District News

A total of 117 active wildland fires were reported as active in the Northwest Region late Monday, down from a high of 148 earlier in July, after a rainy weekend helped to dampen forest conditions. There were 23 fires not under control, three being held, eight under control and 83 […]

THUNDER BAY — In its first week running a veterinary field hospital in Thunder Bay, Vets Around the Corner has also made two trips to Whitesand First Nation and Armstrong to rescue pets left behind during evacuations from the wildfires in the region. Vets Around the Corner (VAC) came to […]

It’s a veritable landslide — of candidates. The number of names vying to become Neebing’s next mayor in the Oct. 26 municipal election has reached nearly half a dozen. The list, which includes a combination of council veterans and newcomers, was numbered at five as of Monday, according to the […]

Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government insists it is improving communications with First Nations fleeing forest fires in the northwest, following heavy criticism last week. Chiefs, however, say little has changed.  Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland claimed “there has been improved communication” in an interview published on Friday by TBnewswatch.com. Holland mentioned Kiashke Zaaging […]

Though big dumps of rain aren’t part of the showery forecast for Thunder Bay and areas near the city this weekend, farmers will take every drop they can get as one of the driest and hottest summers in memory continues. “I definitely wouldn’t mind a few more days of rain,” Jason Reid, who […]

A selfie of a high school football coach grinning beside a Free Press front-page story about the investigation into his professional conduct has become part of the case. Doug Kovacs, a resource teacher at Grant Park High School who runs the Pirates football program, was put on leave in the […]

The president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) says the federal government’s decision to designate the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO) proposed Deep Geological Repository (DGR) as a project of national interest is good news for the region, but it also underscores the need for safer highways. In an […]

Days before U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap higher tariffs on Canada because smoke from Canadian wildfires annoyed U.S. citizens, Ontario Premier Doug Ford visited evacuees staying in Thunder Bay who have lost everything. “I find it a shame the administration in the U.S. and Congress people writing these […]

As wildfires swallow swaths of northern Ontario, in what is already the worst wildfire season in the province’s history, the union representing forest firefighters is sounding the alarm over what he calls “government mismanagement at the highest levels.” Noah Freedman, vice president of Local 703 with the Ontario Public Service […]