Godson heads to the Den

Aaron "Godson" Hernandez, a Yellowknife hip-hop artist, is heading to Toronto in May to face the dragons of Dragons' Den.

He said his sales pitch in front of the dragons this spring will be part of filming for the new season, which starts in September.

"I'm selling me ... I don't have any inventions. I've watched that show a couple of times. I just pitched what I knew and that's just what I've done for almost all my life. I performed and I told them my story," said Hernandez.

Hernandez is not revealing what he will ask the dragons for in his pitch, but said he will be filming a documentary of his experience.

- Katherine Hudson

Frozen sewer line hinders school

Students at St. Patrick High School had an extra-long lunch break Monday after the main sewer line froze.

They were dismissed at about 11 a.m. and returned at 12:40 p.m., in time for afternoon classes, after a steamer truck worked on the line.

Mike Huvenaars, assistant superintendent of business at Yellowknife Catholic Schools, said the incident was due to the warm weather the city has experienced for the last few weeks as well as the sewer and water lines not being used during March break.

"School's been closed for two weeks so there's no students in the school flushing the toilets and drinking the water," he said.

Huvenaars also said the warm weather has melted a lot of the snow, which acts as an insulating layer for the pipes in the ground.

- Katherine Hudson

Squirrel strikes again

A squirrel caused a power outage by blowing a fuse at the Mackay Building on 50 Street in the late morning Tuesday, according to Northland Utilities.

Kevin Lailey, operations superintendent for Northland Utilities, said a serviceman was called at 11 a.m. After the fuse was replaced, power was restored at about 11:20 a.m.

"It wasn't a town-wide or huge outage, it only affected one building for a short period of time," said Lailey.

The squirrel died.

A squirrel caused a 30-minute outage in town in early November after the animal burrowed into a transformer at the Jackfish Lake substation.

- Katherine Hudson

Alleged flight disturber back in court

A Gjoa Haven man whose behaviour allegedly caused a First Air flight to turn around and head back to Yellowknife on Feb. 24 had his case heard in territorial court on Tuesday.

Walter James Porter, 49, is charged with mischief, breach of an undertaking and interfering with crew members aboard a flight headed for Uluhaktuk and Kugluktuk.

Judge Garth Malakoe adjourned the matter until April 12 to allow the defence time to review the file and for the Crown to elect whether to proceed with the charges as summary or indictable offences.

- Terrence McEachern

Open House meeting for Niven development

There will be two open houses today at city hall to discuss revised plans on the proposed 122 unit multi-family home development project at Niven Lake.

The City of Yellowknife will host one open house in the upstairs boardroom from noon to 2 p.m. and one in the lower boardroom from 6 to 8 p.m.

This is the second series of open houses on the project the first session was on Feb. 16 and 17.

- Terrence McEachern

Community garden plots still available

The community garden in Old Town is full yet the two plots in Kam Lake and one in the Weledeh Catholic School area still have a few plots available as of Tuesday.

Dwayne Wohlgemuth, member of the Yellowknife Community Garden Collective, said about seven plots are still available in both Kam Lake garden sites and the new Weledeh garden.

The collective's annual spring social will take place Wednesday, April 13 from 7:30 until 9 p.m. at Northern United Place.

The purpose of the spring social is to bring all community gardeners, both returning and new, together before the garden season to sign up for a garden plot, learn about how the community garden works and sign up for volunteer activities and summer workshops.

- Katherine Hudson

Big bird lands

Rankin Inlet - A large crowd of people came out during the early-evening hours of March 31 to see First Air's mammoth Boeing 767 cargo plane land in Rankin Inlet.

The plane, which dwarfs a 737 jet and has a payload of an astonishing 100,000 pounds, was the largest commercial aircraft to ever land in Rankin.

The 767 freighter is being used mainly for runs between Ottawa and Iqaluit at the present time, but could become a regular site in Rankin if First Air gets the contract for deliveries to the Kivalliq for the new Nutrition North Canada program.

Man dead

Repulse Bay - A 50-year-old man was found dead in Repulse Bay shortly after RCMP members responded to a residential call this past week.

RCMP members at the Repulse detachment received a call at about 1:45 p.m. on March 30, requesting a check on the well-being of a local resident.

Upon entering the residence, the RCMP members were forced to take cover when they heard a single gunshot fired from inside the home.

The officers quickly warned and secured the neighbouring school and homes for their safety.

The officers later found the 50-year-old man deceased inside the residence. No foul play is suspected in the death and the RCMP are issuing no further information at this time.

Uranium meeting

Baker Lake - About 150 people came out for a meeting on the Government of Nunavut's uranium policy this past week in Baker Lake.

Reports from the session indicate a number of people expressed some concern over Areva Resource's proposed Kiggavik project in light of the publicity surrounding the nuclear reactor disaster in Japan.

A number of people also expressed their trust in the institutions involved with the project. For more on the meetings, please see the April 13 edition of Kivalliq News.

Fun times

Chesterfield Inlet - Students at Victor Sammurtok School in Chesterfield Inlet took part in a inuksuk-building contest this past week. For the complete story on the contest, please see the April 13 edition of Kivalliq News.

Chester was also in a hockey mood this past weekend, as a number of hamlets sent a team to the annual Young at Heart female tourney. Final results were not known as of press time.

Support for Sakku

Coral Harbour - Sakku School in Coral Harbour received a $10,000 grant from the sport and recreation division (Sport Nunavut) of the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, which will be used to hold a daily activity program for students in kindergarten to Grade 12.

Sakku received additional help from Kivalliq Air, which donated the freight costs to get 85 per cent of the items to Coral.

B-ball tourney

Baker Lake - The annual Kemp Angoyuaq Memorial basketball tournament is scheduled to be held in Baker Lake from May 14 to 15.

Action will be featured in both a men's and women's division, with a maximum of 10 players per team. The age limit for the event is 18 and older for males and 16 and older for females.

Team shirts with numbers are required. Registration for the event is $30 per team and those interested are asked to contact Steve Paterson on the Kemp Angoyuaq Memorial tournament page of Facebook.