The list of those making 100-thousand plus working for the city of Sault Ste. Marie is at 52. Chief Administrative Officer Joe Fratesi is high on the list but is not in the top spot. Our CAO made over 174-thousand dollars last year which is a couple of thousand short when compared to the over 176-thousand made by Chief of Police Robert Davies. Our City Fire Chief Marcel Provenzano made over 120-thousand dollars.

Those making the sunshine list from the Algoma District School Board and Huron Superior Catholic District School Board combined has reached 93—-35 from the catholic board and 58 from the Algoma District Board. That list includes 68-principals and 10-vice-principals.

The Sault Area Hospital list of sunshiners is at 33 with 8-registered nurses on the list. Hospital President Ron Gagnon made over 301-thousand dollars in ’09.

The International Lake Superior Board of Control has released its lake level figures for the month of March. The board reported a rarity — the levels of Superior and Michigan-Huron were stable last month. Lake Superior usually falls by one centimetre at this time of year, while Lakes Michigan-Huron levels rise by four centimetres in March. However, the lakes are an average of 18 and a half centimetres below their long-term levels for the beginning of April and are an average of two centimetres below where they were at this time last year. All lake levels are expected to rise in April, according to the board.

Algoma University was the site of a day-long forum on Wednesday on Transforming Northern Health. Doctor Carolyn Bennett was one of the speakers at the Great West Life Amphitheatre — she says rural communities must have specific medical care services for residents to stay there…not necessairily a full service hospital. Bennett says this will require valuable research from functions to make up for the absence of variables like transportation to demographics — or who those facilities should serve. Bennett, a former family physician, also suggested one of the keys to improving health and health care in the region is social inclusion. She feels the older adult population is the best segment that can come up with ideas to remedy problems such as transportation — one suggestion included having school buses exclusively for seniors during the middle of the day. Another factor mentioned was better communication, something that has already happened in Cuba. In that country, polyclinics have also become health care ‘teaching sites’ for the university and every family doctor can refer any patient to a team of psychologists to change behaviour. In Sweden, civic participation has become the number one health care goal, resulting in what Bennett calls a ‘much better outcome’.

The Shingwauk Project is getting some support from a southern Ontario university. Efforts by the Residential School Research, Archive and Visitor Centre to digitize the project are receiving funding by the McMaster University Library — an amount was not immediately announced. The project is home to more than 24 thousand images, hundreds of audio and video recordings, publications and hundreds of thousands of records featuring the history and legacy of Canada’s Residential Schools.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is out with an unflattering report concerning the number of people in Northern Ontario overweight or obese. According to local public health units, an average of 61.2 percent of northern residents are overweight or obese — Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay were at 61 percent, while Sudbury and Timmins were above that average at 63 percent. The survey result is better for North Bay, where 58 percent of the population is described as obese or overweight.

Some welcome news for the Huron Central Railway today. Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement announced the federal government’s confirmation of their commitment today for Ottawa to come through with its share of 33 million dollars to keep the HCR line from Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury in operation beyond this summer. Sault MP Tony Martin asked the question in the House of Commons — he credited a ‘team effort’ resulting in the commitment announced today, including city CAO Joe Fratesi, provincial representatives, First Nations and citizens served by the rail line. Last week, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced the province would come up with its share — 15 million dollars for the Huron Central Railway line.

City fire crews responded to a fire in the 200 block of Wallace Terrace yesterday morning – where a large fire was burning in the basement area. All occupants managed to get out safely. The fire was traced to a faulty clothes dryer. There were no working smoke alarms in the home and for the second time in as many weeks, the homeowner was charged.

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Transforming Northern Health: Innovation Making a Difference is the theme of a healthcare forum taking place at Algoma University today. It features two panel discussions – on innovative health initiatives that are currently in place … and then a discussion on the vision of healthcare in the north. The forum is taking place at Algoma University’s Shingwauk Hall.

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City Police executed a search warrant at a Shafer Avenue residence yesterday afternoon where they seized a quantity of street drugs – including crack cocaine and cocaine – with a value of $5600 – leading to possession for the purpose of trafficking charges against 45 year old Michael Deresti of Shafer Avenue and 39 year old Ronald Robert of Searchmont.

42 year old Lore-Lei Gabow of James Street was arrested yesterday for shoplifting at Zellers-Station Mall.

And a vehicle parked at the rear of a business in the 400 block of Queen Street East was broken into last evening – and a purse stolen.

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A new president for Lake Superior State University could be announced within the next few days. At least that is the expectation as the matter is now in the hands of the University’s Board of Trustees. The board will be deciding on the search committee’s recommendation to make interim President Tony McLain the full time president.

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