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City councillors will spend all day Thursday reviewing the 2013 provisional budget. Beginning at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, councillors will do a line-by-line deliberation of the budget, which was formally presented by City Manager Ron Mattiussi on Monday. The $357 million budget recommends a $103 million tax demand, up $3.6 million from 2012. That would increase...

A Calgary man pleaded guilty this morning to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle in the 2009 street racing death of another Calgary man. Michael John Bell, 56, issued the plea in B.C. Supreme Court in the deadly crash on Boucherie Road in West Kelowna on April 10, 2009. The plea was a resolution reached...

Kelowna city councillors will review a record provisional budget that recommends a 2.54-percent property-tax hike. The $103 million budgetary tax demand that City Manager Ron Mattiussi will present to the council today increases municipal taxes for the average homeowner will pay $42 more in 2013 than last year, to $1,686. After first receiving the 2013...

After nearly two years since his videotaped kick to the face of Buddy Tavares, RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm Wednesday. Sentencing will be at a later date. The shocking turn of events happened just moments before Mantler was to take the stand in his own defence. Instead, his lawyer...

Bernard Avenue is set to re-open to motorists, who will notice narrower streets, wider sidewalks and less parking. Having nearly completed the first phase of the $14-million revitalization project on one of Kelowna's main downtown streets, Bernard will re-open for traffic at 6 p.m. Friday. As different as Bernard looks now, said the city's director...

RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler likely will face little or no jail time when his sentencing comes up early next year, according to several observers, but his career as a police officer is most certainly over. Mantler, who pleaded guilty Wednesday for assault causing bodily harm for the videotaped kick to the face of Buddy Tavares...

RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler is expected to tell his side of the story to a B.C. Provincial Court judge this afternoon. Crown counsel Will Burrows called two witnesses before resting his case this morning, which signalled the beginning of Mantler's defence. Mantler is charged with assault causing bodily harm in the Jan. 7, 2011 arrest...

For the second time this year, Kelowna city councillors turned down a developers bid to build the controversial Monaco project, a large development proposed for the corner of Doyle Avenue and St. Paul Street. Still, developers were encouraged to review the twin-towered project in order to keep it within required guidelines.  The problem with the...

RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler likely will take the stand in his own defense Wednesday. On suspension without pay following his videotaped kick on Buddy Tavares Jan. 7, 2011, Mantler likely will testify in B.C. Provincial Court following completion of the Crown's case. Crown counsel Will Burrows said he plans to call two witnesses Wednesday morning...

The City of Kelowna is done fooling around with speeders on Springfield Road. City councillors Monday adopted the Green Wave program, aimed at improving safety on one of the most crash-marred roads in Kelowna. Fair warning: The initiative is set to begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday. "Everything's ready to go," said Fred Wollin, City of...

Const. Geoff Mantler as very emotional before his arrest and subsequent kick of suspect Buddy Tavares, a witness testified today. Grant Wereley, a retired realtor who spent eight years as an RCMP officer, said Monday morning that Mantler was very excited and fumbled to put his car into park before he approached Tavares' car. "He...

UPDATE:  4:30 p.m. Nov. 30  A police expert in the use of force says the high-risk RCMP arrest of Buddy Tavares showed little leadership and criticized how RCMP recruits are being trained. Sgt. Jeremy Lane had already told the court that Const. Geoff Mantler was out of line when he kicked Buddy Tavares. But then...

Police mishandling of the Buddy Tavares arrest occurred largely because of the youth and inexperience of the officers involved, an expert witness in police use of force said. Sgt. Jeremy Lane testified Friday morning that one of the problems with Tavares' Jan. 7, 2011 arrest—in which RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler was videotaped kicking Tavares in...

UPDATE: 4:30 p.m. Nov. 29 An expert in police use of force said Const. Geoff Mantler's kick to Buddy Tavares' head was inappropriate and one of many mistakes Mantler made during the Jan. 7, 2011 arrest. Sgt. Jeremy Lane, who works in the Abbotsford Police Department and teaches classes in many areas of police training,...

A third RCMP officer in the last two days testified that Buddy Tavares' movements before he was kicked by Const. Geoff Mantler were cause for concern. While viewing enhanced still photos from the videotape of the incident, Const. Brent Wilson told a B.C. Provincial Court judge Thursday that Tavares' slow body movements, inconsistent compliance to...