Olson Wins at National Age Group Championships

Alex Olsen continues to excel at the National Age Group championships.

The 15 year old member of the Kenora Sharks Swim Club won the
200 meter backstroke over the weekend in Montreal.

Her time of two minutes and 38 seconds is good enough to qualify for
the Senior Nationals.

Gussy Wins Fort Bass Tournament

A big win for Kenora's Jeff Gustafson.

Gustafson and his partner John Peterson from Minnesota won the
annual Canadian Bass Championships in Fort Frances over the weekend.

The duo reeled in over 55 pounds of bass.

Their weight of over 20 pounds on day three put them over a pound and
a half ahead of the second place team of Ryan Hyatt and Karl Wolff from Fort Frances.

Brandon Team Wins Men's Soccer Tournament

A team from Brandon took top honors at the Lake of the Woods Men's Soccer tournament over
the weekend.

Double Decker scored in the first half of overtime for a 1-0 win over the Sure Thing Centuries
from Kenora.

In the B-side final, it was an all Kenora affair with the Fury coming out on top with a 2-1 win over the Gunners.

In the C-Side final, Stonewall blanked Fort Frances 1-0.

New Board says Treaty Three Police Will Not Close Next Month

The new board of the Treaty Three Police Service is clarifying some previous statements about the possible closure of the police force.

The board held its first meeting yesterday and says if it decides to shut its
doors it would have to give at least a year's notice.

Yesterday the new board met with the police chief Conrad Delaronde, aswell as the financial comptroller and also a representative from the officers union.

The board says it plans to meet more frequently and expects to be able to come to some sort of resolution that all parties can agree upon.

Kenora Residents Love to Recycle

Kenora is setting the bar for e-waste diversion in the province.

City clerk Heather Kasprick says residents diverted almost 70 thousand kilograms of E-waste in 2012.

Kasprick says the community has really responded to some previous initiatives.

Kenora placed in the top 10 communities for e-waste diversion in Ontario.

Sobey's Selling Off Some Safeway Stores

Empire Company, which owns Sobey's stores in Canada, has struck a deal to sell some of its newly acquired Safeway properties in a sale-leaseback deal with property management company Crombie of Nova Scotia.

None of the stores impacted are in northwestern Ontario.

EFTO Supports Inquiry into Missing Women

An inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women is being supported by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario.

Local President Anne Saltel says it's unfair that the federal government has said no to the inquiry.

Saltel says the ETFO believes all people should be treated the same
, adding the government seems to be treating Aboriginal women like second-class citizens.

Aboriginal Groups Lobby Premiers

Addressing the needs of Aboriginals living off-reserve.

That's the focus as the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples meets with Canada's premiers at their semi-annual summit in Niagara On The Lake.

President of the Ontario Affiliate Brad Maggrah says one of their main concerns is affordable housing.

Maggrah says 70-percent of Aboriginals in Canada are living off-reserve.

New Gold Continues Pursuit of Rainy River Resources

New Gold says it now has 86-percent of all shares in Rainy River Resources in a planned take-over of the mining exploration company.

New Gold is giving shareholders, who have
yet to take a cash-and-stock offer, until August 8th to accept.

The company says if it has at least 90 per cent of Rainy River share, it will acquire the rest through a compulsory acquisition.

Men'sSoccer Tournament Underway

Day one of the Lake of the Woods Men's soccer tournament is in the books
and three teams have posted wins.

The Gunners started pool play off with a 5-0 win over the Legends,
while The Fury edged the Stingers 3-2 and the Centuries opened the tournament with a 4-1 win over the Playaz.

Day two of the tournament resumes tonight at the Tom Nabb Soccer Complex.

Gussy in First After Day One of Fort Bass Tournament

Anglers return to the water this morning for the second day of fishing at the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.

Jeff Gustafson of Kenora and John Peterson of Bemidgi led the field, pulling in over 19 pounds of bass yesterday.

Chad Adrain and Caleb Colwell are are half pound back in second.

Day 2 of the bass fishing tournament is already underway.

CYBF celebrates entrepreneurs in Kenora

Celebrating entrepreneurs in Kenora.

Scott Bowman with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation is in town today to meet with entrepreneurs who have started up with help from the CYBF.

He will also be performing a ribbon cutting at the Tangled Tree in the afternoon.

