City Council is fighting for the Plasma Centre

Thunder Bay's Plasma Centre is getting the support of city council.  Our elected officials voted to send a letter to the Canadian Blood Services asking to keep the facility open.  Councillor Ken Boshcoff says the Regional Director for Canadian Blood Services doesn't seem have a legitimate reason for closing our facility.  He says the director state a declining need for Plasma as one of the biggest reasons for the closure but people inside the health care Field say there is still a big need.  The facility is scheduled to close its doors next Thursday.

Council awards works contracts

Council is handing out around 6 and a half million dollars in contracts.  Nadin Contracting will be given almost 3.2 million dollars for sewer and watermain replacement in the city.  The work will be done mainly in the south side of town.  Council also handed out a 2.7 million dollar contract to Bruno's Contracting for road resurfacing and Bur-Met Contracting is getting over 600 thousand dollars to replace the roof on the Victoria Parkade.  Council accepted the lowest bid in each of the tenders.

Local couple wins the big one

The 50 million dollar lottery winners are looking for professional advise now that they are millionaires.  Louis and Jo-Anne Chikoski are the winners and say so many things can be done with this much money and they want to spend it properly.  Jo-Anne says she couldn't believe it when Louis showed her they had won, she says she kept wondering if she was dreaming.  Jo-Anne says they plan on staying in Thunder Bay because it is their home, but travelling is definitely in their near future.  Louis, a mill worker for the past 40 years was planning on retiring this fall and now says there are no more worries for him or his wife.

Scherban gets new contract

Lakehead University has locked up men's hockey Coach Joel Scherban for 3 more years. Scherban was given the extension today (Mon) and says he's thrilled to stay part of this team and would be happy to stay even longer. Scherban says he thinks his team is ready to move into the elite level in the OUA this year.

Dew Drop Inn gearing up for Easter feast

The Dew Drop Inn will be feeding the needy this weekend. They will be serving Easter dinner Sunday for about 300 people. Board President Paul Deighton says they are looking for volunteers and anyone can come to help at around 2 pm.  They will start serving at 2:30 Sunday.

Herman joins NAPS

Bob Herman is back. The former Thunder Bay Police Chief is the new interim Deputy Chief with the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service. NAPS Sgt. Jackie George says he will be helping the force for the next year to navigate through expected funding cuts.  Herman begins his new duties on April 16th.

Tourist info centres closing

The full impact of the Provincial budget is just starting to be felt. The Government has announced that its closing the Tourist Bureau on Highway 17 west at the Ontario-Manitoba boundary. That's one of three tourism centres being closed across the region. The Tourist Information Centre in Fort Frances at the Canada-U.S. border is being shut down along with the one in Rainy River. The Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership is blaming low visitor numbers for the decision to close the centres

March weather amazes

No surprise here as March is being touted as one of the warmest months on record in northwestern Ontario. Our meteorologist Bill Laidlaw says it's something we may not see for some time. He says a similar weather pattern happened about 60 years ago.  Laidlaw says in all his years of weather forecasting he hasn't seen anything like it.

Donor dollars needed more than ever

Last week's Ontario budget could mean the Health Science's Foundation may need to become more relevant than ever. Board chair Brian McKinnon says the austerity measures in the budget indicate donor dollars will be more important to raise for expensive hospital equipment.  The Foundation recently honoured its donors.