Black Bear Hotline Up and Running Again

The provincial bear reporting hotline is up and running.

The toll-free number is part of the Ministry of Natural Resources Bear Wise Program, to educate people on how to avoid attracting bears.

As black bears come out of hibernation, the ministry says people should be taking steps to prevent encounters with them.

MNR conservation officer Ross Johnston says people should be thinking about taking down bird feeders before they receive unwelcome visitors.

Summer Company Applications now available

The Northwest Business Centre is offering students a unique summer job opportunity.

Spokesperson Mike Greaves outlines the 'Summer Company' program.

The Centre will assist those interested in owning and operating their 8 to 12-week business over the Summer.

Over the past 5 years, the Kenora-Rainy River District has developed over 15-young entrepreneurs.

NOACC Makes presentation on Forest Tenure Legislation

The Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce is giving the provincial government a piece of his mind.

Chief Operating officer of NOACC, Harold Wilson was in Toronto yesterday to share his concerns about the forest tenure bill.

Wilson says the province isn't listening to their recommendations.

Bill 151 would create a number of crown corporations to manage area forests.

OPP nab a pair of impaired drivers

An 18 year old man faces drunk driving charges following a single vehicle accident early Saturday morning.

The OPP say they responded to a vehicle roll-over on the Airport Road around 12:30 Saturday morning.

The driver was was taken to Lake of the Woods District Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

In another incident, Police were conducting a RIDE Check Stop early Sunday morning on Darlinton Drive when a vehicle approached and tried to avoid officers.

The OPP managed to stop the vehicle and charged the driver with impaired operation of a motor vehicle.

City Council Ready to Take the Wraps off the 2011 Budget

Kenora City Council will be taking the wraps on the 2011 municipal budget.

A public meeting is being held this afternoon to go over the fine print in this year's fiscal document.

Council has been meeting over the past few months to try and whittle down both the operating and capital budgets.

The budget meeting will take place at 2:30 this afternoon prior to the committee of the whole meeting.

The actual budget won't officially be passed until next week.

Hospital Hoping for Funding increase in 2011

Lake of the Woods District Hospital says it still isn't sure exactly how much money it will have to work with in the 2011 fiscal year.

The provincial government promised a 1.5 percent increase in health care spending this year.

But CEO of the Hospital, Marc Belcaen says there are indications that the funding will be tied to performance related data.

Last year, the hospital had a budget of about 45 million dollars.

Allan Cup Ready to Roll

Two years of planning comes to fruition this week with the Allan Cup tournament taking center stage in town.

The week long event gets underway this afternoon with the first game at the Thistle Rink.

Judy Bain is chair of the Allan Cup Committee and says they are pleased with ticket sales so far.

Bain says their goal is to basically even, but expects they should be able to post a small surplus.

LOWBIC Lending up in 2010

The Lake of the Woods Business Incentive Corporation has a profitable year in terms of small business loans.

LOWBIC held its annual general meeting on Friday and its balance sheet showed about 1.2 million dollars lent out to 12 businesses in 2010.

Ryan Reynard is the Executive Director of LOWBIC and says there is some optimism in the tourism sector, despite a downturn in that industry in recent years.

LOWBIC says it also offered one on one, in-depth business councilling to 167 clients last year.

Hospital Bed Shortage Continues

Lake of the Woods District Hospital is seeking another two week extension to its 1-A crisis status.

The status gives patients in alternate level of care the first shot at a long term care bed when one opens up at either Pinecrest or Birchwood.

Director of Patient Care Leslie Brown says they currently have 16 patients waiting for long term care beds, which is the same, when the 1-A status was approved by the Northwest Local Health Integratin Network one month ago.

She says the 1-A status is due to expire on April 11th, but they are hoping to extend it beyond the Easter Long weekend.

Hospital CEO Marc Belcaen adds that they still haven't heard any word as to if or when Pinecrest will be able to open up 10 interim long term care beds.

Canadian Military Plans Forest Fire Training Exercise

The Ministry of Natural Resources is working with the Canadian Military in a 7-day firefighting training excercise.

About 100-military personnel and helicopters will be participating with MNR waterbombers, helicopters and firefighters.

Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Hill says the Military needs to fine-tune their policies in the event of an emergency.

'Trillium Response' will take place in Bon Echo Park near Trenton the first week of May.

Hill was one of the keynote speakers at the Northwest Response Forum in Dryden.

Teams gearing up for Allan Cup

All the teams in this weeks Allan Cup have arrive in town and are getting ready to start play today.