Bowman says passion is the 1 thing that all entrepreneurs have in contact.

Bowman encourages anyone interested in starting a business to contact the CYBF.

The foundations website is http://www.cybf.ca/.

And, you can also get information on the foundation through the Northwest Business Centre at http://www.nwbiz.ca/.

Union Pleased with Changes to the Treaty Three Police Board

A new police board for Treaty Three is bringing a new outlook on life.

Some changes to the board was made this week at the Treaty 3 Police annual general meeting

Judith Monteith-Farrell is with the Public Service Alliance of Canada and says the union is excited by the new boards commitment to save the force from closing

Monteith-Farrell says the new board is also open to disclosing the services finances with the union to ignite talks for a new employment agreement.

Downtown Revitalized by New Restaurants

Downtown revitalization is starting to pay off in a bit of a culinary explosion in Kenora.

About a half a dozen new eateries have opened up in the past year.

Mort Goss from Kenora Harbortown BIZ says he's encouraged by the number of new businesses opening up.

Goss says while the restaurants are enjoying good traffic this summer, they key will be able to survive during the leaner fall and winter months.

Goss adds that they'd also like to set up a restaurant association to provide some support to the
new restauranteurs.

Rain Helps Reign in Forest Fires

A large forest fire burning near Red Lake is now listed as being held.

The fire, 50 kilometrers northwest of the northwestern Ontario town has burned more than 18-thousand hectares.

It started July 3rd by a lightning strike.

Meanwhile, two fire ranger crews are continuing to work on a five hectare blaze in the Kenora area.

Kenora Fire 39 broke out Tuesday, but isn't posing any immediate concerns for the MNR.

Police Continue Investigation of Cycling Fatalities

Provincial Police continue to investigate the circumstances behind a tragic three vehicle collision in northwestern Ontario.

A group of 25-cyclists on a cross country tour were travelling on the Trans-Canada Highway and were passing through the area of Red Rock on Tuesday when 2-of the cyclists were struck by an eastbound truck.

The truck then hit two westbound vehicles.

The cyclists, 65-year-old Robert Booth and 69-year-old Irene Booth of North Glengarry, Ontario were pronounced dead at the scene.

Two residents of Austin, Texas in the eastbound truck were transported to hospital with injuries.

Two others in the involved vehicles were also sent to hospital.

Rallies Planned Today Across Canada

Seven rallies are planned around the country today to draw attention to recent news about nutritional experiments conducted on aboriginals.

Planner Wab Kinew from the Onigaming First Nation says he hopes the events will help people express their sorrow and show support for efforts to get the federal government to release more documents to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Cecillia Jeffrey  residential school in Kenora has been identified as one of the schools in northwestern Ontario that carried out the experiments.

Ottawa has said it could take 40-million dollars and 10 years to find and digitize all the required records.

Heart of the Continent Seeks Funding

A marketing initiative involving the National Geographic Society is being touted to communities along the Ontario-Minnesota border.

The Heart of the Continent partnership is trying to raise 256-thousand dollars, allowing the Society to create maps and a website for the area between Lake of the Woods, Thunder Bay and Duluth.

Committee Chair Frank Jewell says the Society wants to help promote the area.

Atikokan, International Falls, Koochiching County and Thunder Bay have committed to contributing money.

Men's Soccer Tournament Starts Tonight

Last weekend it was the women, this week men's soccer take center stage at the Tom Nabb Complex.

The Lake of the Woods Men's Tournament gets underway this evening with a field of 16 teams entered.

Pool play will continue tomorrow night and Saturday, with the finals slated for Sunday.

Teams from across northwestern Ontario and Manitoba will be competing for the first
prize money of 14 hundred dollars.

Delaronde Responds to Police Lay-offs

The chief of the Treaty 3 Police is blaming the federal government for the financial troubles that face the service.

Conrad Delaronde responded to questions during yesterdays police services AGM.

Delaronde says he never tried to pass blame to officers.

Delaronde was able to offer one positive note, saying that the province of Ontario would provide funding for the 7
officers that were recently laid off.

Petition Presented at Treaty Three Police AGM

Pushing for action.

Over 2,500 people signed a petition asking for action in saving the Treaty 3 Police Service.

