Two more wood agreements accepted

Two more companies in northwestern Ontario have accepted wood supply offers from the provincial government.

Domtar will use its wood supply for full-time softwood pulp production at its mill in Dryden.

Wagner Forest Management Limited has indicated that it will use its wood fiber to build a pellet manufacturing plant in Ignace.

The business is expected to be up and running by October of 2013 and employ 20 new jobs.

Future of Biomass Research in Limbo

There's no committment from Michael Gravelle for future funding for a biomass research centre in northwestern Ontario.

The centre received 25 million dollars three years ago, but the forestry minister is reluctant to talk about additional dollars.

To this point the centre's website lists only one publicly approved project but is promising to announce 5 more.

Evergreen Closing Delayed for one year

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board says its still plans to close Evergreen School, they are just going to take a bit longer to do it.

Trustees held a special board meeting last week and agreed to extend the life of the elementary school by one year.

Evergreen is now scheduled to shut its doors for good at the end of the 2012 school year, instead of this year.

The public school board says it made the decision after conducting a survey of parents at the school.

Students at Evergreen will be transferred over to Lakewood in the fall of 20102.

New Report Raises Questions about FedNOR

A report says FedNor, the federal development agency for northern Ontario, is slow to approve projects and fails to measure its long-term effectiveness.

The study by an independent consultant in Winnipeg says it takes an average of six months to get a green light on a project.

The Industry Canada program has spent at least 150 million dollars in the region since 2006.

Prairie Research Associates found that every job created or maintained under the program cost taxpayers about 52-hundred dollars.

The analysis also shows the administration of the program eats up more than one of every five dollars spent.

OFIA Continues to Lobby Against Bill 151

The Ontario Forest Industries Association is once again expressing disappointment with the McGuinty Government and its handling of the Forest Tenure Reform Bill.

Spokesperson Scott Jackson says they've attended all of the hearings and have gone through all written submissions and no one is happy with Bill 151 in its current state.

The Government has filed a time allocation motion that would fast track Bill 151 through the Standing Committee and eliminate debate during Committee meetings.

Kenora Rockets win Four Gold at year end tournament

A good way to wrap up the season for the Kenora Rockets badminton team.

They held a wind up tournament up at Beaver Brae on Saturday and claimed 16 of the 21 medals up for grabs.

Andrew Neil was the only double gold medalist, teaming up with Logan Ginn to

win the boys doubles event, and then took top honors in the Singles "B" division.

Boe and Rhianna Rodgers won the mixed doubles competition, while Tanner

Olson was first in the Singles E division.

Scribilo Sworn in as NOACC President

The Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce has a new president.

Andy Scribilo, president of the Kenora and District Chamber of Commerce was sworn in last night.

Scribilo says he's looking forward to the challenge.

Barry Streib is the outgoing president of NOACC.

NOACC Drafts Five Resolutions

A total of five resolutions were approved by the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce during yesterday's afternoon session.

The resolutions dealt with a wide range of issues, including Bill 151, the Forest Tenure Act, to urging the provincial government to move ahead with the twinning of the section of the Trans-Canada Highway from Thunder Bay to Nipigon.

The resolutions will now be forwarded to the Ontario Chambers of Commerce for debate later this year.

Infrastructure plan for the North Planned

Ontario's Infrastructure Minister says the north has special needs.

That's why Bob Chiarelli says his 10 year infrastructure plan will take that into account, telling NOMA delegates in Thunder Bay, the north is different.

Chiarellit says his plan will include the infrastructure needs of the Ring of Fire mining development

Fire Season starts to heat up in NWO

With the snow pack almost all melted in northwestern Ontario, more and more wild fires are starting to pop up across the region.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has had to deal with four new blazes this week, one north of Dryden, two near Sioux Lookout and one near Thunder Bay.

All the fires were less than 0.3 hectares in size.

Rain is in the forecast for this week, and is expected to put a damper on an increasing fire hazard.

