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Kelowna news
Ride share website now includes Kelowna
KELOWNA – Uber, the rideshare website popular across the world, has some Vancouver-based competition if it ever shows up in Kelowna. The website for Hitch Planet claims it already has 10,000 customers in 70 B.C. locations. Users post details of the trip they expect to make and are automatically connected with “hitchers” who are willing...
Discarded butt sparks garage fire
KELOWNA – A small fire at a garage in Kelowna was out by the time firefighters arrived this morning. Platoon captain Kelly Stephens says a discarded cigarette in a planter pot started the fire around 11:14 a.m., April 16, at 540 Cridge Rd. in Rutland. The fire scorched the outside of the garage door before...
Two Okanagan wind farms get green light
OKANAGAN – The first wind farms ever built in the Okanagan will be producing electricity by 2016. Agreements between B.C. Hydro and Zero Emission Energy Development have been inked for wind farms west of Summerland and west of Kelowna, according to a media release from the B.C. Liberal caucus. The White Rock-based company will be...
Hunt on for Orchard Park Mall suspicious package suspect
KELOWNA – RCMP need your help to find the man who allegedly left a suspicious package at Sears in the Orchard Park Mall forcing an evacuation and a call to the bomb squad. RCMP say the mall was cleared out at yesterday afternoon when a Sears' employee found a suspicious package and contacted mall security...
School bus users could bear the brunt as Central Okanagan school trustees balance budget
KELOWNA - Central Okanagan school board trustees got their first look at recommendations on how to cut $1.3-million from next year’s $117-million budget last night. Chief amongst the recommendations from district staff is the doubling of the $100 annual fee for kids who use the school board’s bus system, an increase that will raise $400,000,...
Rockets lose to Victoria; can win at home
VICTORIA - The Victoria Royals defeated the Kelowna Rockets 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday night in Victoria, extending the team's 2nd round WHL playoff series to a fifth game. Greg Chase scored the game winning goal 5:30 into overtime to give the Royals the win, completing a comeback as the Rockets led 4-2 heading to...
UPDATE: Orchard Park Mall evacuated due to suspicious package
KELOWNA - Orchard Park Mall was evacuated at around 2 p.m. today, April 15, because of what police say is "a suspicious package" and the mall will be closed for the remainder of the day. RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Joe Duncan says people should stay away from the mall and the surrounding area. The Explosive Disposal...
No injuries as fire destroys garage in downtown Kelowna
KELOWNA - The Kelowna Fire Department responded in force this morning to a garage fire on Laurier Avenue in downtown Kelowna. When they arrived, firefighters found thick black smoke and visible flames shooting from the garage’s interior. They were able to extinguish the blaze before it spread to the house, but the garage and contents...
Kelowna to review prayer policy after Supreme Court ruling bans them at public meetings
KELOWNA - A ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada about conducting prayers at public meetings has prompted the City of Kelowna to review its own council procedures bylaw. While there are no prayers given at regular council meetings, deputy city clerk Karen Needham says a prayer is offered at the public hearings held every...
Story of former Cap News publisher battling newspaper barons hits bookshelves
KELOWNA - A lot of people have heard the story of the rise and fall of Conrad Black and David Radler but not many will know that one of the first threads in the unravelling of their media empire Hollinger Inc. was pulled here in Kelowna. That sordid tale is laid out in A Costly...
Rockets lead series 3-0
KELOWNA - The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Victoria Royals 4-2 on Tuesday night in Victoria, taking a three game lead in the second round the Western Hockey League playoffs. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist as four different Rockets scored in the win, the first of two straight games in Victoria. Kelowna scored...
Remembering Const. Neil Bruce 50 years after his murder
WEST KELOWNA - The death of Const. Neil Bruce, 50 years ago today, was similar to what Kamloops experienced in 1962 or Mayerthorpe in 2005; the murder of local RCMP officers and the shocking realization for local residents that the men and women who serve and protect our communities can also end up as victims...
