EXETER -- Water costs are expected to soar by about one-third as South Huron sets new rates to pay for a new $13.5-million Lake Huron pipeline.

As many as 5,000 spectators lined the lakeshore and bluffs here more than an hour before the Canadian Snowbirds performance and watched as a dark storm cloud rolled in. But the show went ahead after a short delay and the event raised $7,000 for the Maitland Air Cadets Association.

Their inspiration: Charlie's Angels. Their motto, provided by Janette Larocque: "We can save anyone while wearing high heels."

Before he was a pro, now he's the kingfish. For the past few years, Chris Pfohl has been a fly-fishing expert at Jay's Flyshop in London. He's the guy store owner Jay Newell brings in to teach the sport's basics and to conduct guided tours of hotspots on the Grand, Maitland and Thames rivers.

Sunfest volunteers were talking trash yesterday. Manning 10 eco-stations around Victoria Park, they told people into which bins to throw garbage and recycle.

When I pull up beside you on my scooter, you might think I'm cute, with my black and pink helmet and my tiny little motorcycle. But when I peel away from you on the green light, you know one thing for certain -- I was born to scoot.

The man in charge of city hall called it a "defining moment." When London city manager Jeff Fielding first took heat over high absenteeism among city workers four months ago, he turned the issue into a question of his leadership.

SARNIA -- Katie Abbott is getting a second chance at Olympic glory. The 21-year-old Sarnia woman and her two teammates just missed qualifying for the Beijing games following an equipment failure during their first sailing race together in February.

Don't expect all the secrets from Bob Probert. Not yet, anyway. "Some day I'll write a tell-all," the former National Hockey League enforcer said in London yesterday. "Well, maybe a 95-per-cent tell all," he added with a grin.

A $1-million gift from an anonymous donor will help to launch a community drive to finish Victoria Hospital's north tower, health foundation officials say.

The babies of Hollywood stars will soon be bathing in a tub designed and sold by a mom-preneur from London. Brandy Cameron designed Spa Baby, a bathtub that lets infants sit up as they bathe.

Ontario property taxpayers are picking up the tab for companies that create tonnes of garbage through excessive unrecyclable packaging. "I tell my kids, if you make a mess you pick it up," said Pat Vanini, executive director of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Tests results on a dead crow found in southwest Sarnia have confirmed West Nile virus is in the region. The positive test is the first for Lambton County in 2008.

London city hall is risking a strike by a sudden and last-minute attack on human rights and the collective agreement of its inside workers, their union charged yesterday.

Thousands of London boys and girls from low-income families are depending on the milk of human kindness to provide them with extra nutrition this summer.

This year's Sunfest lived up to its name with cloudless skies and balmy temperatures drawing thousands to the free annual London festival.

Londoners have been given a week-long reprieve from a strike at city hall. Negotiators for the city and inside workers agreed early Saturday morning to extend the deadline for a deal to July 12.

PROFILE: Hart has been a member of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation since the mid-1990s. He recently won its national Breath of Life award for volunteer of the year, which goes to someone who doesn't have family ties to the disorder.

Five cyclists on a cross-Canada fundraising tour got a hero's welcome as they pedalled into London yesterday. Flanked by a police and fire truck entourage, the Moving Muscles Bike Tour made its way down Wonderland Road after a 125-kilometre ride from Goderich.

KITCHENER -- Police are now treating the death of a 28-year-old woman found in a Kitchener motel room as a homicide. Waterloo police and paramedics found the body of Nicole Smits in a room at the Kitchener Motel last Saturday.