New Councillors sworn in

Former Mayor Ken Boshcoff is ready to work with Keith Hobbs. The new city councilor says he liked Hobb's inaugral address. Boshcoff says his goals echo the mayors; job creation and taxation. Meanwhile, Newcomer to City Council Paul Pugh is eager to work with the Mayor. Pugh says his priorities are housing, and substance abuse. Pugh was sworn in as the McKellar ward councillor.

Hobbs makes inaugral speech

Keith Hobbs wants to eliminate poverty and crime during his term as Mayor. The two issues were coupled in his inaugral address Monday night. Hobbs says they need to let criminals know that they are not wanted here. He set himself a goal of lowering crime in the City and notes if it isn't reduced in four years time he'll consider it a failure. The new Mayor also touched on the City's tax rate and says he understands that people feel over taxed. Finally, job creation was also brought up with the mining sector playing a large role in new jobs in Thunder Bay. The swearing in of the 42nd council lasted just one hour, and Hobbs notes he hopes all meetings last that long.

42nd council sworn in

It was a night of pomp and circumstance for the newest members of Thunder Bay City council. Mayor Keith Hobbs was sworn Monday night as was newcomer Paul Pugh and former Mayor Ken Boshcoff. The Ceremony including First Nation smudging, colour party and greetings from former Mayors. This is Thunder Bay's fourty second council.

1 man dead after going through ice

Police and snowmobile groups are urging riders to stay off area lakes. The warning comes after the death of a 55-year-old man last Friday. Kenora OPP say a snowmachine went through the ice on Longpine Lake. The passenger was able to get out of the water, while the driver was recovered by emergency workers. Rick Schween died in Hospital.

Rafferty disses feds over stimulus jobs

Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty says a report from Canada Parliamentary budget officer suggesting the federal stimulus program didn't create the jobs expected is disappointing.  Rafferty says its shows the need for a national job strategy.  Just 21-percent of municipalities receiving infrastructure funding reported increases in local employment.

Nipigon OPP need help

Nipigon OPP continue to look into the cause of an accident on Highway 11/17 last week.  A tractor trailer unit and a passenger car collided head on just west of Dorion.  Police are asking for your help in locating the driver of a black or dark grey Dodge Charger that was seen driving from the scene of the accident.

Porter happy with stats

Porter Airlines is celebrating an increase in it's Thunder Bay passenger numbers. The yearly and monthly stats for the airline are up and Spokesperson Brad Cicero attributes that to a number of things. The company saw more people on each of their flights during November.

Di Matteo weighs in on Bombardier

Lakehead University's Economics Professor is echoing others thoughts on the Bombardier TTC contract. Livio Di Matteo says it's too soon to say what will happen. Di Matteo adds if Toronto backs out of the contract they will have to pay many fees to Bombardier.  He suspects if the contract is torn up there will be potential for other work at the plant.

Donor dollars to benefit preemies

Dawn, Jaxon and Mike Nitz

The Regional Health Sciences Foundation is tugging at your heart string for their Christmas fundraising campaign. President Glenn Craig says money donated this year will go to the neo-natal intensive care unit to help premature babies with some necessities the hospital budget can't provide. The goal is 90 thousand dollars

V. Kelner boss speaks out

There is no harm done as the result of a premature business announcement last week.  Wasaya Airlines announced it had an agreement with V. Kelner Aviation regarding helicopter service.  It turns out no final contract has been signed.  V. Kelner President Robert Arnone hopes to formally announce the deal early next year.

LU prof says WikiLeaks is all about ego

The release of confidential American diplomatic messages by the website WikiLeaks continues to create a stir. It's founder remains in hiding. Laure Paquette, a professor in Lakehead University's Political Science Department, says while some information is very sensitive, we shouldn't worry about our safety as a result of this. She says to keep in mind that founder Julian Assange has the mentality of a hacker and he gets great delight in releasing information on the Internet that other people don't want him to release. Paquette says theWikiLeaks revelations about Canada's diplomats were more embarrassing than damaging

Get ready for the deep freeze

60 centimetres of snow is expected to fall...in Southern Ontario...and here its going to be cold. Bill Laidlaw of Signal Weather says cold arctic air is settling into the area and will drive the temperatures down towards the minus 20 mark and with the wind chill it'll feel even colder.   Laidlaw says we will get a bit of a break Thursday with some snow in the forecast but after that it'll be right back into the deep freeze.

Thunder Bay Police deal with armed robbery

No one was hurt in another armed robbery at the Mac's Mart on Simpson Street.  Thunder Bay police say a young man entered the stored just after 10:30 armed with a knife and demanded cash.  No arrests were made.  Meanwhile police did manage to arrest 3 people after a cab driver was assaulted and robbed just before midnight.  Officers say the incident happened on McKenzie Street.

Police arrest 5 people over the weekend

Five people are behind bars after two separate weekend robberies.  Thunder Bay Police arrested two boys in connection with a robbery and stabbing in Westfort Saturday, they appeared in court Monday.  Officers also arrested three men in connection to a robbery that happened Wednesday.  The three are accused of robbing and assaulting a man in the Ambrose street area. 

Fort William First Nation members approve claim

Fort William First Nation members voted mostly in favour of approving the Neebing Surrender Specific claim Saturday.
The vote comes after three years of negotiations and 10 years after the claim was originally submitted. The $22 million settlement will still need to be approved by the federal government before it becomes official.
Unlike the historic $154 million Fort William First Nation boundary claim, the settlement doesn't include the transfer of land and is strictly for financial compensation. The Neebing Specific claim addresses the surrender of 6,400 acres of the western part of the Fort William First Nation reserve in 1859.

Dinner and a movie

 Investors Group invited it's clients out for a special showing of the new Disney movie "Tangled" this morning.

Attendees were encouraged to bring a donation of non-perishable food to the event.

The donations will be going to Shelter House. 

Early morning robbery

Thunder Bay Police responded to an early morning robbery on West Frederica Street.


According to police a 17 year old male was walking in a laneway with two other teenagers who turned on him and took his iPOD and some cash at knife point. There was then a scuffle and the 17 year old was stabbed  in the stomach.

The two suspects were described as both being 16 years old. One was thin with light brown hair. The other has a medium build with blond hair. Both were wearing dark clothing.

Police are withholding the names of the individuals involved because of their age.

Fatal crash on Highway 11/17

There was a fatal accident last night on Highway 11/17 near Pearl.

A pick-up truck and a car collided head on.

The driver of the car, Gaetan St. Onge— a 45 year old man from Longlac—was pronounced dead at the scene. A female passenger riding in the car was taken by ambulance to Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre. Her condition is unknown. The pick-up truck’s driver and 3 passengers were taken there as well with non life-threatening injuries.

The highway was closed for just over four hours because of the accident.

The OPP are investigating the crash

INAC slammed over travel expenses

An area native leader is heaping scorn on Indian Affairs for extravagant spending. Anishinabek Deputy Grand Chief Glen Hare is angry INAC was a part of the 125 million dollars spent by civil servants on extravagant trips over 4 years. He says the money could have been spent on Aboriginal education.

Hobbs first day on Monday

Keith Hobbs will officially become the Mayor of Thunder Bay Monday. Hobbs will be sworn in Monday night and says he'll be giving a short speech outlining his game plan. Hobbs says he's excited to get everything started.