TBNewswatch is looking back at the top 10 stories of each month in 2023, as chosen by Dougall Media's director of news, Leith Dunick. Here are the picks from September.
- Brayden Bushby, who was convicted in the 2017 death of Barbara Kentner, after hurling a trailer hitch at the Indigenous woman from a moving car, was granted day parole, deemed a low risk to reoffend. Full parole was denied. Bushby is serving a seven-year, 11-month manslaughter sentence.
- City council shifted gears and endorsed a new site for a proposed indoor turf facility, voting in favour of a Hangar-style facility on lands next to the Community Auditorium, rejecting administration’s preferred Chapple’s Park location.
- Ontario Liberal leadership candidates travelled to Thunder Bay for their first debate. Bonnie Crombie was eventually elected leader.
- After being closed for nearly 17 months, River Street fully reopened to vehicular traffic, the repairs to a damaged culvert finally finished. The street was closed between Algoma and Peter streets after a sinkhole appeared in May 2022. Initial repair costs were pegged at $2.5 million.
- Sixty-three-year-old Richard Jung was named as the victim in the city’s latest homicide. Police arrested 24-year-old Randy Andrews and charged him with second degree murder in the incident, which took place in the 200 block of Robertson Street.
- Council rejected Mayor Ken Boshcoff’s request for support for giving Thunder Bay strong mayor powers, but Boshcoff vowed to go ahead and seek them anyway – though later said he only planned to use the added authority sparingly.
- The Wake the Giant Music Festival proved to be a huge hit once again, welcoming Indigenous students to Thunder Bay with the likes of Deadmau5 and X Ambassadors headlining the one-day event.
- Conservative MPP Kevin Holland defended the government’s Greenbelt response in the aftermath of the resignation of then housing minister Steve Clark. The Ford government was accused of irregularities in its plan to remove from the Greenbelt lands for private development.
- Former longtime Liberal MP Stan Dromisky died at 92. He represented Thunder Bay-Atikokan for 11 years in the House of Commons, retiring in 2004.
- A residential school survivor said the horrors of the era must never be forgotten. Fred Thomas spent more than 10 years in the system and spoke out on National Truth and Reconciliation Day at a ceremony held at Hillcrest Park.
