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Opinion General
PROSKIW: Teaching is tougher than it looks
Yesterday I had the chance to be a middle school teacher for half a day at the fourth annual Living Library at my old school. It was a little frustrating. Groups of four to 10 students had 15 minutes to sit with me and ask questions about the business of local reporting. I was impressed...
STAHN: When schools get ‘swatted’
Prank calls are not new; how many people don’t remember calling up a neighbour and asking if their refrigerator was running? Or asking a business to page Amanda Huginkiss? Harmless pranks, probably funnier when you think back on it now. But today's prank calls aren't what they used to be. You were likely introduced to...
HELSTON: Creativity, timing could breathe life into Downtown Vernon
We have two different stories taking place at opposite sides of the city: On the north end, we’re seeing upheaval in the commercial, big box store world with the departure of Target, Future Shop, and retail outlets in the Village Green Centre. But for every store that closes in the mall, a local ‘mom and...
POULSEN: Monsanto is invading… plus love hormones and your dog
Minster of Lands Steve Thomson announced last week that the province will spend $1.7 million to combat invasive and troublesome plants. This includes eight projects in the Thompson-Okanagan, using a combination of management methods. It took a bit of coaxing to get the name of a herbicide that will be used, but the name was...
BEPPLE: Traffic problems. What traffic problems?
Kamloops has lots of advantages. Great weather, reasonable house prices, and for the most part almost no traffic problems. Sitting though two red lights is grounds enough to complain in Kamloops. Kamloopsians are not used to being stuck in traffic. Which is probably why with the start of the construction on Overlanders Bridge people have...
LOEWEN: What I learned at the B.C. Interior Jazz Festival
Readers of my weekly column will know by now that I am an inveterate slave to music. No doubt it was my significantly older brothers, constantly spinning LPs on the rec room stereo in the early Sixties, that first made me a fan of the classic rock greats: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors,...
JONESIE: When facts get in the way of a news story
Overheard in the newsroom, (kinda') Reporter: There’s a protest in West Kelowna again today. All the major provincial media have done stories on it already. Shouldn’t we do something on it? Editor: Well maybe, but I still have no idea what this protest is all about. Reporter: Five chiefs from the Nicola Valley don’t want...
PARKER: Hockey, hot heads and high fives
My next-door neighbor’s name is Ellen and she has lived in the same 550 square foot apartment since it was built in 1964. Ellen always has the news blasting at 7 a.m. and — if television volume is an indicator — is a huge fan of every sport played by humans. She has a wonderful...
JONESIE: If this rail trail fails, blame our local politicians
This idea of a continuous trail from Vernon to Kelowna, and perhaps some day to Penticton, should be exciting for nearly everyone. If you ever walked or rode the Kettle Valley Railway and trestles, you might get a sense of what it would be like to follow an even grade over the decommissioned CN Rail...
POULSEN: My inbox is very effing mad at me
Last week’s column brought a lot of angry responses, although this time it wasn’t anything I said. My email address, which was posted at the end of the column, was misused to send phishing emails to strangers. There were 153 reply emails to me from these strangers. Although many were marked as “undeliverable,” a lot...
Performing arts centre would give Downtown Kamloops more heart
The release of the report on the proposed performing arts centre in Kamloops means the residents of Kamloops must now decide if they want the proposed $90-million facility. The site would include a 1,500-seat theatre, a 300-seat black box facility as well as parking and amenities such as meeting rooms, retail, food and beverages. The...
LOEWEN: Get your groove on at the B.C. Interior Jazz Festival
Armstrong, Biederbeck, Bechet and Bolden. Ellington, Basie, Hawkins and Coltrane. Parker, Monk, Mingus and Davis. Holiday, Fitzgerald, Baker and Connick Jr. Argatoff, Buck, Ertel and Griffin… I’m groovin’ with the greats today, baby. That’s right, the jazz greats. America’s finest contribution to world culture is that musical art form that manages to swing and moan, jive and...
PARKER: Education by Game of Thrones
In case you have been living under a rock — or are simply one of those people who doesn’t buy into the awesomeness of HBO due to the excessive boob shots and the brutal glorification of everything horrible — it’s Game of Thrones month. Of course, Game of Thrones month isn’t a real thing —...