The Third annual Straight Trashy Skateboard Championships are on this Sunday at the Thompson Skate Park.

From 1 to 8, participants of all ages will be competing for prizes at the event. The skateboard championships are used to promote skateboarding in the northern communities in a positive matter.

Event organizer Shane McNevin says he wants to create a place for kids to enjoy themselves at the skate park, improve the skateboard scene and grow the sport.

The event is free for all participants and spectators. For more information, listen in to Thompson Today at 12:40 PM and 5:10 PM.

The Canadian Safe Boating Council and the RCMP want to remind you about the risks of drinking and boating.

About 40% of boating-related fatalities are caused by drinking and boating and with sun, wind, waves and rocking of the boat, the effects or alcohol can be greatly increased.

If you are found to exceed the .08 threshold for your blood alcohol level, you can be charged with impaired operation of a vessel and it can have an effect on your driving privileges in the province.

The CSBC and the RCMP have just launched their second year of an initiative called "Operation Dry Water" which is hoping to discourage drinking and boating.

Last Friday, two pedestrians were struck on Churchill Avenue in a single motor vehicle collision.

Both pedestrians were transported to the Thompson General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries and were later released. The driver of the vehicle and passenger was unharmed and released from the hospital at the same time.

Alcohol is not suspected to be the cause of the accident, and the incident is still investigation by the RCMP.

The CMHA is hosting a Family Support Group for families and loved ones that have someone experiencing mental illness.

The group has been put together to help families discuss challenges they may have had with mental illness in their lives.

The program coordinator, Ronda Heston says even though the program is running once a month, if more people come, she is considering adding more dates.

To register for the Family Support Group, contact Ronda at the CMHA or call her at 204-677-6056.

World Hepatitis Day is meant to make testing easier for citizens, says coordinator of Safer Choices Northern Network Sharon Cordell.

From 10 to 1 on July 28th at the City Centre Mall, Safer Choices Northern Network is offering free confidential testing, free hygiene kits and door prizes for people who come to test for Hepatitis.

Cordell says there is usually some difficulty when testing, and that this day, will make it easier for anyone that wants to know about their health.

1 in 5 Canadians are unaware that they have the serious liver disease, and it may lead to cancer, cirrhosis and death if left untreated.

The Spirit Way Wolf Statues have turned Thompson into a tourist hotspot on the way to Churchill, says Project Director for Spirit Way Volker Beckmann.

The Statues were given a Sliver award in the RVWest 2016 Reader's Choice Awards in the category of Favourite Attraction in Manitoba. It fell third behind The Forks in Winnipeg and the Great White Bear Tours in Churchill.

Beckmann says the original plans for Spirit Way were to make it a stop for people who would make their way to the polar bear capital.

The awards were handed out after surveying RVWest's audience in many categories to find out their favourite destinations and attractions.

Other Thompson winners were the Thompson Information Centre who won Gold in Favourite Visitor Information Centre in Manitoba and the Heritage North Museum who won Gold for Favourite Historical Site in the province.

-Matthew Higgs

The Thompson Firefighter Association will be hosting a Car Wash this evening from 7 to 9 at the City Centre Mall as all proceeds will be going to community-based charitable funds across Thompson and Manitoba. The Heart and Stroke Foundation, MS Society of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society is among the bigger names that will be receiving the donations.

Al Meston, senior member of the association says fundraisers are set up when organizations come to them for fundraising help.

As of the moment, no more fundraisers are planned for the firefighters association in the future.

Usual visitors of the TRCC will notice a new man in charge as Andrew Hillaby is the new director for recreations, parks and culture for the city of Thompson.

The new director has been all around Canada in recreational positions in the past 26 years, including fifteen years in Nova Scotia, eight in Smithers, British Columbia and a couple of years in the Northwest Territories.

Hillaby was drawn to Thompson because of the size of the city, the amount of facilities and the fact that it is a northern community.

He has a few ideas for the future of the city, saying they need to develop a sports tourism economy plan.

239 customers of Manitoba Hydro lost power on Wednesday night after a few storms came through the Thompson area.

