Kelowna

Kelowna man who died while rafting lived and loved ‘all in’

"DON'T FORGET HOW LUCKY YOU ARE TO LOVE YOUR LOVED ONES SO MUCH IT HURTS" KELOWNA – They were high school sweethearts planning their dream Kelowna wedding when Rene Bourgault’s life was cut short in a tragic rafting accident last weekend. Friends, family and everyone who has been touched by his life are mourning his...

Local man documents entire CN rail corridor for posterity

KELOWNA – An Okanagan man with a passion for local history has begun work on a video he hopes will preserve the significance of the CN Rail corridor for generations to come. Alan Gatzke spent dozens of hours and thousands of dollars from his own pocket to modify his pickup so it could be used...

UFC extends contract with Kelowna fighter

KELOWNA – Local UFC welterweight Matt Dwyer has had his UFC contract extended by four fights. Dwyer, 25, a Kelowna resident since he was two years old, fights out of Toshido MMA in Kelowna. He was signed to a remarkably rare four-fight contract with the UFC in 2014. Although his first appearance resulted in a...

Kelowna wants input on how residents and amenities can live together

KELOWNA - Would you be comfortable with condos and commercial spaces cheek by jowl with the Okanagan Heritage Museum and the Kelowna Community Theatre? That’s one of the ideas that has come out of the ongoing consultation over the so-called civic block, which includes those buildings and others in the area. “We’ve had great input...

ELECTION 2015: Kelowna Chamber will host federal candidates forum

CENTRAL OKANAGAN - Three candidates battling it out for the Kelowna-Lake Country federal riding will square off in a candidates forum next month. The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce says it has invited Conservative incumbent Ron Cannan, New Democrat Norah Bowman and Liberal Stephen Fuhr to a federal candidates forum. The forum will allow the three...

Credit card skimmers prompt public warning by RCMP

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Police in the Central Okanagan are once again warning about card skimmers after the devices were discovered in Vernon and Kamloops. Spokeswoman Const. Anne Donnelly of the Kelowna RCMP fraud section, said in a press release there are ways to foil the scam, which requires both your debit card number and your personal...

Pilot of Carson Air plane that crashed near Vancouver was drunk

KELOWNA – The pilot for Kelowna-based Carson Air that crashed in the North Shore Mountains in April was severely intoxicated, according to toxicology results released by the B.C. Coroners Service Wednesday, Aug. 19. Robert Brandt, 34 was the captain of a Metro II cargo plane that left Vancouver International Airport in the early morning of...

Warm fall, mild winter in long-range forecast

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Look for a hotter, drier fall across the Southern Interior if AccuWeather’s long-range fall forecast holds true. Issued by AccuWeather’s global weather centre, the forecast says a stubborn high pressure system anchored over the West coast and abnormally warm water over the north-eastern Pacific have kept the weather warm and dry. This is...

Turning industrial trash into home furnishing treasures

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - There's something quintessentially Canadian about taking an item like a lowly wooden pallet or a fruit packing box and making good use of it. Keith Hamer and his crew take it one step further in an old fruit packing house in Oyama, creating a business to make new furniture out of old wood...

Who’s paying their property taxes and who isn’t in Kelowna

KELOWNA - All in all, we’re a pretty honest bunch if measured by how promptly we pay our property taxes. “We do have some people who don’t like having to pay but the majority of people are really good about it,” financial planning manager George King says. Property taxes totalling $226.7 million were due by...

Bird book inspired by UBCO’s bio-diversity

KELOWNA - If you’re looking for hot chicks, look no further than the Birds of the UBC Okanagan Campus 2016 calendar. Produced by biologists, the annual calendar features some of the birds that can be found on the school’s campus. Photographers this year ranged across the entire 209 hectares of campus grounds and includes bluebirds,...

Rafting accident claims life of Kelowna man ahead of wedding

KELOWNA – Less than a month before he was set to be married, a young Kelowna man has drowned while white-water rafting near Golden over the weekend. Rene Bourgault was rafting with three other people in Kicking Horse River Sunday, Aug. 16 when the group was thrown into the water roughly ten kilometres east of...

