City Starts Thinking ahead to 2012 Budget

It should be a little easier to put together the 2012 municipal budget next year.

Ron Lunny is the chair of the finance committee and says last year the new council faced a huge learning curve when it came to the budget.

Lunny says department heads have already begun looking at their budgets for 2012, and he anticipates they should be able to approve it a little earlier next year.

Word on the Water this Weekend

Kenora is the writing capital of northwestern Ontario, at least for this weekend.

The second annual Word on the Water conference is taking place this weekend.

Rick Brignall is one of the organizers and says they are expecting a good turn-out.

The conference starts tonight at the Minis Hall of the Super 8 with a presentation on aboriginal writing from the Winnipeg Aboriginal Writers Group.

Gravelle Takes over as Minister of Natural Resources

Michael Gravelle understands the Ministry of Natural Resources portfolio is an important one for Northwestern Ontario.

That's why the Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP is chomping at the bit to get going.

Gravelle was sworn into office Thursday.

Gravelle notes he spend the next couple of weeks getting acquainted with the hot-button issues facing Natural Resources.

Bartolucci back as Northern Development Minister

It's a familiar face in the position of Minister of Northern Development and Mines.

Rick Bartolucci says he's happy to be back in his old post and looks forward to getting caught up to speed.

Bartolucci notes he'll be sitting down with area First Nations to talk about their concerns about the Ring of Fire.

Deadline for Infrastructure projects approaches

The clock is ticking on projects that have received federal infrastructure funding.

October 31st is supposed to be the deadline to have all the projects complete.

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford says there will be some leeway.

Rickford says most of the projects in this riding have met the deadline.

Transit Commission looks to overhaul bus routes

Kenora's Transit Commission is planning to meet at the end of the month and decide if and how bus routes should be changed.

Some routes have very low ridership and cost a lot of money to operate.

Councillor Charito Drinkwalter says the Transit Commission will base their decision on a ridership survey that was carried earlier this year.

The Lakeside route is being under-utilized and costs four times more to operate than the Keewatin bus route.

Con College Enjoys good enrolment numbers

Confederation College continues to ride a first year enrolment wave.

Vice President of Student and Corporate Services Bob Backstrom says this year's levels have remained even with last year but that is still very high.

Backstrom says Confederation college is also better than the provincial average for both graduates getting hired and employers being satisfied with former students

Broncos win final game of regular season in WHSFL

Beaver Brae's football team ended its season with a "W".

The Broncos edged the West Kildonan Wolverines 25-23 yesterday afternoon at Pete Fair Memorial Field.

Head Coach Chris Penner says the two teams were pretty evenly matched.

Jared Davis rushed for 144 yards, including a 65 yard touchdown run at the end of the second quarter.

Joseph Lee had a 30 yard touchdown reception, while Brayden Leishow had the rest of the Bronco points with a touchdown, a field goal and a punt single.

Thistles lose, Saints Win

It was a close one last night at Thistle Rink as the Kenora Midget AAA Thistles dropped a 3-2 decision to the Norman Northstars.

Brent Aiken and Rhyse Mandamin scored for Kenora. The two teams will battle again tonight at the Rec Center.

It's Breast Cancer Awareness night so don't forget to Pink the Rink.

Game time is 7:30.

Meanwhile, the Thomas Aquinas senior boys volleyball team continues to roll along.

The Saints were in Whitefish Bay yesterday and blanked the Winter Hawks three sets to none.

The T.A. junior boys were also victorious winning three sets to one.

Thistles Play North Stars at Home for Two Games

The Kenora Triple "a" midget Thistles will play a rare Thursday night game.

The Thistles are at home to the Norman North Stars for a pair of games.

Tonight's contest starts at 7:30 at the Thistle Rink.

Beaver Brae court sport teams managed a split with Fort Frances.

Both senior squads posted victories yesterday.

The Bronco senior boys volleyball team swept the Muskies in three straight games, while the junior team lost three sets to one.

In hoops action, the Beaver Brae senior girls got eight points from Baily Markham in a 24-18 decision over Fort.

The Bronco junior girls lost 32-18.

Cardboard Boat Races today

More than 50-elementary students from Dryden, Keewatin, Red Lake, Rainy River, Vermilion Bay and Ignace participated in the Cardboard Boat Race in Dryden today.

