Candidates prepare for fall election?

Still lots of chatter of a possible fall election campaign in Ontario.

The Conservatives held their policy convention over the weekend in
London.

Kenora-Rainy River Tory candidate Randy Nickle says they've been on
alert for a while now.

The NDP and Liberals also have their candidates in place for the next provincial election, with Sarah Campbell holding the New Democratic banner
and Anthony Leek ready to run again for the Grits.

Council Puts Off on Planning Decision

Kenora City Council has put off a decision to award a contract for the Planning department.

City staff want to hire FoTenn Consulting out of Ottawa for any external planning advice.

Property and Planning Manager Charlotte Caron feels the company will provide better service to the department.

Mayor Dave Canfield says he prefers one of the other tenders and raised  some concerns about the work FoTenn did on Kenora's last Official plan.

Council has agreed to re-visit the issue at next month's Committee of the Whole meeting.

Public School Board Nears Full Implementation of All-Day Kindergarten

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is one step closer to having all elementary schools offer full-day kindergarten.

Superintendent of Education Caryl Hron says they are in their fourth year of the program, and so far it's been a huge success.

Hron says their goal is to have every student reading by the time they finish kindergarten.

She adds 92-percent of students can, and the other 8-percent were identified as needing additional assistance.

She says next year they will have full implementation in the 16 elementary schools across the board.

Con College Eyes New Locations for Float Plane School

Confederation College is hoping to decide where to locate its float plane
training classes in the next couple of months.

The college agreed to move the course from its current location on Eva
Lake near Atikokan after receiving numerous complaints from cottagers.

College president, Jim Madder says they've received a lot of interest from
communities interested in hosting the school from Kenora all the way to
Manitouadge.

September 5th was the deadline to submit proposals for the flight school.

Job Seekers Coming to Kenora

The Kenora District Services Board is holding a "Job Seekers" event at the Seven Generations Education Institute in Kenora.

Coordinator Josee Mantle says it's a great way for folks to learn about educational and job opportunities in the community.

The Job Seekers Forum will take place this Wednesday, September 25th from 10 AM until 1 PM at the
former Lakewood School.

Meetings will also be held in Dryden and Sioux Lookout this week.

School Calendar Survey Released

Before Labor Day or after Labor Day.

That's one of the questions the Keewatin-Patricia District School
Board wants answered as it begins work on next year's school
calendar.

The public school board has posted a survey on its web site, asking
parents if they want the school year to start on August 26th,
or September 3rd next year.

The board also wants to see whether parents and staff prefer to have
professional development days on Friday's or Monday's.

The survey will be available until September 29th.

Whitefish Bay Boys Volleyball Teams Excel

A good weekend for Whitefish boys volleyball teams.

The Winterhawks won the junior division of the annual Kenora Invitational tournament over the weekend.

Whitefish Bay got by Crocus Plains from Brandon in the A-side final in two straight sets.

Dryden defeated Fort Frances in the Bronze medal game.

In the senior side of the Tournament, the Winterhawks once again advanced to the
final, only to lost this time to Dryden in two straight sets.

Atikokan took third place with a win over the Westgate Tigers from Thunder Bay.

Teams from both Thomas Aquinas and Beaver Brae bowed out of the tournament in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Bronco Football Teams Split

Beaver Brae's junior Varsity football team had fallen to 1-1 this season.

The Broncos grade seven and eights traveled to Fort Frances Saturday and dropped a 24-7 decision to the Wolverines.

The loss followed the Broncos win in the Winnipeg High School Football League on Friday afternoon.

Beaver Brae upended Tec Voc 34-6 to improve to 2-1 on the season.

The Broncos will head to Winnipeg on Friday for their next game against the Maples Marauders.

Gas Prices Drop Slightly

It might be a good time to fill up you car.

Gas prices are starting to drop again in Kenora as the summer starts to wane.

A number of local service stations have lowered their price at the pump to 136.9 cents a liter.

That's a drop of two cents from yesterday and down three cents from this summers high of 139.9.

Kenora is still a lot higher than the national average, which is 127.8 cents
a liter today.

Con College Releases Strat Plan

Improving access, aboriginal education and serving northwestern Ontario.

Those are three of the main themes contained in Confederation College's five year strategic plan.

Jim Madder was in Kenora this morning to outline the plan and says improving technology is a key component to achieving their goals.

Madder says the college is also working to increase partnership opportunities with other educational partners such as schools and community colleges.

