Elevate your local knowledge
Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!
Vernon news
Okanagan Regional Library approves budget increase
KELOWNA – Half of the Okanagan Regional Library budget increase for 2016 is wage increases for staff at branches up and down the valley. The board of directors has approved a spending plan worth over $18.2 million, which reflects a 1.98 per cent increase from 2015. The increase amounts to an extra $351,818 tax dollars....
Building a new arena is in the hands of Greater Vernon voters
VERNON - Greater Vernon residents will head to the polls to vote on a new arena next month. A referendum is set for Nov. 28 which will ask voters to borrow $13.2 million to decommission the Civic Arena and add a second arena at Kal Tire Place. “Civic has served its purpose, its time is...
Four years later: Armstrong family still organizing walk to remember murdered teen
ARMSTRONG - An annual walk in honour of murdered Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest will be held on a different day this year in hopes of increasing turnout. “Participation is dwindling of course, but that’s to be expected,” Taylor’s mom Marie Van Diest says. “It would be nice to see a few more people turn...
Man accused in Armstrong woman’s death ordered to stand trial
VERNON - The man accused of killing an Armstrong mother of two has been ordered to stand trial. Logan Scott, 31, of Salmon Arm was charged with manslaughter and theft under $5,000 in August 2014, nine months after Jillian McKinty, 27, was found dead in her Armstrong home. Following a preliminary inquiry this week in...
Kelowna tourists caught in path of worst hurricane in history
KELOWNA - A small group of tourists from Kelowna who are vacationing in Nuevo Vallarta are fleeing to higher ground to escape the strongest hurricane ever recorded. Rod Robinson, owner of Bogie and Bacall Hair Salon in Orchard Park Mall, is travelling with his wife Donna and friends Denny and Patty Pirot, who are also...
Sun and frost this weekend in the Okanagan
OKANAGAN - Temperatures should be close to seasonal normals, on both the high and low end, this weekend and with those cooler overnight temperatures comes frost. Environment Canada is calling for a high in the double digits today, Oct. 21, and Saturday, with a high of 9 Celsius being forecast for Sunday. The seasonal normal...
Attempted murder charge laid in connection with Enderby shooting
ENDERBY - An attempted murder charge has been laid in connection with a shooting near Enderby. Norman Dybdal, 58, faces charges of attempted murder with a firearm and aggravated assault in relation to the Oct. 19 incident in Enderby. Dybdal allegedly shot a 55-year-old man multiple times that evening, leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries. The Vernon...
Homeless camps still a reality in Vernon parks
VERNON - With nowhere else to turn, members of the homeless community continue to sleep in public parks in Vernon. A census done in October found six active homeless camps in the city, executive director for the Social Planning Council of the North Okanagan Annette Sharkey says. “That is up from previous counts, but not...
UPDATE: One dead in single vehicle crash on Connector, highway reopens
CENTRAL OKANAGAN – A man died in an early morning crash on Highway 97C at the Pennask summit. RCMP and B.C. Ambulance paramedics were called to the scene, Oct. 22, and while RCMP will not confirm if anyone was hurt, Global Okanagan reports one man was killed in the single vehicle accident. The man, who is...
Curious bobcat pokes head into Okanagan home
VERNON - A curious animal believed to be a bobcat stuck its head inside a Vernon home recently. Conservation officer Tanner Beck says a homeowner in the Silver Star Road area left her door open around 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 and a bobcat 'poked its head in to see what was going on.’ “It...
Kokanee salmon population explodes in Okanagan Lake with biggest spawn in quarter century
OKANAGAN - It’s a record year for Kokanee salmon spawning on Okanagan Lake. Jason Webster, a Vernon-based fisheries biologist, says more than 300,000 shore spawners were counted during this year’s annual survey — the most in more than 25 years. “It’s turning into a cyclical thing where every four years there’s a great big run,...
Three patients remain in hospital after violent attack near Lillooet
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Three of the original 11 people who were admitted to Interior Health hospitals after an attack at the Bridge River Indian Band office near Lillooet remain under medical care. “One patient is in serious but stable condition and two are stable and beginning their recovery,” Tracy Watson of Interior Health says. The patients...
Winter forecast is warm with lots of snow
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – AccuWeather is forecasting one of the warmest winters on record for much of Canada, thanks to El Nino. Western Canadians can expect above to well-above temperatures as a prevailing westerly flow delivers milder Pacific air across the region, according to a news release. “Compared to last winter, there will be more snow across...
Former Okanagan MPs to earn millions in pension
OKANAGAN - Colin Mayes may have retired, and Ron Cannan may have been defeated in the 2015 federal election, but with pensions set to pad their bank accounts to the tune of between $1.3 million and $2.3 million over their life-times, taxpayers are not quite done with them yet. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released the...
Vernon cops locking people up for fun, and for a good cause
VERNON - Mounties are asking the public to turn in friends, family and coworkers this Thursday as part of their annual jail and bail fundraiser. People can either turn themselves in at a mock jail set up at Boston Pizza, or snitch on someone and have the cops come and arrest them. Offenders will be...