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Kelowna news
Cracks were showing in Westbank First Nation’s private hospital plan last year
WESTBANK FIRST NATION - Despite assertions from the partners behind Canada’s first for-profit private hospital that it is proceeding as planned, documents show the deal to develop the Lake Okanagan Wellness Centre was in disarray last year. When it became clear in October 2014 that Ad Vitam Health Care was out of money and unable...
UPDATE: Two Kelowna Rockets picked in NHL entry draft
KELOWNA - Kelowna Rockets forward Nick Merkley and defenceman Devante Stephens are NHL Draft picks after the conclusion of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. After Merkley was a first round selection by the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night, at 30th overall, defenceman Devante Stephens was drafted on Saturday morning during the conclusion of the draft. Stephens...
UPDATE: Highway between Merritt and Spences Bridge reopens following rock slide
MERRITT - The highway between Spences Bridge and Merritt has reopened completely following a rock slide yesterday afternoon. According to Drive B.C., the slide took place around 12 p.m. June 26 on Highway 8, at Voght Street, about 45 kilometres west of Merritt. It originially blocked traffic in both directions about 45 kilometres west of...
Heat wave continues though not as hot has originally forecast
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – While it will still be hot this weekend, it won’t be has hot as first forecast by Environment Canada. The Special Weather Statement issued on Thursday, June 25, for the South and North Thompson, Nicola, Shuswap and Okanagan warning of temperatures as high at 40 Celsius has been ended. Meteorologists are still forecasting...
Kelowna Mountie injures himself with own gun
KELOWNA - An RCMP officer is under investigation after he somehow shot himself with his own gun. This incident occurred around 6:10 p.m. tonight, June 26, when the officer was responding to a break and enter in progress, according to a release by RCMP Sgt. Mona Kauffeld. "During the response, the police officer's firearm discharged,...
Mother of boy run over by van says he is out of intensive care
KELOWNA – The 8-year-old boy run over by a work van in his West Kelowna neighbourhood earlier this week is out of the Intensive Care Unit at B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver. Jonah Pevach was airlifted to Vancouver after he was allegedly run over by an employee of Abstract Design and Painting the evening of...
UPDATE: Crews battle grass fire in East Kelowna
KELOWNA - Firefighters have put out a grass fire in East Kelowna this afternoon. Fire crews were called at about 3 p.m., June 26, to a fire on a slope above the 3000-block of Pooley Road near McCulloch Road Platoon captain Kelly Stephens says the blaze grew to about 350 feet by 300 feet before...
Big White Ski Resort not big enough
KELOWNA – Big White Ski Resort, one of the largest in B.C., is not quite big enough to qualify as a municipality. At least not yet. For the last year the Big White Chamber of Commerce has been actively investigating the possibility of becoming a Mountain Resort Municipality, similar to Sun Peaks Resort in Kamloops....
Kelowna crack dealer busted by officer who lived in same building loses appeal
KELOWNA – A Kelowna man arrested after an investigator who lived in his apartment building saw him selling drugs, has had his appeal dismissed in a Vancouver court. Peter Andrew Webster was arrested in the elevator of his building Dec. 16, 2008, after a surveillance team saw him hand a plastic bag to another man...
Canada Day fireworks still a go in Kelowna despite fire danger
KELOWNA – The annual Canada Day fireworks in Tugboat Bay will go ahead as planned despite the extreme risk of fire issued by Wildfire B.C. Festivals Kelowna executive director Renata Mills says one of the benefits of holding the celebration over Okanagan Lake is dry conditions don’t put forests or structures at risk. “The obvious...
Local musician needs your help to win Aboriginal Music Award
KELOWNA – A singer-songwriter from West Kelowna has been nominated in two categories for an international music award this week. Kelly Margaret Derrickson, daughter of Grand Chief Ron Derrickson, found out Wednesday, June 24, the Indigenous Music Awards had nominated her for Best New Artist and Best Music Video. The video, Idle No More, is...
