Saints Court Sport Teams hit the road

Thomas Aquinas boys basketball and girls volleyball teams are on the road today for their second last road trip of the regular season.

Today the Saints will take on the Voyageurs in Atikoan, while tomorrow T.A. heads down the Highway 11 to face the Owls in Rainy River.

Thomas Aquinas is gearing up for the NorWOSSA play-offs which get under way next Thursday.

Both Bronco Hockey Teams win Tuesday night

Both of Beaver Brae's hockey teams won by identical scores last night.

The Broncos boys snapped a three game winless streak against Dryden, upending the Eagles 4-1 at the Rec. Center last night.

It was a similar story in Fort Frances, where the Bronco girls cruised to a 4-1 win over the Muskies.

The Beaver Brae Girls are back in action this Friday night against Red Lake, while the Bronco boys wrap up the regular season next Tuesday against their cross-town rivals from Thomas Aquinas.

Broncos lose three of four to Fort Frances in NorWOSSA Court Sports

Fort Frances continued its dominance on the hardcourt in NorWOSSA league play.

The Muskies senior boys basketball team picked up where it left off over the weekend after winning the Kenora Invitational Tournament.

Fort cruised to a 42-18 victory over Beaver Brae Tuesday afternoon.

It was much closer in the junior boys game, with the Muskies hanging on for a 31-30 win.

In girls volleyball, the Bronco senior girls won the lone game of the day, downing Fort Frances three sets to one.

The Muskie Junior Girls beat Beaver Brae in three straight sets.

Tax rates Going up Slightly in Kenora

Local residents are going to be faced with a small increase in their property taxes this year.

City council met all day yesterday and finally decided on a one percent increase in the mill rate.

Councillor Ron Lunny says the increase is a reflection that the city still needs to put money into reserves to fix up our aging infrastructure.

For the average homeowner, the tax increase will amount to about 21 dollars in 2012.

Council is expected to pass the budget next Monday.

New Adult Education Program Announced

A new partnership has been formed to improve graduation rates in the Kenora District.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has inked an agreement with Seven Generations in Fort Frances to offer adult education programs in several area communities.

Director of Education Jack McMaster says the program will be rolled out in September.

Both partners are now in the process of securing classrooms in each community.

Programs will initially be offered in Kenora, Dryden and Sioux Lookout

Highway 17 Assault

The OPP are trying to find the culprit responsible for an assault on Highway 17 east of Kenora.

Police say a 15 year old youth was walking in the area of the Trans-Canada Highway Sunday night between 7:30 and 9:30 in the evening when he was attacked.

He was taken to Lake of the Woods District Hospital for treatment of minor injuries by family members and later released.

The OPP say the youth was wearing a black and red "bush" style jacket, black gloves
and a black and red toque at the time of the attack.

Anyone with information about the assault is asked to contact the OPP or Crimestoppers.

Census for First Nations

First Nation communities in the Kenora area saw the biggest growth in the past five years.

Figures released from the 2011 Census show that the population of Rat Portage and Shoal Lake #39 both increased by 12 percent.

The number of people living on Rat Portage went up to 394 from 350 from the previous
census, while on Shoal Lake, the number of residents rose to 388 from 346 in 2006.

In the unincorporated areas surrounding Kenora the population actually shrunk slightly,
by 0.1 percent.

There are seven thousand and 31 people listed as living in the rural areas of the Kenora
District, down ten from the last census.

Kenora Census

New census data shows the population of Kenora fell below the national growth rate over the last five years

Statistics Canada released the first batch of numbers from the 2011 census this morning and the population of Kenora increased by 1.1 per cent since the last census in 2006.

The city's growth rate was below the national growth rate of 5.9 per cent, while the population of Ontario increased by 5.7 per cent.

When the 2011 census was taken last May 10, the population of Kenora was 15,348, compared with 15,177 from the 2006 census.

Digital Mammography Unit

Lake of the Woods Hospital Foundation says its getting closer to its goal of fundraising for a new digital mammography unit.

Donna Wallace is chair of the Foundation and says right now they are about a quarter of the way there.

Wallace says the good news is that the price on the digital mammography machines is starting to come down, so they hope to be able to purchase on for about a million dollars.

Abitibi Property

Expect to see more activity on the former Abitibi property in Kenora later this year.

That's the prediction of the chairman of the Lake of the Woods Economic Development

Commission.

Dennis Wallace says while only one business has re-located there, he's confident other

companies will follow suit.

Wallace says tourism has been a bright spot for the local economy with an 80 percent

increase in visitor traffic last year.