NOCA Men's Playdowns Coming to Kenora

The 2015 Northern Ontario Curling Playdowns are coming to Kenora.

The Keewatin Curling Club was announced as the host yesterday.

President Hayley Smith says they will converting the Kenora Rec Centre for the event.

The conversion will see 4 curling sheets set up in the arena.

One of the main attractions will be the expected appearance of Brad Jacobs' Olympic gold medal team.

The Playdowns take to ice ice February 4th - 8th next year.

Valleyview Celebrates Earth Day

Earth Day Celebrations are taking place at Valleyview School.

Principal Jason McDonald says they are hosting an environmental fair in the gymnasium.

He says lots of topics are being dicussed with the students.

McDonald adds the public is invited to attend the fair between 5 and 7 tonight.

SNNF Raises Mill Rate One Percent

Residents of Sioux Narrows/Nestor Falls shouldn't have to dig much deeper to pay their  property tax bill this year.

The town has passed it's 2014 budget with a one percent increase.

Mayor Bill Thompson says most homeowners will actually see an overall decrease, once everything is factored in.

He says education taxes will be going down about three percent

Thompson says one of the other things they were able to do with their budget is put more money into reserves for future projects.

More Ministers Confirmed for NOMA

The Premier and four members of her cabinet are now confirmed for the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association Conference in Fort Frances.

Transportation Minister Glenn Murray, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Bill Mauro, Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle and Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer wil answer questions from the region's municipal leaders during Friday's so-called Bearpit session.

Premier Kathleen Wynne will speak to delegates during a Thursday evening dinner.

The NOMA conference officially begins Wednesday evening.

Goldcorp Backs Away from Osisko Takeover

Goldcorp is giving up on its bid for Osisko Mining.

The mining company says it will not raise its offer of 3-point-6 billion dollars that expires tonight.

It decision come on the heel's of last week's announcement that Yamana Gold and Angico Eagle Mines are joining forces to acquire Osisko for 3-point-9 billion, creating a new company called New Osisko.

Canfield Cool To Municipality Taking Over Winter Road Maintenance

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield doesn't think many municipalities will jump at the chance of taking over winter road maintenance of provincial highways in the region.

It's an idea being floated by Transportation Minister Glenn Murray.

Canfield says municipalities know all too well the impact of provincial downloading.

Canfield says money given by the province often diminishes, forcing local taxpayers to pick up the tab to maintain the service.

Moose Tags At A Premium In Kenora WMU's

Local hunters hoping to bag a moose this year might have a tough time.

The MNR has reduced the number of tags for both bull and cow moose.

Overall, northwestern Ontario is looking at an 88 percent reduction.

In Kenora Wildlife Management Unit 7-B, there will only be 17 tags available down from 25 last year.

Just north of the city in Wildlife Management Unit 6, the number of tags has dropped to
just 21 this year, compared to 40 last year.

The MNR blames a declining moose population for the drastic reduction in tags.

Whitefish Bay to Participate in Treasury Gold EA

Treasury Metals continues environmental work on its Goliath Gold Mine project, about 20-kilometres east of Dryden.

Whitefish Bay has received 45-thousand dollars from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to participate in the environmental assessment.

The money will help the area First Nation community provide input on the draft plan as well as consult with mining and government officials.

Treasury Metals continues preliminary work on an open-pit and underground gold mine.

Once operational it could have ore production capacity of 25-hundred tonnes per day with an anticipated life of 10 to 12 years.

Jury Roll Issue Delays Another Trial In NWO

A murder trail in Thunder Bay that was supposed to start today is on hold.

22 year old Sheldon Wabason was supposed to go on trial for second degree murder in the 2011 death of 54 year old Robert Topping.

Wabason's lawyer Delmar Doucette says the judge in the case has stayed proceedings for one year.

Doucette says there aren't enough First Nations people represented on the local jury roll

Court Information Now Available On-Line

Need to know where and when you need to go to court?

A new online service now makes it easier for people to find out.

The website allows court users to search for basic information about next-day court appearances, including
the case number, names of the parties involved, and the time, location and reason for that appearance.

Before this information could only be accessed by calling or visiting the courthouse in person.

Bronco Boys Win Soccer Friendly

You may not guess it by looking at the ground, but the NorWOSSA soccer season is just around the corner.

Beaver Brae's boys squad was in Winnipeg recently for an exhibition game against Springs Christian High School and came away with  3-2 victory.

