Thunder Bay

Schreiber township council has made major cuts in community services in an attempt to bring in a reduced tax increase that was originally forecast for the community. Taxes will go up 2.96 per cent instead of 15 per cent.

The province's Living Legacy Trust is investing nearly $1 million in six forestry projects near Thunder Bay, Fort Frances, Armstrong, Dryden and Geraldton. All of the projects are designed to create employment for people under age 25.

The North of Superior Tourism Association is moving its office from Thunder Bay to Nipigon. The move will allow the association's tourist information centre to be open year round rather than on a seasonal basis.

A spring-water bottling plant in Kenora is expanding production and will hire as many as 14 new employees. Two new bottling lines are being added that will boost production at NatureÕs Bay Bottling Co. to 75,000 500-ml bottles per shift.

Trus Joist Weyerhaeuser's new plant in Kenora is in the final stages of hiring. The final 250 candidates for 180 maintenance and production positions are going through one-day assessments and job offers will be made in May.

Abitibi-Consolidated’s Kenora mill will be shut down during May for inventory adjustment. All but a handful of workers will be laid off for the month.

Minaki Lodge near Kenora has been sold to Calgary-based Land Development Company for an undisclosed price. The lodge has been closed since 1998.

Kenora appears ready to pass a bylaw banning pesticides and herbicides.

Northern Genesis, a project aimed at strengthening northwestern Ontario's communities through information and communication technology, is gaining steam.

Fort Frances is getting ready to host the 11th annual International Conference on Safe Communities. The conference, May 6 to 10, is an initiative of the World Health Organization.