11/17 near Kakabeka to see improvements

The province is planning on improving a stretch of highway 11/17 east from Kakabeka Falls. The 13 kilometres of work will include various intersection improvements, two new passing lanes and pavement resurfacing of the Kam River Bridge on Highway 130. A tender call is out for the project and work is scheduled to be completed later this year.

Longtime friends share in lottery win

Two city residents will be getting a lot of new friends. Alan Laine and Rudolph Cvornjek are sharing the 250 thousand dollars they won playing Lottario. The two have been playing the same lottery numbers for 35 years and finally hit it big in the March 6th draw.

Easy way to dump your e-waste

Officials at the OLG Casino and Pack Pros Plus don't want you to gamble with the environment. They are teaming up this Saturday to provide a waste disposal site for your outdated electronics. Organizer Allan Forbes says it's a 5 hour event that starts at 10 in the morning in the casino parking lot. Forbes says it can be anything from old computers, tv's or other home electronics.

Library offers language learning

The Thunder Bay Public Library is making it possible to learn a new language through your computer. It's providing a program called Powerspeak Languages. The Librarys' Joanna Aegard says it's being tested for a year thanks to the Ontario taxpayer. She says if it's popular officials will make it available for longer.  Right now four languages are available: French, Spanish, German and Chinese.  A library card is required to access the service.  Simply go to the library website, choose Virtual Collection click on the sleeping giant logo and then log in.

City approves new clinic and apartments

The vacant land at John and Secord will soon be vacant no more. City councillors have approved the rezoning of the area for a community clinic. Developer Jason Logozzo says it will be a multi use building. He says market studies will determine client interest and then he'll develop a plan after that. Logozzo envisions a variety of health care services. Those might include dental, chiropratic and even medical offices along with apartment units.

NOMA convention underway this week

The annual Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association convention is on in Marathon starting Thursday. The organization acts as a voice for area municipalities at Queens Park. Mayor Lynn Peterson says this year local lawmakers will be dealing with about 20 issues. She says the resolutions include the number of federal seats in northern Ontario and moving the Northern Growth Plan forward. She says it's also an opportunity for municipal leaders to discuss regional issues with the provincial cabinet ministers who'll be attending on Friday. The conference runs until Saturday.

TBayTel gravy train unloads 15 million

TBayTel executives are boasting of a 15 and a half million dollar dividend to the city. Board chair Michael Power says this is over and above the current 17 million dollar bonus the city gets annually. Power says it will be spread over 3 years, 10 million dollars for this year and 2 and half million dollars for 2011 and 2012. The money will be going into a city fund which could be used to pay for projects like the new area.