The round-robin begins this afternoon, with Fort Frances taking  on the South East Prairie Thunder from Steinbach.

Tonight's feature game has the host Kenora Thistles taking on the Ontario champs, the Dundas Real McCoys.

Thistles Fordward, Jeff Richards says even though they don't know much about these teams, their game plan is pretty straight forward.

The Opening Ceremonies take place at 7:30 this evening, with the puck drop in the Thistle Game at 8:00.

The other game between Fort and Southeast will start at 2:00.

OCN wins 22nd Annual NAFN Tournament

The OCN Penguins proved to be the team to beat at the 22nd annual North American First Nations tournament of Champions.

The Penguins cruised to the A-Side final and easily dispatched Norway House 8-2 in last night last in the championship game.

OCN also claimed the first prize money of 20 thousand dollars.

In the B-Side final, Shoal Lake edged the Whitedog Falcons 3-2.

In the old timers tournament, Rat Portage reclaimed the title with an easy 11-3 victory over Whitedog.

Hospital moving towards a year-end surplus

Lake of the Woods District Hospital is still in the black with just one month left in its fiscal year.

The hospital was running a surplus of 204 thousand dollars through the first 11 months of the 2010/2011 fiscal year.

Chief Executive Officer Marc Belcaen says they still expect to have a very small surplus

once all their bills are paid this year.

He adds that a freeze on travel and education for the hospital staff this year, helped keep

them in the black.

Common Ground Story Sharing this weekend

The 6th annual Common Ground Story Sharing Celebration will take place this weekend.

A number of new stories about the Lake of the Woods area will be presented during the day long event.

Barb Manson is one of the organizers and says they never seem to have a shortage of stories to share.

Manson says there are still a few tickets left for Common Ground, which will run from 9:00 to 3:30 tomorrow at the Best Western Lakeside Inn.

Grassy Narrows and Province sign Memorandum

Ontario continues to work with the Grassy Narrows First Nation towards a logging agreement in the Whiskey Jack forest north of  Kenora.

Minister of Natural Resources Linda Jeffrey signed an agreement with Chief Simon Fobister in Thunder Bay yesterday.

Jeffrey says they'll work on creating sustainable forest practices with the first nation.

Chief Simon Fobister says the agreement is a step in the right direction but notes they will not dismantle their blockade.

Children`s Aid Merger in Kenora and Rainy River ready to proceed

Kenora Patricia Child and Family Services says it has received assurances from the provincial government that it will cover the costs of the merger with Family and Children's Services of Rainy River.

Bill Leonard is the executive director of the new child care agency and says they were supposed to join forces last week, but they were waiting for word from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services that it would cover the costs of the amalgamation.

Leonard says transition costs were about 180 thousand dollars.

The merger of the two child care agencies is expected to take another six to eight weeks to complete.

Hospital Board Chair resigns

The chair of the Lake of the Woods Hospital Board is calling it quits.

Debbie Baldwin is moving out of the community and tendered her resignation to the board last night.

Marc Belcaen is the hospital's chief executive officer and says they will have to shuffle their board duties, with

vice-chair, Fred Richardson taking over as chair on an interim basis. 

Richardson says the board will have to decide whether to fill the vice-chair's job for the next two months, or leave the position vacant until the annual general meeting in June.

Envirothon takes place today at Blue Lake

High School students from Kenora and Dryden are putting their environmental smarts to the test today for the first ever Envirothon Regional Competition.

Environmental Curriculum coordinator for the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board, Kathy Boone says teams of 5 will take part in various challenges.

Boone says the 15-participating teams will have to be experts in forestry, aquatics, wildlife, soils and salt water.

10 of the teams will be from Beaver Brae, the other from Dryden High School.

Envirothon is being held at Blue Lake Provincial Park in Vermilion Bay.

More calls for the Far North Act Hearings to be moved out of Toronto

The McGuinty government is being called out of touch, arrogant and uncaring about the north.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath is still hounding the government over it's refusal to hold forest tenure committee hearings outside of Toronto.

Horwath predicts however, the government won't change it's mind about the issue

The Real McCoys the final team to Qualify for the Allan Cup

The Dundas Real McCoys will be making their four straight appearance at the Allan Cup this year.

Dundas won the Ontario men's senior championship last night with a 8-5 victory

over the Norwood Vipers in the seventh and deciding game of their series last night.

The Real McCoys are the last of the six teams to qualify for next week's national championships.

