Youth Nabbed in Break-in

A 17 year old youth faces charges after a failed break-in attempt in the River Street area.

The OPP say the youth entered a home around 3:30 in the morning.

However, he was met by the homeowner, who held the suspect until police arrived at the scene.

That was one of two break and enters reported to the local OPP over the weekend.

Saints Boys win NorWOSSA Soccer Gold

A gold medal for one of Thomas Aquinas' soccer teams at the NorWOSSA championships.

The Saints boys squad needed extra time to earn a 1-0 win over Sioux Lookout in the gold medal game yesterday in Rainy River.

T.A. will now advance to the NWOSSA Finals next week.

Meanwhile, the Thomas Aquinas girls teams didn't get the bounces they needed.

The Saints were beaten 3-2 in a shootout by Red Lake in the semi-finals.

It was the girls first loss in NorWOSSA league play this season.

Library Lobbies for Federal Funding Program

The Kenora Public Library is seeking help from city council to fight a recent federal budget cut.

The government is doing away with its Communty Access Program Sustainability funding.

Councillor Ron Lunny says it will mean a loss of just 37 hundred dollars from the Library's bottom line.

He says while its not a lot of money, every penny counts these days in times of tight budget.

Experimental Lakes on the Chopping Block

The Experimental Lakes area east of Kenora is one of the casualties of the federal government's recent budget cuts.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced yesterday that it will be closing down the 58 lake freshwater laboratory between Kenora and Dryden.

The Experimental Lakes is considered a world class research facility that studies everything from the effects of acid rain and phosphates on the eco-system to fisheries.

A Fisheries spokesperson says every attempt will be made to transfer the ownership of  the facility to universities or the provinces.

Gravelle Defends the Bear Wise Program

The Minister of Natural Resources is listening to municipal concerns over the changes being made to the bear wise program.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield has said the cuts to the program are just another service being downloaded onto the backs of municipalities.

Minister, Michael Gravelle says that's not so.

Police will now be handling calls of nuicence bears.

Campbell Talks to Privacy Commissioner

Ontario's Privacy Commissioner is being asked to look into a contract with a Tennessee company which is working on an automated licensing  system for Ontario for hunters and anglers.

Kenora-Rainy River M.P.P. Sarah Campbell raised the issue in the Ontario legislature this morning.

She says the outsourcing of the jobs just adds insult to injury.

Opposition critics are worried that the Patriot Act in the U.S. will allow the American government to access private information about Ontario residents.

Lipinski Returns as President of MNO

A Fort Frances area man has been given another mandate to head the Metis Nation of Ontario.

Gary Lipinski received over 87 per cent of the vote to be returned as president.

The Metis Nation says there was a record voter turnout in this election.

Lipinski says its a strong mandate to continue to push forward on their Métis rights agenda.

NAN gives the Premier the Cold Shoulder

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation is panning the Premier.

They sent him a curt response saying no to his invite to speak at the 7th annual first nations meeting.

NAN is declining the Premier's invite because they would only have seven minutes to speak with Dalton McGuinty and they feel that's not enough time to properly air their grievances.

Phase Three Tender for Downtown Revitalization ready to go

The third phase of the downtown revitalization project will cost almost 700 thousand dollars before a shovel even hits the ground.

City council is planning to award the design and contract administration tenders for the project next week.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says the same architect reponsible for phases one and two would also be involved in the third phase.

The city is going to be applying to both the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and FedNor to help fund the project.

MNR Battles Blaze on Lake of the Woods

High winds have been causing problems for fire crews in northwestern Ontario.

The MNR says its continuing to battle a 150 hectare blaze on an island on Lake of the Woods.

The fire on Falcon Island was initially reported on Tuesday.

Its not threatening any private property, but the MNR says they do have three water bombers and two fire crews trying to douse the fire.

There were three new wildfires reported in the region yesterday.

Coney Shuttle Will Run Again this Summer

There will be a boat shuttle to Coney Island once again this summer.

Kenora City council is expected to approve a two year contract with Wharf Marina to operate the service.

