Shannon Quesnel

PENTICTON - The family of a missing Penticton woman feared the worst when they lost cell phone contact with her five days ago. Amber Lawrence, reported missing to RCMP by a co-worker Oct. 10, was found several days later and she's safe. Her sister Amanda Lawrence blames the disappearance on lack of cell phone service....

PENTICTON - Starving is no way to start a school day. Children should be worried about their grades and not about when their next meals are coming from. Volunteers with the Breakfast Learning Club work hard to make that happen but even they can fall short when volunteers vanish due to vacations or other commitments....

PENTICTON - Wines and hockey pucks will be poured and dropped respectively at the South Okanagan Event Centre this weekend. The Valley First Grand Finale Consumer Tastings event, the oldest and largest wine event of the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival, will run tonight and tomorrow at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre. More than 80...

"THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO WILL ALWAYS BE CRIMINALS." PENTICTON - Justice ministry staff spent equal time explaining what the new Okanagan Correctional Centre is and what it is not to two different groups this week. The new $250-million centre will be built and completed on Osoyoos Indian Band land by 2016 to house 360...

PENTICTON - Challenge Penticton cut a player from the team to make room for more specialized positions. General manager Barb Haynes was hired for Challenge Penticton's inaugural year that saw 1,400 athletes swim, bike and run in and around the city. The non-profit Penticton Triathlon Race Society released her from the position last week. Also...

PENTICTON - The more the merrier is proving true for the Penticton portion of the Sensible B.C. cannabis referendum campaign. The push to get signatures to trigger a referendum on legalizing marijuana has been going well in its second month Sensible B.C. Penticton and Boundary-Similkameen ridings co-ordinator Amanda Stewart said. Sensible B.C. has been authorized...

PENTICTON - A convicted sex offender who bit off his girlfriend's labia was hopping mad when the judge ruled his previous trial was a fair one and there'll be no mistrial. When Judge Meg Shaw told Brian Douglas Louie who appeared in Penticton provincial court via video today, his convictions will stick, he jumped from...

PENTICTON - Most places of worship are safe from the tax-man for the next three years but the Salvation Army will have to pay a tithe. The city removed nine not-for-profits off its tax exemption list and cautioned these and all other groups lucky enough to still receive the exemption "gift" to budget with caution....

PENTICTON - Charging out-of-town visitors higher recreational fees is out of the question for city council. Penticton's leadership voted to keep the recreational fee structure the same as it was. These would be fees to use the municipal pool and other resources. Recreation manager Chuck Loewen and city staff found there is too much risk...

PENTICTON - A politician will make the news by donating roughly $30,000 back to the taxpayers and no, it is not one of the Canadian senators currently under investigation for fraud. Former mayor and MLA Dan Ashton pledged to cover Penticton's byelection costs, up to $35,000, if he resigned to run as the Liberal candidate...

PENTICTON - Several city staff were surprised about tomorrow's special council meeting about a proposed prison. B.C. Corrections and Ministry of Justice officials will give a presentation on the proposed Okanagan prison tomorrow morning, 9 a.m., in city hall council chambers which the public is invited to attend. The information was found on the city's...

PENTICTON - The city has become a testing ground for never-before seen transit buses. The two 27.5 foot Vicinity buses seen circling around Penticton's most used transit routes were acquired for efficiency and lower costs. They are also brand-new machines built from the ground up and their performance will be monitored closely. Berry and Smith...

PENTICTON - They only come out at night, mostly, but that shouldn't make worms scary. The slimy critters will poke their heads out of the earth whenever it's cool and damp in order to forage. This and other facts will be taught at a free worm composting workshop tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Regional...

SUMMERLAND - Permission for building one turbine was given even though some on the Regional District Okanagan Similkameen board objected. Zero Emission Energy Developments will be erecting 14 wind turbines, transmission lines, laying down access roads and adding associated structures. One of the proposed sites, with wind turbines measuring 145 metres in height with three...

"I MUST RESIST ANY TEMPTATION TO LOCK YOU UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY." PENTICTON - A judge resisted throwing away the key on a man who used a hammer and a knife to beat and cut two victims and instead sentenced him in provincial court today to two years in federal prison. Marcus Wilfred...

PENTICTON - The sentencing of a man guilty of viciously beating two others for no apparent reason was delayed at Penticton Provincial Court today. Judge Gregory Koturbash said he needed more time to consider the fate of Marcus Wilfred Sheena, 29, who has plead guilty to several assault charges committed on Sept. 17, 2011. On...

PENTICTON - Many Penticton adults are in the dark when it comes to realizing how many children live in poverty. About the only ones on the ball are adults who work with young people while "the rest of us have our heads in the sand," Community Foundation of the South Okanagan executive director Aaron McRann...

PENTICTON - There are no pieces to pick up for the family of a murdered Penticton woman because all she possessed was inside the home of the man who was convicted of killing her, and access was denied. When Lynn Kalmring was murdered by her common-law spouse Keith Wiens, her family didn't just lose a...