Kenora

Crews with the City of Kenora are working to repair a number of roadways in the area after this week’s two torrential downpours.

A section of Gould Road is now closed between addresses #293 and #326, as well as Transmitter Road between #488 and #515. The area has three large culverts and fast-moving water is now over the roadway.

Last night in Days Inn slo-pitch action, it was Beauty Bay taking over DSmith A's 10-3 and Centuries pummelling Titan 25-6 on in the men's division.

On the women's side, DJ Services downed Bob's Burgers 38-21, Shear Heaven Clippers took the game 27-13 over WNHAC Wreckers and it was down to the wire, but CarStar Renegades fought back against KTown Kafe to ultimately win 17-15.

Emergency crews are on the scene of a fire behind Seven Generations Education Institute. 

The call came in around 6:20am. At this time there is no report on injuries or the cause of the fire. Crews have controlled the fire and are ensuring no hot spots will flare up again. 

This is not the first time a fire has been extinguished in that area. Crews put out a fire there on June 29 following a string of fires in the Kenora community. 

Highway 17 between Kenora and Vermilion Bay is fully open after a lengthy closure yesterday. 

Significant rainfall on Tuesday night led to the collapse of a culvert at Richard Lake. The culvert failure caused a sinkhole in the road approximately 8-10 feet wide and 5 feet deep.  As a result, Highway 17 was fully closed in both directions between Richard Lake Rd at MacNicol Township. 

The closure had travelers impatient for nearly 12 hours, but due to the hasty work of crews they were able to safely repair the site and let traffic flow again. 

Canada's annual inflation rate spiked to 8.1 per cent in June according to new data from Statistics Canada (Stats Can). It's the largest yearly change in 39 years.

The climbing inflation rate came largely from gas prices, which were up over 50 per cent when compared to a year ago, Stats Can says in its report on Wednesday, July 20. Excluding the cost of gasoline, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the country was up by 6.5 per cent.

Municipal leadership with the Township of Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls have declared a State of Emergency after Sunday night’s severe thunderstorm and possible tornado activity destroyed large swathes of the area.

They say the hardest hit areas include Caliper Lake Provincial Park, the downtown core of Nestor Falls and the Sabaskong Bay area including Sabaskong Bay Road and nearby islands.

The NWHU says COVID-19 cases are rising once again.  

In a recent press release, The Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU) is advising the public that COVID-19 cases are increasing across the communities in the region.  

Currently, there are 315 active cases (according to PCR data) of COVID-19 in the region, with a percent positivity of 17.7 per cent, up from 12.8 per cent last week.  

The monarch butterfly fluttered a step closer to extinction Thursday, as scientists put the iconic orange-and-black insect on the endangered list because of its fast dwindling numbers.

“It’s just a devastating decline,” said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new listing. “This is one of the most recognizable butterflies in the world.”

The Parole Board of Canada has granted the trucker who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash day parole for six months. 

Following an emotional, seven-hour hearing at Bowden Institution on Wednesday, the two-member board panel said Jaskirat Singh Sidhu will get full parole after those six months if he follows all conditions, including no contact with the families of the victims. 

Sidhu was sentenced to eight years after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving charges for the 2018 crash that killed 16 and injured 13. 

Northwestern Ontario’s gas prices have dropped again, but there’s still not much to celebrate.

In Kenora and Dryden, prices have dipped from 199.9 per litre to 195.9 at most fuel stations.

But across the region, the Kenora district still has the most expensive fuel in Ontario and the 18th most expensive fuel in Canada at an average of 199.9 per litre, according to statistics from GasBuddy.