake crumbled the party’s hopes to retake Hamilton Mountain with star candidate Monique Taylor, a longtime MPP who left her provincial seat to pursue a failed federal bid.

1 week ago | thespec.com | Matthew Van Dongen

The province has laid 10 charges and also fined the operator of an infamously stinky Stoney Creek landfill following a slew of odour complaints spanning several years. GFL Environmental Inc. faces multiple charges under the Environmental Protection Act related to odour complaints and discharge of air contaminants — in particular, sulphurous gases recognizable as a “rotten egg smell” — between mid-2021 and the end of 2023.