Thursday, August 6, 2009

A Few More Houses in Koochiching County

There's been a slight increase to the number of housing units in Koochiching County

The U-S Census Bureau says the more than 8,100 homes identified in the county last year is five per cent higher than that in 2000.

Scott Country, which includes the city of Shakopee, led all Minnesota counties with an almost 49 per cent increase since 2000.

Lipizzaner Stallions Coming

Fort Frances will be on the itinerary for the "world famous" Lippezanner Stallions.

They will perform August 28th at the 52 Canadians Arena as part of a 40th anniversary tour.

Master of Ceremonies Troy Tinker says the type of performance is a reason for its longevity.

"It's not the kind of show that has lots of explosions and special effects," says Tinker "The focus is on the horse and that partnership they forge with that human. It just a fun, entertaining and educational show for the whole family. There's a lot of great things in the show that gets kids youngster involved, history, classical music, along with horsemanship."

Tickets are now on sale at Northwoods Gallery and Gifts and online at tickets.com

More Bass Fishing This Week

Kenora is the next stop for bass anglers.

Today kicks off three days of fishing on Lake of the Woods during the Kenora Bass International.

The competition includes an event that pits the top five Canadian and American teams from last year against each other.

Canada's team includes four anglers from the Nestor Falls-Sioux Narrows area.

Scott Walsh of Ely is one of two Minnesota anglers represented on the U-S team.

Airport Usage Down

The number of take-offs and landings at the Fort Frances airport in May was down slightly from the same time last year.

Statistics Canada says there were 587 aircraft using the airport, compared with 609 in May of 2008.

Among the users this year included 122 private planes and 31 government aircraft.

Christmas in July, Anyone?

It was a record breaking month, weather-wise, in July for the Rainy River district.

Environment Canada's Sandy Radecki says the average temperature was well below normal.

"The average temperature for the month was 15.3 C," says Radecki. "This is about 3.5 C below what is typical for Fort Frances. Historically, the records we have go back to '77 and this is the coldest July ever."

Radecki says the highest temperature recorded during the month was on July 26th when the thermometer reached 26 C or 79 F.

The lowest was on the July 12 with the overnight low dipping down to 2 C or 35 F.

The area also say about 99 millimetres of rain, about 5 millimetres greater than normal, but Radecki says about 2/3rds of that fell over a two day period.

Profit for Boise

(International Falls Mill - Photo Courtesy Boise Inc.)

Boise Inc., owners of the International Falls mill, is reporting net income of $51 million in the second quarter of this year.

That compares with a net loss of $18 million during the same period in 2008.

President Alexander Toeldte says demands for their products held up well despite a sluggish economy.

"Our core businesses delivered solid earnings and cash flow during second quarter 2009 as
demand for our office papers, label and release papers, and agricultural-based packaging products held up well despite the sluggish economy," says Toeldte. "We reduced working capital and ended the quarter with a much strengthened liquidity position."

The company also benefited from the receipt of nearly $59 million in alternative fuel mixture credits.

Hampton Lashes Out at Premier

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton is lashing out at the McGuinty Liberals’ over what he calls continued apathy to Northern Ontario’s forestry crisis in the wake of AbitibiBowater's announcements.

Hampton says the premier's weak leadership and inability to stand up for the industry has driven thousands of jobs out of the region and is putting thousands more at risk.

Hampton also renewed calls for an industrial hydro rate to protect mills and their employees.

Newsprint Machines Shutting Down

Another blow for the forest industry in northwestern Ontario.

AbitibiBowater says it is shutting down two newsprint machines at its Thunder Bay mill indefinitely, putting 360 employees out of work.

Spokesperson Jean-Phillipe Cote says poor market conditions are being blamed.

"We certainly understand and do regret the impact that this difficult decision will have on those workers, their families and the community," says Cote. "It's a difficult decision, but the context make it that we have no choice but to proceed that way."

Cote say one of the machines may eventually be re-started.

AbitibiBowater is also cutting its head office staff by 25 per cent as part of a plan to trim its overhead expenses by 100-million dollars U-S a year.

Most of the 175 laid off full-time and contractual employees in Canada and the United States will be announced by the end of this month.

The company has about 700 employees working in head office functions, including 400 in Montreal.