Thursday, April 8, 2010

Investigation into downtown fatality closed

The investigation into the sudden death of a Kenora man in late March has been effectively closed.

A spokeswoman for the Ontario Provincial Police said the exact cause of death has not been determined but foul play is not suspected.

Constable Heidi Britton said the investigation is completed and no charges are expected.

The body of the man was found in the morning of March 26 in his room in an apartment block on Matheson Street South.

Police have not released the dead man’s name.

There were rumors that the man had the victim of a beating but Britton says that wasn’t the case.

The OPP say an autopsy was performed but there was no cause of death determined.

Officials are still waiting results of toxicology tests.

Green Energy Projects for Kenora area

The Ontario government has announced another round of green energy projects in the province.

The 184 projects are worth about eight billion dollars and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid says they represent about 20-thousand jobs.

Three of the energy contracts are in the Kenora District, including a two thousand kilowatt bio-mass project in the City of Kenora and a hydro generating station Above Ball Lake near Grassy Narrows.

Curb Contraband Cigarettes

A coalition of health groups is calling on the province to do more to prevent kids from smoking contraband cigarettes.

The Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco says more than 60-thousand young people who already smoke are puffing contraband cigarettes.

Director of the campaign, Michael Perley says contraband cigarettes are typically made by First Nations and are sold in clear plastic bags containing 200 cigarettes.

The coalition is calling for more police to clamp down on contraband smokes and for health warnings to be printed on all cigarettes.

Record warm March

March 2010 is going down in history as the driest ever in the Kenora area.

Not a significant amount of snow was recorded for the first time ever.

And Geoff Coulson of Environment Canada says combined with warmer than usual temperatures, snow levels diminished by the middle of the month.

The average temperature for the month came in at 0.6 Celsius, breaking a 10 year old record high by a full degree.

Sioux Narrows lotto winner

A Sioux Narrows resident is happy he said 'yes' to Encore when he purchased his Lotto Max ticket back in February.

Because of this extra one-dollar decision for Encore, Tyler Cole Marquis won 100 thousand dollars.

The self-employed contractor and new father plans to pay off his mortgage.

Busy fire season so far

It's the busiest times of the year for fire crews across Northern Ontario.

Fire information officer Debbie MacLean says 15 forest fires were reported in March alone.

Fire crews, aircrafts and water bombers are currently conducting spring training.

Deadline for forest land passes

The deadline to place bids for 11 million cubic metres of Ontario Forest has come and gone.

The forest allocation competition started last November and there were a number of proposals put forward.

Forestry Minister Michael Gravelle says most of the bids came from companies in the North.

Gravelle says some of the bids came from smaller companies focused on the value added side of the industry.

Brown looking forward to CAO's job

Kenora's next Chief Administrative Officer says she's looking forward to her new duties.

Karen Brown will be taking over from Bill Presentanz starting August 1st.

She says one of the big challenges is turning the city's financial situation around.

Brown says she'll start working with Presentanz starting June 1st to familiarize herself with the job, and start winding down her work in the finance department.