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Kamloops news

Kamloops girl’s life cut short by abuse and neglect

KAMLOOPS - In a lengthy report documenting the plight of a young aboriginal girl failed by several bureaucracies, a critic says apathy, incomplete reports and inaction from  ministry workers were significant contributors to a Kamloops girl's continual homelessness and eventual death at 19 years of age in the squalor of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Representative for...

More B.C. wildfire personnel headed to Alberta

KAMLOOPS - Forty-one B.C. wildfire personnel, including two unit crews and an agency representative, will join the 88 others deployed earlier this week to fight wildfires in Alberta.  Crews will be stationed in Edmonton, but could be deployed elsewhere throughout that province based on fire activity and need. Along with 129 personnel, B.C. sent two...

Those red light cameras? Apparently they work pretty well

THOMSON-OKANAGAN - There’s no question drivers run red lights on the highways and byways of the Southern Interior but compared to the Lower Mainland, they’re amateurs. A story this week in the Vancouver Sun shows the worst 25 intersections for red-light running out of the 140 intersections where ICBC operates red-light cameras account for more...

Southern Interior water beat by Chilliwack in tap water taste test

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Waterworks staff in the Okanagan and Kamloops will be drowning their sorrows tonight after losing out to Chilliwack in a tap water taste test which wouldn’t have looked out of place at a winery. “It’s a clear winner,” joked Tanja McQueen, CEO of the B.C.Water and Waste Association, who hosted the tasting and...

Dead bear wrapped in tarp found in Kamloops alley

KAMLOOPS – A dead bear, wrapped in a tarp, was found in a back alley in downtown Kamloops earlier this week. The bear was found Monday, May 25, in an alleyway near First Avenue, between Nicola Street and Battle Street. Stephanie Patsula was walking home when she saw what she describes as 'a corpse…all wrapped...

Local bands seek musical peak in B.C. contest

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Two bands from the Thompson-Okanagan are in the running for the musical opportunity of a lifetime. This year’s chosen dozen for the Peak Performance Project include Vernon-based artist Windmills, and Kamloops-based Van Damsel, the only musicians from the B.C. Interior. The rest of the Top 12 are dominated by artists in the Lower Mainland...

Nine salmonella victims in B.C. Interior contracted from live chicks

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The Interior Health Authority is bearing the brunt of a B.C. salmonellosis outbreak connected to live poultry distributed from a hatchery in Alberta. The health authority has dealt with nine of 13 confirmed cases within the province and one of the two that required hospitalization, according to Althea Hayden, a public health physician....

Laundry privatization decision expected this summer

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Hospital Employee Union members who filled the Interior Health Authority board meeting yesterday to show their concern about laundry service privatization got a polite but firm message from chairman Erwin Malzer. “Thank you very much for bringing your concerns to us but no decision will be made until we receive the request for...

Aboriginal health strategy hopes to improve care outcomes

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Tailoring healthcare for the 54,000 First Nations living within the Interior Health Authority will improve the quality of life and health outcomes and ultimately save money by reducing the need for services amongst a population that is overrepresented within the system. That’s the message behind the aboriginal health and wellness strategy adopted yesterday...

Campapalooza campacacancelled

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – A first-of-its kind event that gives parents a chance to get a taste of all the different summer camp options in one place has been cancelled. Campapalooza was to be held at Okanagan College May 30, but according to their website has been 'postponed until April 2016.' The event would have brought together...

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...

Slide the City registration opens for Kamloops

KAMLOOPS - Want to take a run at the long slip and slide set to grace part of Hillside Drive this summer? Registration opens today, Tuesday, May 26. Slide the City, an American company that tours North America with a giant Slip ’n Slide, will be stopping in about a dozen Canadian cities this summer....

UPDATE: Southern Interior severe thunderstorm watch expanded

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Environment Canada has expanded its severe thunderstorm watch to include the South Thompson, North Thompson and Nicola regions, including the city of Kamloops. The original watch issued early this morning, May 24, covered the Okanagan, Shuswap and Boundary regions, including Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon and Salmon Arm. Forecasters say conditions are favourable for the...

UPDATE: Fatal crash on Trans Canada west of Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – One person was killed in a rollover on Highway 1 in the Cherry Creek area west of Kamloops early this morning. RCMP say the pickup truck rolled at about 2:45 a.m., May 23, near Beaton Road. “Passing motorists discovered a pickup truck resting on its roof in the centre of the highway,” Sgt....

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...

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...

You have a few more months to register your off-road vehicle

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Good news for the estimated 200,000 trail riders across the province as the government has pushed the deadline to register off-road vehicles from June 1 to Nov. 1. According to a press release sent Wednesday, May 20, the deadline change will give users more time to prepare for the mandatory registration as well...

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...

Date set for Slide the City in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS - The chance to pick up a ticket for this summer's epic slip 'n slide event is coming soon.  The first Slide the City Kamloops will take place Saturday, July 18, and ticket registration opens Tuesday, May 26. The family-friendly event will feature food, drinks, live music and a 1,000-foot water slide covering Hillside...

Proposed regulations could see motorized boats disappear from the Shuswap River

SHUSWAP - Proposed regulations could mean the end for motorized boats on much of the Shuswap River.  The reasoning behind the proposal is environmental degradation and the safety of other river users, such as tubers, swimmers and kayakers, says the North Okanagan Regional District’s sustainability coordinator Anna Page.  The proposed regulations would ban motorized boats...

Hot weather ahead for the Thompson-Okanagan

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Dig out your sunscreen and your flip-flops because B.C.’s Interior is in for some unseasonably hot weather over the coming week. Although the average temperature for the region is in the low 20s from Kamloops all the way south to Penticton, residents can look forward to highs of 29 C with only occasional...

Check out all your summer camps before you sign up

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – A first-of-its-kind kid’s camp expo coming to a community near you is your chance to get a taste of all the fun activities available to keep your little ones busy all summer long. Campapalooza is a chance to meet counsellors and see what all the great summer camps offer for toddlers to teens...