Council moves ahead with Parks and Recreation Master Plan

The city's recreation facilities could soon be seeing some changes.  Council approved the Parks and Recreation Master Plan at Monday night's meeting.  Councillor Andrew Foulds says there is still a lot of work to be done on the plan and revisions, but he is excited about it.  Foulds says Recreation Hubs especially are great because they would convert our recreation facilities to multi-use facilities that would be better for families.  Foulds says its still a long way off from implementation.

Council changes procedures on questioning

City Councillors will soon have only one round of 3 questions after deputations at council meetings.  Council approved the motion from the coordinating committee last night that is aimed at shortening discussions.  City Clerk John Hannam says council can still add other rounds of questioning at any time.

EMS could be expanding locations

Council has voted in favour of the Emergency Services Shared Facility Strategy. The plan will see EMS expand from 3 satellite facilities to 5. Chief Norm Gale says the plan would increase the response time and provide significant improvements on services. Gale says EMS will now have to come back with a study that will take a closer look at the locations for some of the proposed satellite facilities. 

Hockey Northwestern Ontario trying to open breakfast club

Hockey Northwestern Ontario is hoping to develop a Hockey Breakfast for kids in the city. Spokesperson Pat Sutherby asked council to donate an hour and a half of free ice time once a week. Sutherby says the kids would get instruction and then provide a nutritional breakfast. Council hopes to have a report complete in 3 weeks. 

Possible WestJet expansion great news for Confed College

WestJet developing a regional jet service could mean a big opportunity for Confederation College students.  Dean of Aviation Joe Vieira says it will benefit both pilots and mechanics by increasing the jobs pool.

Fire scene is the Hodder Ave. Motel

The owner of the building which was the scene of a fatal fire in Current River wants to set the record straight. Michael Grona says contrary to the Fire Marshal's Office, the building was never a garage converted into apartments, but has always been the Hodder Ave. Motel. He says the units are rented out by the week and by the month. He says the victim had lived in the motel for about five years. The cause remains under investigation by the Ontario Fire Marshal

Testimony resumes in murder trial

The First Degree Murder trial of Michael Kelly is back on in a Thunder Bay courtroom. The second week of testimony kicked off with an hour and a half video of an interview Kelly gave to police in November of 2000 just 3 days after he reported his common law wife Judie Thibault missing. Also on the stand was Detective Constable Don Hurd who followed up on the missing person investigation with interviews of friends and family. He also followed up on several reported sightings of Thibault by the public, one of them in Nipigon, but testified nothing came of them. Kelly is charged in Thibault's death last decade.

Keep an eye on your wallets

Police are asking shoppers to keep an eye on their purses after 3 reports of missing wallets came in over the weekend.  Constable Julie Tilbury says in two of the incidents wallets were stolen at Chapters book store.  A third incident involved credit cards being used to purchase items from three separate stores in the Intercity area.

Investigators at fatal fire scene

A post mortem exam is being conducted today on the man who died in a Hodder Avenue apartment fire.  On Saturday, fire crews pulled the man from the fire and tried to revive him.  Investigator Richard Derstroff of the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office says they will get inside of the building once the autopsy is complete and the cause of death is known. 

Terrace Bay Pulp up for sale

Buchanan is looking to sell it's Terrace Bay Pulp mill. Mayor Mike King says he wasn't surprised by the announcement and is hopeful they'll find a buyer. The company announced three months of downtime just before Christmas and has recently decided to look for a buyer.

Fatal Accident near Dryden

OPP confirm that a pedestrian was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer Saturday afternoon near Oxdrift. The identity of the victim, believed to be a teen male, is being held at this time.  The Trans-Canada highway was closed for about six hours while police investigated the incident.