The City of Thunder Bay is gearing up to enter the solar industry with a bang.

Thunder Bay’s city councilors will be making their final decision whether or not to give its approval to Thunder Bay Hydro, making it the sole solar photovoltaic developer to the city. The task of assessing buildings owned by the city has just been accomplished, with insiders saying that the investment could cost around $14 million.

With an alliance between Thunder Bay Hydro and the city shaping up, the Provincial Green Energy Act just might see the fruits of its labor, making Thunder Bay one of the first few regions to enjoy renewable energy investments. As of the moment, the utility company is going over plans to install solar panels on buildings owned by the city.

And yet while this development is certainly exciting, Thunder Bay residents are advised not to get their hopes up if they think the project will have a profound effect on the city’s energy savings. All the power the solar panels produce will go to the city’s main power grid, bolstering Thunder Bay’s supply of energy.

Officials say that it’s too early to come up with any financial figures that might come as a result of the project.

Authorities have found a juvenile bear with its head stuck in a large plastic jar, restricting its movements and making it impossible for the bear to eat and drink. The animal was spotted on an island near the City of Thunder Bay.

So far, the bear has eluded capture, with Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources having no luck in catching the animal since Tuesday night.

Rob Paterson, a resident of Lambert Island, got a picture of the bear as it visited his summer home on the island. He apparently tried to isolate the animal himself, but had no success. Patterson adds his fellow residents have expressed a desire to help the bear, but then they realized that that might not be such a good idea, thinking that the bear might be agitated and aggressive because of the jar stuck on his head.

But that hasn’t stopped them from trying to trap, corral, and tranquilize the bear. Unfortunately, the animal seems to be too elusive for them.

Authorities think that the bear might have had a case of curiosity when he spotted the jar, which they assume was left around carelessly by a resident who did a poor job of recycling it.

Entrepreneurs and those who manage small businesses here in the City of Thunder Bay will get the opportunity to have a direct discussion with a Member of Parliament in an effort to help local businesses in the city.

The discussion, which will be held over breakfast on July 23, will be graced by the presence of Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Bruce Hyer, who is also a tourism & small business critic. Hyer will be on hand to help business owners figure out how to make their respective businesses thrive. Thunder Bay residents will surely learn a thing or two from Hyer because of his unique position as both a government official and someone who is deeply interested in seeing small businesses grow.

Hyer comments that as small business owner himself, not to mention being a Member of Parliament, he understands what it’s like for business owners to go through the paces of setting up their business and surviving the challenges they have to go through. And while small businesses are affected most by taxes, red tape, and high credit card fees for merchants, Hyer wants to make it clear to business owners and entrepreneurs that they are a crucial part of a healthy economy.

For Ivan Lin, being a pilot was always a dream of his ever since he was a young child. According to Lin, aviation excites him—just setting his eyes on an aircraft apparently causes him to “feel” the aircraft, as if he were in the cockpit controlling it.

The chance to be one of the 12 students from Taiwan’s National Formosa University who visited Confederation College’s School of Aviation here in the City of Thunder Bay came as a golden opportunity for Lin to brush up on his aviation skills, and enjoy a bit of vacation time at the side. After all, Thunder Bay can a be a beautiful city, especially during the summer.

Lin gushed when he shared his experience here, saying that it was the best time he’s had since he’s been in the aeronautical engineering department. He said that while National Formosa University’s aviation department is world class, their curriculum revolves more around theory, and less on hands-on projects.

The Thunder Bay college on the other hand, allowed Lin and his fellow students to pick up a new set of valuable skills, including knowledge on new aircraft operating methods.

In addition, Lin and his fellow students also got to improve their English skills as they attended ESL classes throughout their stay.

This August managing, detecting, and more importantly treating breast cancer is set to get easier, thanks to a $185,000 MRI enhancement device set to be installed at the Regional Health Sciences Centre.

Called the Sentinelle Vanguard Breast MRI Coil, the device is already being used at some of the world’s most advanced medical treatment facilities, and its addition to Thunder Bay will definitely improve the quality of treatment for patients in Northwestern Ontario, this according to health officials and doctors from the hospital Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute.

Neety Panu, a radiologist in Thunder Bay, says that the addition of the new equipment, which was acquired thanks to a grant from the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital Foundation, will bolster the launching of the Regional Health Sciences Centre’s Linda Buchan Centre and turn it into a state-of-the-art breast-imaging centre.

For breast cancer patients, doctors will now be able to have a better look at the extent of the disease in a more detailed and comprehensive way. From Day 1, physicians can now chart the best possible path in treating the disease.

Panu says that the earlier breast cancer is treated, the higher the chances a patient has in fighting off the disease, and early detection is precisely what the device will help in accomplishing.

