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Kelowna
Summer watering restrictions likely as province records average lowest snowpack levels in 31 years
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The lastest snowpack measurements from the provincial government’s river forecast centre are showing record low levels in some areas including the Okanagan and Similkameen regions. Without substantial rain in the next couple of months, reservoirs across the region will also be lower than normal, likely leading to water use restrictions in many communities...
Young hockey player’s sad story may have a happy ending
KELOWNA - It appears the story of the nine-year-old boy who quit his hockey team in tears after being repeatedly benched, may have a happy ending after all. Our story about Sam Lescarbeau has gone truly viral with people from all over Canada writing to encourage him, share similar stories from all manner of sports teams...
Plant a Row, Grow a Row for the Kelowna Food Bank
KELOWNA – For the fifth year, the Kelowna Food Bank is taking part in a national program which encourages kids and seniors to get back to their roots, and at the same time, help feed the less fortunate in the community. The Plant a Row, Grow a Row program started in 1986. Volunteers at the...
Treat your mom this weekend at one (or more) of these Mother’s Day events
KELOWNA – No one will ever love you as much as your mom, so here is a list of events in Kelowna to say thanks and show her how special she is. This Sunday and Monday mothers will be celebrated at the Kelowna FabFive wineries with something special at each of the five local wineries....
New pet registry promotes microchip implants
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The SPCA is promoting a new province-wide pet identification registry where animals with microchip implants can have their information stored in a centralized database. "We’ve created a first for British Columbia — a centralized database for pets who receive permanent identification at any B.C. SPCA shelter, veterinarian or microchip clinic across the province,”...
Valley mayors push for early start to water conservation
OKANAGAN - Mindful of the dry winter the Okanagan has just experienced, valley mayors and councillors joined the Okanagan Basin Water Board for an early launch of the Make Water Work conservation campaign today. Mayor Doug Findlater, who chairs the water board, used his own community of West Kelowna as an example of why the...
Rockets grab son of former NHLer in bantam draft
KELOWNA – The Kelowna Rockets have picked the son of former NHLer Adam Foote with its first selection at the Western Hockey League Bantam Draft in Calgary. Nolan Foote, a 6’1” and 150-lbs forward, was selected in the second round of the draft and 43rd overall. “Nolan is the player we wanted all along,” Rockets...
Paving work will impact traffic on Highway 97
VERNON - There will be delays on Highway 97 over the next month as repaving work gets underway. The project is for roughly 30 km of highway resurfacing between Old Vernon Road and Bailey Road. A five kilometer section on Highway 33 from Beaverdell Dump Road to Beaverdell will also be included The $3.8 million...
Fintry Queen still waiting for forever home
KELOWNA - She looks a little lonely out there, anchored in Sutherland Bay, waiting for something to happen but the man tasked with selling the iconic Fintry Queen says interest has been steady since it was put up for sale two months ago. “We’re still marketing it, still waiting for the right buyer but we’ve...
Union takes fight for hospital laundry services to the street
KELOWNA - Hospital Employees Union members took to the streets outside Kelowna General Hospital today to push for the Interior Health Authority to reconsider a plan to privatize laundry services. “These are workers that perform a very important health care service, they ensure that operating rooms are stocked with clean linens. Here at KGH 17,000...
Cracked chimney causes house fire
KELOWNA – A cracked chimney is to blame for a small house fire on Mathews Road Tuesday morning. According to a release the Kelowna Fire Department, firefighters arrived at 11 a.m. today, May 6, to one of the occupants outside the home. “Firefighters extinguished the flames which were on the side of the house between...
Hell’s Angel gives up on appeal
KELOWNA - Daniel McRae, one of the three Hells Angels associates convicted of beating to death a Kelowna father in front of his sons in 2011, is not going to appeal his sentence. According to the Vancouver Sun, the victim's son, Kody Phillips, told Justice Mark McEwan that the attack on his father lasted only seconds,...
