Kelowna news
Plan your route around local road closures this weekend
KELOWNA - Locals drivers should take note of some short-term road closings that could affect travel plans. Sexsmith Road will closed at 5 p.m. today to make way for crews installing sewer upgrades for a new commercial development. The closing affects the segment of Sexsmith between Cambro and Campion Roads. A detour is available via...
Gas rupture forces people out of their homes in Glenmore
KELOWNA – Road blocks were up in Glenmore and homes evacuated as crews dealt with a natural gas leak this afternoon. RCMP say an excavator hit a natural gas line in a backyard on Valley Road just south of Kane Road. Police cordoned off the area, evacuating the people from four homes and closing Valley...
And the survey says… life is good in Kelowna
KELOWNA - If you consider yourself pretty much an average Kelownian, then you’re also pretty much satisfied with your life in the city. That’s the conclusion of the most recent citizens survey, released Friday, April 10. “We are generally encourage by the survey results,” city communications supervisor Jodie Foster Sexsmith says. She believes the key...
Open access media policy pays off for city
KELOWNA - The 2015 citizens survey is due out in a couple of weeks and the city is expecting to do as good or better in most categories. But city officials might be surprised to find they’re doing great in a category they don’t even measure — communications with the media. While journalists love to...
UPDATE: Suspicious car fires at Boyd’s under investigation
KELOWNA - A blaze at an autobody shop was one of two arson fires in Kelowna early this morning. RCMP say around 2:50 a.m., today, April 10, firefighters put out four burning cars at Boyd’s Autobody and Glass in the 1900 block of Dayton Street. A second fire on Bedford Avenue damaged a camper. “Police...
Faulty landing gear light causes anxious moments at Kelowna Airport
KELOWNA - A faulty landing gear indicator light on a light plane landing at Kelowna Airport this morning had emergency crews on standby. “We had a Piper Cherokee, which is a small aircraft, coming in. It only had one person onboard,” Kelowna International Airport spokesperson Jenelle Hynes. “They had contacted the tower because there was...
Wildfire fuel reduction critical as risk on the rise in West Kelowna
WEST KELOWNA - If you see smoke coming from up Bear Creek in the next few weeks, it’s likely not a raging wildfire. What you’re seeing is actually a fuel mitigation program designed to stop a raging wildfire from starting in the first place. “What you see behind me is what keeps firefighters awake at...
Kelowna kitchen fire damages home
KELOWNA - Firefighters were able to keep a fire contained to the kitchen of a Bouvette Street home Wednesday night but the resulting smoke caused damage throughout the home. The Kelowna Fire Department responded to a call of a fire in a kitchen in a single family residence Wednesday, April 8. In total three engines,...
Full time cashier convicted of stealing $24K in social assistance
GOING TO THE MINISTRY OFFICE MADE HER FEEL "WORTHLESS" KELOWNA – A Kelowna cashier is awaiting sentencing for fraud after collecting and spending close to $24,000 in social assistance while working full time because she was “finally living like everyone else.” According to a March 30 judgment by Judge Ellen Burdett, Theresa Derworiz, who has...
Kelowna man arrested for attempted robbery and purse snatching
KELOWNA – A Kelowna man was arrested Saturday afternoon for attempting to rob a grocery store, snatching a purse at Costco and then running from police. At around 1:30 p.m. April 4, police were called to Safeway on Highway 97. According to Cpl. Joe Duncan of the Kelowna RCMP, the man entered the store and...
Cash deposit stolen from Superstore Gas Bar
WEST KELOWNA – Police are asking for help from the public in identifying a man believed to have stolen cash from a gas station Monday afternoon. According to a release from Cpl. Joe Duncan, a suspicious man was seen 'hanging around' the Westbank Superstore Gas Bar around 12:45 p.m., April 6. “When the store attendant...
Kelowna woman found dead identified
KELOWNA – A woman found dead in her Glenmore home last week has been identified. Police found the body of Jacqueline Elizabeth Abaku, 31, in her home in Glenview Gardens around 3:45 p.m. March 31. Police spent most of the day questioning neighbours, but have not released her cause of death. According to a high...
Aircraft with engine out lands safely at Kelowna Airport
KELOWNA – All the sirens in Kelowna’s north end over the lunch hour were fire crews heading to the airport as a precaution for the “unscheduled” landing of an aircraft with one of its engines out. The pilot of a Dash 8, twin-engine turbo prop notified the tower at the Kelowna Airport at around 12:15...
Double days off at Easter? You either got it or you don’t
KELOWNA - Other than politics and religion, is there anything that divides us more than who gets two days off at Easter and who doesn’t? Is there anything more confusing? Who gets time off around Easter pretty much comes down to the haves and the have-nots. If you’re just a regular working stiff, working 9...
Police seek information on suspected arson in Rutland
KELOWNA - An early-morning fire that significantly damaged a townhouse on Kneller Road on the weekend may have been arson. The occupants of the townhouse were home when the fire started just after midnight, March 29, but managed to escape unharmed. A Kelowna Fire Department crew extinguished the fire shortly after arriving, but not before...