Joel Arsenault, Duncan McGillvray and Jackson Penner each scored for the Broncos.

LOWD Property Owners Hold AGM in Winnipeg Today

For the first time ever, the Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association will
be holding it's annual general meeting on Easter Monday.

Today's trade show and AGM take place at the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg.

Susan McLeod is executive director of the Cottagers association and says they had to move up their AGM because the hotel wasn't available for their usual date at the beginning of May.

McLeod says the Cottage Show is sold out once again this year with over 100 exhibitors
in attendance.

The trade show begins at 2:30 this afternoon and runs until 8:30 this evening.

Transporation Minister Examines Road Maintenance Alternatives

Ontario's Transportion Minister says he has some new ideas for improving winter
road maintenance in northwestern Ontario.

Glenn Murray is suggesting municipalies could be paid to do the work in areas like Kenora, Dryden and Thunder Bay.

Murray says those were some of the areas that saw the most complaints this past winter.

Murray says he will be discussing some of his winter road maintenance ideas during
the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association Conference this week in Fort Frances.

Local School Boards Getting More Money

Local school boards should be able to increase their budgets this year.

The Ministry of Education has released it's intiatial student grant allocations and both the Kenora Catholic and Keewatin-Patricia District School board will be getting more than a million dollars more in the next school year.

Director of the separate board, Phylis Eikre says the extra funding is due in part of increased enrolment.

According to the Catholic School Board's projections, enrolment is expected to increase
by 54 students in the 2014/2015 school year.

SIU Investigates Weagamow Incident

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit has been called in to look into an
incident on the Weagamow First Nation over the weekend.

The North Caribou Lake Police Service and the OPP were called to a disturbance around 11:00 on Good Friday night.

When officers arrived at the scene, they witnessed a man outside a home, but he quickly fled inside when police approached.

The OPP say the cries of childen could be heard, so the officers entered the house to
make sure everyone was safe.

The suspect was located but police says he was suffering from a self-inflicted wound.

He was taken to hospital for treatment.

So far no charges have been laid, but the SIU is called in anytime a member of the public is injured during an interaction with police.

Con College Pleased with Graduation Report Card

Confederation College is celebrating its latest report card from the Key Performance Indicators for Ontario Colleges.

The report ranks the schools in a variety of areas including student satisfaction, employment and graduation rates.

President Jim Madder says there's one area they've noticed a steady decline in and that's program completion rates.

Madder says they're ranked number one in Ontario for grad employment rates and that's something to be proud of.

Groups Seeking to Stop the Spring Bear Hunt

Two animal rights groups are seeking legal action to stop the Ontario spring bear hunt.

Animal Alliance of Canada and Zoocheck Canada served the Minister of Natural Resources and Attorney General with an application for a judicial review.

Three judges are scheduled to hear the application April 29, 2014 in Toronto.

Performers Sought for Harmony of Nations

Spots are being made available to local musicians at this summer's Harmony of Nations Music Festival in Fort Frances.

Organizer Shannon Darby says they inviting area performers to submit You Tube submissions for the committee to review.

Darby says they're asking for two submissions, one being an original or innovative work, send to staff@golocalfortfrances.com by May 14th.

Easter Monday Closings

You'll be hard pressed to find any government services available today.

Municipal, provincial and federal employees will all be enjoying an extra long weekend today, that includes postal service,

All schools are also closed today, however the Waste Transfer Station and the Kenora Rec. Center will both be open for business today.

Banks are also open today as are all department and grocery stores, after being closed for the Easter Sunday holiday.

Cross Lake Wins NAFN Tournament

For the second year in a row, the Cross Lake Islanders took top honors at the North American First Nations Tournament of Champions at the Kenora Rec. Center.

Cross Lake downed Norway House 5-3 in the A-side final last night and won 15 thousand
dollars for their effort.

In the B-side final, the OCN Penguins got by Rat Portage.

The Winnipeg Hurricanes upended Whitefish Bay in Oldtimers final, while the first ever
women's division winners were Eagle Lake, which topped the OFN Snipers 4-1.

At the Allen Cup, the host Dundas Real McCoys won their first national senior men's
hockey championship.

Dundas outlasted Clarenville 3-2 in Overtime in Saturday's final.

The Real McCoys advanced to the championship game by blanking the Kenora Thistles
4-0 on Good Friday.