Sharks Heading to Thunder Bay

The Kenora Sharks Swim Club is looking for a strong showing at the 2012 Northwestern Ontario Regional Swim Championships.

A total of 44 local swimmers are making the trip to Thunder Bay today.

A team spokesperson says their goal is to bring back the championship banner.

Hospital Experiencing a Nursing Shortage

Lake of the Woods District Hospital says its would like to see more nurses trained here in northwestern Ontario.

The hospital is currently experiencing a nursing shortage.

Leslie Brown is the head of patient care and says a nursing program offered jointly by Confederation College and Lakehead University has been a bonus, but they need the course to be run on a more regular basis.

Brown says they have begun to advertise for full and part time nursing positions both locally and across the region.

A Dogs Life Leads Charity Challenge

The Charity Challenge for the Kenora Winter Carnival is into its final month and so far

its going to the dogs.

It's a Dogs Life has sold the most buttons so far, with almost 12 hundred claimed.

That's almost twice as many as their nearest competitor, Triple Play, which has sold 650 buttons.

It's a Dog's Life also won last year's charity challenge.

The top sellers will get to keep half of the proceeds, with the rest going towards the winter carnival.

LHIN's Hires Primary Care Lead for the Region

A Thunder Bay physician has been hired as the Primary Care Lead for the North West Local Health Integration Network.

Dr. Richard Almond will be in charge of working with health care providers across the Region to ensure patients are getting immediate and effective care.

Minister of Health Deb Matthews says having Almond in place wil benefit patients with early intervention care.

High School Hockey Teams in Red Lake

A High School Hockey twin-bill at the Cochenour Arena today.

The Thomas Aquinas girls will be taking on the Red Lake Rams in the early game at 4:30.

The Red Lake Boys will follow at 7:30 with a match-up against the Beaver Brae Broncos.

Solid Waste Continues to make money for City

Garbage is big business in the City of Kenora.

This week, council went through the solid waste and sewer and water budgets.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says their solid waste department should post a surplus of about 550 thousand dollars this year.

Perchuck says any surplus will go into reserves, which will eventually go towards funding a new landfill site.

Missing man found on Lake of the Woods

The OPP say they have located a man who was reported missing earlier this week on Lake of the Woods.

Police say 28 year old Steven Suche from Winnipeg was found in the area of Clearwater Bay yesterday afternoon.

He was last seen Wednesday night riding a snowmachine near Deception Bay.

The OPP say he is in good health and his family has been notified.

Kenora District Municipal Association

Municipal leaders from across the Kenora District are gathering the next couple of days for a lively discussion.


Kenora District Municipal Association President Phil Vinet says the meat and potatoes of their annual conference starts this morning in Sioux Lookout.

The Red Lake Mayor says Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell, Lieutinent-Coloniel Dan Drew and Medical Officer of Health Dr. James Arthurs are among the guest speakers.

Kenora Rec. Center

The twinning of the Kenora Rec. Center rink has appeared on the five year capital plan for the city of Kenora.

Chair of the finance Committee Ron Lunny says that includes engineering drawings and actual construction.

Lunny says the project would be contingent on getting funding from
the upper levels of government or a partner from the private sector.

The city has set aside four million dollars as its share of the proposed
twinning project.

Terrace Bay Pulp

Potential buyers of Terrace Bay Pulp have until February 15th to file a letter of intent.

Officials at CCAA monitor Ernst and Young say the company owes almost 40 million dollars to creditors and proceeds of a sale would go to them.

If no buyers can be found its a possibility the mill could be sold for scrap.

ORNGE

The highly-paid C-E-O of Ontario's air ambulance service is now out of work.

ORNGE says in a statement that it has fired C-E-O Chris Mazza along with the service's chief operating officer Maria Renzella.

Mazza has been on indefinite medical leave since December when his 1.4-million-dollar salary, paid for by taxpayers, was made public.

ORNGE says neither Mazza nor Renzella will get a severance

Distracted Driving

Ontario Provincial Police are warning motorists about the dangers of distracted driving.


Police are asking folks to not talk or text on their phone while driving.

Police say distracted driving is one of the leading causes of fatal collisions.

It could also net you a 155-dollar fine.

Police have laid 3-charges over the past few days.

Dragon Boats

The Rainy River could be the site of Dragon Boats this summer.


Jenny Greenhalgh of NCDS as secured a boat from Dragon Boat Canada with the intent of establishing an event in Fort Frances.

She says several groups are interested.

Greenhalgh is exploring the idea of having the event tied to Canada Day.

FEDNOR

Northern Ontario's New Democrats want to see FEDNOR used to help fund municipal infrastructure projects.


Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty says a separate pot of money could be set aside through the regional development agency for northern Ontario municipalities to access.

Rafferty says financial help for infrastructure upgrades is a major need among municipalities, but doubts there could be any coming in the upcoming budget.