Kelowna

Flood risk continues to drop as snowpacks disappear in Okanagan

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - An early melt and a warm, dry May mean there is little to no snow left in many basins around the region, and that means a low flood risk. The River Forecast Centre says the warm month led to a rapid melt of the snow pack and about half of the province’s snow...

Emergency crews respond to incident at Kelowna airport

KELOWNA - Emergency crews responded to an incident involving a small plane Monday afternoon at the Kelowna airport. The pilot of a private, two-seater aircraft experienced issues while on takeoff and veered off the runway, airport spokesperson Jenelle Hynes says in a release. The runway was closed for approximately 40 minutes causing delays for two...

Side order of mental health from local coffee clubs

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - You can find one in just about every fast food joint or greasy spoon restaurant; A bunch of men, sometimes women, sitting around drinking coffee, shooting the bull — a coffee club for lack of a better name. If they don’t look like they’re in a hurry to be anywhere, it’s because they...

Record hot weather on the way for Okanagan

OKANAGAN - It was a hot weekend in the Okanagan and the hot weather is forecast to continue through this week. Environment Canada recorded temperatures reaching as high as 33.8 Celsius in Penticton on Sunday, a bit shy of the 35 C record set nearly 70 years ago. In Kelowna temperatures climbed to 33 C,...

Paving season is underway in Kelowna

KELOWNA – There’s an old adage which says there are two seasons in Canada, winter and paving season. The 2015 paving season is off and running in Kelowna with the city planning to repave about 18 kilometres of road before October. “The pavement management program ensures a longer life for our roads,” roadways construction manager...

Fat Cat Festival bounces back after teacher’s strike hurt attendance

KELOWNA - You can’t keep a fat cat down. After a disastrous 2014 which saw attendance plunge because of the province-wide teacher’s job action, registration is way up for the 2015 Fat Cat Children’s Festival set to run June 12 and 13. “We were very impacted by the strike and I wasn’t sure how we...

Get bare in the air for breast cancer research

KELOWNA – Get ready, get set, get naked. It’s time for Naked Ziplining at ZipZone in Peachland, where participants will strip down in support of breast cancer research. Women of all shapes and sizes who raise at least $200 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation will get bare in the air for this important event....

Mom trying to give parents of stillborn babies a few extra days together

WEST KELOWNA – Kristin Esmail and her husband didn’t find out until she was in labour their son, Richard James, was stillborn. After 39 weeks in utero, finding out that they would not be able to take him home was almost too much pain to bear. “It was such a shock,” the West Kelowna resident...

Competition stiff as Okanagan cities compete to hold seniors’ games

OKANAGAN - Long before the competitors in the B.C. 55+ Games face off against each other at the annual event, there is a competition of another sort amongst B.C. communities vying to host the games. This year, Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton are all submitting competing bids to host the popular event. The competition is going...

Pup with broken leg needs your help

PENTICTON – A 10-month-old puppy who was hit by a car needs a little help from the public to get back on all four paws. Jodi, a black and white Labrador retriever mix, was brought into the South Okangan-Similkameen SPCA with a broken femur and in need of more than $4,000 worth of medical treatment....

SNELSON TRIAL: Ex-wife of accused was vigilant after hearing of missing girl

KAMLOOPS - Katherine Oystryk, 44, remembers hearing about Jennifer Cusworth and watching out for her own safety after the 19-year-old girl went missing from a Kelowna house party her then-husband attended 21 years ago. Now Oystryk's ex-husband, Neil George Snelson, 48, stands accused of manslaughter in Cusworth’s killing. This is his second trial. Oystryk testified...

What to do with 100,000 metres of steel rail, ties and a grafitti-covered boxcar

KELOWNA - Now that the CN Rail corridor purchase is complete, there’s the small matter of removing about 100 kilometres worth of steel rail, railway ties, flashing lights and signs, and some contaminated soil sites. Oh, and one graffiti covered boxcar. Fortunately for the Okanagan communities that just ponied up $50 million in cash and...

