Dryden

Mikael (Longe) Baranyi 
August 13, 1991 - November 26, 2022
 
It is with the heaviest of hearts we share that Mikael passed away on November 26th after a long, hard-fought battle with addiction.  

Sonya Cowley-Smith, a resident of Whitefish Bay First Nation passed away on Monday, November 28, 2022 at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital.

She was predeceased by her common-law spouse Beaver Cowley, her uncle Jonathon Cowley and her grandmother Susan Cowley.

Surgical services have expanded at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora.

Hospital staff say they can now offer urology services, which is a branch of medicine that focuses on the urinary-tract system and the reproductive organs. It’s a partnership with the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Regional Surgical Services and Superior Urology surgeons.

Over 500 community members in Sachigo Lake First Nation have clean water in their homes for the first time since 2018, and the local Chief and Council are thanking the federal government.

Ottawa says the long-term boil water advisory affecting the community for over four years now ended in October, after $29 million worth of upgrades and expansions made to the community’s water treatment plant and distribution system over the last five years.

Highway 1, just west of the Manitoba/Ontario border has reopened. 

The highway was closed around 2:00 p.m. following an incident with a tractor-trailer. 

Drivers are advised to proceed with caution if highway travel is necessary. 

Falcon Lake to the Ontario border is currently reported as snow covered with drifting snow. 

No injuries have been reported. 

UPDATE: 4:20pm - The highway has since reopened. Drivers are advised to proceed with caution if highway travel is necessary. 

Drivers are warned to stay home and off the highways after multiple incidents have been reported on Highway 1. 

Most recently, vehicles are at a stand-still just west of the Manitoba/Ontario border following a crash. 

The Ministry of Transportation says the highway is CLOSED at the MB border - the duration of the closure is unknown at this time. 

The Alberta government is crafting changes to be debated next week to reverse the section of a bill that gives cabinet unfettered power to rewrite laws behind closed doors without legislature approval, the province's premier said Saturday.

Danielle Smith told her Corus radio talk show that her sovereignty bill was never supposed to give cabinet such sweeping authority, adding her government wants to make it clear in law that this is not the case.

“You never get things 100 per cent right all the time,” Smith told her radio listeners.

The Sioux Lookout OPP has confirmed the death of 31-year-old Larhonda Miranda Shingebis, who was the subject of a region-wide search in November.

The OPP says human remains were found in the Sioux Lookout area on November 26, and a post-mortem examination confirmed Larhonda’s identity. There were no indications of foul play.

Shingebis was first reported missing on November 14. The OPP thanks the public for their cooperation and assistance throughout the investigation.

The Dryden OPP says residents can expect an increased police presence in the community as officers investigate a sudden and suspicious death.

Police responded to the report of a deceased female at a Government Street residence on December 1. A post-mortem examination in Toronto is scheduled to determine the cause of death. Police did not reveal their identity.

What started as a quick trip to get the mail, turned into a terrifying drive to Winnipeg, for a 25-year-old Portage woman and her 2-year-old daughter.

On Friday, November 25th, Bailee Scott was at her mailbox on the east-end of Portage when a man approached her vehicle, grasping his chest. She rolled down the window a little and he mentioned "heart attack". She had assumed her doors were locked, but before she knew it, he was in her car.

"He was telling me to drive. I told him I couldn't drive him, I had my daughter with me," says Scott. "He said he didn't care."