CBC Windsor's 5 most-read local stories of 2023
From a vigilante claiming to confront sexual predators to conspiracy theories about Essex county council's planning policies and strange crustaceans floating in a Windsor woman's tap water, the stories that captured readers' attention this year were frequently full of surprises.
Here are the five most-read stories of 2023 from cbc.ca/windsor.
5. The Windsor, Ont., man behind Creeper Hunter TV has been sentenced. But the story isn't over
The Windsor, Ont., man who posed online as an underage girl and then exposed the men who tried to meet up with him for sex was sentenced in October after being found guilty of several charges, including harassment by telecommunications.
But some say his story doesn't end there.
Acclaimed Windsor documentary maker Matt Gallagher is making a film about the aftermath of Jason Nassr's Creeper Hunter TV.
"It's a complicated story, with people who are torn apart and people who are trying to make sense of this," Gallagher told CBC.
Jason Nassr, the Windsor man behind Creeper Hunter TV, in a screen capture from a livestream on the channel. Nassr has since been sentenced for harassment by telecommunications, extortion, and more. (YouTube)
4. Debunking the 15-minute-city conspiracy theory — and why it erupted at Essex County council
County of Essex officials cut short a special public meeting in April after hundreds of people showed up to express their opposition to so-called 15-minute cities – even though officials stressed the issue wasn't on the agenda.
The 15-minute city concept is an urban planning framework intended to set up communities in such a way that people would have access to all their needs within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from their homes.
But the concerns raised by some residents were in line with what some experts describe as conspiracy theory thinking.
The push toward a walkable community has stoked fears about control and surveillance. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
3. The government wants you to own an electric vehicle — but who can even afford them?
Both the federal government and automakers are pushing car owners to transition to electric vehicles (EVs), but the manager of one car dealership in Windsor told CBC in January that the vehicles are a tough sell to lower-income buyers.
While prices for all vehicles are up across the board, James Godfrey said that a fully electric vehicle at Eastway Toyota and Lexus typically sells for $55,000 or more.
Mark Stewart, chief operating officer for Stellantis North America, told CBC that an electric vehicle is 40 to 45 per cent more expensive than a classic internal combustion engine powertrain.
James Godfrey manages the Eastway Toyota and Lexus dealership in Windsor. (Katerina Georgieva/CBC)
2. Owner of a former Silver City building with $650K in damages says the city is changing
The owner of the former Silver City building on Walker Road told CBC in the spring that he'd lost more than $650,000 due to property damage caused by thieves trashing the place while searching for copper and other metal to sell.
Joseph Mikhail of Mikhail Holdings said the culprits had dismantled the power grid serving the building and parking lot, torn down drywall to rip out wires, and climbed on the roof, where they destroyed heating and cooling units.
The property had been targeted on a weekly or daily basis for nearly a year, he said at the time, and the break-ins continued despite a robust security system and frequent police visits.
Electricity Canada has called on the province to disincentivize the thefts by enacting regulations preventing metal recyclers from buying metal for cash.
Thieves tore apart drywall to access copper wire at a former Silver City location. (Submitted by Joe Mikhail)
Back in March, downtown Windsor tenant Nancy Basinger told CBC she was struggling to get answers after discovering what she thought were tiny fish swimming in her water.
A post-doctoral fellow at the University of Windsor's Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) identified the creatures as amphipods and said they have shrimp-like qualities.
Marco Hernandez assumed there might be a crack or leak in one of the building's pipes, but even then, he said the amiphipods shouldn't have been alive.
The crustaceans aren't known to cause health problems in humans, he said. But he asked, "If you have amphipods in there, what else is in your water?"
These are the bugs that Nancy Basinger says she found coming out of the water in her bathroom. (Nancy Basinger )
