Jail or Bail Raises $4,500

A number of residents, including the mayor of Fort Frances, are free on bail today after helping the Voyageur Lion's Club with its Jail or Bail event.

 

Around $4,500 was raised.

 

Mayor Roy Avis, among those put behind bars, brought in $1,200 for the cause.

 

93.1 The Border's own Johnathan Pryce was also successful in collecting the bail he required to get out of jail.

 

The money will be shared between Special Olympian David Ducasse who's heading to a national event and a program that trains dogs for those with autism.

Expect A Cool Summer

A bad news-good news weather forecast for our summer.

Accuweather predicts cooler than normal conditions across northwestern Ontario.

Meteorologist Brett Anderson says the good news is less severe weather.

Anderson suggests the latter part of August is when we may get to see real hot temperatures.

Green Party Candidate Ready

The Green party candidate in Kenora-Rainy River is ready to launch an aggressive campaign.

 

Tim McKillop of Pickle Lake says he wants to bring some stability back to the Ontario Legislature.

 

McKillop is a school teacher who's been involved with the Green Party for many years.

Falls City Police Busy

International Falls Police are busy.

Chief Mike Musich says officers responded to more than 500 calls for service in April with 93 of the cases of a more serious nature.

Musich says if the trend continues he will be asking for more officers.

Musich some of the more serious incidents included assaults, domestics and a kidnapping/confinement incident

International Falls Seeks Volunteers

International Falls is seeking someone to help oversee it's City Beach.

Committee member Linda Torseth says they have people for June, but are still looking for volunteers for the rest of the summer.

Individuals would do light duties such as open and close the gate to the beach, collect funds from campers and do minor clean-up.

Interested people are asked to contact the city.

Feds Criticized For Lack Of Notice With Nat'l Day Of Honour

The Royal Canadian Legion is perplexed about why the federal government gave it little time to prepare commemoration ceremonies for last Friday's National Day of Honour.

The day was held to mark the end of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan.

Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty says several branches didn't have time to put something together.

No ceremonies were announced by another of four legions in the Rainy River district.

Sex Offenders Living In District

Some stark reality about where registered sex offenders live in Ontario.

The Ministry of Corrections has handed Global News that information after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court.

Global has since created maps on its website showing the areas, by postal code only, where sex offenders registered in 2008.

In the Rainy River district, the data indicates there were 14 living within the area code POW, 20 in P9A, and 95 within POT, which also includes areas around the Thunder Bay and Upsala areas.

Unlike Minnesota, Ontario law enforcement is not required to inform the public when a sex offender moves into their community.

Contract Deal Reached

A tentative deal has been reached between Unifor and Resolute Forest Products.

If ratified, the four-agreement will become the pattern agreement for the pulp and paper industry in Eastern Canada.

The announcement comes just days after Resolute announced it would not re-open its pulp and paper mill in Fort Frances.

PC's Propose To Reduce Size Of Government

Progressive Conservatives wants to reduce the size of government and the number of workers in the public sector.

Leader Tim Hudak says it's key to balancing the budget within two years in an effort to help achieve his million jobs plan.

Part of the plan includes shrinking the size of cabinet from 27 to 16 ministries and reducing the number of government workers by 100-thousand.

NDP Offering Tax Credits

New Democrats are offering up a couple of tax credits they say will create more jobs.

 

One would reward manufacturers that expand facilities or purchase new machinery or equipment.

 

Leader Andrea Horwath says it will help kick-start investments in the manufacturing sector.

 

The NDP is also promising a tax credit to businesses to offset 10 per cent of the salaries of new hires.

Nurses Get Contract

Members of the Ontario Nurses' Association have received an arbitration decision resolving a contract dispute with several Ontario hospitals.

 

The two-year award provides a 1.4-percent wage increase in each year.

 

The Association is disappointed with the ruling saying it barely keeps up with inflation and the impact of a wage freeze nurses accepted over the past two years.

FAlls Hospital Earns Award

Rainy Lake Medical Centre is being recognized for meeting guidelines for reporting its birth rate data to the State.

 

Hospitals are required to register 98 per cent of births to the Minnesota Department of Health within five days.

 

Rainy Lake Medical Center was almost 99 per cent compliant with its 75 births last year.

Red Cross Helping New Osnaburgh

New Osnaburgh First Nation remains in a state of emergency as the community continues to deal with a February fire that killed a woman and three children.

A team from the Canadian Red Cross is in the community near Pickle Lake.

Spokesperson Tracey Browne says the goal is to develop a plan to improve the quality of life in New Osnaburgh and determine what services various agencies should be offering.

Man Pays For Hole Through His Truck

A Timmins man is facing a repair bill and a $3,000 fine after accidentally discharging his rifle inside his truck.

The man told conservation officers it happened while he was loading his gun inside the vehicle so he won't startle a deer he spotted while travelling in the Sioux Narrows area last November.

The gun went off as he stepped out of the truck with the bullet going through the passenger door,
breaking a window and deploying the airbags.

Court heard the case last month.

McHappy Day

A significant contribution to Ronald McDonald Houses from the Fort Frances area.

Last Wednesday's McHappy Day at the Fort Frances restaurant helped raise more than $2,000.

The annual fundraiser gives one-dollar from every Big Mac, Happy Meal and hot McCafe beverage sold.