August featured an ongoing strike, buckets of ice and more homicides

Here are the headlines that kept us reading in August:

10. Mitomics in receivership
Mitomics Inc. went into receivership on Aug. 14. The biotech firm headed to Toronto-based receiver Dodick Landau after an application from William Poulter and Harlad Smart, two of 30 creditors the company owes, was granted at the Thunder Bay Courthouse. Mitomics Inc., formerly known as Genesis Genomics, owes more than $7.6 million to secured creditors according to court documents with another $12 million to unsecured creditors. A sale of the company to the Delaware Corporation was approved in October.

9. Lyceum Theatre sold
The city announced it had unloaded the dilapidated Lyceum Theatre for $20,000 on Aug. 18. The new owners of the 105-year-old downtown north core landmark, Ontario numbered company 2426434, plan to rehabilitate the building. City officials say they got fair-market value for the building, which it attempted to sell last year through a tax-sale tender. At the time the city was seeking $150,000.

8.FIeld Street cleaned up
The city cleared out around 2.5 acres of its vacant land near Field Street, a popular spot for the homeless and the scene of two homicides in the past few years, in August. Shelter House executive director Patty Hajdu said she understands why the city wants to clear out the spot, but believes the focus should instead be on the root causes of poverty, homelessness, addiction and mental health. The same spot was cleared last year and people still returned, said Hajdu, adding It's a temporary fix.

7. Ice Bucket Challenge
The Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS swept through North America in August and Thunder Bay was no exception. Police, city officials and even TBT News anchor Barry Third took the challenge to have a bucket of ice water dumped over their head. The challenge had videos going viral on the web and raised tens of millions of dollars for ALS research.

6. Strike goes one
The strike at the city’s Bombardier plant continued after Unifor Local 1075 members overwhelmingly rejected the company’s last offer on Aug. 26 during a Ministry of Labour supervised vote, with 81.5 per cent saying no deal to Bombardier. In total, 612 members voted against the company’s offer while 139 voted to accept the contract and bring the six-week strike to an end.

5. Boater's body found
The months-long search for a missing boater came to an end on Aug. 5 after a body was discovered in the Kaministiquia River near a bridge on Highway 102. The body was found by a couple of individuals fishing in the area. Two days later police confirmed the remains were that of a 56-year-old male boater who went missing on June 16.

4. Hockey players charged
On Aug. 22, sexual assault charges were filed against two former University of Ottawa hockey players in connection with an alleged incident in Thunder Bay earlier this year. Police alleged the assault occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 2 at the Victoria Inn, involving a 21-year-old female victim. The two men, 24-year-old Guillaume Donovan and 25-year-old David Foucher, both of Gatineau, Que., were charged in Ottawa on behalf of Thunder Bay city police.

3. Vigil for victims
The death of Brandi Wingert caused hundreds of people in the community to attend a silent vigil for all victims of violence in the city on Aug. 14 in McGillivray Square in front of city hall. The candlelight vigil was organized by a concerned citizen who wanted to show that the community could come together and make a difference.

2. Homicide No. 7
Thunder Bay had its seventh homicide investigation of the year when Leslie Ruben Perrault, 64, of Fort Frances, Ont., died after an incident at a Machar Avenue home on Aug. 24. Chauncy Lyle Grover and Alyssa Lynn Jourdain, both 44, have each been charged with second-degree murder. Both suspects were residents of the home and police told local media the suspects are involved in a common-law relationship and are believed to be the lone two residents of the home.

1.Shocking murder
The city’s sixth homicide of the year shocked the community as the victim was just eight years old. Police say Brandi Marie Wingert, 8, was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital after a violent incident at a Donald Street home in the early morning hours of Aug. 11. On Aug. 14, police Chief J.P. Levesque said a 34-year-old woman was assaulted by her 38-year-old ex-boyfriend around 3 a.m. the day of the incident and police believed the man was responsible for the assault of his ex-girlfriend and the murder of the young girl. The investigation led to a police standoff with the suspect later that morning on Wharton Road. The stand-off ended at about 11:30 a.m. when the man was taken into custody by the emergency task unit. He was then rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later due to injuries police say were sustained prior to arrest.