Blue Rodeo Ready for Tonight's Concert

The new Harborfront Tent is being prepped for tonight's Blue Rodeo Concert.

Greg Keelor is one of the lead men for the Canadian Super Group and says they still enjoy performing after 30 years on the road.

Fat City is scheduled to open for Blue Rodeo starting at 7:15.

Boys Volleyball Tournament this Weekend

Local senior boys high school volleyball teams will see their first real action this weekend.

The Kenora Invitational Volleyball Tournament will be taking place up at Beaver Brae and Thomas

Aquinas today and tomorrow.

A total of ten teams will be taking part in the two day warm-up to the NorWOSSA season.

Both the Saints and Broncos will open the tournament in their home gyms at noon.

The finals are slated for Beaver Brae Saturday afternoon at 2:00.

Two local Bridges Being Named after Fallen Officers

The province is planning to name a couple of bridges in the Kenora area in honor of two OPP officers who died in line of duty.

The bridges are located along the Kenora By-Pass and will be named after Constable Peter Sebborn and Sergeant Tom Cooper.

Sebborn was killed in a collision on July 1st, 1952, while driving to the scene of an accident.

Cooper was shot while responding to a domestic disturbance on the Grassy Narrows First Nation on July 25th, 1991.

The naming ceremony will take place at the Discovery Center on September 29th.

Aboriginal Education Panel Visits Rat Portage

The National Round-Table on Aboriginal Education has received a list of several recommendations to improve learning in Northern communities.

The 3-member Panel was in Rat Portage First Nation yesterday for the first of 7 stops across Canada.

Jack McMaster is the Director of Education for the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board and says the Feds need to bridge the gap between primary and secondary learning.

McMaster says students living on reserves need to have a smooth transition when attending High School in Dryden, Sioux Lookout, Red Lake and Kenora.

October Elections

Advanced poll locations for the October 6^th elections open to the public next Wednesday, September 21st. You have until September 30^th to cast your vote at Kenora’s satellite office:

227 2^nd Street South. 

 

Bombardier

Bombardier says final assembly of its Global seven-thousand and eight-thousand business jets will be done at its manufacturing site in Toronto.

The Montreal-based aerospace giant has not determined how many jobs will be created by the move.Already, about four-thousand people work at the Bombardier site in Toronto.

Counterfeit Heist

The R-C-M-P have seized half-a-million dollars worth of counterfeit designer goods from GKS CLOTHES in Winnipeg
Mounties went to the store armed with a search warrant and say they found items with labels such as Prada, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Gucci. Police are looking at possible charges under the Copyright, Trademark and Textile Act

Order of Canada

Forty-five Canadians will be honoured at Rideau Hall in Ottawa this morning when they're awarded the Order of Canada.

Among those named as an officer is astronaut Julie Payette, who flew on two shuttle missions.The group also includes former senator Pat Carney, who served in the cabinet of then-prime minister Brian Mulroney in the late 1980's

Kenora OPP

The Kenora Detachment of the OPP says its continuing to focus on the drug trade in the Kenora area.

Inspector Dave Lucas says they've seen a big jump in the number of drug-related charges
in the city compared to last year.

Lucas says many of the property crime, auto thefts and mischief incidents they've investigated have been directly related to their drug investigations.

Aboriginal-Juries

A motion filed by a Thunder Bay lawyer over a lack of aboriginal representation on the region's jury roll could delay jury trials starting next week.
Christopher Watkins raised the issue on behalf of his client. Watkins filed a motion during Thursday morning's assignment court, calling for a trial of the jury roll issue.Watkins claimed that his client should be tried by a jury that reflects the region's population.

NAN

It's thumbs down by the Nishnawbe Aski Nation to an offer from the Ontario government. Premier Dalton McGuinty is offering meetings instead of a Commission of Inquiry into the deaths of seven NAN students in Thunder Bay. Deputy Grand Chief Terry Waboose says they expect nothing less from the Premier than to announce the inquiry.

All-Candidates Debate

The region's forest industry, health care, taxes and energy were all hot topics at last nights all candidates debate in Dryden. The NDP's Sarah Campbell, Progressive Conservative candidate Rod McKay and Green hopeful Jo Jo Holiday focused all their attention on Liberal candidate Anthony Leek. All parties touched on government policies on taxation, energy and forestry. Kenora is hosting a second debate on Tuesday

OFL

The Ontario Federation of Labour will co-ordinate simultaneous solidarity rallies at every community college campus in Ontario next Tuesday.

The O-F-L has been supporting the striking support workers at the colleges who have been out for more than two weeks.O-F-L president Sid Ryan will join picket lines today at Mohawk College to show his support.

Trustee upset over EQAO test results

Aboriginal High School literacy test results have caught the attention of a Sioux Lookout Trustee with the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board.

Bob O'Donohue says the success rate has dropped 10-percent over the past 5-years and he believes all the time and energy spent on aboriginal education is not paying off.

Superintendent of Education Sean Monteith is defending the results.

89 students wrote the mandated exam last year and 57-passed.

46 of 70 students were successful in 2009-2010.

McGuinty Says No to Northern Leaders Debate

Premier Dalton McGuinty is the lone holdout for a Northern Ontario leaders debate ahead of the October 6th election.

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association is hosting the debate in Thunder Bay next Friday.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says that McGuinty is once again turning his back on Northerners.

P.C. Leader Tim Hudak says the Liberals don't care about local issues.

McGuinty says he'll instead push for a Northern segment in the televised leaders' debate September 27th in Toronto.

EQAO

More students in the Keewatin-Patricia School District are passing the EQAO reading and writing exams.

The success rate for reading is 74-percent for Grade 6 and 63-percent for Grade 3 students.

Superintendent of Education Caryl Hron says she's not surprised by the results.

The success rate for writing is 64-percent in Grade 6 and 61-percent for students in Grade 3.

All-Candidates Forum

Local and Provincial issues will be in the spotlight tonight as the first All-Candidates Forum of the Provincial Election is being held in Dryden.

The Kenora-Rainy River candidates will debate the hot topics.Candidates will be able to grill one another and questions will also be accepted from the Media and the Floor.The Forum starts at 7 o'clock at the Royal Canadian Legion.

If you can't make it, the debate will be broadcasted live on Shaw Cable 10.

Kenora Hydro

Kenora Hydro is trying to find the cause of regular power outages in the Lakeside, north end and
Coney Island areas.

Over the past few weeks, electricity has been interrupted several times, sometimes for hours on end.

President and CEO of Kenora Hydro Dave Sinclair says they've done a complete inspection of the system, but haven't been able to find out what's triggering the outages.

Sinclair says if anyone notices any strange activity, or noise on the hydro lines in their neighborhood, they should contact Kenora Hydro with the details.

Riverside Foundation for Health Care

A long-time resident of the Rainy River district is presenting Riverside Foundation for Health Care with one-hundred thousand dollars.
Foundation Director Nicke Baird says gift comes from someone who is choosing to remain anonymous.


Baird says the individual is also leaving it up to the Foundation on how the money will be used.

Full-Day Kindergarten

Area classrooms are bustling with little ones this year as the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board enters the second year in implementing the Full-Day, Early Learning Kindergarten Program.254-students are enrolled in the program across the District this year, 86 of those right here in Kenora