Stalled private hospital has Westbank band members, police asking questions about finances
FUNDING COLLAPSE; RECALL CAMPAIGN WESTBANK FIRST NATION - Canada’s first private, for-profit hospital, slated for development on Westbank First Nation land, has stalled amid lost venture capital funding and criminal allegations and the political fallout could claim the band’s chief and councillors. The Lake Okanagan Wellness Centre is a project the band announced with much...
Central Okanagan amongst the leaders in wildfire fuel reduction in B.C.
KELOWNA - The B.C. Forest Practices Board is praising Kelowna’s wildfire fuel mitigation efforts as amongst the most advanced in the province even as it criticizes the overall lack of progress in B.C. in protecting urban interface areas. “Today, Kelowna is an example of what communities can do to protect themselves. B.C. has been lucky...
UPDATE: Missing Lake Country woman found
LAKE COUNTRY - A missing 81-year-old woman has been found alive and well in Lake Country this afternoon. Const. Kris Clark says Norma Bowman was found near the Aspen Grove Golf Course in Lake Country. She had been last seen at her home near Swalwell Park yesterday, June 24. Clark says Bowman is alive and...
Woman who went missing in Okanagan bush has outstanding warrants
PEACHLAND - The Winnipeg woman who went missing for more than a week and then was found by two men checking on livestock on an old logging road near Peachland is due for a court appearance in Manitoba. Kara Jo Leigh Stoyanowksi, 24, went missing for nine days after she left a recreational area near...
What’s happening at Mushroom Beach?
KELOWNA – Mushroom Beach in Kelowna means something different to everyone. To some it’s a peaceful mecca of freedom, where music fills the air, police look the other way when it comes to drug use, and clothing is optional. To residents in the area however, it’s percieved as a growing danger to their children, homes...
Forecast heat wave prompts warning for people to be prepared
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Hot desert air moving into the Southern Interior this weekend is behind a Special Weather Statement warning people to get ready. Record breaking high temperatures of 40 Celsius are forecast for Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28, in the South Thompson, Nicola and South Okanagan. In the statement, issued today, June 25,...
Police-themed party gets surprise police visit
PRINCE GEORGE - Police-themed birthday parties are all the rage with young boys, often complete with badges and hats, but not all young boys get to have actual cops at their birthday party too. When Cpl. Dave Tyreman found out four-year-old Capper was hosting a police-themed birthday party on June 20 he decided to roll...
Magic of Enchanted Forest put new owner under its spell
REVELSTOKE - The Enchanted Forest had its new owners spellbound from the first time they saw the woodland wonderland many years ago. The roadside amusement park located between Sicamous and Revelstoke on the Trans Canada Highway has, for the fifth time in its 55 years, changed hands, but longtime visitors need not fear any drastic changes;...
Safety levels at Kamloops jail questioned by union chair after violent assault on corrections officer
KAMLOOPS – A union chair is calling on the province to offer staff more protective…
Second assault at Kamloops jail this week
KAMLOOPS - Emergency personnel were on scene at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre for an inmate assault this morning, June 24. Dean Purdy, chair of the corrections and sheriffs services component of the B.C. Government and Service Employee’s Union, says an ambulance and fire truck arrived at the jail this morning. “The inmate-on-inmate violence occurs...
No fireworks and possibly no campfires allowed this weekend
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Without a significant amount of rainfall Tuesday night, the Southern Interior could see a fire danger rating of ‘extreme’ by the start of the weekend. And that could mean no campfires on the weekend before Canada Day. Kelsey Winter of B.C. Wildfire says the fire danger rating in the Kamloops Fire Centre, which...
B.C. sending more firefighters out-of-province
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - B.C. is answering a request for assistance from the Yukon, sending 31 firefighters there to help fight wildfires. According to B.C. Wildfire, the request was made through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, responsible for coordinating sharing of firefighting personnel and resources with other jurisdictions. B.C. just sent 21 firefighters, four fixed wing...
New Kelowna subdivision to be built on city’s first green street
KELOWNA – A new subdivision on the city’s first green street was officially launched today, June 23. Okanagan developer AJH Development announced today the launch of Parkside at Clifton Road, Kelowna’s newest subdivision and the city’s first green street. Located on 341 Clifton Rd., 13 contemporary-designed homes will be constructed at the edge of Blair...