The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 21 ,2 02 1 | 6 At Village Orthodontics in Oakville, we specialize in beautiful smiles using clear aligners and traditional braces. New Patients Welcome Schedule your complimentary consultation today! 647-496-1424 2-2983 Westoak Trails Blvd. Oakville villageortho.ca Book your Personalized Smile Consultation today VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE BOOK YOUR VISIT: YourFrenchSchool.ca Choose the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir as your everyday ally, empowering children to reach new heights. YOUR ALLY IN EDUCATION Choose the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir École élémentaire catholique SAINTE-MARIE Oakville, February 4 at 6:30 p.m. They have already met for over 15 hours and say they need more time. The Halton Police Board, which governs Hal- ton Regional Police, met Friday and Saturday (Jan. 15-16) for more than 15 hours "in response to con- cerns regarding Chief (Steve) Tanner's recent travel to the U.S." in meet- ings that were "closed to the public, as permitted under the Police Services Act." The Board will continue to examine this issue this week at a Special Board meeting at 9:30 a.m. today (Jan. 21), Oakville council- lor and acting Police Board Chair Jeff Knoll said in a statement issued Saturday night. Knoll took over as act- ing chair last week when former chair, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, re- signed over approving Chief Stephen Tanner's trip to Florida. "I regret sincerely that I focussed at the time on the ways the chief's trip quali- fied as essential travel," Burton said in a statement. "I should have recom- mended against it because it could generate public concern about me not set- ting a higher example than the rules and guidelines ac- tually called for." News of Tanner's per- sonal businesses trip came to light earlier this month after one of his officers sud- denly died from a medical episode while on duty. The trip sparked wide- spread criticism and frus- tration from a number of members of the force, as well as local officials. Tanner said he feels deep regret for traveling to Florida in December for personal business matters despite the ongoing CO- VID-19 pandemic. "I sincerely apologize for my decision to travel out of the country," Tanner said in a prepared release. Halton's top cop has re- turned to Canada and said he is quarantining. POLICE BOARD HOLDING SPECIAL MEETING OVER CHIEF'S FLORIDA TRIP NEWS With COVID-19 cases con- tinuing to climb, the Ontario government declared a sec- ond provincial emergency and issued a stay-at-home order. The announcement was made by Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Jan. 12, stating that the latest measures are necessary to "save lives" and prevent the province's hos- pital system from collaps- ing. "The latest modelling da- ta shows that Ontario is in a crisis and, with the current trends, our hospital ICUs will be overwhelmed in a few short weeks with unthink- able consequences," said Ford in a news release. "We need people to only go out only for essential trips to pick up groceries or go to medical appointments. By doing the right thing and staying home, you can stay safe and save lives," he said. Across Halton, the week also saw more resident deaths reported in long- term-care homes due to the virus. Several new out- breaks were declared, in- cluding at Allendale long- term-care home in Milton -- just a few days after the pre- vious outbreak at the facili- ty was declared over. Data from the Halton Public Health website shows that from Jan. 8 to 14, there were 557 new infections in the region, down from 748 posted the previous week. The number of active cases stood at 442, including 111 in Burlington, 156 in Milton, 130 in Oakville, and 45 in Halton Hills. As of Jan. 15, there have been 7,370 COVID-19 cases in Halton since the pandemic started, with 6,697 consid- ered resolved and 137 deaths. WEEKLY ROUNDUP: STAY-AT-HOME ORDER DECLARED BAMBANG SADEWO bsadewo@metroland.com Here's a weekly roundup of COVID-19 cases and news. Metroland file photo Don't be a LitterBug! Please keep our community clean.