Kelowna

Campapalooza campacacancelled

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – A first-of-its kind event that gives parents a chance to get a taste of all the different summer camp options in one place has been cancelled. Campapalooza was to be held at Okanagan College May 30, but according to their website has been 'postponed until April 2016.' The event would have brought together...

More rain, thunderstorms in forecast for Kamloops

KAMLOOPS - Above normal temperatures are back, but they come with a chance of rain and thunderstorms over the next few days. After several days of off and on rain, and even a few thunderstorms, Environment Canada is still calling for a chance of rain through the end of the week. There is a chance...

More rain, thunderstorms in forecast for Okanagan

OKANAGAN - Above normal temperatures are back, but they come with a chance of rain and thunderstorms over the next few days. After several days of off and on rain, and even a few thunderstorms, Environment Canada is still calling for a chance of rain through the end of the week. There is a chance...

What would you pay for a gently-used school board office?

KELOWNA - For sale: one well-used school board office built in 1972 and the four acres of land that sits under it. Asking price: $6.5 million. Make us an offer, please. After three years on the market and a recent price cut, the Central Okanagan School District head office across from Orchard Park Mall, which...

Health authority continues to monitor possible Ebola cases

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If the ongoing Ebola epidemic has a human face within the Interior Health Authority, it’s that of Patrice Gordon, a nurse practioner who returned from West Africa last December and promptly began displaying the early signs of of the disease. Gordon tested negative for the virus, but since then the health authority has...

Condoms in Kelowna high schools the goal of pilot project

KELOWNA - Condoms could soon be handed out to students around the Central Okanagan if a pilot project gains approval. The Central Okanagan School District is considering a request from the Interior Health Authority to allow local high schools to participate in a condom pilot project. The pilot project will supply participating schools within the...

Enderby woman wins $1M with free play

ENDERBY - An Enderby woman is celebrating her birthday with the ultimate present — a $1 million Maxmillion prize. Tanya Williams, who celebrates her birthday this week, won a free play and $1 on a previous Lotto Max draw and used that to get another ticket. She found out she was a winner when she...

Kelowna housing market numbers reach pre-financial crisis levels

KELOWNA - The Kelowna housing market has reached levels not seen since 2008, right before the global financial crisis, when the local market was red hot. Both single-family and multi-family housing starts as well as total residental sales have been trending upward since then, according the Canadian Mortage and Housing Corporation’s spring housing market outlook....

UPDATE: Barfly says RCMP officer assaulted him after long day at the pub

LANGUAGE ADVISORY KELOWNA – A Kelowna man says a local RCMP constable assaulted him during an arrest at a downtown pub after 13 hours of drinking last summer. Const. Grant Jacobson pleaded not guilty to criminally assaulting John Patrick McCormick, 61, on the patio of Rose’s Pub in Kelowna at around 2 a.m. June 28,...

Clerk pepper sprayed in Kelowna robbery

KELOWNA - Early Sunday morning a man entered the Mac’s Convenience Store on Richter Street demanding cigarettes before pepper spraying the clerk and fleeing the scene. Cpl. Joe Duncan with the Kelowna RCMP says they received the call around 2:30 a.m., May 24, that a man had robbed the Mac’s Store in the 2100 block...

Severe thunderstorm watch underway in much of Southern Interior

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - After a wet and wild weekend in the Interior another round of thunderstorms could hit the region. Environment Canada has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the Nicola, South Thompson and Okanagan Valley regions for Monday, May 25. The weather office notes conditions are favourable for storms that could produce hail, strong wind...

Woman hit, killed by trailer pulled by pickup driven by husband

KELOWNA – Both the RCMP and Coroner are investigating after a 40-year-old woman was hit and killed by a trailer being towed by a pickup truck driven by her husband early Sunday morning. RCMP say the woman was hit at around 2:30 a.m., May 24, in the 3100-block of Lakeshore Road, just south of KLO...

UPDATE: Southern Interior severe thunderstorm watch expanded

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Environment Canada has expanded its severe thunderstorm watch to include the South Thompson, North Thompson and Nicola regions, including the city of Kamloops. The original watch issued early this morning, May 24, covered the Okanagan, Shuswap and Boundary regions, including Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon and Salmon Arm. Forecasters say conditions are favourable for the...

Okanagan diners reap the rewards of an early spring

OKANAGN – The early spring across the Okanagan this year is not only good for your tan but for local restaurants and family kitchens as well. Across the valley, farmers are busy harvesting crops which normally wouldn't be ready for weeks. Fruits, berries, veggies and field crops all got a jump start this year, which...

Westbank cemetery to see new life under expansion plan

WEST KELOWNA - The District of West Kelowna is considering spending $694,000 on the expansion of the Westbank Cemetery. In a report to council, parks supervisor Stacey Harding is recommending the district award the expansion contract to Arterra Construction, the low bidder on the plan to expand the graveyard which opened in 1925. Harding says...

TNRD looks at options for regulating biosolids

KAMLOOPS - In response to recent concerns around biosolids the regional district is considering changes to regulations around commercial and agriculture composting. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District is reviewing a zoning bylaw to regulate commercial composting and to limit the scale of agricultural composting. In a media release, the district says if the amendment is supported...

Hot dog calls on rise as weather heats up in Southern Interior

THOMSON-OKANAGAN - Though summer isn’t even officially here, the unseasonably warm weather in the Interior is already prompting concerned calls about dogs left unattended in cars. “We’ve had three or four already this morning (May 22) and yesterday we had half a dozen before lunch,” Cam Buksa, spokesman for the Central Okanagan branch of the...

Cannabis oil stopped her seizures, now family trying to help others

SUMMERLAND – The family of a young girl from Summerland say her only relief from debilitating seizures has come from an oil derived from marijuana, and they are holding a fundraiser to help other families in the same situation. Kyla Williams, 3, has a rare form of epilepsy that causes her as many as 300...

Kelowna to consider bid for 2019 seniors games

KELOWNA - Staff are recommending the City of Kelowna spend $115,000 in a bid to host the 2019 55+ B.C. Games.  In a report to council, event development supervisor Mariko Siggers says community support for the bid is solid, the facilities already exist and the return on investment will amount to at least $2 million...

Study at UBC Okanagan seeks breast cancer survivors

OKANAGAN - A researcher from UBC Okanagan is hoping to find survivors of breast cancer for a study on the effects of increasing physical exercise after treatment and rehabilitation. Cristina Caperchione, an assistant professor with the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, is leading ProjectMOVE which has secured a $200,000 research grant from the Canadian...

Early spring both good and bad for local farmers

OKANAGAN – The early heat felt across the Okanagan this year has local farmers springing into action. Producers of vegetables, fruit, hay and alfalfa crops say the warm weather came at least two weeks early this year, meaning they can plant earlier, expect higher yields and very likely harvest earlier as well. At the Kelowna...

Ducklings saved by local business owner

KELOWNA – When Noel Wentworth saw an anxious-looking duck on the side of the road last week he knew something wasn’t right. Wentworth and his family were driving home on Glenmore Road around 8 p.m. May 16 when he saw a panicked mother duck on the opposite side of the road. “She was basically running...