MNR Focussing on Ear Falls Area Wild Fire

The Ministry of Natural Resources is concentrating its efforts on a large forest fire in the Ear Falls area.

Spokesperson Debbie MacLean says the fire is showing extreme behaviour.

MacLean says at one point they did have to pull ground crews from the area as well as evacuate a few tourists from an outpost camp in the Margaret Lake area.

The fire has consumed power lines that feed Pickle Lake, Cat Lake First Nation and New Osnaburgh.

Hydro One Spokesperson Danielle Gauvin says the power went out around 3:30 Sunday afternoon.

Pickle Lake officials say they are coping with the outage and continue to work on alternate plans.

Industrial Accident on Nodin Causeway

There's been an industrial accident on the Noden Causeway east of Fort Frances.

A crane, being used on the bridge, apparently fell over into Rainy Lake just after the lunch hour yesterday.

The operator was taken to hospital in Fort Frances.

An eyewitness says the individual suffered a leg injury.

Investigators with the Ministry of Labour in Kenora have been called in to look into the

accident. 

Gussy wins Castin' for Cash

Kenora anglers Jeff Gustafson and August Collinson captured the Castin' for Cash tournament at Lake Despair Lodge.

A record-setting catch on Saturday of 18-point-2-1 pounds gave the team a total of 32-point 4-6 pounds over the two days.

Nathan Brigham and Brett Meyers of Emo and Scott and Ralph Galusha of Devlin tied for second, but Brigham and Meyers were awarded the spot based on their larger day one catch.

A total of 56 angling teams participated.

Beware of conterfeit cheques

The Kenora and District Chamber of Commerce is warning local businesses about a possible scam that could be coming to town.

Local police have advised the Chamber that a number of people from Winnipeg may try to pass off counterfeit cheques from a company called Diversity Food Services Inc.

The OPP says while the company appears to be legitimate the address on the cheques is fake.

The cheques have the address 613 Spence Street, Winnipeg.

Pilot Walks away from Plane Crash in Pinewa

A pilot who walked into the restaurant at the golf course in Pinawa looking for help is still the talk of the town.

The 56-year-old Winnipeg man came in yesterday to use the telephone, minutes after his float plane crashed into the bush after trying to land in the Winnipeg River.

Lac du Bonnet R-C-M-P Constable Kyle Bernier says the plane wasn't in the air for long before it went down.

A witness says it appeared as though the plane's engines stopped. The pilot was the only person on board.

Sharks win gold at Man/Sask Championships

A strong performance for a number of members of the Kenora Sharks Swim Club at the Man/Sask Championships at the Pan/Am pool in Winnipeg over the weekend.

11 year old Winnie Boucha led the way with four medals, including first place finishes in the 400 meter individual medley and the 200 meter butterfly.

Michelle Belcaen also added a couple of gold medals to her resume, placing first in the 50 meter butterfly and 100 meter freestyle.

Bryce Jones also posted a couple of first place finishes in the 100 and 200 meter backstroke.

More weekend accidents

Another early morning accident has claimed at least one life in the Kenora area.

Highway 71 about six kilometers south of Sioux Narrows was closed early yesterday morning following an accident.

The OPP say the collision took place around 5:00 in the morning, closing the highway in both directions for almost seven hours.

The road was finally opened to one lane by 11:30 Sunday morning.

So far no details about the accident have been released.

There was also an accident on Highway 17 west of Kenora in the area of the tourism bureau at the Ontario/Manitoba border.

Eyewitnesses say a semi-tractor trailor unit was totalled in collision that took place just after 6:00.

Concern Raised about Trapping nuisence beavers

The City of Kenora has agreed to re-new its agreement with the Kenora Trappers Council for the removal of nuisence beavers.

That despite some concern about the the potential of the traps to the public.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says they met with the Trappers Council recently about the placement of the traps.

Perchuck says in more urban areas, live traps will be used to capture nuisence beavers.

More good results for Rainy River Resources

More strong gold and silver findings from Rainy River Resources at its gold project north of Barwick.

The company says high grades of gold and silver were found in recent drilling in the sites western zone.

Notable results included over 13-hundred grams per tonne in gold and 76 grams per tonne in silver from one particular hole.

Health Unit releases report card

The Northwestern Health Unit is giving itself top marks in the release of a new public health report card.

The report outlines a variety of programs and the progress made in improving people's health.