Dominion Curling Club Playdowns start today

Lori Hoppe's Kenora Foursome will be in action today at the Dominion Curling Club Playdowns in Sault Ste. Marie.

The Kenora rink is one of six competing at the Northern Championships.

The Kenora foursome will take on Kakebecka Falls at 1:30 this afternoon in their first game.

Grassy Narrows to meet with Minister of MNR on forestry issues

After years of negotiations, it looks as if an end in the impasse between the Grassy Narrows First Nation and the provincial government over forest activity in their Traditional Land Use Area could be coming to an end.

A press conference is scheduled this morning in Thunder Bay with Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffray and Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister.

A press release issued by the MNR only says the two sides will discuss plans to move forward on forestry talks.

Former Supreme Court Justice, Frank Iacabucci will also be on hand.

He was hired by the province to help find a resolution to the impasse over

harvesting rights in the Grassy Traditional Land Use Area.

Police Use Spike Belt to Stop Pick-Up

A 33 year old Calgary man faces dangerous driving charges after a short police chase.

The OPP say officers tried to pull over a vehicle last night around 7:00 for speeding, but the driver refused to pull over.

A spike belt was deployed on Highway 17 east near Transmitter Road and a pick-up truck was finally forced off the road.

Police say the driver was taken to hospital for treatment of minor abrasions and was released a short time later.

Robert Reid remains in custody while the OPP continue to investigate the incident.

Voter Cards for May 2nd Election in the Mail

Voting cards for the May 2nd federal election should start showing up in local mail boxes over the next couple of days.

The returning office in Kenora began mailing out the cards last night.

Gerry Oulette is the returning officer and says while the vote is still four weeks away, local residents will be able to cast their ballot at three advance polls.

Oulette says local residents can also drop by the returning offices in Kenora and Dryden at any time to vote using a special ballot.

OPP Start Positive Ticketing Campaign Next Week

Who says it doesn't pay to be nice.

The OPP in conjunction with the Northwestern Health Unit are launching a positive ticketing program for local youth starting next week.

Constable Dave Cain says they want to reward kids who perform random acts of kindness.

Cain says the Health Unit managed to secure funding for the campaign, which will be carried out over the next couple of months in the Kenora area.

Police Board Concerned about Wild Dogs in the Community

Kenora's Police Services Board has raised concerns about a number of wild

dogs that have been roaming freely across the city.

Three dogs have been seen hunting down and killing deer all winter long.

Board member Glenda McMillan suggests as many as 18 deer have been killed by the dogs.

However, animal control officers haven't been able to get close enough to them to capture them.

She says the dogs are a real concern and wants to get an update from police next month about what's being done to deal with them.

Nurses Recommend Health Care Solutions for Northern Ontario

The Ontario Nurses' Association is urging the Provincial Government to act on a list of 13-recommendations on improving Health Care in Northern Ontario.

First Vice-President Vicki McKenna says a new ONA report on health services can't sit on the shelf and collect dust.

The ONA is demanding that socio-economic and environmental issues in Northern Ontario be examined in order to address the root causes of lower life expectancy.

NAFN Tournament Begins Tonight

A busy weekend at the Kenora Rec. Center.

The annual North American First Nation Tournament of Champions

gets underway this evening.

Jason Stevens is one of the organizers and says some big money is being offered up to the winners, 20 thousand dollars for the Open Division Champs and five thousand for the Oldtimer winners.

The old timers tournament begins this evening at the Thistle Rink, while the open tournament starts tomorrow morning.

The finals will take place Sunday evening.

Health Unit Moves Clinical Services Downtown

The Northwestern Health Unit is shuffling some of its services around in the community.

As of Monday, all of its clinical services have been centralized into office space in Market Square.

Mark Perreault is the Chief Executive Officer of the Health Unit and says the move just made strategic sense.

The news services available in Market Square include the needle exchange, sexual health clinics, travel information, infectious disease control and the tuberculosis program.

Council Members won`t get a raise in 2011

Members of Kenora City council won't be getting a pay raise this year,

but they will begin to look at the issue of their remuneration.

The city's finance committee is expected to hold discussions about

whether to raise councillor wages starting in 2012.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield says there hasn't been any increases in

more than a decade.

He adds that it will become increasingly difficult to get people to run

for office if they don't address the issue.

Council has at least decided to increase the travel budget of councillors this year.

It previously had been capped at 500 dollars per council member.

