Some of the country’s seniors who collect Old Age Security benefits will see a one-time $500 payment next month.

Seniors born before June 30, 1947 can expect the $500 during the week of August 16.

Meanwhile, as of this month, OAS benefits will automatically increase by 1.01 percent. That brings maximum monthly OAS pension amount to $626.49 from $618.45 – an increase of just $100 dollars over the course of the year.

Seniors 75 and over meanwhile will see a permanent 10 percent increase to their OAS pension which will be implemented in July of next year – it will be the first permanent increase to OAS since 1973.

The Guaranteed Income Supplement or (GIS) will also be adjusted for inflation.

Story courtesy of VOCM.

Timber salvaged from Muskrat Falls construction project is now available to the public.

The Department of Forestry says a permit is required to access the wood.

Permits are free and available from the North West River Forestry and Wildlife district office or the Happy Valley-Goose Bay regional office.

The wood, suitable for firewood and sawlogs, are cut into eight, into 12 and 16 -foot lengths.

There is no limit to how much timber a person can access, however, the wood must be used for domestic purposes and not commercial use.

It can be picked up at a wood yard near Lower Brook on the Trans-Labrador Highway approximately 32 km west of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

The Youth Employment program with SmartICE started last month, June 23rd, 2021.

Rex Holwell Jr. and Rachael Kenny is the Northern Production Lead for SmartICE.

Holwell says they are on their third week of the program with four youth.

The first week they did some employment readiness training, second week they did financial literacy and job searching training and did some cultural activities.

Click here to hear more from Holwell Jr. on SmartICE.

Gas prices are at levels not seen in over a decade and that’s raising real concerns about inflation – including the rising cost of the food on our tables.

Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agrifoods Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, says the price of gas is a factor in the cost of food items.

He expects it will have an impact on grocery bills, simply because it costs more to move products around.

He says food prices have seen some dramatic increases over the last few months, something they predicted before the new year.

“Last December we were expecting food prices to rise by 5 per cent…and that’s kind of what’s going on,” says Charlebois. He warns however that 5 per cent is an average, and for those who might say their grocery bill has gone up more than that, he says “you’re probably right,” because some products have increased in price by more than 10 per cent.

Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada will have a virtual Inuit youth camp, Ikajuqatigiiniq (Helping One Another).

Are you interested in learning how to be a youth leader in your community, if so you do not want to miss this camp.

This will be through online zoom sessions set for August 23-26, 2021, times are from 9am-1:15pm EDT, with only 6 spots available.

For those who participate for the full youth camp there is prizes od a tablet, mobile hotspot device, instamax reuable camera, $100 gift card and swag incentives.

For more information on this camp please contact Sipporah Enuaraq by email at senuaraq!pauktuutit.ca.

The Recreation Summer Program will be going ahead this summer.

Edward Harris is the Recreation Assistant with the Nain Inuit Community Government.

He says there are 3 children registered that will start on Monday, July 12 and will go on until the end of August.

Harris adds that there is no limit to a number of children for this program, and that those who are registered are asked to bring snacks.

There is a summer literacy camp is set to begin in Hopedale starting Monday, July 12, 2021.

This is a program that promotes having fun while learning for anyone ages 5-12.

The location will be at the DHSD building in the multipurpose room from 9:30-11:30am and 1:30-3:30pm, alternate times to be dated.

For more information and updates check out the Facebook group page “Hopedale News”.

Updates will be posted by the Hopedale literacy camp staff, Kendra Winters, Samira Kohlmeister, Rachel Lidd, Kanses Winters and Kennedy Winters.

The literacy camp staff hopes to see you there.

Today (Wednesday, July 7), Newfoundland and Labrador has no new confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the last public advisory.

There have been two new recoveries in the Eastern Health region and 1,375 people have recovered. There is no one in hospital due to COVID-19.

There are 14 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The regional breakdown of the 14 active cases is as follows:

· Eastern Health – 14
· Central Health – 0
· Labrador-Grenfell Health – 0
· Western Health – 0

To date, 162,045 people have been tested.

There were two boats that arrived from George River on Monday evening, July 5, 2021.

Jimmy Jararuse is originally from Nain and is living in George River.

He says that it was his first time coming on boat, taking them 3 days.

Jararuse adds that he had moved to George River from Nain in 1997.

Click here to hear Jararuse’s trip to Nain later in the program.

Today, Tuesday, July 6, Newfoundland and Labrador has no new confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the last public advisory.

There has been one new recovery in the Central Health region, 1,373 people have recovered, and no one in hospital due to COVID-19.

There are 16 active cases of COVID-19 in the province; the regional breakdown of the 16 active cases are as follows:

· Eastern Health – 16
· Central Health – 0
· Labrador-Grenfell Health – 0
· Western Health – 0

To date, 161,769 people have been tested.