In Rearview Mirror 2024 we are going to take a look at the year's top stories, culminating in a vote by readers for the BayToday "Top Story" of 2024 and "Newsmaker" of 2024.
To simplify things, our reporters have condensed the monthly top stories from January to December.
See January here.
In February, we got the first look at how city staff thought the controversial new arena at Omischl in West Ferris could be built with a "target budget" of $60 million. Council has since authorized the issue of a "Request for Proposal for a Progressive Design Build for the design and construction of the Community and Recreation Centre."
The project is scheduled to "achieve substantial construction completion in 2025 and meet the Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) Design Certification requirements of the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings (GICB) Program funding contribution agreement between the City and the Government of Canada."
See: City ready to go to market on new arena with $60M target
Also that month, it was announced by the school board that a new mascot was coming to Chippewa, but a highly controversial name change for the school itself was off the table.
The Near North District School Board gave the go-ahead to form a new committee to continue the work of rebranding Chippewa Secondary School’s sports teams. At the time, all teams competed under the school’s name. Eventually the name "Ravens" was adopted.
See: School board forges ahead with Chippewa rebranding
February 2024 was the month winter forgot. Warm temperatures and lack of snow created havoc in the tourist industry. At this point in the winter, North Bay recorded a new historic minimum snow depth for that time of year. The North Bay-Mattawa
Conservation Authority told BayToday at the time that snow levels were "well below normal."