Skills Canada Spokesperson Carolyn Hartlen explains the purpose of the intiative.

The students constrcuted a "seaworthy" boat using cardboard, duct tape, adhesive and good ole brain power.

Bravery Awards for Two Treaty Three Police Officers

Two Kenora area police officers are being recognized for their actions during a stand-off on the Grassy Narrows First Nation.

Constables George MacNeil and Kris Miclash from the Treaty Three Police will receive the Governor General's Medal For Bravery.

In May of 2007, the two officers had to confront a man who was firing a .223 bolt action rifle in the community north of Kenora.

The officers took cover behind their vehicle and told the suspect to drop his weapon.

The intoxicated man continued toward the constables and fired two shots.

The officers eventually were able to shoot at the suspect, forcing him to drop his rifle.

They were able to secure the weapon and restrain the injured gunman until an ambulence arrived at the scene.

The awards ceremony will be held at a later date in Ottawa.

Hampton lands a new job

It didn't take long for Howard Hampton to land a new job.

Hampton retired as the M.P.P. for the Kenora-Rainy River Riding prior to the provincial election.

He's taken a job with the Toronto law firm of Fasken Martineau.

He'll be working with the corporate social responsibility and aboriginal affairs groups at the law firm.

Gravelle to move to Natural Resources

There will be some familiar faces in new portfolios when premier Dalton McGuinty announces his new cabinet today.

Michael Gravelle is being shuffled out of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry and into Natural Resources.

This will be the first time in over four years that the Natural Resources Minister will come from outside of the GTA.

Meanwhile, Rick Bartolucci will be returning to Northern Development, a post he held before becoming the province's communty safety minister.

NDP MP pans increase in House of Commons seats

At least one northwestern Ontario Member of Parliament is panning plans to increase the number of seats in the House of Commons.

Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Bruce Hyer doesn't think more seats are necessary.

A recent report suggests the Harper Government could add 13 more seats for Ontario but Hyer says that won't fix parliament.

Hyer says if a party wins 30 percent of the votes they should have 30 percent of the seats.

Sioux Lookout drug arrest

A search of a home in Sioux Lookout has resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of drugs.

OPP and the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau executed the search warrant yesterday.

Officers found 6-thousand dollars worth of cocaine and marijuana as well as a number of electronic devices and cash.

OPP say 34-year-old William Juras and 32-year-old Patricia Robertson both face charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine.

Juras has also been charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Mineral Mountain Explores Gold Zone near Nestor Falls

The potential of yet another huge gold deposit has been identified southeast of Kenora.

The Mineral Mountain Resources's find comes as its conducts exploration work around the former Straw Lake mine east of Nestor Falls.

Company vice-president Brad Baker says they believe it to be similar to the Hammond Reef project near Atikokan.

But Baker says more exploration is needed before any consideration of a mine is made.

Broncos wrap up football season at home

Beaver Brae's football team will wrap up the regular season in the Winnipeg High School Football League at home.

The Broncos are just playing for pride when they take on West Kildonan this afternoon.

Beaver Brae was eliminated from the play-off race last week after losing to Kildonan East.

The Broncos are currently tied with West Kildonan for 5th place in their division.

Only the top four teams make the play-offs.

Game time is 2:00 this afternoon at Pete Fair Memorial Field.

Campbell waits for NDP Critic Duties

It appears Kenora-Rainy River's Sarah Campbell will have to wait a little longer to find out which critic portfolio she'll be responsible for in the upcoming session of Queen's Park.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath was expected to make those appointments yesterday.

Campbell says they'll now come next week.

The New Democrats have been holding caucus meetings at Queen's Park over the past few days. 

Enrolment up at Kenora Catholic District School Board

Not a lot of empty space in the schools operated by the Kenora Catholic District School Board these days.

The school board is reporting an increase of 55 students over last year.

Director of Education, Phylis Eikre says the introduction of more all-day junior and senior kindergarten programs is only part of the  reason for the boost in enrolment.

Eikre says they have managed to either maintain or increase enrolment at all their schools this fall.

At Thomas Aquinas, there is an increase of about 10 students over last year.

Total enrolment is 1,583 students.