C.E.O. Mark Perrault feels their doing very well.

One of the highlights was the health unit's unconditional accreditation from the Ontario Council on Community Health Accreditation.

Forest Fire cause power outage in Pickle Lake area

The nearly 79-thousand hectare forest fire burning near New Osnaburgh has consumed power lines and left hundreds of people in the dark.

Hydro One says the power went out around 3:30 yesterday afternoon in New Osnaburgh, Pickle Lake and Cat Lake First Nation.

Officials say power might not be restored until tomorrow at noon.

The fire is still very active in the area which poses a problem for Hydro One crews.

First Nations on Evacuation Alert due to Forest Fires

Residents in Sandy Lake, Cat Lake, North Spirit Lake, Keewaywin and Koocheching First Nations remain on evacuation alert as smoke continues to drift in from four area forest fires.

The Ministry of Natural Resources says crews are making progress on the multiple fires and stress the fires are not a threat to the First Nation communities.

543 Deer Lake evacuees remain in Greenstone.

There were 9-new fires reported yesterday in the District, including 3 in the Red Lake District and 2 more in the Sioux Lookout area.

A total of 76-active fires are currently burning in the region affecting nearly 115-thousand hectares of land.

A majority of the activity is in the Red Lake and Sioux Lookout Districts.

OPP Commissioner pays a visit to the region

OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis would like to see a bigger emphasis put on preventing crime.

Lewis was in the region last week to meet with officers, and municipal representitives.

Lewis says spending money on prevention programs can keep municipalities safe.

Lewis says its still important to balance resources that also ensures there's enough officers doing patrols.

Inquest to go ahead into death of aboriginal youth

An inquest into the death of a native teen attending High School away from home is a step closer to moving ahead after years of delays.

Thunder Bay coroner Dr. Michael Wilson says a pre-inquest hearing into the death of Reggie Bushie will begin on July 21st, and a date will be set for the inquest following that hearing.

The 15-year-old's body was recovered from the McIntyre River in Thunder Bay in 2007.

He is the first of several teens from Nishnawbe Aski Nation who died in similar circumstances, leading provincial opposition parties to suggest those tragedies could have been avoided had the inquest been completed earlier.

Bushie's inquest was set to begin in 2009, but was delayed due to a lack of First Nations representation on the jury roll.

While the inquest will focus on Bushie's specific case, the jury may also make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in First Nations students who move to attend school.

OPP release the Names of Two People Killed on local highways

The OPP have released the names of two people killed in two separate accidents in the Kenora area.

40 year old Colin Duguay of Kenora has been identified as the lone occupant of a Pontiac Montana that crashed into a rock cut on Highway 17 east of Kenora early yesterday morning.

Police say the vehicle caught fire, and Duguay was transported to hospital in Kenora, but succumbed to his injuries.

The other accident took place yesterday morning around 6:30 on Highway 71 in Sioux Narrows.

The OPP say an 18 year old Thunder Bay man lost control of a Suzuki passenger vehicle.

The car rolled several times and came to rest in a ditch on the west side of the road.

The driver was the lone occupant and was ejected from the vehicle.

Nicholas Corrigan was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kenora Hydro Rates going up

Kenora Hydro has asked for, and received an 8 percent increase in its rates.

The Ontario Energy Board approved the rate increase earlier this week.

President and CEO of Kenora Hydro, Dave Sinclair says they had submitted their request for the increase way back in November.

For the average homeowner, electricity rates will be going up about eight dollars a month.

The rate increase went into effect July 1st.

Ontario Wood has new marketing tool

A new Ontario wood logo is supposed to make it easier for consumers to see if the wood they buy is manufactured in this province.

The Executive Director of Ontario Wood Works Marianne Berube says until now, people couldn't tell

Berube said the new branding is a welcome initiative.

Deer Lake Residents Evacuated

About 500 residents of a northwestern Ontario community have been safely evacuated because of nearby forest fires.

Two Canadian Forces Hercules aircraft from Winnipeg flew the Deer Lake residents to Greenstone.

The blazes, which were burning within 3.5 kilometres from the community, sent thick smoke across the area.

Ministry of Natural Resources crews are fighting the fires with water bombers.

Annual Ride for Memories Next Month

The Alzheimer Society of Kenora-Rainy River has started the planning for its annual Ride for Memories and poker derby.

