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Vernon

Vehicle tumbles down embankment, driver’s neck impaled with stick

VERNON - A local man remains in hospital with a neck wound after crashing his car over an embankment. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says officers were called to the 6000 block of Cosens Bay Road Sunday around 5:40 p.m. for a report of a vehicle over the embankment. “The driver, a 21-year-old Vernon man, was...

Have your say on Vernon Mixed Martial Arts ban

VERNON - This is your chance to tell Vernon City Hall what you think about a ban on Mixed Martial Arts. The city is providing an opportunity for public input Monday at the start of its regular council meeting. The city has already given first readings to the bylaw — which would ban professional MMA...

School board contemplates decision on Lavington pellet plant

VERNON - The Vernon school board will soon let the Ministry of Environment know how it feels about a proposed pellet plant. Trustees received input from those in favour of the project and those against, and are now preparing to send their recommendations to the Ministry. Pinnacle Renewable Energy president Leroy Reitsma presented to the...

Baby, three others taken to hospital after rollover near Vernon

VERNON – The hunt is on for the driver of a car who may have caused a rollover on Highway 6 between Vernon and Lumby Friday afternoon. Four people, including an infant, were taken to Vernon Jubilee Hospital with minor injuries after the car they were in ended up on its roof in the ditch,...

Mary-Jo O’Keefe joins the race for the mayor’s seat

VERNON - Another candidate tossed a hat into the ring Friday morning for the upcoming Vernon mayoral race. Mary-Jo O’Keefe stood before a crowd at Davison Orchards to announce her intention. In her speech, O’Keefe said her 15 years of experience serving on the Vernon school board and second consecutive term as city councillor will...

Enjoy warm weather while it lasts

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Enjoy the weekend while it lasts — another blast of heat is coming our way this weekend but there'll be a significant drop in temperatures Monday. Temperatures will reach as much as 30 Celsius in the region and the sun in expected to shine throughout the weekend. Kamloops will see the warmest temperatures...

Teacher strike throws off extra-curricular programs in the North Okanagan

VERNON - The B.C. teacher strike has thrown off many school sports and other non-curricular programs, though some activities remain on course thanks to parents and outside maintenance workers. Superintendent of the Vernon School District Joe Rogers says some fields aren’t being maintained due to picket lines, while others run in conjunction with Greater Vernon...

Teachers’ union has plan to get school back in session

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Just two days after saying the union would not consider a vote to suspend the current strike Jim Iker, the teachers’ union president, says they would recommend members vote to suspend the strike if the government is willing to agree to binding arbitration. The B.C. Teachers’ Federation president says this is another option...

Return to the wild: Okanagan bear doesn’t look back

VERNON - From the top of a power pole, to a rehabilitation shelter, Polaris the black bear has had quite a journey in her young life, and now she’ll be continuing her adventures in the wild. The year-and-a-half old black bear found perched on a power pole in Lumby last fall was taken in by...

Your kids aren’t getting an education so far this year, but international students are

VERNON - While B.C. students remain cut off from school during the teacher strike, some students from abroad are accessing educational resources through international programs in school districts.  Vernon school district is one of the provincial leaders in attracting 200 international students this year. Supt. Joe Rogers says they are participating in field trips and other...

TEACHERS’ STRIKE: How much money the Terry Fox Foundation stands to lose

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The kids, the teachers, the government, the parents. We’ve heard over and over again how the current labour dispute is affecting them, but what about the organizations that also rely on schools to help with fundraising? Every year during September, students raise money for the Terry Fox Run but this year, unless teachers and...

“We’re not suspending any strike:” Iker

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Teachers’ union president Jim Iker has declined the Premier's request to suspend the strike while bargaining continues. Earlier today, Christy Clark urged him, before a packed news conference, to allow teachers to vote to end the strike or suspend it. Two hours later, Iker held is own conference and stood his ground. “We’re...

Parents taking control during teacher strike

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - With no end to the current labour dispute in sight many parents are wondering how they can make sure their kids do not fall behind in their education — book sections in many stores are picked over, only a few workbooks remaining, and many school-age programs filled up before the summer was even...

Endless summer in B.C…. snow in Alberta?

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Mother Nature is welcoming some Alberta kids back to school in Canadian style today — with a snow storm. The southeast corner of Alberta, from Brooks to the B.C. border, is currently under a heavy rainfall warning but combined with temperatures hovering not much above zero some areas are instead seeing wet snow....

What you can do to prevent bear conflicts this fall

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Hide your picnic baskets and tuck away your garbage cans, it’s high season for bears as they look to take in about 20,000 calories per day before settling in to hibernate for the winter. WildSafeBC Provincial Coordinator Frank Ritcey says bear sightings in the month of August were more than the four previous...

At least someone’s getting a laugh over the teachers’ strike

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It appears someone working for the provincial government's web department has added a little ironic wit—if not annoying editorial—to the rhetoric on the teachers strike. When all hope of ending the teachers strike before Sept. 2 was lost on the weekend, the B.C. government opened up its website so parents can register to...

Charges laid in connection with death of Armstrong woman

ARMSTRONG - A Salmon Arm man has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of an Armstrong woman. Jillian McKinty, 27, was found deceased in her home on Wolfenden Terrace in Armstrong Nov. 27, 2013. She was a mother of two. “The circumstances surrounding Jillian’s death were suspicious in nature,” RCMP spokesperson Gord...

Keep control of campfires this weekend

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Most campfire bans have been lifted heading into the Labour Day long weekend but that does not mean you should be careless with your fires while camping. B.C. Wildfire is reminding people to use extreme caution while out camping or in the backcountry. Last weekend, just days after the campfire ban was lifted...

Surprise wedding gives dying groom best day of his life

VERNON - Not knowing how many more days he’d wake up next to her, how many more drives they would go on together, or how many more times he’d get to say I love you, Ryan Langley rose from his wheelchair—defying everything his doctors had said—and watched the love of his life, Alisa, walk down...

HELSTON: Why Vernon teachers weren’t picketing outside schools this week

Earlier this week, I went out to cover strike action on the local front. The problem was, I couldn’t find any teachers. There was little sign of them in the city; no sound of car horns being honked in support, no thumbs being wagged in the air, no protest signs, no chanting, no teachers. In...

UPDATE: Coq reopened after tour bus crash, 43 injured

MERRITT - A rollover has injured 43 people on board a tour bus and shut down the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Hope Thursday afternoon. Kelsie Carwithen of B.C. Ambulance Service says they got the call at 3 p.m. of an incident 30 kilometres south of Merritt involving a tour bus. They dispatched six air...

Vernon teachers, parents frustrated after passionate plea to school board

VERNON - Teachers and parents urged the Vernon school board to push for mediation between the B.C. Teachers Federation and the provincial government at a meeting Wednesday. Tensions were high in the packed boardroom, which had standing room only. School board trustees, teachers and parents all agreed they needed to get students back in the...