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The advent of solar energy development across Ontario has raised its share of debate and controversy, attracting both supporters and naysayers alike and forcing the creation of province-wide guidelines for renewable energy projects. However, with the provincial parliament's backing of the Green Energy Act and the Ontario Power Authority in charge of the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) pricing schedule, these new rules dictate that one player has little input in the process: a municipality.

Carolyn Boucher knows first-hand that blood donation saves lives.

Boucher, who is the community development co-ordinator, donor services, told The Review that when her daughter was just a toddler, she was diagnosed with cancer and needed blood products to survive.

Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute (VCI) will continue to operate as a Grade 9 to Grade 12 facility when its new building opens to students in February 2011, a school board official has confirmed.

The new building, currently under construction, had been designed with the intent of transitioning Grade 7 and 8 students to VCI from a nearby feeder school, but a larger-than-expected current enrolment will prevent that for the time being.

The body of an unidentified person was found floating in the North River in Lachute, on March 12 at 7:20 a.m.

According to Sûréte du Quebec spokesman Benoit Richard, a pedestrian walking on Hamford Street first noticed the body when they saw a hand sticking out of the North River. The body was recovered by the police and pulled from the water near the Cascades tissue plant.

Police are currently unable to report on whether the body was male or female. Initial reports estimate that the person had been in the water for days, if not months.

Town councillors are struggling to understand the consistent drop in the amount of recyclables people are placing in their blue boxes.

Reviewing the report of the joint recycling committee at its meeting on March 1, council wanted to know why the amount of recyclable materials being collected in Hawkesbury, East Hawkesbury and Champlain.

Mario and Chantal Lascelles are making their dream of expanding Mary's Country Kitchen and Fine Foods a reality.

Having outgrown their current location at 22 Main Street East, the Lascelles have purchased the vacant Victorian home located at 117 Main Street East and are planning to relocate the restaurant there in the near future.

"We haven't set a specific date or timeframe at this point," Chantal told The Review. "We want to take our time, do it right and make sure we're ready. So, we're just going to work at it and we'll open when we're ready."

To those who have made it their life's work to rescue and care for abused or unwanted animals, the horseracing industry is rife with stories of neglect, abuse, and tragedy.

Perhaps, as if to further complicate their plight, a primary concern of such rescuers is that not many people are aware of the plight of abused horses - one that more often than not, they say, finds its roots in the industry.

Renowned horseman Yves Filion claims he was all but born in a stable alongside the horses he loves.

One of Quebec's preeminent Standardbred breeders and racers, Filion is a second-generation racehorse breeder who has spent his life dedicated to horses. He now runs Bayama Farms, a racing stable in Saint-Andre-d'Argenteuil, near Lachute.

A long-anticipated plan to create a cooperative for regional farmers and food producers to distribute their goods locally and fresh will come to fruition this spring, according to its organizers.

Farmers at the helm of the bilingual Eastern Ontario Local Food Co-op are now sketching out the details and hosting monthly information sessions with the hopes of bringing together at least 30 to 40 food producers before the launch in late May.