Monday, April 21, 2014

LOWD Property Owners Hold AGM in Winnipeg Today

For the first time ever, the Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association will
be holding it's annual general meeting on Easter Monday.

Today's trade show and AGM take place at the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg.

Susan McLeod is executive director of the Cottagers association and says they had to move up their AGM because the hotel wasn't available for their usual date at the beginning of May.

McLeod says the Cottage Show is sold out once again this year with over 100 exhibitors
in attendance.

The trade show begins at 2:30 this afternoon and runs until 8:30 this evening.

Transporation Minister Examines Road Maintenance Alternatives

Ontario's Transportion Minister says he has some new ideas for improving winter
road maintenance in northwestern Ontario.

Glenn Murray is suggesting municipalies could be paid to do the work in areas like Kenora, Dryden and Thunder Bay.

Murray says those were some of the areas that saw the most complaints this past winter.

Murray says he will be discussing some of his winter road maintenance ideas during
the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association Conference this week in Fort Frances.

Local School Boards Getting More Money

Local school boards should be able to increase their budgets this year.

The Ministry of Education has released it's intiatial student grant allocations and both the Kenora Catholic and Keewatin-Patricia District School board will be getting more than a million dollars more in the next school year.

Director of the separate board, Phylis Eikre says the extra funding is due in part of increased enrolment.

According to the Catholic School Board's projections, enrolment is expected to increase
by 54 students in the 2014/2015 school year.

SIU Investigates Weagamow Incident

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit has been called in to look into an
incident on the Weagamow First Nation over the weekend.

The North Caribou Lake Police Service and the OPP were called to a disturbance around 11:00 on Good Friday night.

When officers arrived at the scene, they witnessed a man outside a home, but he quickly fled inside when police approached.

The OPP say the cries of childen could be heard, so the officers entered the house to
make sure everyone was safe.

The suspect was located but police says he was suffering from a self-inflicted wound.

He was taken to hospital for treatment.

So far no charges have been laid, but the SIU is called in anytime a member of the public is injured during an interaction with police.

Con College Pleased with Graduation Report Card

Confederation College is celebrating its latest report card from the Key Performance Indicators for Ontario Colleges.

The report ranks the schools in a variety of areas including student satisfaction, employment and graduation rates.

President Jim Madder says there's one area they've noticed a steady decline in and that's program completion rates.

Madder says they're ranked number one in Ontario for grad employment rates and that's something to be proud of.

Groups Seeking to Stop the Spring Bear Hunt

Two animal rights groups are seeking legal action to stop the Ontario spring bear hunt.

Animal Alliance of Canada and Zoocheck Canada served the Minister of Natural Resources and Attorney General with an application for a judicial review.

Three judges are scheduled to hear the application April 29, 2014 in Toronto.

Performers Sought for Harmony of Nations

Spots are being made available to local musicians at this summer's Harmony of Nations Music Festival in Fort Frances.

Organizer Shannon Darby says they inviting area performers to submit You Tube submissions for the committee to review.

Darby says they're asking for two submissions, one being an original or innovative work, send to staff@golocalfortfrances.com by May 14th.

Easter Monday Closings

You'll be hard pressed to find any government services available today.

Municipal, provincial and federal employees will all be enjoying an extra long weekend today, that includes postal service,

All schools are also closed today, however the Waste Transfer Station and the Kenora Rec. Center will both be open for business today.

Banks are also open today as are all department and grocery stores, after being closed for the Easter Sunday holiday.

Cross Lake Wins NAFN Tournament

For the second year in a row, the Cross Lake Islanders took top honors at the North American First Nations Tournament of Champions at the Kenora Rec. Center.

Cross Lake downed Norway House 5-3 in the A-side final last night and won 15 thousand
dollars for their effort.

In the B-side final, the OCN Penguins got by Rat Portage.

The Winnipeg Hurricanes upended Whitefish Bay in Oldtimers final, while the first ever
women's division winners were Eagle Lake, which topped the OFN Snipers 4-1.

At the Allen Cup, the host Dundas Real McCoys won their first national senior men's
hockey championship.

Dundas outlasted Clarenville 3-2 in Overtime in Saturday's final.

The Real McCoys advanced to the championship game by blanking the Kenora Thistles
4-0 on Good Friday.