Monday, June 11, 2012

Several Areas Still without Power Following Sunday Storm

Some residents in the Longbow Lake area are still without power today following yesterday's storm.

Hydro One says less than 20 customers are still waiting for their electricity to be restored.

Hydro is expected to be restored later this afternoon.

Several other areas in and around Kenora are also without electricty today, including some customers in the Silver Lake area and around the Whitefish Bay First Nation and just north of Clearwater Bay.

Hydro One says high winds damaged some of its power lines in the area.

Iron Ore Project gets a boost

A $900 million mining development is in the works for Northwestern Ontario.

The construction of the iron mine in the Wabigoon area is expected to begin in 2015, where close to 1,000 workers will be hired to construct the mine site.
President and CEO of Bending Lake Iron Ore Group Henry Wetalainen seems confident about it and
says they have a Chinese company interested in becoming a major investor in the project.

Bending Lake hopes to have the mine in full production in 2017.

Interpretive Forest Planted at Discovery Center

The Discovery Center is showing off its newest exhibit.

An interpretive forest was unveiled on Friday behind the building on Lakeview Drive.

Heather Paterson is Kenora's Tourism Development Officer and says the forest gives visitors an idea of some of the plant life in the area.

The city received 15 thousand dollars from the TD Green Streets fund for the interpretive forest.

The total project will amount to about 60 thousan dollars over two years.

Battle for ELA Continues

The battle to keep the Environmental Lakes Area open east of Kenora isn't over.

A meeting took place last night Knox United Church talking about the importance of the outdoor laboratory.

The public meeting was billed as "Closing the ELA-What's at Stake", and  featured a number of guest speakers including Thunder Bay-Superior North M.P. Bruce Hyer.











Relay for Life sets record in Kenora

A record breaking weekend for the Canadian Cancer Society.

The Relay for Life in Kenora raised a total of 110 thousand dollars over 12 hours.

That's the best ever total.

Hundreds of people walked the track at Lakewood School Friday night and early Saturday morning.

All totalled, Relays for Life generated 375 thousand dollars in four separate events in northwestern Ontario over the past two weekends.

Severe Weather over the Weekend

There are reports of a tornado touching down in the Rainy River district.

Emergency officials say it happened last night in the Stratton area.

There are no reports of any damage or any injuries.

David Rogers of Environment Canada says a system was prime for severe weather.

Because of the funnel cloud report, much of the district was briefly placed on a tornado watch.

Kenora was also a victim of the intense weather system getting 82 millimeters of rain.

Sod Turning for Habitat for Humanity This Morning

A milestone for Habitat for Humanity in Kenora.

A sod turning ceremony will take place this morning for the first ever build in the city.

So far Habitat has raised about 44 thousand dollars in cash, plus even more worth of "in-kind" donations.

The sod turning will take place at 10:00 just off Mellick Avenue.

Actual construction will begin on June 18th.

Saints Enjoy best ever showing at OFSAA

The Thomas Aquinas boys soccer team is back home after its best ever showing at the provincial championships.

The Saints finished with a record of two wins, a loss and two ties.

The only loss was a costly one, coming in the Quarter-final round.

T.A. lost 2-0 to the eventual gold medalists, Kings Christian from Halton.

Meanwhile, Beaver Brae's girls team won its final game at the All-Ontario Double A championships, finishing with a 1-3 record at OFSAA, but out of the play-offs.