Keeping Track of Santa Clause

NORAD will once again be tracking Santa's Progress for his Christmas Journey.

Both the Canadian and U.S. military defence oraganization will be teaming up with Google to keep an eye on Jolly Old Saint Nick.

To keep Santa safe NORAD will be using 4 CF-18 fighters to escort Santa into North American Airspace.

You can currently track Santa's progress at www.noradsanta.org as well as google earth.

Lighting of the Candles

A Christmas eve tradition will take place once again this afternoon.
Thousands of ice candles at Lake of the Woods Cemetary will be lit up.

Barb Manson is the city's parks supervisor and says before they begin lighting

the candles, local residents can drop by the cemetary for a special ceremony.
Manson says in addition to the hundreds of ice candles local residents purchased

at the cemetary,just as many will be placed by local residents who made their own.

OPP Hwy Tips

The OPP are reminding the motoring public to take it easy on area highways this winter.
Constable Carol Michtics says has these safety tips.
Michtics recommends calling for road conditions before heading out on the road.
The MTO's road conditions hotline is 1-800-268-4686.

Thistles End Their First Half of Season with Another Loss

The AAA Midget Thistles have lost their 15th game of the season.
They took to the ice last night after two alumni games last night at the Thistle arena.
The Thistles were down 3-0 going to the third period scoring two in an effort to make a late comeback, against the Eastman Selects.
Bowen Alcock scored a Power Play goal then potted another with 38 seconds left in the third.
The Eastman Selects scored another with one second to go to win 4-2.
The Thistles go into the Christmas break with a record of  11-15-0-2 for a total of 24 points.

Kenora sees Building Boom in 2010

The City of Kenora has seen a bit of a building boom this year, but it won't set any records.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield says through the month of November there was over 28 million
dollars in building permits taken out.

Canfield says while it was an impressive year for construction, he suggests next year will be a little
quieter.

Some of the projects undertaken this year include the new fire hall, the Discovery Center in
Norman, the Headwaters Condo project and phase two of Downtown Revitalization.

Gas prices going up

You might get a bit of a surprise if you plan to fill up your car today.


Gas prices have jumped by six cents a liter in the past day.

Most service stations are now selling a liter of unleaded at 112.9 cents.

That's up from a dollar six yesterday.

The average price of gas across Canada today is a 109.2 cents a liter.

Kenora Midget's Alumni Reunion

Some familiar faces will be in the line-up today as the Kenora Triple "A" midget program

celebrates 25 years as a hockey club.

A pair of alumni games are scheduled this afternoon at the Kenora Rec. Center, prior to the
the Thistles game this evening.

Exhibition games featuring alumni midget players will take place at 4:00 and 5:30.

The Midget Thistles will take to the ice at 7:30 for their final league game of 2010, when they
take on the Eastman Selects.

Confederation College Expanding

Confederation College is expanding.

Starting next year it's regional campus network is going to include Red Lake and Wawa.

President Pat Lang says the expansion shows a commitment to the region


As of February, both campuses will offer full time programs in Office Administration along with construction and mining .

Wanted: President for NOMA

Dennis Brown says he's willing to stay on as the president of the
Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association if no-one else wants
the job.

The Atikokan mayor was appointed to the position on an interim basis
last month.

Brown says the NOMA executive will meet next month elect a new board
of directors.

Brown took over as president of NOMA last month after Anne Krassilowski was
defeated for the mayor's chair in Dryden.

Natural Gas Rates dropping in the new year

Finally some good news for cash-strapped homeowners in northwestern Ontario.


Union Gas says the cost of natural gas will be decreasing slightly to start the new year.

The Ontario Energy Board has approved a 2.3 cent per cubic meter drop in the
price consumers pay for natural gas.

Union Gas says for the average homeowner, the price to heat your home next year will
drop by about nine dollars.

Beach Boys Concert almost sold out

Less than two weeks after they went on sale, over 14 hundred

tickets for a Beach Boys concert next spring have been sold.

Kenora's Tourism Development Officer, Heather Paterson says as of

yesterday, they had just 87 tickets left.

The tickets for the June 15th concert on the Harborfront went on sale

December 10th.

Despite a computer glitch that prevented the Tourism Office from processing

ticket sales on-line, local residents have been clamouring for the ducats.

Just 15 hundred tickets were printed for the concert.

Hospital Imposes Visitor Restrictions

Some visitor restrictions have been put in place at Lake of the Woods District
Hospital.

