New Executive Director For NCDS

The agency responsible for delivering a number of employment programs in the Rainy River district has a new executive director.

Nikki Baird takes over at NCDS from the retiring Jenny Greenhaulgh.

Baird joins the organization after three and a half years with Riverside Foundation for Health Care.

The Foundation, meantime, will soon begin a search for Baird's replacement.

NDP Likes Chances In Northwestern Ontario

Provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is optimistic with where the NDP stand in Northwestern Ontario.

Horwath says Sunday's selection of Mary Kozorys to challenge Liberal MPP Bill Mauro in Thunder Bay-Atikokan as a step forward.

Kozorys beat out former Schreiber mayor Madge Richardson for the right to represent the party in the next provincial election.

ONA Launches Campaign For More Nurses

The Ontario Nurses Association has launched a new ad campaign aimed at raising the awareness of the need for more registered nurses in the province.

President Linda Haslam-Stroud says Ontario continues to have the second-lowest ratio of RNs-to-population in all of Canada.

The ONA blames underfunding for hospitals having to cut more than one-thousand nursing positions in the past two years.

Rickford Feels First Nations Optimistic About First Nations Education Act

Kenora MP Greg Rickford says first impressions of the federal government's newly announced education act for first nations is being well received.

Rickford says regional chiefs he's spoken with feel optimistic about the act.

The act is intended to give more control for first nations over their education system.

School Board Considers Expanding High School

The school board responsible for public schools in the Dryden area is looking at having grade 7 and 8 students attend classes at Dryden High School.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board will hold public meetings later month.

The model is already in place at Kenora's Beaver Brae school.

Board officials say the addition of the intermediate grades at that school has been well received by teachers, students and parents.

New Water and Sewer Rate Proposal On The Table

Fort Frances town council gets a look tonight at another proposal to increase water and sewer rates.

It calls for residential rates to go up a $1.25 a month.

Industrial, commercial and institutional users on water metres would see their base rates go up nearly $8.00  a month.

The rate per cubic metre after that for the industrial and commercial sectors would go to $2.70 - $3.10 for the institutional side.

If approved the new rates would be reflected on the year's first bills.

Kozorys Selected To Carry NDP Banner Again

The NDP are going with a familiar face to challenge Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro in the next provincial election.

After two days of voting,  Mary Kozorys was selected as the party's candidate for the riding.

Kozorys ran against Mauro in the last election, losing by under five-hundred votes.

Unifor Targets Resolute For Patterned Talks

The Fort Frances mill will be front and centre when Unifor begins contract talks with Resolute Forest Products next month.

The union says negotiations with the company will set the pattern for talks with other forest companies.

Union president Jerry Dias says northwestern Ontario issues will be prominent, including the recent shutdown of operations in Fort Frances.

SIU Investigates Police Shooting In Red Lake

The province's Special Investigations Unit is looking into an incident in Red Lake that led to OPP have to fire their weapon.

OPP says it happen Saturday night while police were responding to noise complaints at a home.

An altercation between a women, who had forced her way inside and police led to a shot being fired.

The woman was airlifted to a Winnipeg hospital for treatment.

Two officers involved were also injured and treated in Red Lake hospital.

Physician Retires

One of the Fort Frances' long serving physicians has hung up his stethoscope.

Doctor Brian Johnston, retired at the end of the last year and was official recognition Friday night.

Johnston says he never had regrets moving to Fort Frances in 1966.

The 90-year-old says he now has time for some of the others things he enjoys such as golf.

Ice Fort Planned

The Friends of the Museum are trying to put the "Fort" back in Fort Frances.

They plan to build an ice fort at Lion's Park next month as part of a Snoasis 2, a follow up to last winter event where snow sculptures were created.

Chair Duane Hicks says they're hoping the public will help created the ice blocks for the March 15 event.

Hicks says using milk or juices cartons will make the ice blocks uniform.

Prom Dresses Wanted

A request for gently used prom and other formal wear is being made by the area's Professional Women's Business Network.

Spokesperson Jennifer Horton says they intend to sell back the dresses at reduced rates to high school students who will to attend this year's prom.

Donations will be accepted at Curvy Chick or Shear Serenity until March 17.

The dresses will be sold at events during April and May with the money raised donated to the I Am Awesome Retreat for Young Women.

Strong Response To Hockeyville Submission

The Fort Frances bid in the Kraft Hockeyville Contest has ended with the submission receiving 264 members and 365 uploads.

We'll know March 8 if our community is one of 16 to move on to the next round.

More Exploration For New Gold

More exploration at New Gold's Rainy River project.

Part of the work will explore the potential of expanding the footprint of its planned open pit mine.

Vice-president of exploration Mark Peterson says areas to the west of the original site will be studied.

The company says it's also moving to complete the environment assessment process and obtain the necessary permitting to begin construction next year.

Conservatives Seeking Out Fine Amounts

Ontario Conservatives are using the Freedom of Information Act to find out how much contractors have been fined this winter.

The province says three companies working in northwestern Ontario have been penalized.


Critic Vic Fedeli says they want to know if the contractors are facing significant fines, or just a slap on the wrist.

Fedeli says he's not opposed to private contractors doing the work, but standards have to be met.

NDP Critical Of Transportation Minister's Comments

The NDP is blasting Ontario's transportation minister for recent comments he made about northern Ontario's highways.

Critic Gilles Bisson says it's not good enough for Glen Murray to apologize for poor winter road maintenance.

Bisson believes the Liberals are making the overtures because of a pending election.

Job Opportunties In Rainy River Area

A couple of potential job opportunities in the Rainy River district.

The Northwest Training and Adjustment Board will host an information forum on New Gold's Rainy River Project on February 11.

There's two sessions at the Sunset Country Metis Hall from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. and then 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at night.

CN Rail will hold a hiring event February 19 at the La Place Rendez Vous.

It starts at 9 a.m.

Job Fair In International Falls Today

A job fair goes today in International Falls.

International Falls Workforce Centre hosts the event at Rainy River Community College.

Spokesperson Alysa Hackemueller says all of the companies involved are looking for workers.

The event goes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Watch Olympics At Library

FFPLTC photo

The Olympic spirit is strong at the Fort France Public Library and Technology Centre.

Chief Librarian Alicia Subniak-Kilgour says they've set up a lounge for the public to come and watch the games.

The lounge is open during Library hours during the next two weeks.

Transport Driver Found

OPP say they've been able to identify the transport driver seen on a recent Youtube video, passing a snowplow, as another transport was approaching.

Police says charges are now pending against the 31-year-old Toronto area man.

His name has not yet been released.

The incident, which occurred in early January north of Nipigon on Highway 11, was captured on video by the other driver who had to take evasive action to avoid a head on collision.