Tania Cameron presented the petition yesterday at the police baords annual general meeting and says the petition shows how dedicated people are to save the force.

Numerous people took the opporunity to voice their concerns as well during a question and answer period at the AGM.

Campbell Urges Increased Oversight for Ombudsman

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell is in favour of having Ontario's Ombudsman look after the "MUSH" sector.

It stands for municipal, universities, schools and hospital, along with long term care homes and children's aid societies.

Campbell says it would make sense that he would look after those areas.

Campbell says people are concerned about oversight in those sectors, and when people run into a problem they feel like there's no where to go.

Warmer Temperatures Expected to Return Next Week

Don't worry, the warm summer temperatures will be back in Northwestern Ontario soon enough!

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says the warm front is moving slowly east and temperatures
should move back into the high 20's by early next week.

Meanwhile there was a full-moon Monday night, and Laidlaw says don't be surprised if we get another one in late August that might bring a touch of frost.

Dryden Investigating How Child Went Missing

The City of Dryden and the Child Care program are taking a close look at changes to policies and procedures after a child managed to escape undetected last Friday morning.

A concerned citizen spotted the child walking along Duke Street and notified Police.

Acting Chief Administrative Officer Debra Kincaid says the City was forced to act quickly.

Kincaid says a "Serious Occurrence Notice" was immediately posted and the Ministry of Education and Kenora District Services Board were both notified.

Two Cyclists Die on Trans-Canada near Nipigon

A cross-country trip has resulted in tragedy in northwestern Ontario.

Two cyclists are dead after a collision on the Trans-Canada Highway near Red Rock yesterday.

They were part of a group of 25-cyclists who were riding across Canada.

The group was just in Kenora last week.

The two were struck by a pick-up truck.

The incident also resulted in the pick up colliding with two other trucks, one of them a tractor trailer which sent four people to hospital.

Rally Takes Place to Save Treaty Three Police

An aboriginal drum group has welcomed a small group of supporters of
the Treaty Three Police Service.

A rally is taking place today at the Best Western Lakeside Inn, as the Police Board holds its annual general meeting.

Mike Bennett is president of the Treaty Three Police Association and says he's still hoping the Police Board has a change of heart and decides not to close its doors.

The police board meeting will include a deputation from supporters of the police department, who have been circulating a petition to each of the communities serviced by the aboriginal police force.

Fire Marshall Investigates Nipigon Blaze

The Ontario Fire Marshall's Office is being brought in to help investigate a fatal house
fire near Nipigon.

A 66 year old woman was killed Friday night after the house she was in in Lyon Township
went up in flames.

The woman has been identified as Fern Marquardt.

The OPP's Northwest Crime Unit has also been brought in to help out with the investigation.

More Fire Crews Heading Out-of-Province

The Ministry of Natural Resources is sending firefighters to three other provinces and territories.

Fire Information Officer Heather Pridham says 185 of them will head to Manitoba, Quebec and the Northwest Territories to help with the forest fire situation.

Pridham says it's not a simple overnight trip, with most crews gone for at least a 14 day stint.

Back in Northwestern Ontario, there are 40 active forest fires with a total of over 32 thousand hectares of land burned.

Charges Laid in Truck Accident

No one was injured in a single vehicle crash on Highway 105.

Provincial Police in Dryden say a transport and trailer left the road, about ten kilometres north of Red Lake Road yesterday morning around 11:30.

The vehicle stuck the east ditch and flipped over on its side.

The truck was loaded with dry cement.

The driver, a 36-year-old man from Winnipeg, has been charged with making an unsafe lane change.

Cleanup efforts will continue to today.

Child Found After Leaving Dryden Daycare

The City of Dryden is trying to figure out how a child managed to sneak out the main door of the Child Care Centre undetected.

The child left the Centre Friday morning and managed to walk to the Wal-Mart parking lot.

A concerned citizen noticed the child and contacted police.

The child was safely located and returned to their family.

Acting Chief Administrative Officer Debra Kincaid says they take this event seriously and they apologize to the family for the stress this has caused.

Kincaid says an investigation has been launched.

The Kenora District Services Board and the Ministry of Education have been notified.

Fort Beats Out Dryden in Kraft Celebration Tour

Fort Frances will host the final leg of the Kraft Celebration Tour.

