Thursday, June 2, 2011

All Day Kindergarten to be extended to five more local schools

The Province has outlined its plan to have full-day Kindergarten in all schools by 2015.

The program will be rolled out in Ear Falls, Keewatin, New Prospect School, Sioux Narrows and Upsala for 2013 and 2014.

Public School Board Superintendent Caryl Hron says the program has been well received by parents and teachers in Dryden and Kenora.

The final phase of the program will take place in 2014-2015 at Crolancia School in Pickle Lake, Golden Learning Centre in Red Lake, Ignace, King George and Vallyeview Schools in Kenora as well as Lillian Berg and Savant Lake.

Local Petition gets noticed at Queen's Park

A local resident has received some fairly high profile publicity for her petition.

Grace Jorgensen is a Keewatin resident and has collected about 500 signatures on a petition calling on the provincial government to remove the Harmonized Sales Tax home heating bills.

NDP leader Andrea Horvath made mention of the petition at Queen's Park yesterday and asked the premier to eliminate the HST on heating oil, hydro,  gas, and diesel.

She promises to make that a major campaign promise for the October 6th provincial election.

Council spends 2.3 million dollars this week

Kenora City Council has approved over 2.3 million dollars worth of projects this week.

Council held a special meeting earlier this week and agreed to spend 300 thousand dollars to paint the interior and exterior of the Keewatin Water Tower.

The City has also agreed to hire Dominion Divers out of Winnipeg to repair the Second Street Wharf, at a cost of 360 thousand dollars.

In one other piece of business council also approved a 90 thousand dollar tender for Don Hagar Contracting to carry out sidewalk repairs in the city this summer.

New Tim Horton's Camp gets approval for Whiteshell

Great news for local kids following another successful Camp Day at Tim Horton's.

A new camp for underpriveleged kids is opening in Whiteshell Provincial Park near the Ontario/Manitoba border.

Company spokesperson Aaron Brown says the camp will house two thousand campers and will be situated on Sylvia Lake.

The camp will include the Tim Horton Leadership specialty program.

Beaver Brae and Thomas Aquinas Girls Soccer Teams at OFSAA

The provincial girls high school soccer championships get underway today and Kenora is being represented by two teams this year.

Beaver Brae is in Windsor for the Double A championships.

Broncos head coach Janis England is hoping third time is a charm for her team.

Beaver Brae's first game is at 10:30 this morning against St. Christopher from Sarnia.

Meanwhile, the Thomas Aquinas girls are in Pain Court near Chatham for the OFSAA single A championships.

They play their first game at 9:30 this morning against West Elgin.

Water Walkers Heading to Duluth

The Mother Earth Water Walk will be leaving northwestern Ontario today and will be entering Minnesota.

Spokesperson for the group, Heidi Smith the walk was first organized by Josephine Mandamin to  bring awareness to the state of the world's water supplies.

The walkers passed through Kenora on Friday evening.

The group is one of four bring water from different areas to Duluth  where they'll dump it in Lake Superior.

Hospital Foundation Warns of Local Phone Scam

The Lake of the Woods Hospital Foundation is warning of a scam that's been going around.

Someone has been calling up local residents looking for donations for the Children's Project at the hospital.

The Hospital Foundation says there is no such project underway at the hospital.

The foundation also says it does not use third parties to solicit donations.

Local residents are also encouraged not to give credit card information should you receive such a phone call.