Elevate your local knowledge

Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!

Select Region

Selecting your primary region ensures you get the stories that matter to you first.

Vernon news

Sunny week ahead for Okanagan

OKANAGAN - It was a hot, sunny and stormy weekend and this week is expected to be a bit closer to normal Okanagan summer weather. Temperatures reached as high as 36 Celsius Sunday as storms rolled through the region. While there is a risk of thunderstorms again today the chance of rain forecast for the...

VIDEO: Eating pie while surfing in Kal Lake? No problem for this guy

VERNON - Crumbs? No problem. Calories? He’s literally burning them off as he eats. Troy Delfs recently satisfied a Davison Orchard pie craving while surfing in Kalamalka Lake — and he made it look easy. In a video posted to Facebook and viewed thousands of times, Delfs begins in the water, holding onto a tow...

Grass fire sparked north of Vernon

SPALLUMCHEEN - Emergency crews weren’t taking any chances with a small grass fire just north of Vernon beside Highway 97. Fire information officer Kelsey Winter says B.C. Wildfire crews were on the ground alongside firefighters from the Armstrong Spallumcheen Fire Department in an area roughly 15 kilometres north of Vernon near Gurney Creek. The fire,...

Vernon lingerie store’s not the best hangout for cadets

VERNON - It’s that time of year when hundreds of sharp-dressed cadets can be found around town, but it appears one local business wants to keep them at bay. A notice posted outside La Senza in the Village Green Centre, a popular stop for the cadets on weekends, asked that no more than five enter...

Be fire safe, not sorry, when you use your tools and toys in the bush

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If you plan on being a lumberjack or ripping around on your ATV in the bush this weekend, B.C. Wildfire Management is asking you to take into account the fire risk before firing up a chainsaw or starting up the quad. “If members of the public or industry personnel plan to do any...

Former New Delhi restaurant building in Vernon to be demolished

VERNON - There will soon be one more parking lot, and one less building downtown Vernon. The city owned building at the corner of 29 Street and 30 Avenue near the Vernon library which many knew as the New Delhi Indian Restaurant, is getting demolished. There was a fire in the building back in December,...

Loss of school bus route leaves Cherryville mom in a quandary

CHERRYVILLE - A Cherryville mother is considering homeschooling her children after learning they will now have to walk over nine kilometres to get to the nearest bus stop. Kara-Lee Zeolkowski got a letter from School District 22 in June saying the bus stop outside the family’s home on Sugar Lake Road has been eliminated. The...

Hampton disputes testimony he left images of child porn for his wife to find

KELOWNA – The former Vernon Mountie facing child porn charges in Kelowna says he didn’t tell an investigator he left images and videos of child porn on a flash drive for his wife to find, directly contradicting testimony given by the Sargent who first interviewed him in May of 2013. Ryan Hampton is on trial...

Province changes date for open house on Stickle Road intersection improvements plan

VERNON - There’s a new date for an upcoming open house on proposed changes to the Stickle Road intersection in Vernon. Ministry of Transportation staff will present their second plan for the intersection at Highway 97 after the first was scrapped back in May. The open house was originally set for July 30, right before the long...

Province to review bus industry after two Coquihalla crashes

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Two major bus crashes in the last year resulted in serious injuries and now the provincial government is moving forward with a safety review on the motor coach industry. Minister of Transportation Todd Stone says the review will include examining safety statistics, analyzing vehicle inspections and vehicle licensing. It will also compare the...

Unusual bike cruises down Vernon train tracks

VERNON - At first glance, it looks like an ordinary bike. But there’s something different about this particular two-wheeler, that much is clear from three pole attachments jutting out horizontally from the bike. The odd contraption, spotted on the railroad by Kal Beach in Coldstream, is made to run along train tracks. What is it,...

Solve the clues and find the treasure at Kamloops’ newest attraction

KAMLOOPS - You and three friends enter a parlour decorated with antiques and cat-themed trinkets. The door closes behind you, the clock starts and you hear the voice of a lady named Margaret. She tells you she has an estate, and the clues leading to her fortune are in the very room you’re standing in....

Toss a butt out the window in Vernon and you could receive a fine

VERNON - Watch your butts, smokers. If you’re caught throwing a cigarette butt out the window, Vernon RCMP say you could face fines. It starts with $81 for depositing litter or an injurious item, and could go up another $173 for violating the Wildfire Act, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. “Especially when things are so...

Ontario zoo trying to save CrocTalk reptiles from euthanasia

KELOWNA – A reptile rescue organization in Ottawa is currently raising funds to save more than a dozen animals currently housed at CrocTalk in Kelowna from euthanasia. The animals, which include four alligators, one crocodile and 13 caimans, are welcome at Little Rays Reptiles in Hamilton, Ontario any time, but according to their GoFundMe page,...

Newspaper ad congratulates aboriginal high school grads for ‘sobriety’

VERNON - A newspaper ad taken out by a Vancouver MP was meant to be congratulatory, but is instead leaving many in shock and disgust. The ad, which was taken out by Liberal MP Joyce Murray, tells aboriginal youth that ‘Sobriety, education and hard work lead to success.’ The ad is printed in First Nations...

Beach service remembers young women killed in Vernon crash

OKANAGAN - Friends and family flooded a local beach in memory of the two young Kelowna women killed Saturday night in Vernon. Kayla Cartwright, 26 and Chantal Bazin, 22, died July 11 when the car they were driving crossed the centre line on Highway 97 in Vernon and hit an oncoming vehicle. But Jeff Cartwright,...

Kelowna senior missing for two weeks

KELOWNA – A 71-year-old Kelowna senior has been missing since late last month. Police are asking for the public’s help locating Benjamin Wolfe, who has not been seen or heard from since June 29. He has no cell phone and there is no vehicle associated with him, according to Const. Steve Holmes of the Kelowna...

Province’s new Stickle Road proposal fails to impress Vernon officials

VERNON - Better, but not good enough is the message Vernon council sent to the Ministry of Transportation during a presentation about a new idea for improving the Stickle Road intersection. Plans for a right-in, right-out only access to and from Stickle Road on Highway 97 just north of the city were scrapped in May...

Future unknown for Vernon property wrecked by massive fire

VERNON - A burned out lot in the City of Vernon where government offices and a podiatry clinic used to be, could be sitting empty for a while. The building was destroyed in a massive fire June 30, displacing workers at the Ministry of Social Development workers and the podiatry clinic, North Okanagan Foot and...

Pet pig flies in Vernon; councillor asks what’s next?

VERNON - It was an unusual case that some city councillors fear might not be so uncommon any more. A Vernon family desperate to keep their pet pig Felix pleaded with city council for an exception to a bylaw prohibiting swine on city property — unless on designated farm land — and got their wish...