Hospital moving towards a year-end surplus

Lake of the Woods District Hospital is still in the black with just one month left in its fiscal year.

The hospital was running a surplus of 204 thousand dollars through the first 11 months of the 2010/2011 fiscal year.

Chief Executive Officer Marc Belcaen says they still expect to have a very small surplus

once all their bills are paid this year.

He adds that a freeze on travel and education for the hospital staff this year, helped keep

them in the black.

Common Ground Story Sharing this weekend

The 6th annual Common Ground Story Sharing Celebration will take place this weekend.

A number of new stories about the Lake of the Woods area will be presented during the day long event.

Barb Manson is one of the organizers and says they never seem to have a shortage of stories to share.

Manson says there are still a few tickets left for Common Ground, which will run from 9:00 to 3:30 tomorrow at the Best Western Lakeside Inn.

Grassy Narrows and Province sign Memorandum

Ontario continues to work with the Grassy Narrows First Nation towards a logging agreement in the Whiskey Jack forest north of  Kenora.

Minister of Natural Resources Linda Jeffrey signed an agreement with Chief Simon Fobister in Thunder Bay yesterday.

Jeffrey says they'll work on creating sustainable forest practices with the first nation.

Chief Simon Fobister says the agreement is a step in the right direction but notes they will not dismantle their blockade.

Children`s Aid Merger in Kenora and Rainy River ready to proceed

Kenora Patricia Child and Family Services says it has received assurances from the provincial government that it will cover the costs of the merger with Family and Children's Services of Rainy River.

Bill Leonard is the executive director of the new child care agency and says they were supposed to join forces last week, but they were waiting for word from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services that it would cover the costs of the amalgamation.

Leonard says transition costs were about 180 thousand dollars.

The merger of the two child care agencies is expected to take another six to eight weeks to complete.

Hospital Board Chair resigns

The chair of the Lake of the Woods Hospital Board is calling it quits.

Debbie Baldwin is moving out of the community and tendered her resignation to the board last night.

Marc Belcaen is the hospital's chief executive officer and says they will have to shuffle their board duties, with

vice-chair, Fred Richardson taking over as chair on an interim basis. 

Richardson says the board will have to decide whether to fill the vice-chair's job for the next two months, or leave the position vacant until the annual general meeting in June.

Envirothon takes place today at Blue Lake

High School students from Kenora and Dryden are putting their environmental smarts to the test today for the first ever Envirothon Regional Competition.

Environmental Curriculum coordinator for the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board, Kathy Boone says teams of 5 will take part in various challenges.

Boone says the 15-participating teams will have to be experts in forestry, aquatics, wildlife, soils and salt water.

10 of the teams will be from Beaver Brae, the other from Dryden High School.

Envirothon is being held at Blue Lake Provincial Park in Vermilion Bay.

More calls for the Far North Act Hearings to be moved out of Toronto

The McGuinty government is being called out of touch, arrogant and uncaring about the north.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath is still hounding the government over it's refusal to hold forest tenure committee hearings outside of Toronto.

Horwath predicts however, the government won't change it's mind about the issue

The Real McCoys the final team to Qualify for the Allan Cup

The Dundas Real McCoys will be making their four straight appearance at the Allan Cup this year.

Dundas won the Ontario men's senior championship last night with a 8-5 victory

over the Norwood Vipers in the seventh and deciding game of their series last night.

The Real McCoys are the last of the six teams to qualify for next week's national championships.

Dominion Curling Club Playdowns start today

Lori Hoppe's Kenora Foursome will be in action today at the Dominion Curling Club Playdowns in Sault Ste. Marie.

The Kenora rink is one of six competing at the Northern Championships.

The Kenora foursome will take on Kakebecka Falls at 1:30 this afternoon in their first game.