A tree came down on a feeder line in the area and the homes were without power for a couple of hours. The lights turned back on around 10:30PM. There were other minor outages around the city throughout the night and morning but those weren't tracked by Manitoba Hydro.

The numbers in Thompson and surrounding areas were dwarfed by the storm in Southern Manitoba as the lost power in household was in the tens of thousands.

Safe Work Manitoba wants to make sure that individuals working outside during the hot summer months take the proper precautions.

The release says that workers are encouraged to wear loose-fitting, light coloured and light weight clothing.  Breaks with cool beverages are also favored, as the downfall could mean heat exhaustion, heat stroke and heat illness.

When working with more physically demanding tasks, it's better to do those jobs during the cooler periods, and during the hot periods to do lighter activities.

Safe Work Manitoba wants you to look out for your co-workers as well, and encourage them to take breaks when they have the symptoms from heat stress.

If anyone experiences heat stress, move the individual to a shaded place, loosen heavy clothing and call 911 immediately.

For more information visit www.safemanitoba.com

This weekend you can volunteer to put up the remaining fence posts around the Children's Adventure Playground.

Project Director Volker Beckmann is asking the public for a lending hand especially parents whose children use the playground. The Work Party has been postponed twice already because of weather.

The Work Party starts at 9:30 and the Children's Adventure Playground is situated by the Miles Hart Bridge and the Burntwood River.

Car enthusiasts will have a chance to see cars old and new this evening, as the Thompson Auto club is making a comeback.

The once dormant club has been revived and will have their first meet tonight in the A&W parking lot at 7PM. Everyone is encouraged to come out to see the hard work that owners of the cars, put into their vehicles.

Depending on how the public reaction is to the Show and Shine, more events may be on the way for the Club.

If anyone wants info for the club, follow their Facebook page at Thompson Auto Club.

The public can help this year's graffiti cleanup by giving a heads-up for hidden vandalized locations, says CMHA program coordinator Katherine Pohjolainen.

This year's graffiti cleanup started a bit later than expected but for the past few weeks, crews have been painting over vandalized buildings and infrastructure in Thompson.

Crews have also been finding new places to paint over, but also realize that there is many more areas that have yet be discovered that are affected.

If you have any information, feel free to contact Katherine and the CMHA at 204-677-6051 or e-mail at educationtraining@cmhathompson.ca.

Sauger Cresent will be closed today for the repair of a hydrant. This will result in water disruption for the residents in the area. The cresent will be closed for the safety for the crews and the public and it will be closed in front of 124 while repairs are completed.

You can call the Public Works Department for more information at 677-7970.

After a month away, city councilors are making their way back down to the City Hall for the Regular Meeting of Council tonight which is only done once in the month of July.

The last time the councilors met was June 29^th for a special meeting discussing if Mayor Fenske could represent the city at an Ad-Hoc meeting. The last Regular Meeting was June 20^th.

On the list of things to discuss at the meeting will be community policing, committee council reports, and the second and third reading of Animal Control by-law.

The public is encouraged to come out to session as there will be a question and answer period afterwards. The session starts at 7 PM.

The official list of bands that will be performing at the weekly Concerts in the Park has finally been released.

The lineup starts this Friday when Mike Juneau starts the season off.

Every Friday at noon, is when the Concerts in the Park starts up, except on August 19^th when it's party in the park.

This is the official list:

Jul 15 - Mike Juneau

Jul 22 - Amy McConnell

Jul 29 - Josh and Amy

Aug5 - Art Starling (not confirmed)

Aug 12 - Jeanette Kimball

Aug 19  -  Benny Crait

Aug 19 - Party in the Park @ 7:30pm Monolith

Aug 26 - Russell Peters (Children's Entertainment)

Sept 2 - No one confirmed have Moodie x 2 Jennilee Martineau or 5 minutes from everywhere

Charges have been laid in the fatal collision involving two pedestrians on Tuesday night in Thompson.

Chelsea Melody Flett, who is 22 and from Thompson has been charged with Impaired Causing Death, dangerous driving causing death, obstructing police, taking motor vehicle without consent, criminal negligence causing death and breach of probation.