As part of its budget deliberations, the city has decided to cut the subsidy it pays to operate the service.

Last year, the city provided five thousand dollars to operate the shuttle.

This year, the subsidy will amount to just 25 hundred dollars.

Saints Boys Soccer Team Rebounds for win

The Thomas Aquinas boys soccer team had a bit of a scare this morning.

The Saints trailed Rainy River 1-0 at the half in their NorWOSSA Single "a" semi-final.

T.A. rallied in the second half though for a 5-1 victory and now advance to the gold medal game at 5:00 this afternoon.

The Thomas Aquinas Girls are also playing in today's semi-finals. 

Neighbors Help Foil Break-In

Proof the Neighborhood Watch program works.

The OPP say they managed to arrest four people in connection

to a break-in in the Minto area of town, thanks to the watchful eyes of a neighbor.

Police say three females aged 12, 13 and 14 and a 15 year old male were caught breaking into a home on Minto Avenue.

They have been charged with break and enter.

TA Students Excel at Dryden Track meet

Some outstanding performances for a couple of local students at the Dryden Track and Field Championships this week.

Tory Stebnitsy recorded a couple of meet records.

She set a record in the elementary girls long jump and also the elementary girls 100 meter dash. She finished the race in time of 13.4 seconds.

Savana Neniska also set a record in the elementary girls high jump at 1.35 meters.

Devin Krolyk had the meet record in the elementary boys 1500 meter race in a time of five minutes 16.5 seconds.

Thomas Aquinas placed fourth overall in the elementary school standings with 108 points.

Youth in Philanthropy Hands out Grants

Its a Dog's Life, the Agape Table, the Fellowship Center, and the Kenora Public Library.

Those were just some of the non-profit groups in the city that received a bit of a boost from the Youth in Philanthropy Program.

Evan Michaluk has been a member of the Thomas Aquinas group for the past four years and says its a good way to become more involved in your community.

A total of eight 700 dollar cheques were presented at a granting ceremony yesterday.

Other receipients included the Women's Shelter, Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation, the Minto Resource Center and the Harborfront Concert Series.

OFAH Worried Personal Data may be Compromised

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters says its 100-thousand members are ``deeply concerned'' about having their personal data stored in the U-S. A Tennessee-based company now handles license applications for Ontario hunters and fishers.

 Anglers and Hunters' spokeswoman Lezlie Goodwin says Ontarians are very worried about the situation.

 The Ministry of Natural Resources says Active Outdoors of Nashville signed a contract to protect personal information of Ontario residents, but critics point out the U-S Patriot Act would trump provincial law.

Power Outage in Sioux Lookout Today

Sioux Lookout will be left in the dark for a good chunk of the day today.

Sioux Lookout Hydro says a power outage is planned from 9 this morning until 2 p-m.

All customers in Sioux Lookout, Hudson and Alcona will be affected.

Hydro One customers on Highway 72 South and Frenchman's Head are also impacted.

The outage is due to emergency repairs to the main transmission line that supplies electricity to the surrounding area.

Beardy Seeks Top Aboriginal Job in Ontario

There's going to be a race for the Regional Chief of Ontario.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy will be going up against incumbent Angus Tolouse.

Beardy says he's been thinking of running for sometime.

Beardy will continue to be NAN's Grand Chief up until the election which takes place at the end of June at the Chiefs of Ontario Conference in Toronto.

Health Unit Returns Cash to Municipalities

Municipalities that contribute to the Northwestern Health Unit are receiving money back from the agency.

More than 165-thousand dollars has been returned back to communities across the Kenora and Rainy River District.

The municipal share is based on population which dropped by 4-thousand in 2011 over 2010.

Council Considers RFP for Coney Wharf

Kenora City Council will vote next week whether to seek a request for proposals for a new wharf at Coney Island.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck was an underwater inspection shows the crib docks at Coney are in very poor shape.

He admits it could cost over 250 thousand dollars to replace the current structure.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield suggests the city should approach local contractors who specialize

in docks to come up with a quote for the work and not bother with an engineering study of the wharf.