Adminstration at the Hospital says an increase in the flu and respirator illness in
Kenora has forced them to restrict visitor access.

Effective yesterday only immediate family of terminal patient, the spouse of a
woman in labor, the parent of a child or immediate family of a critically ill
patient will be allowed to visit.

The hospital says the measures will be in place until further notice.

Kenora M.P. Ready for Spring Election

The M.P. for the Kenora Riding doesn't think there's any big need for an election
yet.

But Greg Rickford says he'll be ready to hit the campaign trail in the new
year if necessary.

Rickford says while an election is on the mind of the opposition parties, its not a sure
thing just yet.

There's been widespread speculation the election could come as soon as this spring,
after the government delivers its annual budget.

RCMP release more details on Dryden Firearms Seizure

Two Dryden men have been arrested following the seizure of 100-firearms and 50-prohibited knives from the Brandon Gun and Hobby Show on December 12th.


Rob Duttchen is a Detective with the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team and he provides details of the investigation.

Duttchen says the licenced dealer is 71-year-old Robert MacGillvary and Police say they have been investigating the sale of the prohibited weapons since the start of Fall.

The arrest led to the search warrant of MacGillvary's home on December 13th, which led to 11-charges against the accused.

The two men were held in custody and were released within 24-hours.

The name of the second man has not been released.

Officers seized several spring-loaded knives.

Another Scary incident on Greyhound Bus

A Greyhound Canada driver is being praised after fighting off a passenger who grabbed the steering wheel of a moving bus en route to Kenora from Winnigeg.


The incident happend last Friday night near Falcon Lake.

At about 10:15 p.m., the bus began swerving alarmingly from side to side on
the Trans-Canada Highway.

A passenger, who apparently wanted off the bus grabbed at the steering wheel.

Police say the driver was able to calmly kick the man away and keep control of the moving bus.

Two passengers then stepped in to grab him and hold the man.

RCMP were called to the roadside where a 24-year-old Alberta man was taken into custody.

No charges have been laid.

Police said the passenger was taken to a hospital to be checked out.

New Gateway Signage in Kenora Officially Unveiled

The rehabilitation of Highway 17 east and west of Kenora has officially been completed.

A ceremony to unveil the new gateway signage took place yesterday.

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford says funding for the project was included in the roughly eight  million dollars spent to fix up the east and west accesses into the city.

The signage cost about 50 thousand dollars to build and included work from a number of local contractors.

The final design was created by Mike Newton.

Roussin Appointed to KDSB

Councillor Louis Roussin will be the city's next representitive on the

Kenora District Services Board.

Council approved Roussin's nomination to the board at a special meeting Friday in council chambers.

Roussin will take over from Rory McMillan, who had been chair of the

District Services Board over the past couple of years.

Council also agreed to appoint mayor Dave Canfield as Roussin's alternate if he can't attend the board meetings.

Multiple Vehicle Accident closes Trans-Canada for five hours

Steady snow this weekend made for some slick road conditions in the Kenora area.

At one point, Highway 17 west of Kenora near the Ontario/Manitoba border was closed down Saturday night due to a multi-vehicle collision.

The OPP say four or five vehicles were involved in the accident near the intersection of the Shoal Lake Road.

The Trans-Canada was closed for about five hours while the wreckage was cleared.

There are reports that traffic was backed up all the way to Falcon Lake at one point.

The highway was finally re-opened around 1:30 Sunday morning.

Proposal for Norman Accessibility Park

Norman Park seems to be the next area of development for the City of Kenora.

City Council has approved a lenghty report which could make the park more accessible for peole with physical handicaps.

Councillor Sharon Smith its a worthwhile project that will not only enhance tourism, but benefit local residents.

The proposal calls for a low grade walking trail from Norman Park to the new Discover Center at Cameron Bay and along Lakeview Drive to the Dairy Queen, a splash pad and also new accessible washrooms.

The exact cost of the project won't be determined until tenders come back.

Food Costs increase in region

The Northwestern Health Unit says the cost for families in the Kenora-Rainy River district to eat healthy, nutritious food each month has risen 11 per cent over the past year.

Nutritionist Julie Slack says their healthy food basket survey shows it now costs 916 dollars.

She says unfortunately the increasing cost of food is forcing many to make unhealthy choices so they have money for other expenses.

Slack says while food prices continue to rise, incomes have not kept up at the same pace.