Robbery starts in bank, ends in bathroom
WEST KELOWNA - RCMP have arrested two men in connection with the robbery of the CIBC branch on Louie Drive in West Kelowna yesterday afternoon. RCMP spokesman Cpl. Joe Duncan said in a press release that a man walked into the bank at 2000 Louie Dr. on Monday, April 13, threatened a teller and demanded...
Kelowna Flightcraft rebrands with new name
KELOWNA – Kelowna Flightcraft is getting a facelift with a new name meant to encompass the wide variety of services the company offers. The new name — KF Aerospace — along with the new logo and look better encompass the breadth of services the company offers, including air cargo operations, aircraft leasing, maintenance and engineering...
Tourism continues to thrive in Central Okanagan
KELOWNA - It was a banner year for tourism in Kelowna, with both occupancy and revenue up at local hotels, a key indicator of a successful season. Tourism Kelowna president Nancy Cameron told Kelowna council Monday afternoon the number of room nights in local hotels and motels was up four per cent while revenue from...
Centre of Gravity music lineup announced
KELOWNA – The music lineup for the largest sports and music festival in the Okanagan has just been announced and features some of the biggest names in music. Hit makers like Diplo, Knife Party and Flo Rida will be joined by Erica Dee, Tre Funk, Emotionz, The Funk Hunters, Delhi 2 Dublin, Kytami, SkiiTour and...
Airport names former Kelowna mayor and councillor to advisory committee
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The group that advises Canada’s largest municipally-run airport will soon be joined by a couple of new faces familiar to people in the Central Okanagan. Kelowna’s former mayor Walter Gray and former city councillor Andre Blanleil, along with industry representative Meryle Corbett were all appointed to four-year terms on the Kelowna Internnational Airport...
Old dynamite blown up by RCMP bomb squad in Kelowna
KELOWNA – Several sticks of dynamite found in Kelowna’s Joe Rich area on Sunday have been destroyed, but the police are concerned there may be more of the explosive out there. RCMP say they were called to the 8000-block of Sun Valley Road around 6:05 a.m., April 12 to a report of found explosives. “Police...
VIDEO: Surprise marriage proposal at Rockets playoff game
KELOWNA – Rockets fans got more than a playoff win in a close game this weekend, they also got to witness a marriage proposal in the stands. Peter, who is seen sitting next to a woman identified as Karen, had front row seats for game two of the second round of playoffs Saturday night, April...
Construction and new demand in downtown Kelowna creating parking crunch
KELOWNA - Development in downtown Kelowna is surging, putting a premium on parking spaces, and forcing the city to come up with a plan to deal with perceived shortages over the next three years. Kelowna city council will hear from parking manager Dave Duncan today who prepared the interim parking strategy based on a report...
Forestry crew mopping up wildfire near Okanagan Connector
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – A human-caused wildfire sparked south of the Okanagan Connector Saturday afternoon is being mopped up by a Wildfire Management crew today. Fire information officer Kayla Pepper says an initial attack crew of 13 firefighters responded to the blaze which grew to 11-hectares in size near Starshine Way Road, north of Missezula Lake yesterday...
WHL PLAYOFFS: Kelowna Rockets edge Royals in OT
KELOWNA - The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Victoria Royals 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night in Kelowna as Tyson Baillie played the hero, scoring twice including the overtime game winner to give the Rockets a two-games-to-nothing series lead on Victoria. Baillie converted a cross ice pass from Leon Draisaitl just 58 seconds into overtime to...
More snow falling on Coq and Hope-Princeton
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – A dump of snow on the Coquihalla and the Hope-Princeton highways overnight is being following with another heavy snowfall today. A vigorous cold front passed through the Southwest Interior overnight dropping 10 to 15 centimetres of snow on the Coquihalla Summit and the Allison Pass, according to a Special Weather Statement from Environment...
CONCERT REVIEW: Whitehorse “Leave No Bridge Unburned”
KELOWNA - Bouncing onto the stage a-clutter with a mess of old tube amplifiers, drums and other music-making machines, the unknowing might have been forgiven for thinking that Melissa McClelland and husband Luke Doucet had left the rest of the band stranded at a motel along the way to windy Kelowna last night. But the...