When Tim Rappon started performing science experiments in the 5^th Grade, little did he know that it would only take a few years for his curiosity to land him some major bucks. The Thunder Bay student was recently paid $4,000 for his work.

Rappon, a Grade 12 student at Hammarskjold High School, had the honor of being one of the two recipients of the Ross A. Wilson Scholarship this year. He was also one of the thirteen students in Thunder Bay chosen to receive a scholarship from the Thunder Bay Community Foundation.

Rappon is currently on his way to the University of Western Ontario after the summer break. He’ll be doing some careful thinking until then, mainly because he’s undecided on which field of science he’ll be specializing in.

He says that his first year at university will be about getting a feel on what he should do. After a year’s experience, he hopes to be pointed in the right direction.

For Rappon, his experiments in science never felt like work. Instead, he had fun conducting them which also satisfied his curiosity. As he heads to university, he says that the scholarship will definitely help him in charting out a career path and reaching his dreams.

With summer just around the corner, it’s time once again for kids and the youth to do something productive to kill the time. For years, summer has always been an opportunity for teens and youngsters to make a few bucks, and this year’s summer season in Thunder Bay seems to be no different.

The Thunder Bay center, which is tasked to help the youth find job openings among the host of business in the city, is officially open for business and ready for summer.

Also helping youngsters in Thunder Bay find jobs is the Service Canada Centre for Youth, which opened shop for the coming summer last Thursday. The youth centre is open from May until August, and is aimed at assisting local youths in making their resumes and application. The centre also coaches them on how to conduct themselves in a job interview.

Aside from keeping a list of summer jobs for the youth, the centre also keeps track of employment opportunities for students who want to work on weekends when classes are ongoing. The centre believes that forming a strong employment foundation while an individual is young can help him, or her, find better career opportunities in the future.

With the city creating bike lanes on Court Street, it’s safe to say that Thunder Bay is now becoming a bike friendly community.

Things are not quite %100 though, as city staff are still busy dealing with the finishing touches, with symbols and signs still being put up and painted. Court Street is ready for bikes though, as it now comes equipped with a parking lane on the left, followed by a cycling lane, 2 car lanes, and one more cycling lane at the right. According to Adam Krupper, Thunder Bay’s transportation representative, the project is the first of more developments to come.

He says that the big goal is to set up cycling lanes going from north to south, east to west, giving people a safe avenue to walk, skate, bike, rollerblade, and drive. This gives Thunder Bay an active and dynamic transportation network that puts safety and convenience for the community at the forefront.

Krupper points out that numerous residents have long wanted the city to add cycling lanes to Thunder Bay’s streets and roads. In a city that has a large number of people who bike to and from work and wherever they go, having cycling lanes gives them a sense of security on the road, he said.

In an effort to sport a newer look and feel, the Thunder Bay Public Library has adopted a new logo and hopes that the change ushers in a more dynamic entry to the 21st century.

The library gave the public its first look of the new logo on Monday, culminating an endeavour that started last fall. The library first began searching for a logo late last year, narrowing their search down to 20 designs from which the library board members made their final choice.

The library apparently wanted to select a design that had a free and loose brush stroke feel, akin to a child’s sense of freedom. The library’s board is said to have chosen from other more serious designs, finally settling on the more colourful logo the public saw on Monday.

According to Janine Chiasson, writer for Generator Strategy Advertising, the Thunder Bay Public Library sought feedback from focus-groups, who wanted a design that was colourful and full of life. She hopes that the new logo will excite and appeal to both children and adults.

The new logo is also a way of ushering in the change we see today in libraries. Chiasson pointed out that gone are the days of libraries offering only books and selected print publications.  Today’s libraries now offer a wide range of media, including free access to the internet, audio, video, and even games.

Each year, Camp Quality’s volunteers have a daunting task. The non-profit organization strives to raise $100,000 in donations yearly, a sum of money that goes to their annual summer program for kids afflicted with cancer.

Indeed, any donation can go a long way in helping them reach their goal.

On Monday, it seemed that Camp Quality’s efforts were not in vain, as AbitibiBowater’s Thunder Bay sawmill operation donated $5,000 to the organization. The mill was able to donate the money because of their achievement of having no recordable injury after 250,000 hours of operation. The $5,000 safety prize was awarded by AbitibiBowater’s board of directors.

According to Clara Butikofer, a volunteer at Camp Quality, the donation has made the organization immensely happy and will definitely help in putting up the summer camp program. She commented that every year the camp draws in over 100 children, and providing them with food and other necessities for the duration of the program requires a lot of funds.

The camp, she said, isn’t about finding a cure or researching the cause behind cancer. She points out the goal of the camp is to give these sick children a cause to be truly happy.