Kenora OPP Seize $58,000 in Drugs

2 men from BC have bee charged for drug possession in Kenora.

On Thursday last week Provincial Police stopped a vehicle on Highway 17A.

During an investigation police searched the car and found 25 pounds of marijuana and some methamphetamine.

The total value of the seized drugs is 58 thousand dollars.

As a result 26 year Daniel Mcrae and 45 year Daniel Linklater have been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of methamphetamine.

Both men are to appear in Kenora court on Wednesday.

Accident on Trans-Canada Near Steinbach Claims One Life

A fatal accident on the Trans-Canada Highway near Steinbach this morning.

The RCMP say a single vehicle rolled over about 1.5 kilometers west of
the Highway 12 intersection around 9:30 this morning.

The vehicle came to rest in the meridian between the east and westbound lanes.

The 59 year old driver was pronounced dead after being transported to hospital.

A 73 year old passenger is said to have life-threatening injuries.

Police say road conditions were very slippery at the time of the accident.

There have been some delays reported in the area as police continue their investigation.

Healthy Food Basket Continues to Increase

The food budget for a family of four in the Kenora and Rainy River district is nearing the one-thousand dollar a month mark.

This year, the Healthy Food Basket cost 995 dollars.

It's a 60 dollar increase over last year's study.

The Northwestern Health Unit, Julie Slack says that's making it more difficult for those on low or fixed incomes.

Slack says the rising prices do show the need to strengthen community gardens, school breakfast programs and food banks even more.

Winter Roads Officially Opened

It's that time of year again the northern winter roads network is open.

The provincial and federal government funded the ice road network that connects 28 First Nations.

Cold weather in December and January meant an early start to this year's winter roads season.

Tourism Kenora Launches Snow Excuse Campaign

A rather fitting winter tourism campaign has been launched in Kenora.

"Snow Excuse" is being targeted at the Winnipeg market over the next couple of
months.

Tourism Development Officer Heather Gropp is hoping visitors will take advantage of events such as Winter Bites, which is running all month long.

Winter Bites starts today and features 12 restaurants in Kenora, which will have
two fixed price menus for 25 dollars per person.

Building Permits Up in 2013

(Valleyview School addition)

Building activity was up in Kenora last year.

Statistics released by the Planning Department shows there was 23.1 million dollars worth of building
permits issued in 2013.

That was up from 15.3 million the year before.

A couple of school expansions helped boost the numbers.

Valleyview School had a two million dollar expansion for it's Kindergarten classes, and Ste. Margarite
Bourgeoys is undergoing a four million dollar, six classroom addition.

In all, 244 building permits were issued, compared to 204 in 2012.

Little change in the number of new residential construction permits, with 27 issued in 2013, compared to
26 the year before.

Poverty Challenge Starts Next Week

A twist to this year's Poverty Challenge in Kenora.

Every year, a select few are asked to try and live on 35 dollars
for five days during the Week of Action Against Poverty.

Spokesperson for Making Kenora Home, Nan Normand says they
have a different group of volunteers this year.

The participants are also asked to write a daily blog about the
challenges of living on a fixed budget.

The Week of Action Against Poverty begins next weekend.

Kenora Lags Behind In Recycling Effort

It's not bad, but it could be better.

Ontario Waste Diversion says in 2012, Kenora residents recycled about 29 per cent of all residential waste that would have ended in landfill.

Chief Executive Officer Michael Scott says it's not surprising to see.

Scott says increased education and development of depots for such things as electronic equipment can help drive up the numbers.

Rates for other communities - population - rate
SIOUX LOOKOUT - 5,251 33.19%
DRYDEN - 7,617  30.25%
KENORA - 15,965 29.11%
MARATHON - 3,070 20.86%
FORT FRANCES - 7,952 20.10%
ATIKOKAN - 2,959 15.39%
RAINY RIVER FIRST NATIONS - 14.25%

Bearskin Founder Passes Away

The region is mourning the death of a prominent local businessman.

Harvey Friesen passed away suddenly on Sunday in Palm Springs, California at the age of 65.

Friesen was well known in Thunder Bay as President of Bearskin Airlines, which he co-owned with his brother Cliff.

Despite selling Bearkin in 2011 to Exchange Income Corporation, the Friesen brothers continued to run the airline.  

Domtar To Pay Price For Dryden's Budget Deficit

Domtar will be paying a pretty penny for Dryden's financial troubles.

Council has approved a move to raise the 2014 industrial tax rate for large industrial businesses by 134-percent, while reducing the residential tax rate.

As it stands now Dryden taxpayers will be paying less this year, but a lot could change.

Mayor Craig Nuttall stresses this is one shot deal.

The provicial large industrial assessment decreased from 41.8-million dollars in 2013 to 15.4-million in 2014, resulting in a 1.3-million dollar yearly loss in revenue for the City.

The change in tax rates has been granted by the Ministry of Finance.

NOSM Seeking Aboriginal Reps

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is looking to fill a couple of openings on their Aboriginal Reference Group.

They are looking for an aboriginal youth and an aboriginal health-care professional.

Volunteers provide insight, direction and guidance to the Dean over a three year term.

Midget Thistles Beat Wild At Home

A big win for the Kenora Triple "a" midget Thistles.

The Thistles got by the Winnipeg Wild 4-3 yesterday afternoon.

Josh Brunton led the way with a pair of goals.

The win took the sting off a 6-1 loss to the Eastman Selects Friday night.

The Thistles are back in action Wednesday night, once again against Eastman.

Meanwhile, the Kenora Double Peewee Thistles finished the regular season
in the Eastman hockey league with a 4-2 loss to the Beausejour Blades.

The Blades were unbeaten in regular season play, while the Thistles finished second
overall.

Eagles Soar To Victory at KIT

Out of town teams dominated the annual Kenora Invitational Senior Boys Basketball tournament
up at Beaver Brae.

The Dryden Eagles finished first after getting by the Red Lake Rams 74-68 in the A-Side Final.

Beaver Brae finished fourth overall after losing to Fort Frances 62-41 in the bronze medal game.

Portage Collegiate took the Consolation title beating the Lake of the Woods Bears.

Sharks Excel in Thunder Bay

No rust on the Kenora Sharks Swim Club.

Competing in their first meet of 2014, the Sharks finished second overall at the
Northwestern Ontario Regional Championships in Thunder Bay.

Anwyn  Friesen-Kroeker and  Kate Friesen-Kroeker were high point winners in their age group
along with Alex Illman,  Evan McDonald, Gabe Mastromatteo and  Hanna Stoliker

Alyson Stoliker won her Canadian age Group Time as a 13 year old in the 800 freestyle.

Lots of Snow, But Not A Record

The Kenora area has seen about twice as much snow as normal this
winter.

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says while it hasn't been a record year, there's no doubt there's been a lot of snow.

He says the snow level at the Kenora Airport is 60 centimeters, almost double the normal amount, which is 32 during an average winter.

Laidlaw says that's still a far cry from a record.

The most snow at the end of January was back in 1966, when the snowpack was 102 centimeters deep.

Making Kenora Home Cool To Minimum Wage Hike

An increase in the minimum wage in Ontario is getting a luke
warm response from Making Kenora Home.

Nan Normand is a spokesperson for the group, and says they aren't opposed to the minimum wage rising to 11 dollars an hour.

But she feels there are more efficient ways of tackling poverty.

Yesterday, Premier Kathleen Wynne confirmed the government is going  ahead with a 75 cent an hour increase in the minimum wage.

The minimum wage will rise to 11 dollars an hour on June 1st.

Canadian Rangers On Surveillance Patrol

The Canadian Rangers says they are battling bitterly cold conditions on their two thousand kilometer surveillance patrol.

The mission began on Sunday at the Ontario/Manitoba border along Hudson's Bay.

Captain Mark Rittwage says their snow machine trek is in part to celebrate 20 years
in northern Ontario, and is the longest one they've ever attempted.

The patrol will last two weeks and will hit the halfway mark on Saturday in Cochrane.

Rittwage says they've battled bone chilling conditions, as cold as -55 with the windchill.

OPP Investigating youtube Accident Video

OPP are looking into a viral video that shows a near head on collision on a winter road in the region.

Sergeant Shelley Garr says they're following up on the chilling dash board footage.

Garr says they're trying to identify the driver of the offending truck and charges could be laid.

The video posted on youtube says the incident happened on Highway 11 past Nipigon.

Osisko Battles Goldcorp Takeover Bid

Osisko Mining is taking a stand against a hostile 2.6-billion dollar take-over bid from Goldcorp.

The company says it's in the process of mailing its recommendation to shareholders, urging them to reject the offer.

Officials call it "opportunistic and financially inadequate".

Osisko is also taking legal action against its rival.

It alleges that Goldcorp misused confidential information prior to making the bid.

Vets to Protest Office Closures

It's a day of mourning for veterans in Northwestern Ontario.

They are holding a memorial service today over the loss of the local Veteran's Affairs Canada Office in Thunder Bay.

Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty says he's spoken to local vets and they're not pleased with Minister Julian Fantino.

Vets will now have to travel over 12 hours away to the North Bay office where half their case files are being transferred, the other half will be transferred to Winnipeg.