By Sandi Krasowski,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle-Journal

It was 1976 when Cosimo Riccio opened up his music store, Music World Academy, on the 500 block of Simpson Street and began giving music lessons to students wanting to learn the accordion, guitar and drums. Fast forward 50 years, two store relocations, thousands of instruments, and more than 30,000 […]

By Matt Prokopchuk
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
TBnewswatch.com

IGNACE — With about 48 hours left for initial comments on a proposed nuclear waste site, regional environmental advocates say they’re pleased with what they’re seeing. The first public comment period to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada is scheduled to close at 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 4. It’s the […]

By Matt Prokopchuk
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
TBnewswatch.com

TERRACE BAY — Using a river as a metaphor, one health care official told the province’s finance committee Queen’s Park should focus upstream. Mary Lynn Dingwell, the executive director of the North Shore Family Health Team, presented to the legislature’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs when it stopped […]

By Sandi Krasowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle-Journal

The Hoito restaurant will open its second and more permanent location inside the Goods and Co. Market today. Paula Haapanen, past president of the Finlandia Co-operative of Thunder Bay, said they are still holding out for a brick-and-mortar building they can call their own, but for now, this will be […]

By Shari Narine
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com

Kid superhero Zack Commonda may have got his moniker “Kaboom” by accident, but a loud kaboom is the exact impact creator and writer Jay Odjick is aiming for with his new graphic novel. “If I’m going to do a book with a company as big as Scholastic, that’s why it’s […]

By Mike Stimpson
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Thunder Bay Source

MARATHON — A “colourful” remark in recent municipal budget discussions referred to politics and not race, says the mayor of this town on Lake Superior’s north shore. During a draft budget meeting on Monday, someone could be heard saying Marathon is “just the wrong colour” to obtain water infrastructure funding […]

By Maggie Macintosh
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Winnipeg Free Press

A Métis artist is taking her loom-weaving kit on the road to teach students about an iconic staple in her ancestors’ wardrobe and promote school spirit. Casandra Woolever, the full-time creative behind Métis Branded, an apparel company in Winnipeg, has started working with schools this year to help them create […]

By M. McKinnon
Editor
Atikokan Progress

The Douglass family has won a spot on Family Feud Canada. Two generations of Douglass women – sisters Donna (Zachariah), Debbie, and Dorinda (Kora), and Danielle (Kora), Jamie (Kora) and Dani (Douglass) – will head to Toronto in late summer or early fall to tape a show. (And if they […]

By Sandi Krasowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle-Journal

The Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) completed its first year of the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP), a five-year federal economic immigration program. The program aims to help communities attract and retain skilled workers. Jamie Taylor, chief executive officer of the Thunder Bay CEDC, called the program an important pathway for economic immigration and […]

By Carl Clutchey
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle-Journal

Opponents to a proposed underground storage site for spent nuclear fuel rods near Ignace believe their message is coming through, given the response so far to the proponent’s initial project description. The public has until Wednesday to comment on the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s lengthy document submitted to the Impact […]

By Mike Stimpson
Local Journalism Initiative
Reporter
Thunder Bay Source

THUNDER BAY — The province needs to invest in rural road safety, says the mayor of Hornepayne. “In 2021, roughly 60 per cent of municipal road fatalities occurred on rural roads, even though only 17 per cent of Ontarians live in rural areas,” Mayor Cheryl Fort told MPPs during a pre-budget consultation session at […]