UPDATE: Crew mopping up after wildfire near Brenda Mines

WEST KELOWNA - B.C. Wildfire is moping up a wildfire about five kilometres south of the Brenda Mines, near Peachland Creek. Fire information officer Kelsey Winter says an air tanker used fire retardant to box in the 0.5 hectare fire northwest of Peachland, named the Boliver Forestry Service Road fire. Once that was in place,...

Ghost bike placed on Bernard Avenue in cyclist’s memory

KELOWNA - A cycling advocacy group is marking the spot where a Kelowna cyclist died with a memorial ghost bike. Patricia Keenan, 38, died in hospital a few days after colliding with a car door opened in front of her on Bernard Avenue. Keenan sustained a head injury even though she was wearing a helmet. Now...

Head office confirms closing of West Kelowna Sears

WEST KELOWNA - Sears Canada has confirmed the closing of its West Kelowna store and says its not sure if it will continue to operate a store on that side of the lake. Sears director of communications Alicia Richler says in an email statement all customer purchases will be honoured. “While we have not yet...

Water managers preparing for longer-term Okanagan drought

KELOWNA - While they are still in the midst of dealing with this year’s widespread drought in the southern B.C. the province’s top water managers are already looking ahead to next year. “Current weather patterns is for a strong El Nino blob off the coast. It is setting up the scenario for a drier than...

Severe thunderstorm watch for Okanagan

OKANAGAN - After a record day in the Okanagan temperatures are set to cool down and we can expect to see heavy rain and possibly severe thunderstorms over the next couple of days. Yesterday, Aug. 13, a new high temperature record was set in Kelowna, 37.8 Celsius, with Vernon, at 36.5 C, and Penticton, at...

Highways closed, smoke fills the sky as wildfires take over Interior

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A hot, dry week followed by a lightning storm that moved through the region has led to an increase in aggressive fire activity in the Kamloops and Southeast Fire Centres today. Currently Highways 33 and 3 are closed because of a 350-hectare wildfire that is growing rapidly near Rock Creek. The fire was...

New weather record set in the Okanagan; heavy rain on the way

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It only took until mid-afternoon for Kelowna to tie the high temperature record for Aug. 13, and within the hour a new record was set.  By 4 p.m. Environment Canada was reporting a temperature of 37.3 Celsius, just above the 36.7 C record set in 1990. At 36 C, Vernon still has a...

West Kelowna Sears store struggling to stay open

WEST KELOWNA - Sears Canada’s West Kelowna location could be shutting down. Landlord Noll Derriksan says he locked out Sears from its Estates Square location on Old Okanagan Highway Thursday morning, Aug. 13, because of non-payment and frequent late payment of rent. The voice message for the Sears West Kelowna number says only that the...

Gas prices going up in the Okanagan

OKANAGAN - Gas prices are rising throughout Canada and the Okanagan is no exception. According to GasBuddy, an online tracking system for gas prices, only about a dozen stations remain below 130 cents per litre this afternoon, Aug. 13, in Kelowna while about seven stations sit at 129.9 cents per litre. Many stations have jumped...

Two people injured in Lake Country ATV crash

LAKE COUNTRY - A Vernon teenager is in hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries after an all terrain vehicle crash in Lake Country Wednesday evening. The 18-year-old was driving a mini-ATV on Williams Road around 7:45 p.m., Aug. 12, when both the driver and passenger, an 18-year-old Vernon woman, were ejected. RCMP believe the vehicle experienced...

Housing starts make double-digit jump in Kelowna

CENTRAL OKANAGAN - New house construction is climbing in the Central Okanagan, underscoring the strength in the local resale market. "Demand for new homes has matched supply, keeping inventories of completed and unabsorbed homes in check," Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation regional economist Carol Frketich says in a press release. In its preliminary housing starts...

Police looking for senior who may have broken up attempted abduction in Peachland

PEACHLAND - Police are looking to speak to an older woman who they say broke up an odd occurrence in Peachland Saturday. RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Joe Duncan said earlier this week police were called to a report of two men who tried to grab a 15-year-old girl and push her into the pedestrian tunnel connecting...