Here's a look back at this year's top 10 news stories from August, as composed by tbnewswatch.com editor Leith Dunick:
1, The body of 18-year-old Brayden Moonias was found near the Marina Park overpass. Four days later police ruled the death a murder. It took police nearly six weeks, but in September they arrested 22-year-old Patrick Elmer O’Keese with second-degree murder, aggravated assault and two counts of failure to comply with a recognizance.
2. Construction on the High Street retaining wall was immediately and temporarily halted on Aug. 2 after crews struck and detonated an old explosive device while working on the $2.1-milliion project. A city official said they believed it was an old device used to remove rock that could have been there about a century, when the wall was first constructed.
3. Monica Spence learned she would have to spend two more years in prison for her role in the December 2014 beating death of distant cousin Richard Spence. She was convicted of manslaughter, while her former boyfriend Daniel Debassige was charged with second-degree murder. He got a mandatory life sentence and won’t be eligible for parole for 10 years.
4. Convicted killer Michael Kelly’s appeal of his first-degree murder conviction in the death of his common-law-spouse Judith Thibault was denied. Kelly, now 70, was sentenced in 2012 to life behind bars and argued his confession was invalid because it was obtained as part of an undercover police sting operation called Mr. Big.
5. The province, the city and Nishnawbe Aski Nation scored disappointing ‘C+’ ratings for their collective first-year response to recommendations made following an inquiry into the deaths of seven youth between 2000 and 2011 while attending school in Thunder Bay. The federal government got a D, while Thunder Bay Police were given a B+. The ratings were handed out by lawyers representing the seven families.
6. The city filed an appeal of a decision that went against them in the courts surrounding the James Street Swing Bridge, which stated CN should not be expected to live up to the terms of a 1906 ruling to maintain the Kaministiquia River span indefinitely.
7. City police were absolved of wrongdoing after the province’s special investigations unit looked into the 2016 death of a man who died during a standoff at a south-side hotel. The man died of a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol, the report revealed.
8. After two more teens were found dead in local waterways, enrolment at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School plummeted. Just 71 students signed up to attend, down from the usual 130.
9. The CP Canada 150 train rolled into Thunder Bay, bringing the likes of country star Dean Brody to perform a free show at Marina Park. Kelly Prescott started the festivities with a collection of iconic Canadian songs by artists such as Stan Rogers, Tom Cochrane and the Tragically Hip. Later in the month Magic, Kardinal Offishall and Midnight Shine, part of the free ONTour concert series.
10. The largest plane yet to land at the Thunder Bay International Airport touched down in the city. The Antonove An-124 cargo plane’s height is equal to a seven-storey building, it’s wingspan two-thirds the width of an American football field.
