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Kelowna

Kelowna area kokanee runs looking strong despite warm, low water

KELOWNA – While many rivers and streams around B.C. are seeing below-average numbers of salmon spawning as a result of warmer temperatures and lower water levels, Mission Creek Regional Park staff say their salmon numbers are higher than they’ve been in two years. Park interpreter Nicole Kittmer says they currently have around 6,000 salmon in...

Put your best paw forward this weekend and help stop animal abuse

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – This weekend thousands of animal lovers from across the Thompson-Okanagan will help stop animal abuse simply by walking their dogs. For more than a decade, residents of cities across the province have laced up their sneakers for the Scotiabank and BCSPCA Paws for a Cause Walk. Manager of the Kelowna SPCA Suzanne Pugh...

West Kelowna mom says B.C. Transit is preventing her from filing complaint

KELOWNA – A local mother says B.C. Transit has brushed aside her complaints one of their drivers verbally abused her and another was driving dangerously. Carrie Watson, 43, had just left an event at the Parkinson Recreation Centre with her five-year-old daughter the evening of Aug. 29. They boarded the 97 bus headed downtown where...

ELECTION 2015: What does voting got to do with dancing?

KELOWNA - A young voter from Kelowna is determined to put the party back in politics by holding a free youth voter registration dance party. “They’ve been talking for 40 years about how the youth vote is declining and young people are not getting out to vote any more. I’m active in my culture and...

Okanagan church group spends $60k to bring family from Syria

KELOWNA – Three local churches who spent $60,000 to bring a family from to Kelowna from Syria this summer are raising funds to bring even more refugees from the civil war-torn country. For 30 years the Central Okanagan Refugee Committee have rescued families and individuals from countries afflicted with famine, wars and disease. Six months...

Bear sighting on Knox Mountain prompts warning from city

KELOWNA - A bear sighting in Knox Mountain Park has prompted a warning from the City of Kelowna. Bears are not unusual in the park at this time of year, the city says in a media release, and signs are in place to warn park users. Park services manager Ian Wilson says people should respect...

Near-record heat this weekend in the Okanagan

OKANAGAN - After a week of near-normal high temperatures the mercury is expected to again hit the 30 Celsius mark throughout the region this weekend. Environment Canada is calling for highs of 29 C and 30 C today, Sept. 11, and Saturday throughout the Okanagan, well above the seasonal normal high of 21 C. The...

More than 30,000 Kelowna students find their seats this week

CENTRAL OKANAGAN - Thousands of students found their way to new classrooms this week as school resumed at all levels. UBC Okanagan says some 8,400 students began classes this week, while several thousand more started at Okanagan College and another 22,000 started grade school in the Central Okanagan School District. In a press release, UBCO says...

Etsy craft market coming to Kelowna

KELOWNA - For the second year in a row, Kelowna crafters can get their Etsy fix in real life, instead of through a computer. On Sept. 26, Etsy: Made in Canada will be at Sandhill Winery for a free crafters market featuring handmade items from more than 30 Canadian artisans. Last year roughly 3,000 people...

UPDATE: Kelowna man missing for three weeks has been found

KELOWNA - A 57-year-old man last seen Aug. 20 has now been found. — This story was updated at 7:14 p.m. to report that he was found. Previous information about him and his vehicle has been removed. To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an...

CBC’s Ron MacLean bringing Hometown Hockey Tour to Penticton

PENTICTON - Kamloops won’t be the only Interior community celebrating the National Hockey League with Ron MacLean this season; Penticton has been named one of the stops on the second annual Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour. The tour will make 24 stops this year, four in B.C., and features NHL alumni, hometown heroes and local entertainment...

Big Brother Canada stars spend the weekend in Peachland

KELOWNA - Stars of the Canadian version of the TV game show Big Brother were in Peachland over the weekend, meeting fans and signing autographs. Davis Cove Lakeshore Resort manager Shelley Peach originally arranged for 13 houseguests to come to her resort after missing an opportunity to meet them in Vancouver in the spring. She...

Man killed in Merritt crash named

MERRITT - A 32-year-old man from Surrey died when the vehicle he was in hit a rock bluff near Merritt last week. Jesse Dan Dietz was a passenger in a pickup truck that left the roadway and hit a rock bluff on Highway 5 near Merritt around 8 a.m. on Aug. 31, according to the...

Kamloops and Kelowna among top places in Canada for job seekers

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Kamloops and Kelowna have managed to crack the top-20 in a survey noting 50 of the hottest local job markets in Canada. Express Employment Professionals, a staffing agency with operations in Canada, the U.S. and South Africa, released its second annual Top 50 Hot Job Markets survey this week. The survey looks at the number...

ELECTION 2015: Liberal Fuhr says air force experience will help in political dogfight

KELOWNA - It was logic honed by 20 years in the air force that brought Stephen Fuhr to where he is today; federal Liberal candidate in Kelowna-Lake Country. “It was the F-35 program that got me involved in big P politics,” Fuhr says, noting he voted Conservative before then. “When I heard two cabinet ministers...

Stolen Lake Country boat and truck recovered in Kamloops

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - An observant off duty cop helped police recover a boat and truck stolen out of Lake Country Sunday night. The astute officer noticed a boat and trailer being unloaded on the side of the highway in the Dallas area early Monday morning, Sept. 7 and turned around to keep an eye on the...

Judge clarifies order for dangerous dog that mauled Okanagan Lhasa apso cross

KELOWNA - A provincial court judge has issued a clarification of an order for one of two dogs that fatally mauled a 12-year-old Lhasa apso cross in Peachland on New Years Day 2015. The small dog named Charlie was walking with owner Jeff Clark on Jan. 1 when they were approached by two off-leash dogs...

Health authority moves on residential care bed promise

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Construction of 100 new residential care beds will begin this fall in Kelowna and another 85 are soon expected in Vernon as well. The Interior Health Authority announced in a press release it has awarded the contract to Baltic Properties, an existing contractor who is already providing residential care services in Kamloops, Lake...

Temperatures to heat up again in Okanagan

OKANAGAN - Back to school is kicking off with a little rain this morning but by the end of the week we can expect highs well above seasonal normals throughout the Southern Interior. Temperatures will remain below seasonal normal lows of 21 Celsius today, Sept. 8, but it's expected to reach 23 C Wednesday before...

Gunshots ring out in Kelowna; two men wounded

KELOWNA – Two men are in serious condition in hospital after a shooting in Kelowna Sunday night. RCMP responded to a call about shots fired around 10:50 p.m., Sept. 6, at a home in the 1400-block of Terai Road in Rutland. “A male was heard yelling followed by a number of gun shots and then...

Camper gutted by fire in Kelowna

KELOWNA – No word yet on the cause of a fire which gutted the inside of a parked camper in Kelowna this morning. Fire crews were called an empty lot in the 1200-block of Brookside Avenue near Wilkinson Street in central Kelowna at about 11:50 a.m., Sept. 5. Platoon captain Tim Lights says firefighters quickly...

Unconfirmed cougar sighting in Kelowna

KELOWNA – RCMP are giving the public the heads up about a cougar sighting in Kelowna today. Police received an unconfirmed report of a cougar near Fascieux Creek in the green belt along between KLO Road and Lanfranco Road in the Mission, Sept. 5. RCMP officers had a look for the big cat, but couldn’t...