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John McDonald
John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.
It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.
But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.
If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca
ELECTION 2015: West Kelowna mayor says endorsing federal election candidates is bad politics
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - Firmly on the fence is where West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater is sitting as far as publicly endorsing a candidate in the Oct. 19 federal election. “I have to work with whoever is elected, although I can say we worked well with Dan Albas (incumbent MP for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola.) He helped us...
Okanagan man with terminal brain tumour fights for time
KELOWNA - They say time flies when you’re having fun. The same is apparently true when you’re fighting for your life because of a brain tumour. “It just seems like yesterday,” Sean Connor says of the four years that have passed since he was diagnosed with chordoma, a rare form of bone cancer that can...
Glenrosa Cemetery added to heritage register in West Kelowna
OLD BURIAL GROUND MAINLY USED FOR CHILDREN WEST KELOWNA - The Glenrosa Cemetery is officially being added to the West Kelowna heritage register and there are plans to study three more possible historic sites as well. Glenrosa Cemetery, hidden in plain sight on the side of Glenrosa Road, is the burial ground for 10 children...
ELECTION 2015: Strategic voting group calls for Liberals to vote NDP in three Southern Interior ridings
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Stephen Harper says strategic voting doesn’t really exist but Just The Facts Canada Inc. says it does and it is using a full-page ad in the Globe & Mail newspaper to get the message out. The pitch by the strategic voting group includes a call for Liberal supporters in three Southern Interior ridings...
ELECTION 2015: No advance polls for Kelowna’s UBCO and Okanagan College
KELOWNA - There is nothing underhanded about the lack of advance polls on the Okanagan College and UBCO campuses during a recent pilot project aimed at post-secondary schools, at least according to an Elections Canada spokesperson. Dorothy Sitek, a spokeperson for Elections Canada, says a pilot project from Oct. 5 to 8 put advance polls...
Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna in running for best public space award
KELOWNA - Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna is well known to locals as a great place to visit and now the park is being featured on a wider stage as a finalist for a 'great public space' award. With the addition of the former Kelowna Yacht Club site this summer, Stuart Park is now complete....
Years of bad water convinces Kelowna man irrigation districts have to go
KELOWNA - A Glenmore man says Kelowna residents need to get educated on how water is delivered in the city and the turf war going on behind the scenes with local irrigation districts. “I understand how we came to have four irrigation districts, but we’re not the same city anymore, it isn’t 80 years ago....
Autism’s children look inward in an outward-looking world
KELOWNA - Autism is a condition everyone seems to have heard about but hardly anyone can define. Lisa Watson, who lives with it every day, says there’s a good reason for this. “When you you’ve met one child with autism, you’ve met one child with autism, is how the saying goes. They are all so...
Everything you need to know about quail in the Southern Interior
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – If you ever walk into the middle of a covey of California quail,…
Kelowna mother rattled by fake RCMP phone hoax
KELOWNA - Its a phone call no parent wants to get — a call from their son or daughter saying they’ve been in an accident, made twice as scary when the call supposedly comes from the RCMP detachment. “My son called and said he wasn’t having a great day,” a local mom says, who asked...
Vials of E. coli found in Kelowna transient camp
KELOWNA - Vials containing the bacteria E. coli, apparently stolen from a medical laboratory, have been discovered at a transient camp near Munson Pond. The unusual find by local bylaw officers prompted a call to Kelowna RCMP and a local hazardous material disposal company, who sent out personnel to retrieve the vials. "It's pretty common...
Kelowna property tax exemption denial a hit for local non-profit
KELOWNA - City hall handed out more than $1.5 million in property tax exemptions this week to churches, private schools and other non-profit organizations, but one organization did not get approved for exemption status. Most of the organizations receiving the exemptions are already on the books with the city, so after a review by city...
Cloudy brown water soon a thing of the past in Glenmore Ellison
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - It’s taken almost seven years and $20 million, but residents who have endured near constant water quality advisories in the Glenmore Ellison area are getting some relief. Darwin Kutney, geneal manager of the Glenmore Ellison Improvement District, says its new Okanagan Lake intake and pump station plus a closed reservoir are set...
Blue Rodeo to make Okanagan stop during Canadian tour
KELOWNA - Iconic Canadian band Blue Rodeo is coming to Kelowna early next year. The band announced today, Oct. 7, a cross-country tour in support of their new album Live at Massey Hall. Blue Rodeo first pierced the Canadian conciousness with their 1987 album Outskirts and is planning to release a selection of their albums...
Solid consumer confidence drives strong Okanagan housing market
OKANAGAN - As goes the weather, so goes real estate activity, according to the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board, which is reporting a cooling of sales in September after a robust summer. The Central Okanagan and Shuswap markets continue to strengthen and see an improvement year-to-date over last year,” board president Christopher Miller says in...
Kelowna adopts permanent outdoor watering restrictions
KELOWNA - In the wake of this summer’s drought, Kelowna is adopting permanent outdoor watering restrictions and bumping up its enforcement of the new rules. While reducing outdoor water use during drought is one benefit, of equal value is reducing the impact of demand spikes during dry summer months on the city’s water pipes and...
RCMP say prolific offenders, not casual pot smokers, the reason so many possession charges laid
KELOWNA - To all you closet pot smokers in Kelowna worried the RCMP is coming after your stash, you can chill. “It isn’t the recreational pot smoker we’re going after here,” Supt. Nick Romanchuk says, pointing instead to a small group of prolific offenders as the target. “These are the people causing the most crime...
What Interior residents need to know about the killer gas radon
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It sounds like something from a thriller sci-fi movie - a colourless, odorless radioactive gas that seeps from the ground, infiltrates buildings and kills people. In real life, radon gas is a known carcinogen, the second leading cause of lung cancer accounting for 10 per cent of cases and is found in elevated...
You can be on reality TV if you have inherited a house in the Okanagan
OKANAGAN - If you’ve recently inherited a house in the Okanagan the producers of a new reality TV show want to hear from you. Anaid Productions, the company behind such shows as X-Weighted and The Liquidator, is searching for families that have been bequeathed a home in the Okanagan. Those selected for the show will be...
George Thorogood coming to the Okanagan
OKANAGAN - Famed power blues guitarist George Thorogood is coming to the Okanagan next spring with his band the Destroyers. Thorogood and his band have been around since the 1970s and count many radio hits to their credit, including the famed bar anthem “Bad to the Bone” and others like “Who do You Love”, “Move...
Province balks at paying West Kelowna expense claims for Smith Creek wildfire
WEST KELOWNA – The fight against the Smith Creek fire in the summer of 2014…
Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts brings comedy show to Okanagan
KELOWNA - Legendary professional wrestler Jake "The Snake" Roberts is trading the wrestling ring for the stand-up stage and bringing his special brand of comedy to Kelowna. That includes his behind-the-scenes tales of life on the road as a professional wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment and taking on the likes of Andre the Giant, Macho...
Drones provide a new view of Okanagan golf course
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - If you've ever wondered how gorgeous Okanagan golf courses look from above, here's a little help. A local golf course proprietor recently hired an Okanagan company to take aerial footage of the course, by drone. Ian Robertson, the owner and general manager of Kelowna Springs Golf Club, says using a drone finally gave...
High school condoms decision left to Kelowna parent advisory councils
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - They’ve got the kids on board and the principals but a pilot project which would see condoms made available at local high schools still has to get by the toughest critics of all — parents. Superintendent of schools Hugh Gloster says a proposal by the Interior Health Authority to supply condoms and...