Whitehorse Daily Star

June 11, 2013

• Faulty toaster catches fire A Porter Creek home suffered minimal damage Monday afternoon after a toaster malfunctioned and caught fire.
• Helping Out Dad Saturday's Ride for Dad saw about 100 motorcycles take to the streets, raising $17,461 ($31,961 including in-kind donations).
• Jobless figure stayed consistent The Yukon's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained consistent between April and May at 5.4 per cent, or 1,100 people unemployed.
• Don't Mix Drinking and Boating Community Services Minister Elaine Taylor (immediately left of lower sign) is shown last Friday with representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the RCMP, the City of Whitehorse and Highways and Public Works Yukon, among others.
• Large fire in Mayo area being assessed Airtankers were deployed Monday evening to a 220-hectare fire burning in the Mayo district near the east side of Ethel Lake.
• Skookum Asphalt awarded summer work Despite questions over the tender process and a potential lawsuit, city council voted 6-1 Monday evening to award this summer's asphalt overlay work to Skookum Asphalt.
• Awards presented during sun-splashed annual tea Gabriela Sgaga began the past weekend's annual Commissioner's Tea on high note.
• Coroner releases report into fatal collision The death of an 18-year-old Whitehorse woman in a head-on collision in February has been ruled accidental.
• Ski society needs funding answer within 10 days Mount Sima needs $610,000 by June 21 or the Great Northern Ski Society begins plans to shutting down the society and mothballing the facility, society spokeswoman Patti Balsillie said today.

June 10, 2013

• Drivers walk away from collision A section of the Alaska Highway near the Cowley Creek turn off was closed for a number of hours Saturday afternoon after a Ford F150 pickup truck collided with a semi-tractor trailer.
• Yukon College part of new B.C. research network Yukon College, the Justice Institute of British Columbia and the presidents of British Columbia Colleges (B.C. Colleges), representing 11 colleges in B.C., have announced the formal creation of a B.C. Applied Research and Innovation Network (BCARIN).
• Ski society working to release long-term plan The long-term plan the Great Northern Ski Society has for the future of the Mount Sima recreation area may be better known later today.
• Suspicous fire safely doused in Mayo A half-hectare fire in the Mayo area has been deemed suspicious and is under investigation.
• First Nations celebrate 2013 graduates Several hundred people from across the Yukon celebrated the native graduation class of 2013 on Friday afternoon.
• Pooches on best behaviour before proud owners Lisa Allison travelled 18 hours to Whitehorse late last week for the Yukon Kennel Club's 42nd annual All Breed Championship Dog Show.
• Man jailed for ‘brutal' assault A Whitehorse man has been sentenced to two years in jail for attacking his girlfriend while she slept.

June 7, 2013

• Artist eschews look but don't touch rule It's not everyday an artist says she wants people to touch her paintings; to feel the ridges and bumps, the layers of paint on paint.
• Cameron wants contract policy fast-tracked A city councillor wants his colleagues to have more say in how contracts are awarded.
• The Search For Equilibrium Sandra Grace Storey opens Finding Balance today
• Author and artist honour Yukon women Author Claire Festel, in alliance with artist Valerie Hodgson, collaborators of the book Remarkable Yukon Women (Harbour Publishing, 2011), presented the Yukon Hospital Foundation with $1,816 for Karen's Fund on Thursday afternoon.
• Building permits' value plunged, statistics show The total value of Yukon building permits dropped 77.9 per cent, comparing preliminary seasonally-adjusted figures for April 2013 with figures for April 2012.
• Tourism minister anticipates a strong season for visitors As one of the pillars of the Dawson economy is the tourism industry, it was certainly not out of place to have Tourism and Culture Minister Mike Nixon speak during the recent gold show weekend.
• Territory honours transportation pioneers Three men who have helped determine how Yukoners get from Point A to Point B were honoured Tuesday evening at the annual Transportation Hall of Fame Ceremony at the Yukon Transportation Museum.
• Pending event will mark Yukon Act's 10th anniversary This year marks 10 years since the Yukon's constitution, the Yukon Act, came into force.
• A Couple For 77 Years Bishop Gary Gordon of Whitehorse blesses Canada's longest-married couple, Art, 102, and Alice John, 96, on May 19 at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Ross River. Photo by MINNIE CLARK
• Literacy coalition opens its new Shipyards Park digs Literacy coalition opens its new Shipyards Park digsThe Yukon Literacy Coalition (YLC) launched its Family Literacy Centre summer season Thursday afternoon with the grand opening of the Pioneer Hotel #2 in Shipyards Park.
• Chamber calls for more thought to changes Some serious thought needs to go into the Yukon government's proposal to amend mining legislation, says the president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines.
• ‘Historic event' will inject $1M into economy More than 500 aboriginal chiefs and delegates from across Canada will be in Whitehorse next month for the annual assembly of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).
• Clarification A story in Thursday's edition noted a potential lawsuit against the city by Castle Rock Enterprises over a contract dispute.
• Approach your future with passion, grads urged Life is like a road trip, Michaëla St-Pierre told her classmates last night during F.H. Collins Secondary School's graduation ceremonies.
• Prospectors group denounces mining rules changes The Prospectors Association of the Yukon says the government's proposal to amend mining legislation is unacceptable.
• Stunting officer is grounded for two years An RCMP constable has been convicted of the dangerous operation of an aircraft, fined $2,000 and banned from flying an aircraft for two years.