July 16, 2022 will be the first day of the 16th Annual Rhubarb Festival in Hopedale.

Doris Boase is one of the organizers for the festival.

The Community BBQ will start at 5pm on Monday at the Nanuk Centre.

There will be Fear Factor for anyone 16 years of age and older in front of the Moravian Church at 7pm.

There must be one male and one female on each team, with one member between the ages of 16 to 39 years of age, and the other being 40 years of age and older.

There will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes awarded for the best times.

Anyone can submit their teams to Boase no later than Sunday, July 10 at 9pm.

The OK Radio will keep track of the schedule as the festival proceeds.

Rogers is still working to get their system back up online as the network has been crippled since dawn this morning.

Millions are unable to activate their devices. The outage map shows widespread interruptions, but especially in eastern and central Canada.

Not only are internet, cell, cable, phone, and alarm monitoring services affected, but people may also be unable to access debit and credit. Many businesses are only able to accept cash.

Service NL says due to the outage Motor Registration will not be able to process Interac transactions.

Story courtesy of VOCM News, who is tracking the story and will; have information as it becomes available.

The MHA for Torngat Mountains, Lela Evans has been really busy with the issues that she’s been dealing with for all Northern communities.

She says one of the things that she’s concerned about are the gas prices, as well as the food prices.

People are going to have less money for everything because the price of gas is more expensive, and the food to sell in the stores is costing a lot more than last year.

Evans adds that there are petitions going to try and get the boat back from Lewisporte for the Northern communities.

Click here to find out more on the issues that she’s been dealing with.

Here are NHL winners won a trophy this Spring:

Ted Linsay Trophy for outstanding player, Austin Matthews of Toronto Maple Leafs, and also the in the Jim Gregory Award is Austin Matthews.

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner was Carey Price of the Montreal Canadians.

NHL Foundation Award was won by Travis Hamonic of the New York Islanders.

King Clancy Memorial Award for the most notable leadership went to P.K Suddan of the New Jersey Devils. Austin Matthews won the Marice Richard Trophy.

William J. Jennings goalie winner was won by Fredirick Andersen/ Anti Reanta of the Colorado Avalanche.

Darryl Sutter of the Calgary Flames won the Jack Adams award for best coach.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy was awarded to Kyle Conner, Winnipeg Jets for best defense forward.

Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins won the Frank J. Selke won the best the defence.

Conner McDavid from the Edmonton Oilers won the Art Ross trophy as scoring champion.

The James Norris trophy for best defense went to Cale Makar from Colorado Avalanche.

Vezina trophy for best goalie went to Igor Shesterkin from New York Rangers.

Moritz Seider of Detroit Red Wings was awarded top rookie for the Calder trophy.

Austin Matthews from Toronto Maple Leafs won the Hart Memorial for the most valuable for his team.

Montreal Canadians got the Clarence Campbell award for Champs in the Western Conference.

Prince of Wales trophy went to Tampa Bay Lighting in the Eastern Conference.

Presidents’ trophy went to Florida Panthers for best regular season.

Last but not least, the Colorado Avalanche won the 2022 Stanley Cup.

The communities of Nain and Hopedale have been patiently waiting for the muskox to arrive.

Joseph Townley is the Wildlife Facilitator for Nunatsiavut Government.

Townley says that there have been some difficulties with shipment with Air Borealis, so the meat will be shipped on the MV Kamutik W.

Townley adds that he will drop the meat over to the Happy Valley-Goose Bay dock between Monday, July 18, 2022 to Friday, July 22, 2022.

The prices of all fuels are down across the board in Newfoundland and Labrador, except areas where a seasonal price freeze is in effect.

Customers in Labrador West will pay a maximum of $2.159 at the pump, while drivers in Churchill Falls will pay $2.184 per litre. Other parts are Labrador are unaffected due to the seasonal price freeze set in June.

Diesel also dropped by three cents per litre Thursday. Prices range from $2.18 per litre on the Avalon to as high as $2.29 in other parts of Newfoundland, while Labrador ranges from $2.21 to as high as $2.76 on the south coast.

Both furnace oil and stove oil decreased by 2.55 cents per litre. Furnace oil ranges from between $1.61 and $1.72 per litre in the province, while stove oil varies from $1.67 to $2.02 per litre.

Propane decreased by just 0.2 cents per litre.

Story courtesy of CBC News.

Cleanup was started at the Makkovik Fish plant in Makkovik on Monday, June 6 this year.

Angel Chaulk is the Clerk.

She says they hired on 5 plant workers to start getting the plant ready for the summer, and another 9 more plant workers were hired on Tuesday, June 28.

Chaulk says two snow crab long liners are fishing and are expected to arrive in Makkovik with their first snow crab catch this coming Sunday or Monday.

She added they are expecting more snow crab long liners sometime soon.

We will get an update with the Nain fish plant once it becomes available.

Following the diesel spill in Kaipokak Bay near Postville in 2020, the Nunatsiavut Government has been involved in spill response and monitoring. While issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic have delayed analyses, new partial results from these efforts show elevated levels for some diesel-related compounds in pigeon (black guillemot) eggs harvested near Postville in 2020 and 2021. And near Nain in 2021.

It is still uncertain whether that contamination has any human health implication, whether it is present in other species or communities, and whether is it related to the 2020 diesel spill.

The Nunatsiavut Government is currently in communication with Health Canada to understand the potential significant of these results in terms of consumption and human health. Testing is also ongoing to confirm the results, as well as for levels in eggs for saddlers (Great black-backed gull) and ducks (common eider) and in adult birds for ducks and pigeons. The Nunatsiavut Government is working on expanded testing in other communities and species as well.

Unfortunately, the information available at this point does not allow the Nunatsiavut Government to formulate advice regarding harvesting and consumption on pigeon eggs or other wild food. The Nunatsiavut Government is asking beneficiaries to consider this uncertainly in their harvesting decisions this summer.

The Nunatsiavut Government is working to provide beneficiaries with clear answers regarding this situation as soon as possible; and information will be shared as it becomes available.

The 26th Annual Youth Symposium will be held next week from Monday, July 11th to 15th, 2022.

We spoke with Heather Angnatok who is the Regional Youth Administrator.

She says they will have close to 25 youth from within Nunatsiavut and the Canadian Constituency, and 1 elder from each community in Nunatsiavut, including Upper Lake Melville to attend.

The Youth Symposium’s focus this year is Language and Culture.

Click here to hear more from Angnatok on the Youth Symposium.

Some encouraging news on the local COVID front.

There were no new COVID-related deaths in the last week, with eight people now in hospital because of the virus, one of whom is in critical care.

There are 98 new confirmed cases reported today with just under 400 new confirmed cases over the last week.