Sioux Lookout to Get new High School

Some exciting news for Sioux Lookout.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has just announced it
will be going ahead with construction of a new high school in
that community.

The public school board says the project will cost about 30 million dollars
with the Ministry of Education chipping in 24 million.

The school will not only have state of the art classrooms for students, but also
space for other community partners like Firefly, Confederation College and Lakehead University.

The new secondary school would replace Queen Elizabeth High School.

KPDSB Delays A Couple of Special Events

The excitement is building in Sioux Lookout today.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has planned a special assembly at 11 o'clock at Queen Elizabeth High School.

The Board will be making a major announcement.

The announcement had been scheduled for Monday, but was post-poned due to the weather.

Meanwhile, the grand opening of the Valleyview expansion has also been delayed.

It was supposed to take place yesterday, but instead it has been re-scheduled for
tomorrow morning at 11:45.

Some Bus Delays Again Today

Things are starting to get back to normal as a day of cancellations
in the Kenora area.

Highways are pretty much bare and dry this morning while in the city itself most of the streets have been cleared, but there are still very slippy sections.

The Northwest Students Services Consortium says most of it's buses are running normally this morning, but there are some exceptions.

Bus KN-14 has been cancelled.

Instead bus KN-31 will pick up students in the Minto area, but the rural portion of that route has been dropped this morning.

The consortium adds that it does expect delays in all areas today.

Results Released in Strat Plan Survey

Some interesting results from the survey being conducted in
conjunction to the city's new five year stategic plan.

30 percent of residents feel the city is doing a very poor job of snow removals, and winter has been given as one of the reasons why some people don't like living in Kenora.

Over 19 hundred people have looked at the survey and Peter Thoma
from UrbanMetrics says that's an amazing response rate.

Last night 35 people showed up for the first public meeting on the five year Stategic Plan.

Thoma says they hope to have a draft ready by May with a final strat plan ready for council by sometime in June.

City Updates Local Residents on Water Situation

The city of Kenora wants you to know what's going on.

Chief Administrative Office Karen Brown says they recently sent out letters updating the status of water issues throughout the city.

Brown says when it comes to residents with running water they are investigating their options to benefit those who have been hit the hardest.

She adds that they will be discussion options with staff and councillors in the near future.

OEB Releases Interim Report on Energy East

The importance of pipeline safety is emerging as a top concern from people who recently attended the Energy East Pipeline hearings in northwestern Ontario.  

Ontario Energy Board spokesperson Karen Cormier says that a draft report on the hearings shows that area municipalities have specific safety concerns.

She says communities want to know what kind of Emergency Management Plan is in place and what
kind of response times there will be.

Concerns also centred around the environment and the economy.

Festival of the Arts Celebrates Milestone

After 70 years, the Kenora Festival of the Arts is still going strong.

The festival begins today at venues throughout the city.

Len Mark is one of the organizers and says the highlight of the festival
is their final concert at the end of the month.

Mark says the Discovery Center will once again act as host to the visutal arts portion of the festival  starting next week.

Kenora Special Olympians Excel

A number of strong performances from Kenora's Special Olympians at the
regional Spring Games in Thunder Bay.

Cory Lanseidel, Megan Wheatstone, Cindy Strachen, Allison Masuo, and Sandy
Graham each medalled in the pool and the bowling alley.

Lanseidel and Wheatstone collected three first place finishes in the swimming
competition.

Sandy Graham also had a first and a second in swimming and a first in women's bowling.

Shane Legros and Brittany Morris also bowled with the provincial coaches as they
prepare for the National championships as members of Ontario Special Olympics team.

High School Badminton Tournament Re-scheduled

The birds won't be flying today.

The NORWOSSA High School badminton qualifier scheduled for today has been moved to tomorrow.

Teams from across the region including Red Lake, Whitefish Bay and Rainy River will take part in the tournament being hosted by Thomas Aquinas and Beaver Brae.

Action will get underway at 10:30 tomorrow morning.

Experiments Will Take Place at ELA in 2014

Another groundbreaking day for the Experimental Lakes Area.

The Province of Ontario and the International Institute for Sustainable Development have signed an agreement that will allow experiments to continue at the facility this year.

Natural Resources Minister David Orazietti says "the government has stepped up to provide the financial support necessary to keep this world-class facility operational, while ensuring the environment is protected."

Ontario is committing 2 million dollars a year to the ELA.

Negotiations to give the IISD full control of the facility have been a year in the making when the federal government cut funding to the facility.

Closure and Cancellation Update

The term snow day doesn't seem to do all the closures justice.

Businesses and services throughout the region have closed their doors today.