Executive Director Lynn Moffitt says this year's motorcycle ride will have start locations in Kenora, Dryden, Sioux Lookout and Fort Frances.

Registration packages for the August 27th event can be obtained at the Adventure Inn or by visiting the agencies website at alzheimer-k-r-r-dot-com.

OPP investigating two fatal accidents in the Kenora area

The OPP are investigating two fatal accidents this morning.

The first collision took place shortly after midnight on Highway 17 east of Kenora.

Police say a vehicle hit a rock cut about 10 kilometers east of the Highway 71 junction.

One man was killed in that collision.

The highway was closed overnight, but traffic is moving normally again in that area.

Meanwhile, one person is also dead in an accident that took place on Highway 71 in Sioux Narrows.

The OPP say they were called out around 6:30 this morning.

The collision took place near the intersection of Fickas Road, but so far no other details about that fatality have been released.

Highway 17 closed overnight

Traffic is moving normally again on Highway 17 east of Kenora.

The OPP closed the Trans-Canada overnight following a single vehicle accident just east of the Highway 71 intersection.

Police there was a rollover in the area around 1:00.

One lane of traffic was finally opened shortly before 5:00 and both lanes were re-opened around 7:30.

So far there has been no indication whether there were any injuries in the collision.

Young Pikangikum Joyrider arrested

A 12 year old girl faces a number of charges after going for a joy ride in the remote community of Pikangikum.

The OPP say they were notified about a pick up truck driving in an erratic manner around 5:00 Saturday morning.

Officers tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver refused to stop.

Because the driver appeared to be quite young, the OPP gave up the chase.

A short time later, the vehicle ran into a hydro pole, knocking out power to the entire community.

Police say there were 14 passengers in the truck at the time, including three ten year olds, four 12 year olds, three 13 year olds and three 14 year old youths.

Only one person sustained minor injuries in the collision.

Big Trout Lake votes to ban industrial activity

The residents of the Big Trout Lake First Nation are saying with one voice they want their watershed protected from the results of industrial development.

Band spokesperson John Cutfeet says that was the result of this weeks referendum on the issue and says it should send a message to companies

The environmental watchdog group Earthroots is calling on the McGuinty government to respect the results of the vote.

Rafferty Talks Cross-Border Issues with US Senator

There was a brief discussion over the weekend on how to improve access across the Canada-U-S border.

Thunder Bay-Rainy River M-P John Rafferty says his talk with Minnesota U-S Senator Al Franken in International Falls set the stage for a much broader discussions in the near future.

Rafferty says Franken was well understanding of the issues, including the turn-back of American tourists with often decades old drunk driving charges.

Forest Fires Force Evacuation of Deer Lake

Nearly 500 residents of a remote community in northwestern Ontario are being evacuated because of an approaching forest fire.

Officials are working to evacuate Deer Lake residents as fires burning about 3.5 kilometres away send smoke into the area.

The province is coordinating with federal and military officials to evacuate residents whose health is most at risk.

It is expected that about 480 residents will be immediately airlifted by Canadian Forces aircraft to Greenstone.

Ministry of Natural Resources crews are fighting the fires with water bombers.

There are currently 78 forest fires burning in northwestern Ontario. 

Hydro One Crews Still Working to restore power to all customers

Still a smattering of homes southwest of Kenora without electricity this morning.

Hydro One made good progress yesterday, connecting most of its customers, who had been without power for more than a day, due to a violent thunderstorm.

There are about 100 homes still waiting to be re-connected.

Hydro One is hoping to have power restored to all its customers by around 4:00 this afternoon.

OPP investigate boating accident on Clearwater Bay

The OPP say they are continuing to investigate a boating accident on Clearwater Bay that sent a 15 year old girl to hospital.

Police say the girl fell out of a boat around 10:00 Sunday night.

Police say a 16 year old girl was operating the vessel at the time and lost control, throwing one of the passengers into the water.

The boat continued to circle around, until the operator was finally able to bring it under control.

The girl in the water was struck the propeller of the boat and sustained injuries to her head and neck.

Police and and ambulance arranged to meet the girls at Kendall Inlet, where the girl was transported to hospital.

She has been treated for her injuries and was later released.

Power out again in the City

Kenora Hydro says this morning's outage was likely a holdover from the storm that lashed the city earlier this week.

