Sharks bring home 13 medals from Winnipeg Swim Meet

The Kenora Sharks Swim Team took home 13 medals from the annual Prairie Winter Invitational Swim Meet in Winnipoeg over the weekend.

Bryce Jones led the way with three gold, and two silver, while Winnie Boucha had two gold, two silver and a bronze.

Michelle Belcaen collected two gold, while Conor O'Flaherty earned a silver.

The Sharks took a record 22 swimmers to the Manitoba meet.

Local girls hockey team take top honors in their own tournament

A golden weekend for local girls hockey teams.

The Lake of the Woods Girls Minor Hockey League held its annual bantam and midget tournament

over the past three days.

The Crush won the midget title with a 3-1 win over Steinback in the gold medal game.

It was an all-Kenora affair in the bronze medal game as the Avalance beat the Jets 2-1.

In the bantam division, the Blaze got by the Kenora Black Betty's 3-1 in the final.

Good Weekend for local high school teams

A promising start to the winter season in High school court sports.

The Beaver Brae junior boys basketball team was the runner-up at a tournament held this past weekend in Fort Frances.

The Broncos finished with a 3-1 record with wins over Dryden, Fort Frances and Churchill Collegiate from Thunder Bay.

Russell Guinto from Beaver Brae also won the free throw contest sinking 9 three-pointers in a minute.

Meanwhile the Thomas Aquinas junior girls were the runners up on the consolation side of a volleyball tournament in Thunder Bay.

The Saints were upended by St. Ignatius two sets to one.

Hospital Braces for Minimal Budget increase in 2012

Lake of the Woods District Hospital says its likely going to have to tighten its belt even further next year.

At a recent conference in Toronto, Chief Executive Officer, Marc Belcaen says they were told the budget for the Ministry of Health would increase by one percent in 2012.

He says there's no guarantee hospital budgets willl actually increase by the same amount.

Belcaen says with wages going up, along with the cost of living, its going to be challenging to live with just a one percent increase.

NAN speaks out in favour of Attawapiskat

The Federal Government is being scolded by Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy.

Beardy says its shameful that the Harper Government is blaming Attawapiskat for its housing crisis and financial problems.

Beardy says all the people of Attawapiskat want is basic human rights.

Public School Board Supports new anti-bullying legislation

New, tougher anti-bullying legislation is getting the thumbs up from at least one local school board.

Jack McMaster is the director of education of the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board and says the province's legislation really mirrors the work they have been doing.

The bill proposes tougher consequences, including expulsion, for bullying and hate-motivated actions.

Emergency Landing

Police in Thunder Bay say no charges will be laid against the man who caused a Westjet flight to make an emergency landing on Saturday.


The Toronto-bound flight was checked out in Thunder Bay after the crew decided to land because of an agitated 27-year-old passenger.

Police say the man has a history of mental health issues an was held for a medical assessment.

Police say it's expected the man, along with his father, will be returned to Portugal once he has been cleared medically.

Oskisko Mining

Oskisko Mining has started looking at the impacts its proposed open-pit gold mine near Atikokan might have on existing services in the district.


The company projects up to two-thousand employees in the construction phase and five hundred in the mill.

Mark Boller, a senior advisory, says a socio-economic impact study will identify challenges that workforce brings.

Boller says one of the early challenges might be trying secure enought trained personal to work at the site.

Tough on crime legislation

There won't be any get out jail free cards, but changes are coming to the criminal justice system.


Kenora MP Greg Rickford says he recently had a chance to sit down with the Kenora Lawyers Sentencing Group to talk about their concerns.

He feels he was able to alleviate some of the concerns they had with the new legislation.

Rickford says the Government has pledged to get tough on child exploitation, organized crime and repeat violent offenders.