Forest Tenure Bill Draws Ire of Northern Groups

The Provincial Government is getting an earful for its decision to not hold committee hearings on its new Forest Tenure Legislation in Northern Ontario.

Ontario Forest Industries Association spokesperson Scott Jackson says the McGuinty Liberals don't seem interested in the opinions of Northerners.

Minister of Northern Development Michael Gravelle says they still want to hear from area residents.

Hearings will be held in Toronto on April 11th and 13th.

Con College to Offer new Course in Kenora

Confederation College has received funding to offer a new pre-apprenticeship program in automotive and heavy equipment mechanics at its campuses in Fort Frances and Kenora this spring.

Don Bernosky, executive director of Innovation and Skills Development says it addresses a local demand.

The 275-thousand dollars in government money allows the College to begin offering the 40-week program this May.

Final Team for Allan Cup to be Determined Thursday

We are going to have to wait a couple of more days before we find out the 6th and final team competing at the Allan Cup finals here in Kenora.

The Norwood Vipers and forced a seventh and deciding game in the Major League Hockey senior AAA final last night with a 5-2 win over the Dundas Real McCoys.

The best-of-seven series, now tied 3-3, will be decided Thursday in Dundas.

The Allan Cup starts next Monday in Kenora.

JM Judo Club Collects five Medals in Edmonton

The JM Judo Club took five fighters to Edmonton for the International Judo Tournament at the West Edmonton Mall this past weekend and brought home five medals.

Ben and Kaitie Dennis won their respective divisions, while Thomas Hertz and Taylor Tom also won gold.

Daniel Gordon took home a bronze medal in the 46 kilo division.

This weekend, the club is heading to Steinbach for the Eastern Manitoba Championships.

More Traffic Tickets Issued in Kenora

Traffic tickets have been a big area of growth for the City of Kenora.

In the past year there has been a 65 percent increase in the number of

traffic tickets written in the city.

In 2010, police and by-law control officers generated about 85 hundred

tickets, compared to just 55 hundred the year before.

Due to the increase in fines, the city says it can afford to hire a part time

worker for the provincial offenses offices, to help with extra paperwork.

Rotary Auction Now On-Line

The annual Rotary Club Auction is all going to be on-line this year.

Bidding began Monday morning and is scheduled to wrap up later this week.

Nancy Tulloch is a Rotary Spokesperson and is encouraging local residents to take a look at their web-site.

Proceeds from the auction will go towards Rotary projects not only in the community, but around the world.

Five teams now Confirmed for the Allan Cup

One more team has qualified for next week's Allan Cup tournament in Kenora.

The Bentley Generals from Alberta advanced to the national senior men's championships with a 3-2 win over Fort St. John last night.

Bentley is the Pacific representitive.

Five of six teams in the week-long tournament have now been finalized.

The Ontario representitive could be decided by tonight.

The Dundas Real McCoys have a 3-2 series lead over the Norwood Vipers in their best-of-seven final.

Non Union City Staff to get Raises in 2011

Despite a provincial mandate to freeze salaries, it looks as if Kenora's

non-union staff will be getting a pay raise this year.

Last week during its budget deliberations, council approved both a cost

of living increase of 2.5 percent and also a grid movement for eligible

employees.

The cost of the pay raises could be an 80 thousand dollar hit to the

city's budget.

Councillor Ron Lunny says they would be bullies if they refused a pay increase for non-union staff, when unionized workers are getting a pay raise in 2011.

Alcohol Seized in Far North

A large amount of booze has been seized from a Northern Ontario First Nation community.

Nishnawbe-Aski Police say around 330-bottles of alcohol were discovered in Kaschechewan First Nation.

Sergeant Jackie George says police discovered the alcohol in hockey bags.

Kaschechewan is supposed to be a dry community.

George says the total street value of the alcohol is around 16-thousand dollars.

Thistle Pavillion Tender Awarded

The City of Kenora is going to have to scale back work to fix up the Thistle Pavillion.

Council has approved a tender for the work, which includes expanding the washrooms and making them more accessible to those with physical handicaps.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says they had to cut some parts of the project in order to come in on budget.

The total cost of the project is estimated at 244 thousand dollars.

Sierra Construction had the lowest of four bids received for the tender.

Consultations on Forest Tenure Bill Wrapping Up

The Provincial Government has put the breaks on consultations surrounding its new forest tenure bill.

Public input will be accepted until Thursday.

Randy Hillier is the Conservative Critic for Northern Affairs and says that's just the beginning.

