Kelowna

Smoky skies advisory ends for Southern Interior

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A system that broke a nearly three-week heat wave and dropped rain in the Interior also helped clear the smoke. The smoky skies advisory that had been in place since June 7 was lifted this morning, July 13, by the Ministry of Environment and the Interior Healthy Authority. While many large fires are...

Break in heat for Okanagan, back to seasonal normals

OKANAGAN - After nearly three weeks of temperatures exceeding 30 Celsius almost every day, we are finally seeing cooler temperatures, some rain and less smoke. This weekend, the heat wave finally broke with temperatures closer to seasonal normals of 27 C on both days, and Environment Canada is calling for high temperatures to remain a...

Break in heat for Kamloops, back to seasonal normals

KAMLOOPS - After nearly three weeks of temperatures exceeding 30 Celsius almost every day we are finally seeing cooler temperatures, some rain and less smoke. This weekend, the heat wave finally broke with temperatures closer to seasonal normals of 28 C on both days, and Environment Canada is calling for high temperatures to remain a...

Water board wants more control over what people do in watersheds

OKANAGAN - In an effort to put a stop to mud-bogging and pit toilets near reservoirs, the local water board is supporting a call for greater control over source watersheds. “The board wants our members to have more control and the province to give more support to water utilities to protect the quality of their...

Changing demographics could force school closure in Rutland

KELOWNA - It’s been years since it last happened and there’s no guarantee yet that it will, but in the face of static enrolment and ever-tighter budgets the Central Okanagan School District is once again looking at possible school closures. “I would suggest the next possible school closure would be in the Rutland area,” school...

Suspicious salesman going door to door in Kelowna

KELOWNA - A man going door to door on MacKenzie Road has raised suspicions in the neighbourhood. Const. Steve Holmes says a man claiming to be selling furnaces and hot water tanks was going door to door but had no company identification and refused to leave a business card or brochure. It seems he is...

Police confirm identity of Black Mountain murder victim but still no arrests

KELOWNA – RCMP have confirmed the identity of the man found murdered in his home on Black Mountain earlier this week. The body of Amardeep Singh Ahluwalia, 47, was found in his home on Feedham Avenue in the early morning hours of July 7. Police have said very little about the cause of death but...

Unemployment ticks upward in Central Okanagan

KELOWNA - Unemployment in the Central Okanagan has jumped in the last six months however the number of job hunters remains well below the national average. In its latest labour force survey, Statistics Canada is reporting an unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent in the Kelowna census area, up six basis points from last month...

UPDATE: False call brings swarms of police to downtown Kelowna

KELOWNA - A downtown street was blocked off and under heavy police presence Thursday evening, but RCMP Cst. Steve Holmes says it was all because of a false call. "Investigators are relieved that no one was injured in the incident but are disturbed at the complete disregard for public safety," he says in a release....

Reprieve on the way following near-record day in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS - After another day in the high-30s we may finally see a break in the blistering heat in Kamloops, and it will likely bring some rain as well. According to Environment Canada, about a dozen B.C. communities set records again Thursday, July 9, and once again many of the record-setters were in the Souther...

New record and another hot day for Kamloops

KAMLOOPS - It was another record-breaking day in the Thompson-Okanagan Wednesday and today will be much of the same. Environment Canada shows 17 B.C. communities setting new records Wednesday, July 8, and many were in the Interior. One of the oldest records to fall was in Kamloops, where a temperature of 38.3 Celsius was enough...

New records and another hot day for Okanagan

OKANAGAN - It was another record-breaking day in the Okanagan Wednesday and today will be much of the same. Environment Canada shows 17 B.C. communities setting new records Wednesday, July 8, and many were in the Interior. One of the oldest records to fall was in Kamloops, where a temperature of 38.3 Celsius was enough...

Missing documents for Westbank audit mysteriously resurface

WHAT IT MEANS TO RECALL PETITION FOR CHIEF AND COUNCIL | In February, Westbank First Nation members demanded an audit of band dealings in the Lake Okanagan Wellness Centre after they found themselves on the hook for $7.9 million. When they failed to get it, they pursued the recall of Chief and council. In our ongoing...

UPDATE: New weather records for Okanagan

OKANAGAN - The day isn’t even over but new high temperature records were set in Kelowna and Vernon by 4 p.m. and Penticton was just behind with a record set by 5 p.m. As of 4 p.m. Environment Canada was showing the temperature in Vernon as 35.6 Celsius, just enough to beat the 35.5 C...

Kelowna and Westside food banks announce merger

CENTRAL OKANAGAN - Citing cost and operational efficiencies, the Kelowna and Westside community food banks have announced they are merging to form the Central Okanagan Community Foodbank. Lenetta Parry, already the executive director of both organizations, says the move was prompted by usage rates that remain stubbornly high. “Locally foodbank usage is up 20 per...

Judge skeptical career criminal ready to change

"AT WHAT POINT IS THE COURT TO SAY 'TALK IS TALK?'" KELOWNA – A Supreme Court judge ignored a career criminal's assertion that he was finally ready to change. Rory Richard Francis Feeney, 31, was on parole for a prior robbery conviction and living in a Kelowna halfway house last December when he signed himself...

Water quality reminder for 400 Glenmore Ellison homes

KELOWNA - Residents in the area of east of Old Vernon Road are being reminded of the continuing water quality advisory for their area. While the entire Glenmore-Ellison Improvement District system is under a water quality advisory, the 400 homes in the affected area just came off a boil water advisory last November. “Normally, this...

Weather records could fall in Okanagan

OKANAGAN - As temperatures in the Okanagan keep reaching well above 30 Celsius the possibility of new records being set throughout the region is very real today and tomorrow. Temperatures climbed above 30 C nearly every day in the last two weeks and we can expect the same for the rest of this week. While...

The power of information during electrical failure

WHO HAS IT, WHO DOESN'T THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - When the power goes out, so do most of the things we depend on for life and business — lights, refrigerators, internet, air conditioning, point-of-sale machines, cash machines — and depending on which power company you use, so does information. The Thompson-Okanagan is divided between Fortis B.C. and...

B.C. firefighters getting help from Ontario

BRITISH COLUMBIA - Crews fighting the nearly 200 wildfires raging across the province will get some help from our neighbours out east. A total of 70 personnel from Ontario are arriving today, July 7, to help with fires in the Coastal and Southeast Fire Centres. Two amphibious skimming aircraft, a birddog and an air attack...