Sioux Lookout to Get new High School

Some exciting news for Sioux Lookout.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has just announced it
will be going ahead with construction of a new high school in
that community.

The public school board says the project will cost about 30 million dollars
with the Ministry of Education chipping in 24 million.

The school will not only have state of the art classrooms for students, but also
space for other community partners like Firefly, Confederation College and Lakehead University.

The new secondary school would replace Queen Elizabeth High School.

KPDSB Delays A Couple of Special Events

The excitement is building in Sioux Lookout today.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has planned a special assembly at 11 o'clock at Queen Elizabeth High School.

The Board will be making a major announcement.

The announcement had been scheduled for Monday, but was post-poned due to the weather.

Meanwhile, the grand opening of the Valleyview expansion has also been delayed.

It was supposed to take place yesterday, but instead it has been re-scheduled for
tomorrow morning at 11:45.

Some Bus Delays Again Today

Things are starting to get back to normal as a day of cancellations
in the Kenora area.

Highways are pretty much bare and dry this morning while in the city itself most of the streets have been cleared, but there are still very slippy sections.

The Northwest Students Services Consortium says most of it's buses are running normally this morning, but there are some exceptions.

Bus KN-14 has been cancelled.

Instead bus KN-31 will pick up students in the Minto area, but the rural portion of that route has been dropped this morning.

The consortium adds that it does expect delays in all areas today.

Results Released in Strat Plan Survey

Some interesting results from the survey being conducted in
conjunction to the city's new five year stategic plan.

30 percent of residents feel the city is doing a very poor job of snow removals, and winter has been given as one of the reasons why some people don't like living in Kenora.

Over 19 hundred people have looked at the survey and Peter Thoma
from UrbanMetrics says that's an amazing response rate.

Last night 35 people showed up for the first public meeting on the five year Stategic Plan.

Thoma says they hope to have a draft ready by May with a final strat plan ready for council by sometime in June.

City Updates Local Residents on Water Situation

The city of Kenora wants you to know what's going on.

Chief Administrative Office Karen Brown says they recently sent out letters updating the status of water issues throughout the city.

Brown says when it comes to residents with running water they are investigating their options to benefit those who have been hit the hardest.

She adds that they will be discussion options with staff and councillors in the near future.

OEB Releases Interim Report on Energy East

The importance of pipeline safety is emerging as a top concern from people who recently attended the Energy East Pipeline hearings in northwestern Ontario.  

Ontario Energy Board spokesperson Karen Cormier says that a draft report on the hearings shows that area municipalities have specific safety concerns.

She says communities want to know what kind of Emergency Management Plan is in place and what
kind of response times there will be.

Concerns also centred around the environment and the economy.

Festival of the Arts Celebrates Milestone

After 70 years, the Kenora Festival of the Arts is still going strong.

The festival begins today at venues throughout the city.

Len Mark is one of the organizers and says the highlight of the festival
is their final concert at the end of the month.

Mark says the Discovery Center will once again act as host to the visutal arts portion of the festival  starting next week.

Kenora Special Olympians Excel

A number of strong performances from Kenora's Special Olympians at the
regional Spring Games in Thunder Bay.

Cory Lanseidel, Megan Wheatstone, Cindy Strachen, Allison Masuo, and Sandy
Graham each medalled in the pool and the bowling alley.

Lanseidel and Wheatstone collected three first place finishes in the swimming
competition.

Sandy Graham also had a first and a second in swimming and a first in women's bowling.

Shane Legros and Brittany Morris also bowled with the provincial coaches as they
prepare for the National championships as members of Ontario Special Olympics team.

High School Badminton Tournament Re-scheduled

The birds won't be flying today.

The NORWOSSA High School badminton qualifier scheduled for today has been moved to tomorrow.

Teams from across the region including Red Lake, Whitefish Bay and Rainy River will take part in the tournament being hosted by Thomas Aquinas and Beaver Brae.

Action will get underway at 10:30 tomorrow morning.