Kenora

Employee unions say unless hospitals in northwestern Ontario hire 150 more staff each year, emergency room wait times and staffing shortages will only continue to get worse.

Leadership with the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) raised the issue in a Zoom call with regional media members last week, saying their data is based on available data from the government and local hospitals.

It's as if they were using a telescope not just to peer into space, but also into time. 

Canadian scientists are already using spectacular data and images from the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope to look backward into some of the oldest stars ever studied and forward into how new stars and planets are born. 

Leadership with the Kenora District Services Board and Northwest EMS are set to receive another $1 million in land ambulance funding from the province – as staff work to address an ongoing staff shortage and the growing demands on local healthcare providers.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP, Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Minister of Northern Development, Greg Rickford, explains that Ontario is investing over $13.4 million in the KDSB’s annual Land Ambulance Service Grant, part of a $764 million announcement across the province.

A British man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a Canadian teenager who moved to England last year after meeting him online. 

Essex Police said Monday that Jack Sepple will spend a minimum 23 1/2 years in prison for the death of Ashley Wadsworth of Vernon, B.C.

Wadsworth, 19, was stabbed and strangled during a sustained attack in the 23-year-old's home on Feb. 1, police said. 

Sepple pleaded guilty to Wadsworth's murder last month.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine as the country unleashed a lethal barrage of strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities on Monday, including downtown Kyiv where at least six people were killed. 

While speaking on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, Trudeau deplored the attacks and reiterated Canada's support for Ukraine.

Kids in Kenora can look forward to the return of the Mather-Walls Halloween Haunt later this month, after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

President of the Lake of the Woods Historical Society, Bonnie Gutknecht, says St. Thomas Aquinas High School students will be preparing the historic Keewatin home for the annual haunted house later this month.

“It’s Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. It’s $5 for each person, and we’d like to thank the T.A. Drama Department for helping us out!”

To flush or not to flush?

It is a question Canada's Competition Bureau says it cannot answer.

Three years ago, Friends of the Earth Canada and lawyers from Ecojustice filed a grievance with the bureau saying the makers of 20 disposable wipes were falsely advertising the products as safe to flush down the toilet.

In February, the Competition Bureau informed Friends in a letter that it was closing its inquiry because it's not clear what it really means to be "flushable."

Rookie receiver Dalton Schoen caught three touchdown passes and running back Brady Oliveira scored twice as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers clinched first place in the CFL West Division for the second straight season with a dominating 48-11 victory over the Edmonton Elks on Saturday.

The two-time defending Grey Cup champions improved their record to 14-2 in front of 27,159 fans at IG Field and earned a bye before hosting the West Final on Nov. 13.

The loss officially eliminated the Elks (4-12) from the playoffs because they can't pass the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-10).

Hockey Canada has confirmed that Andrea Skinner, interim chair of the organization's board of directors, has submitted her resignation. 

Skinner joined the Hockey Canada Board of Directors in November 2020 as a volunteer, and assumed the role of chair in August after the resignation of former chair Michael Brind'Amour.

A proposed condominium development on Juno Beach in France has been cancelled after public outcry and a three-year legal fight. 

The Canadian and French governments are helping the town of Courseulles-sur-Mer buy a parcel of land where a developer planned to build a 70-unit building.

Veterans Affairs Canada says the construction "posed a threat to both the integrity of Juno Beach itself, and Juno Beach Centre operations."