Kelowna
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Okanagan about to be blasted with record heat
OKANAGAN - It’s getting hot out there. Very hot. Possibly even record-breaking hot. So grab your sunscreen and hit the beach while Mother Nature kicks off summer with a bang. Temperatures are forecast to reach as high as 39 Celsius this weekend in the Okanagan, and Environment Canada is calling for daily highs to stay...
Cisco Road wildfire grows under controlled burns
LYTTON - A wildfire that was discovered a week ago near Lytton and grew rapidly over 24 hours has grown again, but this time because of controlled burns. B.C. Wildfire crews are working the Cisco Road Wildfire which was first discovered on June 11. It was first estimated at 150 hectares and by the end...
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...
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...
Cancellation of Kelowna City Park vendor program ‘an insult’
'THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO WILL LOSE THEIR HOMES BECAUSE THIS WAS THEIR PRIME INCOME' KELOWNA – The row of street vendors that have lined the walkway leading into City Park for more than 15 years will not be allowed back this year, and vendors say it will have devastating impacts on their families. That decision...