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 starting in January and running through to December.
Starting off, repercussions were being felt after the major announcement that the Temiscaming RYAM plant would be shut down.
The owner blamed 'Persistent market weakness, uncertain availability of affordable wood fibre, and high capital and fixed costs' which posed significant challenges for the Temiscaming HPC plant.
"This decision, which we do not take lightly, is made only after a rigorous strategic review in which multiple alternatives were thoroughly explored."
Efforts to find a white knight to keep the plant open have so far proved fruitless.
See: Major layoffs announced at Temiscaming RYAM plant
In the news biz, we say a story has "legs" when it keeps running. A classic case was the Conservation Authority. Despite silence from the Board and its CAO, the story wouldn't slow down. In May we saw, Chithra Gowda's resignation on the heels of the Conservation Authority HR Director going public in March with his concerns over how the staff is being treated, after repeatedly warning management of the "chaos" that had destroyed staff morale.
See: Conservation Authority CAO quits amidst controversy
And on the good news side,
It was a record-setting fundraising day for Chat4Chad. The charity's 2nd Annual event nearly hit the quarter million dollar mark.
See: Record setting fundraising day for Chat4Chad
See January here.
See February here.
See March here.
See April here
