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Kamloops
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...
School board will continue to have challenging budgets for the foreseeable future
KAMLOOPS – It looks like it’s going to be a lean school year. The Kamloops-Thompson School District was charged with trimming roughly $3 million from their operating budget at the expense of 20 full-time teacher and teacher assistant positions and yet to be determined administration costs. Last year the district saw a modest increase in...
Kamloops schools put in lockdown after ‘swatting’ prank
KAMLOOPS - A week after a Sahali school was shut down due to a suspected prank call, two Westsyde schools were locked down after an anonymous call made reference to weapons and bombs, police say. Cpl. Wayne Chung with the Kamloops RCMP says the police were made aware of the phone threat shortly after 2:30...
Westsyde schools put in lockdown after ‘swatting’ prank
KAMLOOPS - A week after a Sahali school was shut down due to a suspected prank call, two Westsyde schools were locked down after an anonymous call made reference to weapons and bombs, police say. Cpl. Wayne Chung with the Kamloops RCMP says the police were made aware of the phone threat shortly after 2:30...
Adjudicators replace judges for bylaw disputes in Thompson-Nicola Regional District
KAMLOOPS - If you receive a bylaw ticket in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and choose to dispute it, you’ll no longer take it to provincial court. The district gained provincial approval to scrap court visits and bring the debate to a private hearing with an adjudicator instead with the process beginning this month. Regina Sadilkova,...
Upgrades set to begin on Coquihalla Highway
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Several stretches of the Coquihalla Highway will get a $15-million facelift this year as part of the province’s 10-year transportation plan. "Rehabilitation of provincial highways and side roads is a major component of our 10-year transportation plan, B.C. on the Move,” Transportation Minister Todd Stone said in a release. “These projects to improve...
Kamloops school district to cut 20 positions
KAMLOOPS - A total of 20 teachers and educational assistants are set to lose their jobs this summer as the school district struggles to cut nearly $800,000 in administrative costs amid a drop in student registration. Kamloops-Thompson School District 73 presented their proposed budget to the public last night, April 21, and while trimming nearly...
UPDATE: Body found in Kamloops Lake identified, foul play ruled out
KAMLOOPS - The B.C. Coroners Service confirmed a body was found in Kamloops Lake last weekend and police say foul play has been ruled out as a cause of death. Cpl. Dave Tyreman, a spokesperson for the RCMP, says hikers found the body of a 50-year-old Kamloops woman along the edge of the water near...
Kamloops council considers reducing transit fares
KAMLOOPS – Ridership takes precedence over transit expenses, city council has decided, and as a result city staff will now put together a proposal on a fare decrease in an effort to help increase ridership in the city. In an attempt to follow the goals of the Sustainable Kamloops Plan by increasing ridership, and answer...
UPDATE: Missing woman located
UPDATE: 8:37 A.M., APRIL 22, 2015 RCMP say Amanda Teasdale has been located. KAMLOOPS - Local officers are asking for the public’s assistance to find a 19-year-old woman last seen on April 17, 2015. Staff Sgt. Grant Learned, a spokesperson for the Kamloops RCMP, says Amanda Teasdale is First Nations, 5’9”, 140 pounds with brown...
Kamloops hires new finance director
KAMLOOPS – Nearly four months after the retirement of Sally Edwards a permanent replacement has been found to fill the role of finance director with the City of Kamloops. The city announced the hiring of Kathy Humphrey, current Director of Finance at Thompson Rivers, today, April 21. Humphrey has held this position since 2008, and...
Watch out for rattlesnakes; they’re out early in the Thompson-Okanagan
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Sunny weather has gotten many of us out from beneath our rocks looking for some rays, and we’re not the only ones in the animal world. Warm temperatures have brought rattlesnakes out earlier than normal in the Thompson-Okanagan, according to WildSafe B.C. spokesperson Frank Ritcey. “With the warm weather, the snakes will be...