School Bus Operator Reacts to Ottawa Bus Tragedy

The Northwestern Ontario Student Services Consortium says it has strict safety standards in place when it comes to school buses and rail crossings.

The country is still reeling from Wednesday's fatal crash involving a double-
decker bus and a Via Rail train.

The Consortium says all school bus drivers must stop, look and listen.

The drivers must also open their doors and look in both directions.

Six people died in the Ottawa tragedy.

Air Miles Scam Spreads to Kenora

Remember, if it seems too good to be true it probably is!

The CJRL newsroom has received word about a scam that promises the attended victim 26,000 Air Miles.

The fraudsters apparently use a system that allows them to use local numbers, without knowing who it actually belongs to.

If you get this type of call, don't buy into it!

If you have been a victim or fraud, or want to report one, you can do so by
visiting www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca, call 1-888-495-8501 or email info@antifraudcentre.ca.

St. Louis Renovations Almost Complete

Renovations should be complete at St. Louis School in Keewatin in
the next couple of weeks.

The Kenora Catholic District School Board has spent the summer improving
the office and entrance areas of the school.

Operations manager Andrew Poirier says the project is 90 percent complete
and the offices are now ready for occupancy.

He says the secretaries and principal will be able to move into their new
digs by next week.

Province Promises Power Announcement this Fall

Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli is taking issue with NDP Leader Andrea Horwath's repeated questions about the future of the Thunder Bay Generating Station.

Horwath raised the question of the plant's future in Question Period yesterday.

Chiarelli says Horwath needs to concern herself with all of the Northwest's power needs.

Chiarelli says the government plans to make an announcement dealing with the Thunder Bay plant within three weeks.

Another Planned Power Outage In Store

Kenora Hydro is turning the lights off in the city once again.

Hydro has a full city outage planned for Sunday morning.

The outage is required to perform maintenance on the system.

The power will be out between 6:30 and 7:30.

Broncos Face Tec Voc in WHSFL Action

A battle between two 1-1 teams in the Winnipeg High School Football League this  afternoon.

Beaver Brae will play its second consecutive home game this afternoon against the Tec Voc Hornets.

The Broncos got their first win of the season last week against Dryden.

Kick-off is 3:00 sharp at Pete Fair Memorial Field.

For live updates follow us on Twitter @CJRLnews https://twitter.com/CJRLnews.

Bronco Boy Golfers Win Silver

A silver medal for the Beaver Brae boys team at the NorWOSSA golf championships.

The Broncos had a collective total of 334.

Jed Rattai led the way with an 81, while Cam Novak was a shot back at 82, and Duncan
McGillvray came in with an 85.

The Thomas Aquinas boys were 22 shots back of Beaver Brae and won the bronze medal.

Bryn Jones was the top Saints golfer shooting an 81.

The NorWOSSA finals were played at the Heron Landing Golf Club in Fort Frances yesterday.

Beaver Brae now qualifies for next weeks NWOSSA golf championships next Thursday in
Geralton.

Province Announces Committee for Aboriginal Jury Pools

The Province is announcing the 11-people who will sit on a First Nation Juries Review Committee.

Deputy Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation Alvin Fiddler will be a co-chair of the committee and will work towards implementing the recommendations in Justice Frank Iacobucci's report on Ontario Juries.

Former Treaty Three Grand Chief and Lawyer Diane Kelly as well former Kenora Judge Erwin Stach will also sit on the panel.

Ontario's Attorney General John Gerretsen made the announcement this morning and is holding its first
meeting today.

Soccer Association Seeks Volunteers for One More Night

Lake of the Woods Soccer Association is hoping to complete the removal of the rink boards at the Jaffray Mellick Arena today.

Over the past two days, volunteers have been working diligently to take down the glass and the boards.

The only thing remaining now is the wood framing that formed the supports for the boards.

Volunteers who have a battery operated drill or impact driver is asked to come  out this afternoon at 4:00 to help finish the job.

Beausejour Man Faces Fraud Charges

A former funeral home manager in Beausejour, Manitoba faces a number of fraud charges following a lengthy investigation by the RCMP.

53 year old Harvey Giesbrecht faces 25 counts of fraud due to financial
irregularities at Russel's Funeral Home.

The Mounties say Giesbrecht is alleged to have collected payment for
prearranged funerals but failed to use the money for that purpose.

He faces 18 counts of fraud under five thousand dollars and seven courts
of fraud over five thousand dollars.

He's due to appear in Beausejour Court October 22nd to face the charges.