Saints through to the Quater-Finals

The Thomas Aquinas Saints have finished the round robin without a loss.

The Saints played their fourth game this morning and beat London District Chrisitan in two straight sets, by scores of 25-17 and 25-20.

The Saints will finish first in their pool with a perfect 4-0 record and have yet to drop a set.

T.A. will play in the quarter-finals this afternoon at 3:00.

Their opponant still has to be determined.

Drug Bust in Fort Albany

Two people face charges after Nishnawbe-Aski Police executed a search warrant at a Fort Albany First Nation home.

Police seized 25-hundred dollars worth of marijuana, 33-hundred dollars cash, 2-firearms and various packages of ammunition.

Police say 29-year-old Ross Loone and 28-year-old Angie Lagasse have been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, careless storage of a firearm and unauthorized use of a firearm.

Police to release details of undercover operation

Police Agency's from across Northwestern Ontario will take the wraps off a major 6-month undercover investigation tomorrow morning.

A press conference is taking place in Dryden involving the OPP, Treaty 3 and the Anishinabek Police Services.

Police say the probe led to significant cash, drug and property seizures.

The announcement is expected to coincide with a report relased yesterday highlighting the escalated prescription drug problem.

Miracle Marathon turns 20

The Salvation Army and CJRL is celebrating a special milestone today.

The 20th annual Miracle Marathon is being broadcast over the next two days to raise money to help support the Christmas Cheer Fund.

Captain Debbie Gosse says its a special time of year for her.

Over the past 19 years almost 1.5 million dollars in cash, non-perishable food items and toys have been donated to the Salvation Army through the Miracle Marathon.

The Miracle Marathon will run until 2:00 Saturday afternoon.

Bell Canada under fire for PST refunds

Bell Canada is being accused of failing its First Nation customers.

The Union of Ontario Indians says its members have had a hard time getting their PST refunds.

Spokesperson Maurice Switzer says some people have had to wait on the phone for over 4 hours.

All phone, cable and satelite bills were expected to be PST free as of two months ago.

OPP Launch seasonal RIDE campaign

Police in the region are gearing up for another Festive RIDE campaign.

Sergeant Ken Manti of the OPP says this year there are stricter rules in force.

The seasonal RIDE campaign begins today and will wrap up on January 2nd.

School Buses Running

Its business as usual at local schools this morning.

Local school buses and the city transit buses are running once again after being shut down yesterday due to all the snow.

Road crews have been out plowing, salting and sanding local

roads overnight.

The Kenora area received a lot less snow yesterday than

predicted.

Only about six centimeters has fallen, less than the 10 to 15 that had been predicted.

Road conditions on the main highways are described as partially snow-covered with some bare and dry sections.

Saints Unbeaten so far at OFSAA

The Thomas Aquinas Saints have a perfect record after the first day at the All-Ontario Single "a" championships.

The Saints won all three round-robin games they played yesterday.

Last night they got by Ecole Secondaire Lajeunesse by scores of 25-21 and 25-9.

Saints Coach Joanna Krisko says so far they have had a pretty easy schedule.

The Saints wrap up the round robin this morning against London District Christian, which is also unbeaten in the round-robin.

Kenora Hydro proposes rate increase

Kenora Hydro is proposing a 10 percent increase in its rates next year.

Hydro has submitted a request to the Ontario Energy Board for an increase in rates effective May 1st, 2011.

The new rates would help Kenora Hydro off-set some of the costs of a couple of major capital projects, including the installation of smart meters.

Hydro says the rate hike will also help pay for the re-build of their  sub-station on Mellick Avenue.

For the average consumer, rates would increase about nine dollars and 45 cents a month.

Road Closure near Wabigoon

It looks as if we'll be getting at least another 24 hours of snow.

So far about 10 centimeters has fallen, and its expected to snow

all day today and tonight.

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says things won't start to

improve until Friday.

Meanwhile, there is one road closure to report this morning.

The Trans-Canada in Wabigoon has been shut down because of a collision involving two semi tractor trailor units.

The OPP say small vehicles and trucks are able to detour through the town.

Saints go for OFSAA gold

The Thomas Aquinas Senior Boys Volleyball team is gunning for its third straight provincial title.

The Saints are in Missasauga for the All-Ontario Single "a" championships.

Their first game is this morning at 11:30 against the lowest ranked team in the tournament, Bloor Collegiate from Toronto.

The number one ranked Saints' next game is at 2:30 against Brampton Christian High School.

T.A. wraps up the day with a game at 5:15 against Lajeunesse from Southwestern Ontario.

Broncos win league gridiron awards

Some hardware for Beaver Brae's Football team.

The Winnipeg High School Football League held its award ceremonies last night and the the Broncos took home two major awards.

Dannon Saunders was named the lineman of the year in the Vidruk East Division.

The Beaver Brae Football Club also received kudos for having the top coaching

staff in the Vidruk East Division.

Abitibi ready to exit Bankruptcy Protection

Abitibi Bowater could be on the verge of exiting bankruptcy protection. 

The company has been given the green light by an American court to go ahead with a restructuring plan that will shed five and a half billion dollars in unsecured debt. 

Part of the deal ensures the company will meet all pension obligations in Canada.

Hampton Outlines Energy ideas

Kenora-Rainy River M.P.P. Howard Hampton says his party has a lot of ideas

to help produce and conserve electricity.

Hampton was responding to complaints by Premier Dalton McGuinty that the

opposition doesn't have any ideas on its own how to handle Ontario's energy

demands for the next 20 years.

Hampton says there are a lot of things the province could and should be doing to

help conserve energy.

Hampton calls the McGuinty Government's 87 billion dollar energy plan is hap-hazard

and too expensive.

Compton Reflects on Four years in office

Out-going Kenora Mayor Len Compton says the city is well poised to move forward.

Compton will leave office at the end of this month and says the city has benefited greatly from a number of big projects over the past couple of years.

He says while the federal and provincial governments have contributed with

their infrastructure projects, private companies have also been very active.

Compton says the city was able to capitalize on all the infrastructure funding

because they had projects that were shovel ready.

Another Snow Day in Kenora

Its another snow day for students who have to take the bus to school.

Excel Coachlines says none of its buses will be running today, including the city Transit vehicles.

None of the secondary roads surrounding Kenora have been plowed, and  Excel says its just too difficult for its school buses to get around right now.

Schools will remain open today for students who walk or who have other means of transportation to get to school.

The Rat Portage School Bus is also not running today.

More snow on the way

Expect it to snow for the rest of today and overnight.

Another 10 centimeters of snow is expected before the system finally blows through northwestern Ontario.

Mark Shuster is a meteorologist with Environment Canada and says things should start to improve tomorrow.

The Kenora area has received another 10 centimeters of snow since yesterday afternoon.

There is one road closure this morning.

Highway 17 through Wabigoon has been closed down due to an accident

involving two semi-tractor trailor units.

The Trans-Canada east of Dryden is expected to be closed for at least an

hour.

Truth And Reconciliation Commission Returns to NWO

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is making a return trip to northwestern Ontario.

The Commission will listen to the stories from residential school surviviors at a day long session in Thunder Bay.

Commission spokesperson Alvin Fiddler says it's part of the healing for First Nations residents.

Fiddler says the Commission was invited here by officials of the Nishawbe Aski Nation.

City Erects Christmas Tree on Main Street

Main Street definitely has a Christmas look and feel today.

Kenora Hydro Crews installed the traditional Christmas Tree yesterday afternoon at the intersection of Second and Main Streets.

The tree was harvested from some property on Florence Avenue and will boast over 13 thousand individual lights once its fully decorated.

The lights on the tree will officially be lit at a special ceremony on Thursday evening.

The bows that adorned the tree last year, have instead been placed on the parking meters in downtown Kenora.

City posts Surplus in 2009 Audit

The City of Kenora continues to remain relatively financially healthy.

Council approved the 2009 audited financial statements last week, and it

shows the city has strong financial reserves.

Karen Brown is the Chief Adminstrative Officer and says there is almost 80 million dollars in various reserve funds.

The city also has 11.5 million dollars in cash and temporary investments and 8.2 million in government business enterprises.