The Northwestern Health Unit will be closed today, they do however have an emergency line running at 1-807-468-7109.

Recycling and garbage pick up has been cancelled by the city of Kenora.

Regular pick up will continue tomorrow.

Other closures today include the the Best Start Hub, Firefly Childcare, Minto Resource Centre, And Kenora Swim Club.

On a positive note Kenora Public Transit is running, as well the city will still be holding it's Strategic Planning Meeting tonight at the rec centre at 7:00.

Weather Takes Positive Spin After Storm

The region is digging out from yesterday's big snow storm.

CJRL Metrologist Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says the worst is over and the digging out can begin.

Laidlaw says no new snow is expected today and that we can expect sunshine and above zero temperatures for the rest of the week.

The worst hit area during the storm was Sioux Lookout, which received 47 centimetres of snow.

Ministry to Fund Mental Health in Schools

The Ministry of Education is giving a higher priority to student mental health.

A ministry spokesperson confirmed last week that funding for mental health will now be permanently added to school board budgets.

Joan Kantola is the superintendant of education with the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board and says the funding recognizes the increasing needs in their schools.

Overall, the province says it will be spending almost 23 billion dollars on education in the 2014/2015 school year.

LU Students Will Not Protest Tuition Increase

The president of the Lakehead University Student Union says not to expect a student protest over increased tuition fees.

The board of governors has increased fees an average of 3-percent, but Union President Ian Kaufman says they have decided against any uprising even though it's the 8th increase in a row.

Kaufman says they presented 5 recommendations to the Board of Governors.

The top student recommendation is an independent review of the university's books

Opposition Leader Defends Allegations

Opposition leader Tim Hudak is standing his ground.  

Premier Kathleen Wynne is threatening legal action unless Hudak retracts statements he made about linking the premier to deleted emails in the her office relating to the gas plant scandal.  

Hudak says Wynne has her priorities backwards.

Hudak says he will not withdraw his allegations.

Highway and School Closures

The snow storm may be over but the effects are still hitting the region with full force.

All schools for the Kenora Catholic and Keewatin Patricia District School Boards are closed for the day, including board offices.

The North West Student Services Consortium has cancelled buses for most of the region.

The cancellations include Kenora, Sioux Narrows, Dryden and Vermilion Bay.


At the post-secondary level, Confederation College has shut down the Lake of the Woods campus for the day.

Meanwhile highways are slowly being re-opened.

Highway 17 between the Manitoba boundary and Shabaqua is now open after being closed overnight.

Highway 17 between Shabaqua and Thunder Bay remains closed.

Highway 71 has been re-opened.

Highway 11 from Highway 600 to Highway 71 is closed.

Highway 502 from Dryden to Fort Frances is closed.

Travel is still not recommended.

Spring Snow Storm On the Way

If the forecast holds true, it could be the worst snow storm of the season.

Right now Environment Canada is predicting about 30 to 35 centimeters of snow by the time the Colorado Low moves through the region.

Meteorologist Ria Alsen says the storm system is centered over Nebraska right now and will pass through the Kenora area over the next 24 hours.

While the Kenora area will take the brunt of the storm, areas to the east like Thunder Bay will see only a smattering of snow and some freezing rain.

All School Buses Cancelled Today

Another long weekend for students who take the bus to school.

Yet another snow day has been declared by the Northwest Student Services
Consortium.

School buses in Kenora, Sioux Narrows, Vermillion Bay, Dryden, Red Lake, Ignace
and Sioux Lookout have all ben cancelled today.

Schools will remain open however for any students who can get to class today.

Sunshine List Continues to Grow

The novelty of making Ontario's Sunshine List is starting to lose it's luster.

The number of people making more than 100 thousand dollars a year keeps growing.

According to the Public Sector Salary Disclosure List, the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has the most employees on the list in the Kenora area.

There are 52 people from the public school board making 100 thousand dollars or more.

The Kenora Catholic District School board had only 15, but it also has the highest paid
educator in the region.

Phylis Eikre made just over 198 thousand dollars last year.

The top-paid public employee in Kenora was Dr. Kerry McDonald at Lake of the Woods District
Hospital.

The regional patholigost earned 379 thousand dollars.

Two Kenora Teams Win Stars Tournament in Winnipeg

A big weekend for the Lake of the Woods Girls hockey teams.

A total of 12 local teams were in Winnipeg for the St. Boniface Stars Girls Hockey Tournament.

Kenora teams won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

The PeeWee Turbo and Bantam Dy-no-mite 4.0 both won their divisions, while the Novice Purple Polar Puppies
won silver after a 6-1 loss to Dryden in the final.