Power out again in the City

Kenora Hydro says this morning's outage was likely a holdover from the storm that lashed the city earlier this week.

President and CEO of the utility, Dave Sinclair says they had an equipment malfunction that caused the 50 minute interruption in service.

Sinclair says residents in parts of the north end, as well as Lakeside, Tunnel Island and Coney Island were affected by the outage.

Hydro One working to power up one thousand customers

Hydro One says it hopes to restore electricity to all its customers in the Kenora area by this evening.

About a thousand homes in areas southwest of town are still without power following Monday night's wicked storm.

Hydro One spokesperson Danielle Gauvin says damage is fairly wide spread.

Most of the homes still without power are in the McKenzie Portage/Washagamis Bay area.

Lightning Starts new wild fires in northwest

The storm system that caused all the power outages is also responsible for a number of new forest fires in northwestern Ontario.

The Ministry of Natural Resources says yesterday was one of their busiest ever, with 27 new wild fires reported in the region, and more are expected to crop up today.

The MNR says it recorded more than 71 hundred lightning strikes in a 24 hour period.

Currently, there are 51 active forest fires in northwestern Ontario, 24 of which are classified as out of control.

OPSEU Developmental Workers Picket

Developmental Service Workers held information pickets at several locations across the Province yesterday to protest a stalemate in contract talks with the Government.

Local OPSEU President Erin Rice says they want the Finance Minister to open up negotiations.

OPSEU represents Community Living workers across northwestern Ontario.

Lakehead gets its law school

Northwestern Ontario is getting its law school.

The Provincial Government is helping set up the first law degree program at Lakehead University.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Terry Waboose says the new program will start in September 2013 with a strong focus in Aboriginal Law.

There are currently five law schools in the province, all located in central, eastern or southwestern Ontario.

Bootlegging charges laid

A 54 year old Kenora man faces bootlegging charges following a bust by the OPP's Street Crimes Unit.

Officers executed a search warrant on a home in the 3rd Street South area last Thursday.

Police say they seized a large amount of illegal alcohol and a quantity of illegal drugs with a street value of about 600 dollars.

Wayne Whitefish has been charged with Unlawfully Selling Liquor and Possession of an Illegal Substance.

He is to appear in Kenora Court on August 11th.

Blood Donor Clinic seeking more donors today

Canadian Blood Services wraps up its two-day blood donor clinic at Thomas Aquinas this  morning.

Yesterday, 141 people showed up to give the gift of life, which was about 17 fewer than hoped for.

Harvey Heather is a spokesperson for CBS and says this is a time of year they really need to build up their inventory of blood products.

He says they are hoping for 100 or more donors today to make up for yesterday's shortfall.

The blood donor clinic will run from 9:30 to 12:30 today.

MNR carries out spot checks on Lake of the Woods

An enforcement of fishing and camping regulations on Lake of the Woods has resulted in 26-charges and another 39-warnings.

Patrols conducted included the southern part of the lake toward Morson, Nestor Falls and the mouth of the Rainy River.

Over one hundred resident and 260 non-resident anglers were checked.

Charges included having too many fish, fishing without a license and fishing with an extra line.

At least one charge was laid for camping without a permit.

Blood Donor Clinic Today and Tomorrow

Time again to roll up your sleeves to give the gift of life.

Canadian Blood Services is holding a two-day clinic at Thomas Aquinas High School starting this afternoon.

Spokesperson Harvey Heather says they are hoping for a good turn-out.

The blood donor clinic starts at 4:30 and runs until 9:00 this evening and then again from

9:30 to 12:30 tomorrow.

 

Three Thousand Hydro One Customers without Power

Over three thousand customers of Hydro One are still without power this morning.

Crews have been dispatched to a number of areas north and west of the City of Kenora to deal with a number of outages.

Residents of Pellatt, LacLu, Ingolf, and Shoal Lake are affected, as are about 400 Hydro One customers in the Sioux Narrows areas.

Hydro One says it could be tomorrow night before all the homes affected will have their electricity back on.

Storms result in power outages for Kenora Hydro

Last night's wild storm caused an extensive outage for Kenora Hydro customers.

Power went off around 6:00 and wasn't restored until just after 11:00.

Kenora Hydro says a number of trees were knocked onto power lines and that cut electricity to several areas of the city.

Despite the severity of last night's storm, Kenora's Parks Supervisor Barb Manson says damage seems to be fairly minimal.

Manson says the high winds did managed to free the Portage Bay pedestrian bridge from its moorings.

Dufresne's Launches Charity Challenge

Dufresne is marking its 25th Anniversary in Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba by helping local charities.

CEO Mark Dufresne says the company has launched the 1-Million dollar charity challenge.

Dufresne says they hope to help up to 50-charities.

The deadline to apply is August 8th.

Free Family Fishing

Its time to get your family hooked on fishing.

Licence-free fishing began on July 2nd across Ontario.

Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Spokesperson Alesha Caldwell says the free fishing week lasts 9-days.

Anglers are reminded to follow the conservation rules.

Two injured in Pikangikum accident

A Pikangikum woman is in critical condition in Winnipeg Hospital after her and a friend were struck by a vehicle in the First Nation community.

Police say the two women were walking on Fishhouse Road when a car hit the two.

OPP say 19-year-old Mordina Turtle has been charged with impaired operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm.

Pickle Lake Wild Fire Continues to Grow

The forest fire burning 9-kilometres away from New Osnaburgh First Nation has grown in size.

The blaze is now over 78-thousand hectares in size and is not under control.

However, crews are doing a good job keeping it away from the community.

There were 4-new fires in the District yesterday.

There are 17-active fires, 4 of which are not under control.

Northwest LHIN's promotes Home First

The Northwest Health Integration Network says its trying to find ways of dealing with the shortage of long term care beds in the region.

The LHIN's is trying to expand its Home First initative into communities outside of Thunder Bay.

Chief Executive Officer, Laura Kokochinski says they have been meeting with stakeholders in Kenora about improving access to home care.

Kokochinski says by offering home care services, they hope to free up Alternate Level of Care beds at the hospital, which has been faced with overcrowded beds for months now.

Support for Keewatin Library

The Kenora Public Library is being taken to task for threatening to axe services at the Keewatin branch.

Councillor Sharon Smith is reacting to a report released last month by the Library Board about its funding.

Smith says the Keewatin Branch of the Library isn't the problem.

Smith says the community of Keewatin has raised money for the Keewatin Library and the Library has also benefited greatly from a trust fund set aside for library services in the community.

Land Ambulence Funding increased for KDSB

The Kenora District Services Board is getting closer to a 50/50 funding arrangement with the province for land ambulence service.

Dan McNeill is the CAO of the Kenora District Services Board and says they are about 75-thousand dollars short of a Ministry of Health commitment made 4-years ago.

The surplus will be kept in reserves for future projects.

More Forest Fires reported in the Region

There were seven new forest fires reported over the weekend across Northwestern Ontario.

3 of the fires were in the Sioux Lookout District, one in Dryden and one in Red Lake.

The Ministry of Natural Resources continues to pay close attention to the nearly 66-thousand hectare fire burning near New Osnaburgh First Nation.

Although, residents have returned home, an Emergency Area Order remains in effect with some travel restrictions.

The fire is still not under control.

Men Fined for Camping on Crown Land

Two Atikokan have been fined a total of 12-hundred dollars for camping on Crown land for more than 21 days.

Dennis and Robert Lacosse were charged after Ministry of Natural Resource conservation officers had found their trailers parked in a restricted camping area at Eye Lake in April 2010.

After leaving notices on the trailers, officers returned in mid-May to find the trailers had not been moved.