Flett remains in custody as the investigation continues.

Bell MTS announced that their previously announced $1 billion investment plan will include wireless coverage on Highway 6 to Thompson and new improved wireless services for five indigenous communities and enhanced broadband service in Flin Flon.

This is the first investment for the now merged companies which was announced in May.

The commitment to expand broadband wireless and fibre services in Manitoba was the first plan to go forward and the northern Manitoba expansion was the first part of the investment.

The five northern indigenous communities which are involved in the expansion are Easterville, Gods Lake Narrows, Gods River, Grand Rapids and Red Sucker Lake.

Cell service on Highway 6 from Grand Rapids to Thompson will be greatly improved as it was unreliable and proved to be a safety and connectivity issue.

Thompson Mayor Dennis Fenske says the enhanced service will help grow the local economies and connect local businesses to southern Manitoba.

Bell MTS had announced that they had merged back in early May and their first investment was to expand broadband wireless and fibre services in Manitoba.

Canadian kids are not getting enough sleep, and in turn might be the reason they aren't outside getting the proper amount of physical activity.

The annual ParticipACTION report card was released and the country was given a D- for kids overall physical activity.

This year the report was sending the message the kids need their sleep to help them get energy to use for physical activity. 31% of school-aged kids are sleep-deprived and 36% of 14-to-17-year-olds found it difficult to stay awake during the day. Kids are encouraged to get 180 minutes worth of daily activity of any intensity, and 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity per day.

The other grades:

Organized Sport & Physical Activity Participation = B

Active Play: D+

Active Transportation: D

Physical Literacy: D+

Sleep: B

Sedentary Behaviours: F

Family & Peers: C+

School: B

Community & Environment: A-

Government: B-

Non-Government: A-

The new liquor store will be constructed in the parking lot of the City Centre Mall if everything goes to plan, and that plan may take effect as of this weekend.

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries announced at the recent Chamber of Commerce meeting that they are hoping to start the process this week as they may start surveying this weekend.

The new store would be 12,000 square feet which would be three times the size of the current store and be a large scale store compared to others around Manitoba. The construction process will take about 8-12 months once started and would move from the old store on Selkirk Avenue immediately.

The new location would be beneficial for employees, customers, and for the local economy as it would create a more jobs during construction.

Pimicikamak Cree Nation is about to get a $40 million hospital, less than a year after six people committed suicide in the community. The community has been requesting a brand new hospital for over 12 years, and just after the winter which prompted a state of an emergency alert.

A Pimicikamak spokesperson says the federal government has committed $40 million to build the hospital.

The registered population of Pimicikamak is 8,365, with 5,858 registered as living on the reserve, according to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. Pimicikamak is about 40 kilometres southwest of Thompson.

With over 1 million lakes, rivers and streams plus three oceans, Canada is a fisherman’s dream.   Now through July 10th is National Fishing Week, when Canadians are encouraged to grab a rod and reel and head out to their local rivers and lakes.

If you’re in need of some fishing tips, check out the Catch Fishing booklet from the Canadian National Sportfishing Foundation.    Sarah McMichael with the foundation has more about the booklet.

“On our website which is catchfishing.com you can order a free “Catch Fishing” how-to guide to fishing in Canada booklet.  It’s real small and can fit right in your tackle box.  And it’s just got lots of great information from how to set up your rod and reel, how to bait your hook and how to find a good spot to go fishing.”

Since 2000, the Canadian National Sportfishing Foundation has been behind the move to promote fishing as a fun, family-friendly pastime.     

McMichael also shares some of the reasons why fishing has grown in popularity over the years.

“The great thing about fishing is that it’s really easy to learn and it’s very affordable to learn.  All you have to do is pick up a cheap rod and reel, some really inexpensive fishing lures or some worms, walk to your local body of water, cast a line, and that’s it, you’re fishing.”

For more on National Fishing Week go to Catch Fishing dot com.    And remember, before you fish to check the fishing regulations in your area.