Kelowna

Kelowna woman’s story of abuse goes viral

KELOWNA – A brave Kelowna woman is using social media to share her personal story of domestic abuse. Selina Morrison says her ex-boyfriend abused her both physically and emotionally and she is making her story public on her Facebook page. Two videos she has released since Feb. 8 have almost 40,000 views. “As I was...

Interior Health seeks outside laundry service providers

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Interior Health is moving forward with a plan to privatize laundry service in the region. The organization says it is now seeking more information from pre-qualified service providers recently identified. This will allow Interior Health to look at the external options available, something it hopes will help reduce necessary capital costs to upgrade...

Shaw shuttering Kelowna call centre

KELOWNA - Shaw Communications announced today it will be closing down contact centres in three Canadian cities starting this summer, including Kelowna. The customer care operations in Calgary, Edmonton and Kelowna will be relocated to Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal, where the contact centres will expand. A total of about 1,600 employees in the three...

How local Mamas helped a new Kelowna family overcome misfortune

KELOWNA – When Nelly Barclay talks about her family’s first week in Kelowna, she starts to cry. A new, non-profit group called Mamas for Mamas came to their aid when an accident left the family with little else but the clothes they were wearing. “I can’t even put it into words,” she says. “I can...

Let there be rock: AC/DC Rock or Bust tour coming to Vancouver

VANCOUVER - Legendary rock band AC/DC is spending the first half of the Rock or Bust World Tour in Europe but has announced plans to tear down the house at more than a dozen North American venues at the end of the summer. With Edmonton and Vancouver on the roster for the end of September,...

Okanagan to get more residential care beds for the elderly

KELOWNA – Two cities in the Okanagan will be getting significantly more care beds for the elderly sometime in the future, according to an Interior Health announcement Tuesday. Kelowna-Mission MLA Steve Thompson says the beds, which are for seniors with complex care requirements requiring round-the-clock care, will help more than just Okanagan seniors. “These additional...

How to plan the perfect date

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The guy or gal you have your eye on has said yes to a date, but Valentine’s Day is less than a week away and you have no idea how to plan the perfect date. Elizabeth deVries of Together By Design, says you need to think about the experience and connecting on the...

Aerosmith ‘Back in the Saddle’ in Kelowna

KELOWNA - Show your Valentine you have What it Takes and give them a gift sure to make they go Crazy, tickets to see one of the most-loved classic rock bands live in Kelowna. The multi-platinum band Aerosmith is set to hit the stage at Prospera Place July 13 and tickets will go on sale this...

Kelowna breaks warm weather record

KAMLOOPS – The spring-like weather continues for Kelowna with a record high temperature on Sunday, Feb. 8. The mercury rose to 11.7 C, smashing the old record of 6.6 C on the same day in 2008, according to Environment Canada’s website. To put things into perspective, the normal high for his time of year is...

High fives, cheers and tears at Canadian chef contest

KELOWNA – It’s not your typical Okanagan dinner fare, but you’d expect nothing less from the nation’s top chefs as they competed in the Canadian Culinary Championships in Kelowna this weekend. The grand finale winning dish from chef Ryan O’Flynn from the Westin Hotel in Edmonton was a Terrine of pine smoked Alberta river sturgeon...

Local flooding possible as El Nino-like weather melts lower snowpack

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – It doesn’t happen often, but a perfect alignment of the right conditions may cause some flooding in the Southern Interior. The warm Pacific air bombarding the region, thanks to the Pineapple Express, is creating above normal temperatures, which in turn are starting to melt the lower elevation snowpack. Add the still frozen ground...

Father thought he’d be celebrating her wedding, not her life

KELOWNA – In the parking lot of a large church in Rutland, friends and family of the young woman killed in a car accident last week watched as her remains were slowly driven down Highway 33 atop a Joe Rich Fire Rescue truck. Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday morning, Feb. 7, to remember Alexandra Paulina...