Water board calls on province to take action on invasive mussels

OKANAGAN - The Okanagan Basin Water Board is using the province’s declaration of June as Invasive Species Action Month to prod it into increasing its role in the fight against zebra and quagga mussels. “Awareness is great but action is better. The water board is doing all it can within its mandate to prevent the...

SNELSON TRIAL: Cusworth was beaten to death: Pathologist

GRAPHIC CONTENT ADVISORY  KAMLOOPS - Around seven or eight blows to the head caused the death of a 19-year-old girl who was found beaten, bruised and strangled in a watery ditch at the side of a pumpkin farmer’s property in Kelowna in 1993. In Kamloops Supreme Court today, June 4, Dr. Ronald Roy, a forensic...

Rain nearly over in Okanagan

NEAR RECORD HEAT ON THE WAY OKANAGAN - While it has not been record-breaking, it has been very wet throughout the Okanagan this week, with an average of about 25 millimetres of rain falling in the first three days of June alone. Heading just north of the Okanagan, Kamloops has received most of the rain...

Abandoned camper underscores illegal dumping problem in Central Okanagan

KELOWNA - They had to use a tow truck to get rid of a piece of garbage, an old camper, illegally dumped up Postill Lake Road today. The regional waste reduction office says it recently learned through social media of the dumped camper. The camper is just the tip of a much larger problem though...

Gospel Mission extends its reach to courtyard

KELOWNA - The Gospel Mission, Kelowna’s single mens shelter, has announced it will build a courtyard next to its Leon Ave. building, with the aim of giving downtown homeless somewhere to go during the day. “Too often during the day the homeless, due to lack of options, are staying in places that put them at...

Ethel Street cycle track separates bikes from cars and pedestrians

KELOWNA - A determined cycist could cover the first phase of the Ethel Street active transportation corridor in about two minutes but the construction of a new cycle track between Bernard Avenue and Saucier Avenue will be welcomed by local cyclists. Construction on the corridor begins this month and will continue in phases until 2020...

SNELSON TRIAL UPDATE: Friends recall last moments with Jennifer Cusworth

KAMLOOPS - The last time Jennifer Cusworth’s friends saw her alive at a house party, they planned to get her home safely after drinking into the early morning hours of October 16, 1993. For Pam Coulombe and Faith Klinksiek their plan didn’t work out; the 19-year-old disappeared from the party. A jury heard Coulombe and...

Knox Mountain disc golfers score deal with city

KELOWNA - If disc golf is gaining popularity as a sport it’s because of guys like Ryan Derksen. Despite the rain this week, the young man from Saskatchewan was chucking discs at far-off holes, enjoying a solo practice round at the Knox Mountain Park disc golf course. “I played in Calgary yesterday. Whenever I travel...

UBC celebrates 10th graduating class in the Okanagan

OKANAGAN - Two major milestones in health sciences are being celebrated with Convocation 2015. The first class of 30 physicians will have graduated from UBC’s Faculty of Medicine’s Southern Medical Program, based in the Okanagan. The Okanagan School of Nursing sees the first cohort of its “2+2 BSN program” of collaborative nursing graduates. These students...

Salmonella outbreak proof that monitoring system works: Buckerfield’s CEO

KELOWNA - The recent spike of salmonella cases connected to live poultry sales is a good news story, proof the system works rather than an indictment of its failings, according to a local business. “Fourteen cases is a very small number and it was detected and caught and the public was actually protected from what...

United Airlines drops service to Kelowna

KELOWNA – After less than a year of service between Kelowna and San Francisco, United Airlines has departed for good. The carrier first started service to Kelowna in October of last year and according to airport spokesperson Jenelle Hynes had already decided in December that it just wasn’t economically feasible to continue the once-daily flights...

Community gardens get big green thumbs up in Kelowna

KELOWNA - Better support for community gardens, both public and private, can happen if there is a better understanding of what food security means for the community.  City staff hope to provide a better understanding by amending the food security policy in the official community plan and the zoning bylaw.  “This is turning a landscape...