Elevate your local knowledge

Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!

Select Region

Selecting your primary region ensures you get the stories that matter to you first.

Corrections

Body removed from Hiawatha Mobile Home park

KELOWNA - RCMP Serious Crimes investigators cordoned off a home at Hiawatha Mobile Home park in Kelowna after finding a body inside Tuesday morning. At about 9 a.m. April 1, Mounties received a request to check the welfare of a Kelowna woman on the 3700 block of Lakeshore Road. The woman was found inside, dead,...

Pub assaults land jail time

KAMLOOPS — Two men were sentenced to jail time yesterday for 'wanton and senseless violence' on three men outside of a pub more than three years ago. Jean-Claude A. Auger, 38, was sentenced to 75 and 45 days of imprisonment to be served concurrently for his assaults on Glen Dondaneau and Douglas Hart. Brian W....

Vernon daily newspaper to cease publication

VERNON – There will be one less news source in Vernon as of this week. The daily publication affiliated with Black Press will be published and distributed for the last time on Friday, March 28.  It is a namesake daily published by the Vernon Morning Star. The paper didn’t contain local news. Instead it had...

Foerster’s DNA under victim’s fingernails: Crown

VERNON - Matthew Foerster’s DNA was found under the fingernails of slain Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest, Crown counsel said in the opening arguments of a murder trial in Kelowna Supreme Court. Foerster, 28, is accused of the first-degree murder of 18-year-old Van Diest on Halloween night, 2011 in Armstrong. His trial by a jury...

He strangled the cat to protect girlfriend, save money

KAMLOOPS — A Kamloops man who admitted to strangling his cat for peeing on the floor, was in court today facing several animal cruelty related charges. Steven Seidel, 28, admitted in Kamloops Provincial Court today to strangling his cat, Oreo, on March 14, 2013, out of concern for his pregnant girlfriend. “I just grabbed him...

Trust fund for avalanche victim raises $85,000 in seven days

VERNON - Nearly $85,000 has been raised in support of the family of a Vernon man killed in an avalanche March 10. A.J. Cleary was snowmobiling with a group near Keefer Lake, east of Lumby when the avalanche buried him in snow. Cleary's wife Laura was pregnant with the couple's first child when the accident...

Fire on McKinley Road likely caused by battery charger

KELOWNA - A fire erupted in the basement of a home on the 800 block of McKinley Road just after 3 p.m. Thursday. The Kelowna Fire Department rushed to the scene to find smoke coming from around the chimney area. The smoke was actually coming from the basement and the fire itself was quickly doused....

UPDATE: Snowmobiler rescued from Monashee avalanche identified

LUMBY – A snowmobiler pronounced dead in hospital after he was caught in an avalanche in the central Monashee Mountains has been identified. He was Adrian John (AJ) Cleary, 34, from Coldstream. Vernon RCMP say Cleary was with a group of six people snowmobiling east of Lumby when he was buried by approximately five metres...

Former Vernon cop ordered to stand trial on child pornography charges

VERNON - A former Vernon Mountie has been ordered to stand trial on child pornography charges. A preliminary inquiry for Ryan Hampton, 35, wrapped up this week with a judge ruling the Crown has enough evidence to send him to trial. He faces a total of nine charges, including possession of child pornography, obstruction of...

Judge won’t save Kelowna Mountain from dealing with regional district

KELOWNA - Kelowna Mountain Resort got no help from a Supreme Court justice in one of its longstanding disputes with the Central Okanagan Regional District. Justice Heather Holmes denied a challenge of the regional district’s interpretation of ‘agritourism' by developer Mark Consiglio and the resort. If successful, the resort could theoretically get full use on...

Fighting for four days in Sun Peaks

KAMLOOPS — School District 73 trustees agreed to a two-week spring break for all schools except Sun Peaks Elementary earlier this month and parents of children attending the ski hill school want to keep it that way. Trustees decided it was better to wait for input from parents, teachers and students that have been attending...

Flock of celebrities due in Vernon for sporting event

VERNON - The North Okanagan is becoming famous for hosting celebrities. Just months after film crews departed Sparkling Hills for the filming of Mothers Day Off, a number of personalities are due at the resort this September for the Celebrity Sports Invitational. Actors George Clooney and Hugh Laurie were recently in Enderby filming a Disney...