A bid submitted by the Fort Frances Curling Club received more than 518-thousand votes in last weeks on-line vote to Dryden's 272-thousand.

Club president Ron Silver says it was tremendous support.

Kraft and TSN will be in the community August 25th.

Richards Invited to Olympic Identification Camp

Mike Richards will have another chance to win Olympic Gold.

He is one of 47 invitees to an orientation camp slated for the
end of August in Calgary.

He's one of 15 players who won gold in Vancouver in 2010 to invited back to try out for Team Canada.
 
Detroit's Mike Babcock will return as coach of Canada's Olympic hockey team. Babcock, will have Ken Hitchcock, Lindy Ruff and Claude

Julien as assistants at next year's Sochi Games.

Treaty 3 Police Services Board AGM Tomorrow

The Treaty 3 Police Services Board is set to host its annual general meeting tomorrow.

On the top of the agenda is the auditors report for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

Many supporters of the police force are asking to see the financial statements since the board announced it would close down the service next month.

The meeting is likely to face some tough crowds outside as a rally has been planned at the Best Western Lakeside Inn through out the day to protest the closure.

The meeting starts at 9:00.

Barwick Mine Releases Draft Environmental Assessment

An important document in the development of a gold mine in the Rainy River district is now out.

The draft environmental assessment report for Rainy River Resource's project outlines key environmental and social issues and how they will be addressed.

Vice president Kyle Stanfield says its a very comprehensive.

The company will hold a public meeting next week in Barwick as part of the public input gathering process.

Stanfield says they hope to have a final report completed in 5 weeks time and begin construction of the mine next year after getting government approval.

Rain Washes Out Section of Minto Crescent

The clean-up has started from heavy rains overnight.

The rain caused localized flooding in areas where storm sewers were
overwhelmed by water.

The Minto and Valley Drive areas were also hit hard.

A long section of Minto Crescent has been undermined by water, creating
a 50 foot long gulch.

Pylons have been placed alongside the washout.

In other areas a large amount of sand, gravel and soil has washed down to the bottom of streets in that area of town.

Nault Reflects on AFN's Challenges

A former Aboriginal Affairs minister says he's not surprised that the
Assembly of First Nations is being challenged by a splinter group.

Last week leaders of a new first nations alliance held a seperate meeting
from the AFN's national Assembly.

Former Kenora-Rainy River M.P. Bob Nault says this isn't the first time this has happened.

During Nault's time as Indian Affairs Minister, he slashed the budget of the
AFN, because he felt it was just becoming another large bureaucracy.

Biking for Boobies Tour Hits Kenora

A young man is "biking for boobies".

That's the name of the campaign set up by McMaster student Kyle Chevalier, who has been spending the weekend in Kenora as he continues his journey to British Columbia to raise funds for breast cancer research.

Chevalier encourages folks to support this important cause.

Chevalier says so far he's raised almost 20-thousand-dollars since he started in May and he's also holding a charity barbeque today in front of the Standard Insurance to help raise more money.

The charity barbeque is being co-hosted by the Lake of the Woods Hospital Foundation and will take place
from 11-2 today.

More Fire Activity over the Weekend

Despite some rain over the weekend, the Ministry of Natural Resources
says there were at least four new forest fires in the region.

Two of those in the Kenora District.

One was a small blaze on an island on Lake of the Woods, the other
located north of Minaki.

The MNR says no problem is anticipated with either blaze.

Overnight rain has dropped the fire hazard to low across the region, but fire
crews will continue to monitor lightning strikes from last night's storm system.

Brandon Tops At Ladies Soccer Tournament

Out of town teams took top honors at the annual Lake of the Woods Women's Soccer Tournament.

Brandon blanked Portage La Prairie in Sunday afternoon's A-Side Final.

It was an all-Kenora affair in the B-side final, with Tagg's prevailing over Moncrief United 1-0.

The game was scoreless through regulation and overtime.

Tagg's won the game in the shootout, capitalizing on all of their shots, while United missed twice.

Sedesky/Whitta win Bronzeback

Jason Sedesky and Darren Whitta took top honors at the 7th Annual Bronzeback Classic.

The Kenora anglers were second after day one, but took home the first prize of 35 hundred dollars by hauling in 29.63 pounds of bass.

They beat out the tandem of Trevor Gudreyan and Jayden Belanger by less than a pound.

