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PROSKIW: The lesson of the day: It’s okay to fight dirty
At a recent B.C. Teachers Federation anti-government rally, one of the speakers brought someone with her to the microphone. Her five-year-old son was suddenly before 300 cheering people on the side of a busy highway. The boy tries to hide in her arms a few times but after some gentle prodding he eventually parrots “I want school.”...
TEACHERS’ STRIKE: How much money the Terry Fox Foundation stands to lose
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The kids, the teachers, the government, the parents. We’ve heard over and over again how the current labour dispute is affecting them, but what about the organizations that also rely on schools to help with fundraising? Every year during September, students raise money for the Terry Fox Run but this year, unless teachers and...
At least someone’s getting a laugh over the teachers’ strike
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It appears someone working for the provincial government's web department has added a little ironic wit—if not annoying editorial—to the rhetoric on the teachers strike. When all hope of ending the teachers strike before Sept. 2 was lost on the weekend, the B.C. government opened up its website so parents can register to...
Two infected horses in Interior first signs of West Nile Virus in B.C.
CACHE CREEK – Veterinarians diagnosed two sick horses Monday with West Nile Virus, the first confirmed cases in B.C. Monday afternoon. Dr. John Twidale of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, confirmed the disease was present in the two horses, one in Cache Creek and the other in Ashcroft. The virus has spread across Canada infecting...
Peachland’s Drought Hill fire now 100% contained
PEACHLAND – B.C. Wildfire crews along with the Peachland and West Kelowna fire departments are currently mopping up the scene of the Drought Hill fire, which has already burned for four days but is now 100 per cent contained. “It’s still 40 hectares in size. There will be 50 personnel on site today,” says Kelsey...
Thompson-Okanagan drownings could have been prevented
THOMPSON OKANAGAN - A 14-year-old boy who died in a tubing accident in Vernon is one of 42 people across the province, and seven in the Thompson-Okanagan alone, whose lives were claimed in preventable drowning or water-related incidents over the past six and a half months. Miles Wohlford, 14, fell off his tube during an afternoon...
Province questions Kinder Morgan
KAMLOOPS — Kinder Morgan has not been providing sufficient information about how it plans to mitigate concerns in Kamloops and elsewhere and the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office is not pleased. The province submitted more than 70 information requests, specific to spill response, prevention and recovery systems as part of the National Energy Board’s review of...
B.C. Coroners Service releases name of youth who died at Royal Inland Hospital parkade
KAMLOOPS – The B.C. Coroners Service has released the name of the young man who jumped off the parkade at the Royal Inland Hospital and later died of his injuries, Sunday. He was Jacob George Setah, 18, of Hanceville — a hamlet near Williams Lake. Hospital staff members called RCMP members as there was a...
Strong reactions for and against Northern Gateway Pipeline Project
KAMLOOPS - Not even 24 hours has passed since the announcement of the Northern Gateway Pipeline conditional approval came from Ottawa yesterday. Already - people in Kamloops all the way to the other side of the country have expressed either remorse or joy at the controversial news of the 1,177km long oil pipeline. The opposers...
What parents need to know about the teacher strike
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Teachers in B.C. voted overwhelmingly in favour of moving to a full strike if contract negotiations continue to stall and that could mean an early summer break for some students and limited report cards for others. The history of non-agreement between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association, the...
Teachers agree to full strike
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN — More than 28,000 B.C. teachers voted in support of moving to a full strike, a move that could come as early as next week. In total more than 33,000 teachers took part in the vote Monday and Tuesday, with 86 per cent voting in support of stage three action. “Thank you for standing...
Teacher strike hits childrens’ festival where it hurts
"WE'RE JUST TRYING TO DO THE BEST WE CAN IN THIS SITUATION." KELOWNA - Organizers of a West Kelowna childrens' festival are worried the ongoing dispute between the BCTF and the province will hurt attendance at the 8th annual Interior Savings Fat Cat Children's Festival this weekend. Artistic director Dorothee Birker says teachers bringing kids...
Kelowna isn’t as fat as the rest of the country
KELOWNA – Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the abundance of recreational opportunities, but a report released by Statistics Canada Wednesday names Kelowna as the least obese city in the country. Participants in the study, conducted between 2003 and 2012, were asked their height and weight and the numbers were adjusted to factor in misrepresentation...
Motorcyclist killed outside of Barriere identified
KAMLOOPS - A motorcyclist who died from a head-on collison last weekend was identified by the B.C. Coroners Service. He was Kurtis James Genier, 34, of Barriere. Genier was travelling southbound on the Yellowhead Highway on May 24 when he tried to pass a tractor-trailer on the two lane highway. He hit an oncoming vehicle....
Toilets will no longer stand above ancestral burial site
PENTICTON - The province is working with the Osoyoos Indian Band on an agreement to protect an ancestral burial site found in Haynes Point Provincial Park last month — but the park will close indefinitely starting this fall. Human remains were found inside the park April 29 and an agreement between the province and the...
B.C. Liberal Convention comes to Kelowna
KELOWNA – The B.C. Liberal Party holds their biannual convention at the Delta Grand Hotel in downtown Kelowna this weekend. Hundreds of party caucus members are expected to attend including Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick and Surrey lawyer Sukminder Virk who will each serve as co-chair. Check-in started this morning. “Convention 2014 is a great...
Teacher negotiations moved forward
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN — The province announced Thursday it would remove the 10-year term from the table and the teachers’ union president says it’s a relief to finally see it off the table. “It shows the government is willing to get more serious about it and we are happy about that,” B.C. Teachers’ Federation President Jim Iker...
UPDATE: Missing Alberta girls found safe in Boston Bar
VULCAN Alta. - An Amber Alert issued in British Columbia for two girls taken by their biological mother from a school near Vulcan, Alta. was deactivated shortly after 5 p.m. after the two girls and their mother were found safe in Boston Bar. Taya Zamra Meisel, 6, and her sister, Talisha Jayden Meisel, 12, were...
Kamloops residential construction continues to grow
KAMLOOPS - Kamloops continues to be a leader in single family building permits for 2014, up by about 65 per cent over the same time period last year. There was a slight gain in permit numbers in April over last year, up to 14 from 12. The year to date numbers sit at 48 this...
Appeal rejected, fine stands for CNR
KAMLOOPS - The province was claiming more than $340,000 in mature timber was lost in a blaze sparked by a train near Ashcroft in 2005, but a panel of judges disagreed last week, instead handing down a fine of only $11,000 and a bill for $6,252 in lost timber value. In July 2005 a Canadian...
A fawn in the hand was better off in the bush
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It turns out most rescued newborn animals left abandoned in the wild during fawning season don't need human assistance. That's because mothers leaving their babies alone usually return, according to a press release from the B.C. Ministry of Forests. People mistakenly believe the fawn or calf needs rescuing, but doing so usually does...
Measles kept at bay in Interior
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Saturday marks the beginning of a nation-wide event promoting immunizations and while the latest outbreak of measles has been kept out of the Interior Health region, people are still encouraged to make sure they are up to date. Dr. Sue Pollock says the Interior Health region strives for a 95 per cent coverage...