SPCA fighting cruelty with kindness

MILLION ACTS OF KINDNESS CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Even seemingly little things can help make the life of an animal better and B.C. SPCA wants to celebrate 120 years by fighting cruelty with kindness in 2015. The animal advocacy and rescue group launched the Million Acts of Kindness campaign this week. To launch the campaign...

Kelowna grandmother turns tables on phone scammer

KELOWNA – A 90-year-old grandmother was the target of an organized scam designed to pressure her into wiring almost $2,000 to get her grandson out of jail. The grandmother, who asked to remain anononymous, says a man called her at 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6 and pretended to be her grandson. “I was already asleep,”...

Annual non-profit race cancelled after 35 years

KELOWNA – A 35-year-old racing tradition in Kelowna has run its course. The annual Ski2Sea race is an annual non-profit relay event where teams and individuals alternate biking, skiing, kayaking and running 95 km from Big White to City Park. According to their website the reasons the race has been cancelled are to do with...

STAHN: Community needs to step up to stop tagging

There’s urban art, known as graffiti to many, and then there’s tagging—the ugly scribbles, words and obscene pictures that end up on our buildings, on murals and even in tot lots. This has been a growing issue throughout the region and in the past year has hit some pretty low lows. Penises drawn on playground...

Highway 1 closed for avalanche control Friday

AVALANCHE RISK AGAIN HIGH THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If you are heading east for the long weekend you might want to adjust your travel times. In addition to a winter driving advisory from the Shuswap to the Alberta border, delays of up to three hours are expected on Highway 1 through Glacier National Park on Friday. Drive...

Kelowna RCMP ‘routinely’ breach privacy during strip searches: Judge

KELOWNA – Kelowna RCMP "routinely" violate the right to privacy of female prisoners during strip searches at the detachment and show "ignorance of the law" on the subject, according to a ruling from a provincial court judge. Judge Ellen Burdett said local Mounties' practice of recording and broadcasting female strip searches to a guard room...

Service planned for Fire Chief’s daughter killed in car wreck

KELOWNA – A memorial service for Alexandra Nyuli, the woman who died last week after her vehicle left the road in Joe Rich and tumbled 100 m down a bank will be held this weekend in Kelowna. Nyuli, who was 21, was one of three daughters of Joe Rich Fire Chief Curtis Nyuli. On Jan....

Heavy snow and freezing rain on the way

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A winter storm is bringing heavy snow to much of the province today and tonight and the Southern Interior is no exception. Environment Canada says to expect heavy snow on Highway 1 from Eagle Pass to Rogers Pass—up to 25 centimetres by Friday morning—and on Highway 3 from Paulson Summit to Kootenay Pass....

Lake Country to jump on rail corridor purchase if no vote fails

KELOWNA — Lake Country will move ahead quickly with the purchase of its portion of the CN Rail corridor should the alternative approval process succeed, a prospect that seems increasingly likely. “If we’re good and we don’t reach the 931 by noon on Feb. 23 then hopefully we would have a special council meeting on...

Family Day fun events in Kelowna

KELOWNA – It’s family day next Monday and with many people getting a three-day weekend Kelowna has a pile of fun events to make it special. Start the weekend off with a special parent and child floorball game at OKM Secondary Feb. 6. With rules that limit stick contact and physical play, the action is...

Spring is in the air

TEMPERATURES TO WARM, RAIN TO FALL THOMPSON-OKANAGAN — If you’ve been dreaming of spring weather, this weekend could be your dream come true with temperatures hovering near the double digits, and bringing rain. Lots of rain. Wednesday temperatures will hover just above seasonal normals of 1 Celsius, according to Environment Canada, but by Friday will...

Power back on after outage hits large chunk of Central Okanagan

KELOWNA - Only 124 customers in Vernon remain without power following an outage that affected thousands of B.C. Hydro customers in Kelowna, Lake Country and parts of Vernon. The brief power outage started at roughly 7:20 a.m. leaving more than 7,000 people in the dark. B.C. Hydro blames a transmission circuit failure for the outage....