Sally Ann says goodbye to the Gosse's

The Salvation Army in Kenora has said farewell to Captain Debbie and Tony Gosse.

A farewell lunch was held to the two church leaders earlier this week.

The Gosse's had headed up the Lake of the Woods chapter of the Salvation Army for the past five years.

Yesterday, it was announced that Majors Al and Karen Hoeft will take over the local church on an interim basis starting in early May.

Chicago-Boucher on Talkback

The countdown to the federal election begins this weekend.

Just three days remain in the campaign.

This morning, CJRL news wraps up its series of five talk shows with the candidates as independant, Kelvin Chicago-Boucher is scheduled to be in our studios.

Talkback can be heard righ after the 9:00 news.

Con College Expected to Hire A new President Soon

Confederation College is expected to announce a new president to replace Pat Lang next month.

Board of Governor's chair Marilyn Gouthro says they have a short list of six candidates who meet the qualifications they were looking for.

Gouthro says interviews are taking place over the next week.

Observant Neighbor Helps OPP Arrest Suspect

The OPP in Kenora are crediting an observant neighbor for helping arrest a suspect in a break and enter in the Pinecrest area of town.

Around 7:30 Monday night, police were contacted by a resident in the Heenan Place area about a youth acting suspiciously.

Officers were able to locate the youth a short time later, and questioned him about his activities earlier that evening.

As a result, the suspect was arrested on charges of break, enter and theft.

Helen Proulx Sentenced to Six Months More in Jail Time

A 39 year old Grassy Narrows woman has been sentenced to 6 more months in jail for her part in a shooting incident in downtown Kenora last year.

Helen Proulx was found guilty of trying to assault an OPP officer last year with a knife and was shot as a result of the incident.

She was charged with Assaulting a Peace Officer with a weapon and and possesion of a weapon dangerous to the public.

Proulx's sentencing hearing took place yesterday afternoon in Kenora Court.

So far she has spent 134 days in custody and will be on probation for another 12 months probation once she's released.

This is Proulx's 3rd conviction of Assaulting a Peace Officer.

Gas Prices Up Again

Its going to costs a lot more to fill up your vehicle today.

Most service stations are selling a liter of unleaded gas today for 136.9 cents a liter.

That's up eight cents from earlier this week, when the price of gas was at 128 cents.

Kenora is far from the most expensive place to fill up.

Gas in Marathon is selling for a dollar 49 a liter.

Property Crimes dropping in Sioux Narrows

The OPP says the number of calls for service in the Township of Sioux Narrows/Nestor Falls has been relatively stable over the past five years, but they have noticed a significant decline in the number of

crimes against property.

The Kenora OPP has released its 2010 statistics and it shows there were 239 calls for service last year, which is down slightly from the year before.

However, Inspector Dave Lucas says there were just 20 crimes against property, which has been steadily declining over the past five years.

Lucas adds that the clearance rate for property crimes has improved significantly, with 55 percent of the cases solved last year, up from just 14 percent the year before.

Health Unit releases Community Reports

Healthy eating and physical activity top the list of most commonly identified community health needs based a series of reports released by the Northwestern Health Unit.

The reports are the result of consultations in 12-communities last year.

Spokesperson Tanis Fretter explains the next step.

Recreational opportunities, drug and alcohol use and mental health were other priorities identified.

Cameron Appears on Talkback This morning

Candidates running in the May 2nd federal election have just four more days left to campaign.

This morning, CJRL news continues its coverage of the election with the fourth of five talk shows scheduled with the candidates.

Tania Cameron of the NDP is our scheduled guest this morning on the CJRL Open Line program Talkback today.

Talkback can be heard right after the 9:00 news.

NOMA Conference gets down to Business Today

Four Provincial Cabinet Ministers are attending the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association Conference in Thunder Bay.

Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli will be the key note speaker at the conference.

NOMA president Ron Nelson says they're happy with the amount of Provincial representation.

The bear pit session on Friday will also see the Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry.