Elevate your local knowledge
Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!
John McDonald
John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.
It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.
But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.
If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca
Health authority continues to monitor possible Ebola cases
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If the ongoing Ebola epidemic has a human face within the Interior Health Authority, it’s that of Patrice Gordon, a nurse practioner who returned from West Africa last December and promptly began displaying the early signs of of the disease. Gordon tested negative for the virus, but since then the health authority has...
Condoms in Kelowna high schools the goal of pilot project
KELOWNA - Condoms could soon be handed out to students around the Central Okanagan if a pilot project gains approval. The Central Okanagan School District is considering a request from the Interior Health Authority to allow local high schools to participate in a condom pilot project. The pilot project will supply participating schools within the...
Kelowna housing market numbers reach pre-financial crisis levels
KELOWNA - The Kelowna housing market has reached levels not seen since 2008, right before the global financial crisis, when the local market was red hot. Both single-family and multi-family housing starts as well as total residental sales have been trending upward since then, according the Canadian Mortage and Housing Corporation’s spring housing market outlook....
Westbank cemetery to see new life under expansion plan
WEST KELOWNA - The District of West Kelowna is considering spending $694,000 on the expansion of the Westbank Cemetery. In a report to council, parks supervisor Stacey Harding is recommending the district award the expansion contract to Arterra Construction, the low bidder on the plan to expand the graveyard which opened in 1925. Harding says...
Hot dog calls on rise as weather heats up in Southern Interior
THOMSON-OKANAGAN - Though summer isn’t even officially here, the unseasonably warm weather in the Interior is already prompting concerned calls about dogs left unattended in cars. “We’ve had three or four already this morning (May 22) and yesterday we had half a dozen before lunch,” Cam Buksa, spokesman for the Central Okanagan branch of the...
Kelowna to consider bid for 2019 seniors games
KELOWNA - Staff are recommending the City of Kelowna spend $115,000 in a bid to host the 2019 55+ B.C. Games. In a report to council, event development supervisor Mariko Siggers says community support for the bid is solid, the facilities already exist and the return on investment will amount to at least $2 million...
Study at UBC Okanagan seeks breast cancer survivors
OKANAGAN - A researcher from UBC Okanagan is hoping to find survivors of breast cancer for a study on the effects of increasing physical exercise after treatment and rehabilitation. Cristina Caperchione, an assistant professor with the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, is leading ProjectMOVE which has secured a $200,000 research grant from the Canadian...
Traffic calming construction could cause delays and detours in West Kelowna
WEST KELOWNA - Local residents should soon be enjoying the results of a traffic calming study conducted two years ago in the South Boucherie neighbourhood of West Kelowna. Within a couple of weeks, crews will begin installing decorative medians along portions of Gregory and Mission Hill Roads, which could cause temporary delays and possible detours....
Second crossing 20 years out but planning now is essential, transportation ministry says
WEST KELOWNA - If you ask project director Murray Tekano, the current study about where to put a second Okanagan Lake crossing is not just a public relations exercise to be seen doing something. Tekano says 20 years for planning a major infrastructure project such as the second bridge is standard for the industry and...
Bad guys seem to take time off in Lake Country
LAKE COUNTRY - RCMP in Lake Country are reporting a year-over-year drop of 40 per cent in total criminal code offences in the last quarter of 2014 as compared to 2013. This includes a 53 per cent drop in property crimes during the same period. Crimes against people in the bedroom community of 12,000, such...
Laundry workers bring anti-privatization message to Interior Health
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Hospital Employees' Union reps will get their first chance to argue their case against privatizing laundry services in front of the Interior Health Authority board next week. “We hope after our presentation that they will conclude this is a necessary service,” union representative Mike Old says, noting he is well aware board members...
Bike theft spike sparks warning from Kelowna RCMP
KELOWNA - RCMP are advising owners to harden the target of an 'extreme spike' in recent thefts - your bike. In a release today, May 20, RCMP spokesman Cpl. Joe Duncan says there have been 154 bike thefts reported in Kelowna since the beginning of the year. Duncan says owners can’t prevent all thefts but...
Interior Health to consider ebola preparedness recommendations
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If the world has learned anything from the ongoing ebola epidemic, it’s that you cannot predict where and when a person carrying the dreaded virus will show up. The Interior Health Authority learned that in December when one of its own employees, nurse practitioner Patrice Gordon, returned from Sierra Leone and began displaying flu-like...
Conservatory dream dies, strip mall could rise from the ashes
KELOWNA - When the Conservatory was first proposed 15 years ago on the corner of Glenmore Drive, the high-end seniors housing project was big news. Original plans called for twin towers containing some 1,200 strata units with commercial space and a two-acre indoor tropical garden housed in a glass-walled atrium. Somewhere along the way that...
City puts cash behind Strong Neighbourhoods program
KELOWNA - Strong neighbourhoods make for strong towns and cities; that’s the basic premise behind a new program launched by the City of Kelowna and they are putting some cash behind it. It’s early days but Strong Neighbourhoods hopes to tap into growing evidence that getting to know your neighbours is good for your physical...
A Royal Affair fundraiser channels Marie Antoinette for Opera Kelowna
KELOWNA - Royals are hot right now and Opera Kelowna is well placed to take advantage of that with its latest fashion show fundraiser. The aptly-named A Royal Affair will look to royals of the past; think Marie Antoinette and the Chateax de Versailles, long a style icon for modern day fashionistas. Staged by stylist...
Local Crime Stoppers program tops province with help from Kelowna RCMP
KELOWNA - It’s National Police Week and the Central Okanagan Crime Stoppers is praising the local detachment for its pursuit of the tips the crime prevention group receives. “RCMP Supt. Nick Romanchuk and his team doggedly pursue tips to the Crime Stoppers tipsline, making the Okanagan program the top producing program in B.C.”, says Central...
Restaurant competition heats up in downtown Kelowna
KELOWNA - So you wanna open a restaurant in Kelowna? Better bring your A-game because there’s a lot of competition. BNA Brew Co. is just the latest on the scene with its 8,000 square feet location in a historic former warehouse next to Flashbacks nightclub on Ellis Street. “We’re a restaurant that brews its own...
West Kelowna water supply vulnerable if drought continues
WEST KELOWNA - If you were able to visit West Kelowna’s Rose Valley reservoir right now, you would find it full, water lapping right to the edges of the man-made storage water facility. However, if you were to judge the district’s water health as normal by that same measure, you would be wrong as the...
TimeDrive lets young professionals donate their skills to local charitable groups
KELOWNA - Proving millennials are not all about themselves, TimeDrive 2015 goes tonight. It's an event which connects young professionals with non-profit organizations in need of their skills or services. “The younger demographic, from early 20s to late 30s is generally who we appeal to,” says organizer Victor Narynskyyi, a member of Gennext which is...
Cost to rest in peace set to rise in Kelowna
KELOWNA - Prices for interment should begin to rise next year at the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery as part of a plan to ensure its long-term viability. “I would look to 2016 for a price increase if council agrees to it,” cemetery manager David Gatzke says. The increase would be part of a series of...
Accepting gifts a potential minefield for city councillors
KELOWNA - When is it acceptable for a Kelowna city councillor to accept a gift and when is it not? That is the question city staff are currently looking to clarify. “We had a conversation about what constitutes a gift and what doesn’t and what the disclosure requirements are,” city clerk Stephen Fleming says. Rules...
Province to hold public meetings on second Okanagan Lake crossing
KELOWNA - It’s at least twenty years before it will be built but the province still wants to hear what you have to say about a second lake bridge in the Central Okanagan. A press release from the Ministry of Transportation says two open houses are scheduled next week, one in Kelowna and the other...
Fire in bark mulch prompts staff evacuation at Glenmore school
KELOWNA - A fire in a bark mulch pile a few feet away from L’Ecole Glenmore Elementary school this afternoon, just after the students had left for the day, still caused enough concern for staff to evacuate the building. “Staff here at the school had put it out before we got here,” incident commander Capt....