Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Lawsuit List Grows And Grows

The list of people joining a class action lawsuit against the city is growing at a rapid pace. Lawyer Chris Watkins says his office has at least 150 people signed on who want to sue the city over the recent flooding of their basements. Watkins says they are gathering experts from across the country to back their claims which have not yet been proven in court

Fiddling For Flood Victims

Thunder Bay's Carly Ross is making her mark as a young fundraiser.  The ten year old entertained shoppers at the Thunder Bay Mall with her fiddle playing.  She was there raising money for flood victims in the city. 

Hyer Settles In For Marathon Session

Thunder Bay MP Bruce Hyer is preparing for a marathon sitting in the House of Commons. He promises to be there along with fellow MP's to vote on about 800 proposed changes to the huge budget bill that has been put together by the Harper Conservatives and that changes over 70 laws. The voting is expected to continue for over 24 hours and possibly longer.

Dragonboat Festival Ready To Roar

The dragonboat festival is moving a new beat this year. Along with the races, Organizer Volker Kromm says there will be many new features. The Dragon boat festival is being held July 20th and 21st and will raise money for three charities.

OSSLT Results Are In

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test results are in.  The Lakehead Public School Board's score dropped from the year before.  The Public Board went from 82 percent to 79 which is below the Provincial average.  Meanwhile, the Catholic District School Board saw an improvement from the previous year going from 81 to 84 percent.

City Closes Roads

The heavy rainfall in May caused two large sink holes on portios of Mountain Road and Twin City Crossroads. The City has closed those two roads while repairs are completed. Work on the roads will be done off and on throughout the coming weeks.

NW LHIN Closes T.Bay LTC Facility

A Long Term Care Home in the City is closing.  The Northwest Local Health Integration Network is closing the Interim Long Term Care facility on James Street because the building is old.  The facility's 50 residents are being relocated to other LHIN facilities.

Finn-tastic

Everyone in Thunder Bay is invited to be "Finn" for the weekend of July 27th. Ulla Ahokas, Chair of the organizing committee wants you to come out and celebrate all things Finn as they host the 73rd annual Finnish Festival. The highlight of the festival will be World Record "Nordic Walk" held at Boulevard Lake.

Janzen's Pharmacies Want To Offer Injections

All three Janzen's Pharmacists are ready for the day when it's legal for them to provide injections to their customers.  The Provincial Government is making changes to the Pharmacy Act that will enable pharmacists to administer immunizations and injectible drugs.  Owner Brenda Adams says the move will make patient's lives easier.

Canada Games Complex Numbers Return

City residents are back using the Canada Games Complex once again. They re-opened their doors yesterday at noon. Supervisor of Aquatics and Wellness, Donna Sippila, says the two week shut-down was a good idea to try and help conserve water. Sippila also says the two week shut down allowed them to perform maintenance on the facility.

Wasaya Plane Fire Investigated

The Transportation Safety Board is looking more closely into a fire that destroyed a Wasaya Airways plane. Regional Manager, Peter Hildebrand says the understanding is that the plane was delivering fuel at a Sandy lake airport when the mishap occurred. Hildebrand is looking to speak with the two crew members who were there as part of their investigation.

Flood Benefit Concert Announced

Local artists are coming to the rescue for flood victims in the form of a benefit concert. The Daylin James Inspirational Flood Relief Benefit Concert will take place at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, across from City Hall, on Tuesday, June 19th at 7pm with the doors opening at 6pm. 100% of all donations will go to the Thunder Bay Flood Disaster Relief Fund so provincial dollars can be leveraged. It is a free concert but those who can, are encouraged to donate money at the door, to help local people who were impacted by the flood. Thunder Bay's Daylin James is an international Elvis Presley tribute artist. His special guest will be Thunder Bay's Garth Brooks tribute artist, Garrick Sissons.

Wasaya Plane Destroyed By Fire

A Wasaya airways plane is completely destroyed following a fire on the ground yesterday afternoon. Around 1:45 p.m. the plane was doing a routine fuel trip and received damages during ground operations in Sandy Lake First Nation. There were no passengers, and fortunately the two crew members on board were not injured.

Fort Frances Man Fined

Talk about a pretty penny. A Fort Frances man has been fined $40,000 for charges relating to his deer hunting business. Grant Gustafson pleaded guilty to charges such as hunting swimming deer, unlawfully hunting wolves, using an illegal firearm and many others. He is banned from hunting for the next 10 years and from guiding hunters for the next 2 years. Two of his employees and 5 of his clients were also fined a combined total of $15,500 dollars and 26 years worth of hunting suspensions.

Cats Streak Continues

The Thunder Bay Border Cats are inching their way closer to .500. They picked up a 4-3 win over St. Cloud last night to improve to 5 and 1 at home. They are now 6 and 8 on the season, 4 games back in the North division and wrap-up their series with St. Cloud with an 11:05 start this morning at Subway field.