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Shannon Quesnel
Penticton fighter headlines MMA fight on Friday
PENTICTON - Local mixed martial artist Clay Davidson fights with former Ultimate Fighter Kalib Axel Starnes as the main event for the Five Star Fight League Barefoot Beach Battle on Friday. League owner and former amateur boxer Justin Donally said this will be the first time his league competes in Penticton and so far the...
Baby steps needed to change ancient liquor laws
If the province wants to take inefficient liquor laws off the menu it needs to take baby steps, according to a restaurant advocate. Change is great but it is going to take time, British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association CEO Ian Tostenson said. The province wants to overhaul what it calls "outdated" liquor regulations by...
Kelowna nurse wins Infotel prize, gets laptop for Penticton home
PENTICTON - Ignoring one little email might have cost Dean Valouch his prize of a new MacBook Pro from Infotel. The licensed practical nurse remembers someone told him about email he hadn't checked out. "I didn't open it up right away," he said. He was happy and surprised when he did. He was hand-delivered a...
UPDATE: Chute Lake wildfire contained
UPDATE: 12:10 p.m. July 20, 2013 KELOWNA/PENTICTON - The only wildfire burning in the Kamloops Fire Centre is under control. Fire Information Officer Michaela Swan says the 1.9 hectare fire east of Chute Lake is 100% contained and fully guarded. “We do suspect it is a lightning caused fire from the thunderstorm that moved through...
Scientific community debunks chemtrail conspiracy theory
OKANAGAN - Fraudulent letters about so-called chemtrails have been seen in the Okanagan this past week. Kelowna, West Kelowna and Penticton residents have seen distributed letters, some with city letterhead, with warnings of unidentified planes spraying chemicals over the three communities. City officials have said the letters are fakes. So-called chemtrails are part of a...
UPDATE: Fake chemtrail letters released in West Kelowna and Penticton
UPDATE: 4:48 p.m. July 17, 2013 The City of Kelowna has verified a fraudulent letter warning residents about toxic chemtrails has been distributed to local residents. Communications supervisor, Jodie Foster Sexsmith told Infotel News the city is aware of the letters and has contacted the Ministry of the Environment about them, to let them know...
Stormy U.S. weather heads to Okanagan
OKANAGAN - Wet and stormy weather is flying up from the deserts south of the border into the Okanagan. B.C. meteorologist Doug Lundquist said Arizona and other southwest desert regions in the United States are going through their monsoon season. That moisture has made its way up through California and into southern B.C. This means...
Latvian takes Granfondo 2013’s top prize
PENTICTON - Andzs Flaksis of Latvia won Sunday's biggest bicycle race, a 160-kilometre long journey, in three hours, 55 minutes and 13 seconds. He competed in the granfondo portion of the 2013 Granfondo Axel Merckx Okanagan cycling event. More than 2,500 riders came out to compete on Penticton's streets and Okanagan Valley highways. Clayton Meisner...
Extra caution urged in hot, dry weather
PENTICTON - Drying forest fuels and grasslands means fire danger ratings are likely to increase across most of B.C. The ratings are mostly moderate or low, but are already high in some areas, B.C. Wildfire states. Small campfires are permitted throughout the province so long as campers follow campfire rules. Campers should check if there...
Heatstroke, death possible results of leaving animals in cars
PENTICTON - A dog can have brain damage if left in a hot car for 10 minutes but knowing that isn't going to stop people from leaving their pets in vehicles. "The overriding thing is no matter how much information we put out, no matter how much we publicize this... it's been happening already," South...
B.C. health ministry to patch holes in medical record security
B.C.'s health ministry was ordered by the province's information commissioner to improve its privacy controls following three huge data breaches involving the personal records of millions of British Columbians. B.C. Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham reported on Wednesday the health ministry was given 11 security recommendations to better safeguard medical data. This was the result of...
Gated communities hit and miss with emergency services
GATES CAN ALSO KEEP OUT POLICE, EMERGENCY SERVICES PENTICTON — Gated communities of the South…
Penticton RCMP make historic PCP bust Thursday
Three Kelowna residents were busted in Penticton Thursday for PCP possession. Two men and a woman were arrested on the 300 block of Riverside Drive. Officers nabbed one male with a "substantial" amount of PCP. He was released and its anticipated he'll be charged later with trafficking and possession. What is unusual is the PCP...
UPDATE: Penticton school board transferred student at sex offender’s request
A now-convicted child sex offender fooled school board officials into approving the transfer of one of his victims from one school to another so the boy could live with him. According to the boy's father, Rene Mark Burke walked into the Okanagan-Skaha School District office in Penticton in August 2011 to seek permission to transfer...
New family law tougher, more protection for children
By Shannon Quesnel The new B.C. Family Law Act has more teeth to protect women and children caught in abusive relationships and that's good news, according to two staff members at the South Okanagan Women in Need Society. Executive director Eleanor Summer said a restraining order placed against one spouse was formerly enforced through the...