B.C.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – The BC Coroners Service has named three members of an extended family as victims in a crash on the Coquihalla Highway near Kamloops.

MAPLE RIDGE, B.C. – Mounties say they have recommended a sexual assault charge against a 61-year-old Maple Ridge, B.C., man has been convicted of similar offences.

BURNABY, B.C. – Future Shop and Best Buy Canada are looking to hire 50 new IT professionals, a move that will increase the IT staffing team for both retailers by 70 per cent this year.

RICHMOND, B.C. – MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (TSX:MDA) says it has signed a multi-million dollar contract to provide satellite information to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

RICHMOND, B.C. – Catalyst Paper says it has begun a sale process for its Snowflake paper mill in Arizona.

VICTORIA – Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang says he’ll use a couple props from his mother’s closet today to kick off his campaign to ban the sale and trade of shark fins in much of the Lower Mainland and to show the ban isn’t an effort to demonize anyone.

VANCOUVER – The first water-dropping helicopter was en route to a fast-moving forest fire in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley nearly half an hour after it was first reported, according to a timeline compiled by the provincial government, which says an initial review has found the response was fast and well co-ordinated.

NORTH GALIANO ISLAND, B.C. – Boss the German shepherd learned the hard way that he wasn’t in charge when it came to protecting his property from an invading raccoon.

VANCOUVER – City councillors in Vancouver want to discuss the closure of a local coast guard station with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

KELOWNA, B.C. – Officials in one Okanagan community have been forced to close a section of a regional park because of encounters between hikers and an aggressive mother bear.

VANCOUVER – B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO) and CGA Mining Ltd. (TSX:CGA) are planning to merge in a deal they value at $1.1 billion. Shareholders of Vancouver-based B2Gold will own about 62 per cent of the combined company. The share-swap arrangement values each CGA share at about $3.18, based on market prices before the announcement. The friendly agreement will require various approvals.

VANCOUVER – A firebug may have struck again in Vancouver’s Stanley Park.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Canada Border Services officials are travelling to Kamloops, B.C., to speak to four people after a possible security breach at the Canada/U.S. border south of Vancouver.

VANCOUVER – For eleven months, Lia Cosco had a place to call home in Vancouver — all 26 square metres of it.

VANCOUVER – Western Wind Energy Corp. (TSXV:WND) says 14 potential buyers of the company and all its assets have been given access to a data room, which has been set up to facilitate the sale of the company and all its assets.

VANCOUVER – Two grieving parents are working with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association to form a support group for the families and friends of those killed or seriously injured by police.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Firefighters are often pressed to rescue animals from some strange situations, but a call to a Kamloops, B.C., schoolyard has to be near the top of the oddity list.

VANCOUVER – Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO) said Thursday it has formally submitted its environmental impact statement for its New Prosperity project in B.C.

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – B.C. Supreme Court Justice Glen Parrett says the Crown should consider if charges are warranted against the RCMP in Prince George, B.C., after investigators left a dead body overnight at the scene of a killing.