The Legislation has been an issue of dicontent in several area communities attempting to keep their mills operational.

Questions Raised about former LHIN's CEO's Salary

The former CEO of the Northwest Local Health Integration Network is in the spotlight.

Gwen Dubois-Wing only worked 2-months last year, yet made 276-thousand dollars.

Board Chair Jan Beazley says the reason for the huge salary is a private matter.

No reason has been given for Dubois-Wing leaving the Northwest Local Health Integratin Network.

OPP Remind Motorists to "Lock it or Lose it"

Yet another reminder to local motorists to lock up their vehicles when not in use.

The OPP say that over the weekend, they received a number of complaints from the Pump Avenue and Park Street areas of unlocked vehicles being entered.

In one incident, the keys were actually left in the ignition and the culprits decided to steal it.

Police say as the weather begins to warm up, they expect to see more of these types of incidents and vehicle owners are reminded to no only to lock their cars and trucks, but to keep valuables out of sight.

Blood Donor Clinic Starts Today

Its time once again to roll up you shirt sleeves and get ready to give the gift of life.

Canadian Blood Services will be holding a two-day blood donor clinic starting this afternoon.

Harvey Heather from Blood Services says this is one of their regularly scheduled clinics they hold in Kenora each year.

Today's clinic will start at 4:30 at Thomas Aquinas and will run until 9:00 tonight.

It will take place once again tomorrow from 9:30 to 12:30.

Election Campaign Enters Second Week

It was a busy weekend for the candidates in the Kenora Riding.

Both Conservative Candidate Greg Rickford and Liberal Candidate

Roger Valley officially opened their campaign offices.

Meanwhile, NDP Candidate Tania Cameron became the first person to

officially register to run in the Kenora Riding.

She filed her nomination papers at the Returning Office in Kenora

this past Saturday.

Economic Development Commission Holds the line on it Budget

Kenora's Economic Development Commission says it will not be seeking an increase in its budget from the city this year, despite increased costs.

Members of the Commission presented their budget request to council on Friday.

Chair of the commission, Dennis Wallace says they want to hire two extra  staff members to take on specific tasks.

Wallace says the two new positions will be on a one year contract basis and will be funded through reserves the Commission has accrued over the past couple of years.

Council continues to trim 2011 municipal budget

Kenora City Council is still trying to bring down an potential tax increase in

this year's budget.

Council spent all day Friday going through its operating budget line-by-line

looking for cost savings.

At the beginning of the day, Councillors started with a potential 3.28 percent

increase in taxes this year, but by the end of the budget meeting they had

trimmed the increase down to 1.7 percent.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield says they want to keep any increases to a minimum,

because for many people, they've already experienced a tax increase this year

with the new Munipal Property Assessments.

Northern School of Medicine announces Lay-offs

A battle is brewing between the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

The school is eliminating 24 positions in order to balance the budget.

OPSEU Spokesperson Len Mason says they don't intend to take the lay-off notices lying down.

The layoffs affect staff members at campuses at Lakehead University and Laurentian University in Sudbury.

Canfield has mixed feelings on Provincial Budget

Last week's provincial budget doesn't have a lot that's going to help out municipalities across the region.

That's the feeling of Kenora mayor Dave Canfield.

Canfield says even though the government has promised to continue to upload social service costs, the city isn't seeing much benefit.

The City is continuing its budget deliberations, but there is still no time table for the release of the 2011 financial statement.

McMaster Disregards Fraser Report

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is paying no attention to the latest report on student success from the right-wing think-tank Fraser Institute.

Director of Education Jack McMaster says the Institute has never stepped into a local classroom to witness what they are doing with teachers and students.

McMaster adds the Board has made it a priority to have more one-on-one instruction to improve literacy and numeracy results.

Drug Bust in North Spirit Lake

A 30-year-old woman faces charges after she tried to bring drugs into North Spirit Lake, about 200-kilometres north of Red Lake.

Nishnawbe-Aski Police seized more than 24-grams of marijuana and 3-and-a-half grams of cocaine.

Police say the street value of the drugs is estimated at over 24-hundred dollars.

Tobia Victoria Rae of North Spirit Lake has been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Internship program returns

Local students looking for a head start in their careers will be getting a helping hand from the Provincial Government.

The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund is once again helping local businesses provide paid internships to students across the Northwest.

Minister of Northern Development Michael Gravelle says the program is vital for keeping students in the North.

Gravelle says over 400-students are expected to take advantage in the program this year.