New film to focus on Kelowna motocross rider Bruce Cook
KELOWNA - Bruce Cook, the freestyle motocross rider who was paralyzed last year attempting a difficult stunt, will be the focus of a new film by local filmmaker Carey Missler. Missler, who recently received an award of excellence from the Canada International Film Festival for his work as director of The Paddler, confirms he is...
What’s good for the master is good for the pets: Natural remedies at a vet clinic near you
"PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO RECOGNIZE THAT MAYBE CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE DOESN'T ALWAYS HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS" KELOWNA – When you walk into Pandosy Village Veterinary Hospital, it feels like a combination of old fashioned apothecary, modern day pet store and coffee shop. As a licenced veterinarian, Dr. Jason Rowan does all the procedures that a normal...
Injunction hearing over Okanagan Rail corridor set for this month
VERNON – A Supreme Court Judge will hear the Okanagan Indian Band’s argument for an…
VIDEO: What a difference 125 years has made in Kelowna
KELOWNA – If Kelowna’s founder walked the streets of Kelowna today, what would he think? On Monday the Kelowna Museum released a video shot during Provincial Heritage Week that shows Bernard Lequime – or at least an actor portraying him – walking the street that bears his name. Christina Neale, the museums programming coordinator, says...
Special occasion liquor licences now available online
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A program by the provincial government to make it easier to get a special occasion liquor licence has been opened up to the Southern Interior. The licences are now available online in the Thompson-Okanagan. The B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch began a pilot program in the Lower Mainland in early February and has now opened...
Central Okanagan school trustees turn down pay raise
KELOWNA - Central Okanagan school trustees, perhaps mindful of how it could be perceived during a budget deficit year, turned down the chance last week of giving themselves a raise. “I think trustees thought, in a time of budget constraints, that it was a bad idea,” school board chair Moyra Baxter says. Baxter still believes...
‘All of a sudden, a friggin’ moose comes out of nowhere and lands on the front of the truck’
KELOWNA - Doug Adams remembers the moose slamming into the hood, then sliding up the windshield, six inches from his face. The impact brought the one-ton diesel truck to an instant standstill. Adams, 56, of Vernon, was the passenger in a truck that collided with an estimated 800 pound moose last Friday, May 1, in...
West Kelowna pushing city status bid under the radar
WEST KELOWNA - Opponents of the district’s push to seek city status say mayor and council have tried to slide the issue under the radar when it deserves a full and open public debate. Gordon Ficke, President of the Historic Westbank Association, says council ignored a request from the group to hold a townhall meeting...
Gyrocopter tours coming to Kelowna
OKANAGAN – The next big thing to hit the skies over the Okanagan is part of a growing trend around the world. The gyrocopter, sometimes called an autogyro, looks like a helicopter but instead of getting its thrust from the top rotor, the engine sends power to a propeller mounted at the rear. Gyrocopters are...
VIDEO: 20,000 young fish pumped into lake
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Moving more than 20,000 young fish from a hatchery into a lake isn't easy, unless you have the right tools for the job. On Sunday, May 3, Go Fish B.C., a nonprofit program organized by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of Canada, released a behind-the-scenes video of the restocking of rainbow trout in Paul Lake...
UPDATE: Kelowna teen located
UPDATE: 10:55 A.M., MAY 25, 2015 RCMP say Raven Graham has been located. 9:27 A.M., MAY 5, 2015 KELOWNA - Police are asking for the public’s help in locating a teen missing since mid-April. Raven Graham, 17, was reported missing April 14. She is described as Caucasian, 5’5” and 115 lbs with blonde hair and...
Hard lessons from California drought to be learned in the Okanagan
KELOWNA - With snowpack levels on the west side of Okanagan Lake at extremely low levels coupled with the dry winter the valley has just experienced, a comparison with drought-stricken California and the measures they must now take to avoid catastrophe is perhaps inevitable. “People say jokingly the best planning is done in advance… what...