OPP investigating two fatal accidents in the Kenora area

The OPP are investigating two fatal accidents this morning.

The first collision took place shortly after midnight on Highway 17 east of Kenora.

Police say a vehicle hit a rock cut about 10 kilometers east of the Highway 71 junction.

One man was killed in that collision.

The highway was closed overnight, but traffic is moving normally again in that area.

Meanwhile, one person is also dead in an accident that took place on Highway 71 in Sioux Narrows.

The OPP say they were called out around 6:30 this morning.

The collision took place near the intersection of Fickas Road, but so far no other details about that fatality have been released.

Highway 17 closed overnight

Traffic is moving normally again on Highway 17 east of Kenora.

The OPP closed the Trans-Canada overnight following a single vehicle accident just east of the Highway 71 intersection.

Police there was a rollover in the area around 1:00.

One lane of traffic was finally opened shortly before 5:00 and both lanes were re-opened around 7:30.

So far there has been no indication whether there were any injuries in the collision.

Young Pikangikum Joyrider arrested

A 12 year old girl faces a number of charges after going for a joy ride in the remote community of Pikangikum.

The OPP say they were notified about a pick up truck driving in an erratic manner around 5:00 Saturday morning.

Officers tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver refused to stop.

Because the driver appeared to be quite young, the OPP gave up the chase.

A short time later, the vehicle ran into a hydro pole, knocking out power to the entire community.

Police say there were 14 passengers in the truck at the time, including three ten year olds, four 12 year olds, three 13 year olds and three 14 year old youths.

Only one person sustained minor injuries in the collision.

Big Trout Lake votes to ban industrial activity

The residents of the Big Trout Lake First Nation are saying with one voice they want their watershed protected from the results of industrial development.

Band spokesperson John Cutfeet says that was the result of this weeks referendum on the issue and says it should send a message to companies

The environmental watchdog group Earthroots is calling on the McGuinty government to respect the results of the vote.

Rafferty Talks Cross-Border Issues with US Senator

There was a brief discussion over the weekend on how to improve access across the Canada-U-S border.

Thunder Bay-Rainy River M-P John Rafferty says his talk with Minnesota U-S Senator Al Franken in International Falls set the stage for a much broader discussions in the near future.

Rafferty says Franken was well understanding of the issues, including the turn-back of American tourists with often decades old drunk driving charges.

Forest Fires Force Evacuation of Deer Lake

Nearly 500 residents of a remote community in northwestern Ontario are being evacuated because of an approaching forest fire.

Officials are working to evacuate Deer Lake residents as fires burning about 3.5 kilometres away send smoke into the area.

The province is coordinating with federal and military officials to evacuate residents whose health is most at risk.

It is expected that about 480 residents will be immediately airlifted by Canadian Forces aircraft to Greenstone.

Ministry of Natural Resources crews are fighting the fires with water bombers.

There are currently 78 forest fires burning in northwestern Ontario. 

Hydro One Crews Still Working to restore power to all customers

Still a smattering of homes southwest of Kenora without electricity this morning.

Hydro One made good progress yesterday, connecting most of its customers, who had been without power for more than a day, due to a violent thunderstorm.

There are about 100 homes still waiting to be re-connected.

Hydro One is hoping to have power restored to all its customers by around 4:00 this afternoon.

OPP investigate boating accident on Clearwater Bay

The OPP say they are continuing to investigate a boating accident on Clearwater Bay that sent a 15 year old girl to hospital.

Police say the girl fell out of a boat around 10:00 Sunday night.

Police say a 16 year old girl was operating the vessel at the time and lost control, throwing one of the passengers into the water.

The boat continued to circle around, until the operator was finally able to bring it under control.

The girl in the water was struck the propeller of the boat and sustained injuries to her head and neck.

Police and and ambulance arranged to meet the girls at Kendall Inlet, where the girl was transported to hospital.

She has been treated for her injuries and was later released.

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.