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Vernon

KF Aerospace announces more layoffs in the Okanagan

OKANAGAN - Rebranding the company hasn’t helped KF Aerospace avoid the turbulence of the marketplace which has forced the company to cut jobs in both Kelowna and Hamilton. President Tracy Medve was not available for interviews Friday as the Kelowna-headquartered company announced layoffs equivalent to eight per cent of its workforce. However, Medve said in...

For this Vernon family, nearly 200 years of sweet tradition is baked right in

VERNON - Not many people can say they’re carrying on family traditions stretching back to 1825, but Vernon baker Roy Bouman continues to do so with pride. Every perfect cream puff, every birthday cake, and each smiling customer pays homage to the long line of family bakers who passed down recipes, strong work ethic and...

Credit card skimmers prompt public warning by RCMP

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Police in the Central Okanagan are once again warning about card skimmers after the devices were discovered in Vernon and Kamloops. Spokeswoman Const. Anne Donnelly of the Kelowna RCMP fraud section, said in a press release there are ways to foil the scam, which requires both your debit card number and your personal...

Warm fall, mild winter in long-range forecast

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Look for a hotter, drier fall across the Southern Interior if AccuWeather’s long-range fall forecast holds true. Issued by AccuWeather’s global weather centre, the forecast says a stubborn high pressure system anchored over the West coast and abnormally warm water over the north-eastern Pacific have kept the weather warm and dry. This is...

Police investigating apartment fire that left two Vernon men with severe burns

VERNON - A pair of Vernon men were airlifted to Vancouver last week after suffering serious burns in an apartment fire. The two men, ages 20 and 21, were inside an apartment building in the 3400 block of Okanagan Avenue when a fire started in the bathroom. Deputy Vernon Fire Chief Jack Blair says they...

Turning industrial trash into home furnishing treasures

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - There's something quintessentially Canadian about taking an item like a lowly wooden pallet or a fruit packing box and making good use of it. Keith Hamer and his crew take it one step further in an old fruit packing house in Oyama, creating a business to make new furniture out of old wood...

Vernon cadets show bravery in moments after head-on collision

VERNON - A group of staff cadets and instructors celebrating at a recent graduation parade in Vernon didn’t hesitate to drop what they were doing and run to help those involved in a serious car crash. “The flags were just being marched on and we heard a loud bang,” Major Keri Winkelaar says. “We turned...

Search continues for man presumed drowned in Kalamalka Lake

VERNON - Family members believe they could be close to finding Curtis Wilson, a 24-year-old Lethbridge man who went missing over a month ago and is presumed drowned in Kalamalka Lake. Wilson’s family refused to give up the search after police divers exhausted their resources in July and appealed to a number of volunteer organizations to...

Water managers preparing for longer-term Okanagan drought

KELOWNA - While they are still in the midst of dealing with this year’s widespread drought in the southern B.C. the province’s top water managers are already looking ahead to next year. “Current weather patterns is for a strong El Nino blob off the coast. It is setting up the scenario for a drier than...

Severe thunderstorm watch for Okanagan

OKANAGAN - After a record day in the Okanagan temperatures are set to cool down and we can expect to see heavy rain and possibly severe thunderstorms over the next couple of days. Yesterday, Aug. 13, a new high temperature record was set in Kelowna, 37.8 Celsius, with Vernon, at 36.5 C, and Penticton, at...

HELSTON: What you can learn from a near tragedy on Okanagan Lake

Warnings to stay safe on the water have become to summer what drunk driving campaigns are to Christmas and telephone scam alerts are to grandparents. They’re good and important messages, but ones that tend to lose their kick over time like an old wind-up toy. Organizations work hard to find new ways of connecting these...

Highways closed, smoke fills the sky as wildfires take over Interior

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A hot, dry week followed by a lightning storm that moved through the region has led to an increase in aggressive fire activity in the Kamloops and Southeast Fire Centres today. Currently Highways 33 and 3 are closed because of a 350-hectare wildfire that is growing rapidly near Rock Creek. The fire was...

Vernon tree removal ‘another straw in the demise of the herons’

VERNON - A North Okanagan city is standing by its decision to allow a stand of trees to be chopped down despite concerns within the community it could impact an at-risk species of bird. With a tree removal permit in hand from the City of Vernon, a housing developer removed the tall Cottonwood and poplar...

New weather record set in the Okanagan; heavy rain on the way

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It only took until mid-afternoon for Kelowna to tie the high temperature record for Aug. 13, and within the hour a new record was set.  By 4 p.m. Environment Canada was reporting a temperature of 37.3 Celsius, just above the 36.7 C record set in 1990. At 36 C, Vernon still has a...

Gas prices going up in the Okanagan

OKANAGAN - Gas prices are rising throughout Canada and the Okanagan is no exception. According to GasBuddy, an online tracking system for gas prices, only about a dozen stations remain below 130 cents per litre this afternoon, Aug. 13, in Kelowna while about seven stations sit at 129.9 cents per litre. Many stations have jumped...

Kelowna councillor seeks change to council meeting schedule

KELOWNA - City councillor Charlie Hodge needs more homework time and wants to move council meetings to another day. “This is what I get Friday morning in my agenda package,” Hodge says, brandishing a three-inch thick stack of reports. “I’m supposed to know all this by Monday morning or at least have an understanding of...

Feast of Fields has new location for farm to table festival

KELOWNA – The 7th annual festival celebrating locally grown food is happening in Kelowna this weekend. Okanagan Feast of Fields is one of three chapters started by FarmFolk CityFolk, a Vancouver organization dedicated to celebrating sustainable, local foods. Feast of Fields, which also takes place in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island, is a four-hour wandering gourmet...

Premier meteor shower to light up the sky this week

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - One of the best meteor showers of the year is set to peak this week, sending up to 60 shooting stars through the sky every hour. The Perseids meteor shower is visible from July 17 to Aug. 24 every year and is set to peak overnight Wednesday, Aug. 12 this year. Environment Canada...

Police tail prolific offender across Okanagan Lake, into the bush

VERNON - A police chase by both land and water ended with the arrest of a prolific offender in Vernon this morning. The pursuit began just after 6:15 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, after police received a report of a suspect on Okanagan Lake near Lakeshore Road. The man had commandeered a Zodiac boat and was...

Okanagan set to break record temperatures this week

OKANAGAN - Grab your sunscreen, hat and a cool drink, we have a hot, sunny and likely record-breaking week ahead of us in the Okanagan. Temperatures soared above the 30 Celsius mark over the weekend, well above the 27 C seasonal normal high for this time of year, but we can expect things to get...