Abzac Sold

A local manufacturing company has been sold.

Abzac's Fort Frances operation will be taken over by South Carolina-based Sonoco by the end of October.

The plant makes cardboard cores for paper mills and employees 13 people.

Kenora Shooting Report Issued

A Kenora OPP officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the June shooting of a woman in that city, but the Special Investigation's Unit is questioning why it took Provincial Police almost two hours to report the incident.

39-year-old Helen Proulx was shot twice in the torso after brandishing a knife at a female officer.

S.I.U. director Ian Scott found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer acted inappropriately.

Witnesses told the S.I.U. Proulx was intoxicated and in a despondent emotional state at the time and failed to comply with the officer's repeated requests to drop the knife

But in his report, Scott expressed concernd with the delay in reporting the shooting to the S.I.U., a contravention under the Police Services Act, and that some officers at the scene were told by an association lawyer not to make notes.

He's asked the OPP Commissioner to investigate.

Teenager Charged with Murder

A 16-year-old boy from Fort Hope First Nation, north of Sioux Lookout, is facing a murder charge.

Ontario Provincial Police say it follows the stabbing death of a 17-year-old boy in that community last week.

The accused will be appear in a Thunder Bay court August 3.

Police to Crackdown on Careless Drivers

A rise in the number of fatal motor vehicle accidents across the province has prompted Provincial Police to be on a close watch for motorists who break the law this August long weekend.

Sergeant Shelly Garr says there have been twelve fatalities in northwestern Ontario this year, compared with eighteen in all of 2009.

"We're always concerned with the number of motor vehicle collisions on our highways," says Garr. "We're always looking for the big three risk factors and will continue to do so this long weekend. We'll be looking for aggressive driving, failing to wear seatbelts and impaired driving."

None of the fatalities have been in Rainy River district, but twenty-six people have been injured in accidents in the district this year.

Staff Changes Before Police Probe

The Ontario Realty Corporation reportedly fired some staff and restructured a department just before a police raid as part of a corruption probe.

The restructuring took place in May and June that saw some staff, including a vice-president , let go.

The Corporation won't say what, if any, link its purge has to the police probe of procurement in three ministries which went public July 15 with search warrants executed at government buildings in Toronto.

Class Action Suit Proceeds

A lawyer says tens of thousands of people across Canada could be part of a sweeping class-action lawsuit from developmentally disabled people alleging decades of abuse at an Ontario institution.

An Ontario Superior Court judge gave the green light for the one-billion-dollar class action suit involving former residents of Huronia Regional Centre and their family members.

The institution opened in 1876 as the Orillia Asylum for Idiots, and closed in March 2009.

Computer Glitch Hits WFN Contest

The World Fishing Network has repaired a computer clitch that impacted Fort Frances' bid to become the Ultimate Fishing Town in Canada.

Wednesday morning, Fort Frances appeared with two separate bids to WFN contest, but residents could not post supporting submissions to the original bid.

The problem has since been corrected.

Low Forest Fire Hazard Prevails

Recent wet weather has dropped the fire hazard to low across much of northwestern Ontario.

Ten fires are burning in the district, including nine in the far north, but are being allowed to burn out.

There are no active fires in the Rainy River district

Meanwhile, twenty firefighters, three aircraft and three Ministry of Natural Resources officers are in Leaf Rapids, Manitoba to help in the fire fight there.

Suspected Drug Kingpin Arrested

A southern Ontario man, police believe is behind a large prescription pill trafficking ring in northern Ontario is now in custody.

37-year-old Jabir Khan was arrested in North York and sent to Thunder Bay to face trafficking charges.

Police believe he's helped in the illegal distribution of Oxycodone to First Nation communities around the region.

During a two-year investigation, police seized more than 360-thousand dollars in Oxycodone tablets and another 60-thousand in cash.

Two other men from Toronto and Thunder Bay and a woman from Toronto have also been charged.