Senior Thistles Advance at Allan Cup

It's just what the doctors ordered for the Kenora Triple "A" Senior Thistles.

Kenora came out flying in their quarter final against Fort St John and pummeled them 8-2.

Alternate Captain Jeff Richards had a hat trick in the victory.

The Thistles will now have a rematch with the host Bentley Generals in the semi finals tonight.

Bentley beat Kenora 5-2 in the round robin on Tuesday

The puck is scheduled to drop at 9:00.

Aboriginal Affairs Looking at Education Funding

Ontario's new Aboriginal Affairs minister hopes to balance education budgets.

David Zimmer, was in Kenora this week, and said the funding for off-reserve schools is much higher than it is in schools on-reserves.

Zimmer adds that they are focusing on closing that gap and offering better education to students living on reserves.

Other priorities for the minister are health concerns and land claim disputes.

OSSTF Votes in Favor of New Contract

Public high school teachers and support staff have endorsed the recently-negotiated contract changes with the provincial government.

The government says there won't be any additional costs to the deal.

However, Tory education critic Lisa MacLeod disagrees.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation says members voted 84 per cent in favor of the revision to the contract imposed in January under Bill 115.

Emergency Management Ontario Looking at Host Communities

The Chief of Emergency Management Ontario is asking local communities to be "host ready".

Allison Stuart stressed that area leaders must be prepared in the event of evacuations this summer.

Stuart says the province looks at services such as spiritual services, recreation, and accommodations when looking at a community to host evacuees.

In 2011, some 44-hundred people from several northern First Nations were forced to live elsewhere because of raging forest fires near their homes.