Gudreyan and Belanger also won a thousand dollars for being the top team in the adult/youth division.

Third place went to Jeff Engstrom and Chris McDiramid.

Sioux Narrows and Dryden Hit Hard by Overnight Storm

Hydro One is starting to make some progress in its battle to restore power
to homes in the Sioux Narrows and Nestor Falls area.

As many as 900 homes were without power overnight, but that's been
reduced to about 300 this morning.

The area was hit with heavy rain and severe wind and reports on social media indicate trees were snapped and left lying on area roads.

In the Dryden area, about 15 hundred homes are without power this morning.

Health Unit Continues to Monitor West Nile

The Northwestern Health Unit may no longer be testing dead birds for the West Nile Virus, but that doesn't mean it's not monitoring for the disease.

The Health Unit is continuing to trap mosquitoes across the region.

Kurt Casey is a Public Health Inspector with the Northwestern Health Unit, and says even though the risk of West Nile is low, property owners should still take precautions.

Casey says symptoms of the virus are usually flu like symptoms.

Iacobucci Heads North

Frank Iacobucci is fully immersed in his role as the province's chief negotiator for the Ring of Fire mining project.  

Just before leaving on a trip from Thunder Bay to visit area First Nations, he spoke of how he's been getting himself up to speed on the complex issues he must face.

He says his talks will not be leaving any stone unturned

Iacobucci says he will be meeting with First Nations negotiator Bob Rae in the coming days.

Gold Canyon Working on Agreement with First Nations

Gold Canyon Resources and three area First Nations are moving forward on an agreement relating to mining activity in the Red Lake area.

The Vancouver based company says the deal relates to the Springpole Gold project, about 110-kilometer
s northeast of Red Lake.

Gold Canyon, Cat Lake, Lac Seul and Slate Falls have set a framework to negotiate an agreement.

Officials say the deal sets the foundation for future talks on the project, potential opportunities and concerns.

Northwest Angels Recognized

The Northern Ontario Angels group is being ranked as one of the top investing groups in Canada.

 Executive Director of the investment group, Mary Long-Irwin says it's great for their national body to recognize their hard work.

Long-Irwin says the 51 deals they made created a thousand new jobs in Northwestern Ontario.

She adds that over 16 million dollars has been loaned out over the past three years.

Dryden Vs. Fort Today in Kraft Celebration Tour

The town's of Dryden and Fort Frances will be duking it out on national TV today.

The Kraft Celebration Tour competition ends today with Dryden going up against Fort Frances.

Starting at 11 o'clock, you can vote as much as you like for a 24-hour period.

Mike Wood of the Eagles on Track program says they are hosting a community event at the High School.

The winner of the on-line vote will win 25 thousand dollars to fix up a recreational facility in their town and
will also host an episode of TSN's SportCenter.

Dryden Woman Found Guilty of Fraud

A Dryden woman has been convicted on two counts of fraud from the Shaw Walleye Masters and the Dryden
Ski Hill.

Allyson Dunham has received a conditional sentence order of 2-years, less a day.

The sentence results in house arrest, a curfew and other strict conditions.

Dunham was charged last March with 2-counts each of theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and criminal breach of trust.

Dunham sat on the executive committees of both the Shaw Walleye Masters and the Ski Hill.

Aspenware Returns to the Northwest

Members of the Wabauskang First Nation will soon start harvesting poplar trees and creating veneers for B.C. based Aspenware.

The operation is being carried out in the Whiskey Jack Forest.

Company President Terry Bigsby says they have also teamed up with Doug Riffel, the owner of Makoose Wood Innovations.

Bigsby says this is only the beginning and notes he's already in talks for a similar venture with Grassy Narrows and Lac La Croix.

Aspenware produces single-use biodegradable wooden cutlery and at one time was thinking about setting up shop in the Dryden area.

Con College Raises Money for Scholarships

An endowment fund for student scholarships and bursaries at Confederation
College has received a big boost.

The annual Charity Golf tournament at the Kenora Golf and Country Club
generated six thousand dollars yesterday.

Jim Madder is the college's president and says they've raised over 100
thousand dollars over the past 16 years.

Madder says the money raised will go to students at the Kenora campus
or local students who have to travel to Thunder Bay for courses there.