President and CEO of the utility, Dave Sinclair says they had an equipment malfunction that caused the 50 minute interruption in service.

Sinclair says residents in parts of the north end, as well as Lakeside, Tunnel Island and Coney Island were affected by the outage.

Hydro One working to power up one thousand customers

Hydro One says it hopes to restore electricity to all its customers in the Kenora area by this evening.

About a thousand homes in areas southwest of town are still without power following Monday night's wicked storm.

Hydro One spokesperson Danielle Gauvin says damage is fairly wide spread.

Most of the homes still without power are in the McKenzie Portage/Washagamis Bay area.

Lightning Starts new wild fires in northwest

The storm system that caused all the power outages is also responsible for a number of new forest fires in northwestern Ontario.

The Ministry of Natural Resources says yesterday was one of their busiest ever, with 27 new wild fires reported in the region, and more are expected to crop up today.

The MNR says it recorded more than 71 hundred lightning strikes in a 24 hour period.

Currently, there are 51 active forest fires in northwestern Ontario, 24 of which are classified as out of control.

OPSEU Developmental Workers Picket

Developmental Service Workers held information pickets at several locations across the Province yesterday to protest a stalemate in contract talks with the Government.

Local OPSEU President Erin Rice says they want the Finance Minister to open up negotiations.

OPSEU represents Community Living workers across northwestern Ontario.

Lakehead gets its law school

Northwestern Ontario is getting its law school.

The Provincial Government is helping set up the first law degree program at Lakehead University.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Terry Waboose says the new program will start in September 2013 with a strong focus in Aboriginal Law.

There are currently five law schools in the province, all located in central, eastern or southwestern Ontario.

Bootlegging charges laid

A 54 year old Kenora man faces bootlegging charges following a bust by the OPP's Street Crimes Unit.

Officers executed a search warrant on a home in the 3rd Street South area last Thursday.

Police say they seized a large amount of illegal alcohol and a quantity of illegal drugs with a street value of about 600 dollars.

Wayne Whitefish has been charged with Unlawfully Selling Liquor and Possession of an Illegal Substance.

He is to appear in Kenora Court on August 11th.

Blood Donor Clinic seeking more donors today

Canadian Blood Services wraps up its two-day blood donor clinic at Thomas Aquinas this  morning.

Yesterday, 141 people showed up to give the gift of life, which was about 17 fewer than hoped for.

Harvey Heather is a spokesperson for CBS and says this is a time of year they really need to build up their inventory of blood products.

He says they are hoping for 100 or more donors today to make up for yesterday's shortfall.

The blood donor clinic will run from 9:30 to 12:30 today.

MNR carries out spot checks on Lake of the Woods

An enforcement of fishing and camping regulations on Lake of the Woods has resulted in 26-charges and another 39-warnings.

Patrols conducted included the southern part of the lake toward Morson, Nestor Falls and the mouth of the Rainy River.

Over one hundred resident and 260 non-resident anglers were checked.

Charges included having too many fish, fishing without a license and fishing with an extra line.

At least one charge was laid for camping without a permit.

Blood Donor Clinic Today and Tomorrow

Time again to roll up your sleeves to give the gift of life.

Canadian Blood Services is holding a two-day clinic at Thomas Aquinas High School starting this afternoon.

Spokesperson Harvey Heather says they are hoping for a good turn-out.

The blood donor clinic starts at 4:30 and runs until 9:00 this evening and then again from

9:30 to 12:30 tomorrow.

 

Three Thousand Hydro One Customers without Power

Over three thousand customers of Hydro One are still without power this morning.

Crews have been dispatched to a number of areas north and west of the City of Kenora to deal with a number of outages.

Residents of Pellatt, LacLu, Ingolf, and Shoal Lake are affected, as are about 400 Hydro One customers in the Sioux Narrows areas.

Hydro One says it could be tomorrow night before all the homes affected will have their electricity back on.

Storms result in power outages for Kenora Hydro

Last night's wild storm caused an extensive outage for Kenora Hydro customers.

Power went off around 6:00 and wasn't restored until just after 11:00.

Kenora Hydro says a number of trees were knocked onto power lines and that cut electricity to several areas of the city.

Despite the severity of last night's storm, Kenora's Parks Supervisor Barb Manson says damage seems to be fairly minimal.

Manson says the high winds did managed to free the Portage Bay pedestrian bridge from its moorings.

Dufresne's Launches Charity Challenge

Dufresne is marking its 25th Anniversary in Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba by helping local charities.

CEO Mark Dufresne says the company has launched the 1-Million dollar charity challenge.

Dufresne says they hope to help up to 50-charities.

The deadline to apply is August 8th.

Free Family Fishing

Its time to get your family hooked on fishing.

Licence-free fishing began on July 2nd across Ontario.

Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Spokesperson Alesha Caldwell says the free fishing week lasts 9-days.

Anglers are reminded to follow the conservation rules.

Two injured in Pikangikum accident

A Pikangikum woman is in critical condition in Winnipeg Hospital after her and a friend were struck by a vehicle in the First Nation community.

Police say the two women were walking on Fishhouse Road when a car hit the two.

OPP say 19-year-old Mordina Turtle has been charged with impaired operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm.

Pickle Lake Wild Fire Continues to Grow

The forest fire burning 9-kilometres away from New Osnaburgh First Nation has grown in size.

The blaze is now over 78-thousand hectares in size and is not under control.

However, crews are doing a good job keeping it away from the community.

There were 4-new fires in the District yesterday.

There are 17-active fires, 4 of which are not under control.

Northwest LHIN's promotes Home First

The Northwest Health Integration Network says its trying to find ways of dealing with the shortage of long term care beds in the region.

The LHIN's is trying to expand its Home First initative into communities outside of Thunder Bay.

Chief Executive Officer, Laura Kokochinski says they have been meeting with stakeholders in Kenora about improving access to home care.

Kokochinski says by offering home care services, they hope to free up Alternate Level of Care beds at the hospital, which has been faced with overcrowded beds for months now.

Support for Keewatin Library

The Kenora Public Library is being taken to task for threatening to axe services at the Keewatin branch.

Councillor Sharon Smith is reacting to a report released last month by the Library Board about its funding.

Smith says the Keewatin Branch of the Library isn't the problem.

Smith says the community of Keewatin has raised money for the Keewatin Library and the Library has also benefited greatly from a trust fund set aside for library services in the community.

Land Ambulence Funding increased for KDSB

The Kenora District Services Board is getting closer to a 50/50 funding arrangement with the province for land ambulence service.

Dan McNeill is the CAO of the Kenora District Services Board and says they are about 75-thousand dollars short of a Ministry of Health commitment made 4-years ago.

The surplus will be kept in reserves for future projects.

More Forest Fires reported in the Region

There were seven new forest fires reported over the weekend across Northwestern Ontario.

3 of the fires were in the Sioux Lookout District, one in Dryden and one in Red Lake.

The Ministry of Natural Resources continues to pay close attention to the nearly 66-thousand hectare fire burning near New Osnaburgh First Nation.

Although, residents have returned home, an Emergency Area Order remains in effect with some travel restrictions.

The fire is still not under control.

Men Fined for Camping on Crown Land

Two Atikokan have been fined a total of 12-hundred dollars for camping on Crown land for more than 21 days.

Dennis and Robert Lacosse were charged after Ministry of Natural Resource conservation officers had found their trailers parked in a restricted camping area at Eye Lake in April 2010.

After leaving notices on the trailers, officers returned in mid-May to find the trailers had not been moved.

CJRL becomes the Lake

CJRL is enjoying a bit of a make over.

Kenora's radio station is being re-branded as 895 The Lake.

Station manager Mark Duggan says that also includes a change to the music format.

Duggan adds that the station will continue to be a major supporter of local community events.

The official change in format took place Thurday afternoon.

Treaty Three Opens New Office in Whitefish Bay

The Treaty Three Police has officially opened its newest detachment.

A special ceremony was held yesterday afternoon on the Whitefish Bay First Nation, southeast of Kenora.

The federal government contributed 256 thousand dollars towards the project, while the province added another 237 thousand.

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford says the investment has helped the local economy and will help to improve the safety  on Whitefish Bay.

Kenora Public Library to Conduct External Review

The Kenora Public Library is planning to carry out an external review this year to try to deal with its financial difficulties.

The Library is projecting a deficit of 52 thousand dollars this year.

Councillor Ron Lunny agrees the Library has to do something about its finances, but isn't sure an operational review is the route to go.

The Library says it will pay for the external review, which will look at issues such as governance, internal staff stucture, service levels, and a financial review.