Outdoor farmers’ markets start this weekend
KAMLOOPS - Get ready for more space, more vendors and a longer season as the first farmers' market of 2015 kicks off this weekend. "There’s actually so many people this week that we’re going to be on the street and in the school yard,” market manager Annelise Grube-Cavers says. Typically the first market of the...
Council prepares to dig into urban ag plan
KAMLOOPS – How would you like to have chickens for neighbours? That is one of the questions city councillors will discuss when they meet Tuesday morning to discuss the draft food and urban agricultural plan, a 66-page document outlining a food systems and urban agriculture plan for the city. The preliminary groundwork has been done,...
Occupation of premier’s officer ends, but situation remains
WEST KELOWNA - The occupation of Christy Clark's West Kelowna constituency offices ended today but the situation that caused it — where the Westside dumps its sewage—could continue for years. The chiefs of five native bands, and some non-native protesters from the Lower Nicola valley swarmed Clark's constituency office in downtown Westbank for five days,...
Women suspected of Pineview vehicle break-ins await court
KAMLOOPS - Two women accused of breaking into multiple vehicles in Pineview remain in custody pending future court dates. Jaime Colleen Dickson, 38, and Kelly Nicole McGinn, 25, were arrested on April 13 around 3 a.m. after police officers responded to a report of vehicles broken into with several items stolen. A resident in the...
Turn your eyes to the night sky this week
NORTHERN LIGHTS AND METEOR SHOWER COULD LIGHT UP THE NIGHT THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If you missed the northern lights last week and if the moon was too bright and the clouds too thick to catch the Quadrantid meteor shower in January, you could get a chance at viewing both this week. The Space Weather Prediction Centre...
Transit fare increases to drive council discussion
KAMLOOPS - The challenge of transit service costing the city more money than it makes is no different in Kamloops than it is in any other city in the province and this week city council will discuss a possible fare increase to help offset the cost of the service. Similar to other urban amenities like,...
Early start to wildfire season in Southern Interior, numbers still below 10-year average
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A series of wildfires were ignited this past weekend as dry weather combined with warming temperatures to create conditions ideal for human-caused fires. B.C. Wildfire crews responded to four fires over the weekend, two in the Kamloops part of the fire centre and two in the southern tip. Information Officer Kayla Pepper says...
No injuries in train derailment north of Kamloops
KAMLOOPS - Rocks fell onto train tracks north of Kamloops Sunday afternoon, leading to two locomotives and nine car bodies derailing. The incident happened near McLure, about 25 minutes north of Kamloops yesterday, April 19. Chad Graham, a resident in the area, said he spotted the derailed cars near his property around 5 p.m., about...
Kamloops university students get creative with science projects
KAMLOOPS - If you ever found yourself wondering how a zebra got its stripes or how bees communicate, check out some of the latest video projects from science students at Thompson Rivers University. In their first-year biology class, students were told to answer an odd science question in an entertaining way. The topics range from...
Overlanders Bridge construction to begin next week
KAMLOOPS - Prepare to either be patient or seek alternative routes as construction begins on the Overlanders Bridge next week. Phase one of the $9.3-million construction project begins Monday, April 20, and will have the southbound curb lane, west sidewalk and the Tranquille Road exit ramp closed to start. The bridge's overpass will be...
Performing arts centre input session reveals concern over cost, procedure
KAMLOOPS - When a $90-million project is announced for Kamloops you would expect hundreds of people to flood any public input session held to discuss the project, but this was not the case today in Kamloops. When the report on the proposed performing arts centre was released last week more than 200 people attended the...
Judge dismisses Crown appeal on fake name case, cites lengthy delays
KAMLOOPS - Police and prosecutors failed to confirm the identity of a man who was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced under the wrong name and now one more failure is on the books. A Supreme Court Justice denied the Kamloops Crown an opportunity to fix its mistakes because they waited too long to bring it...