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Vernon

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...

Vernon school board to hear community concerns over controversial pellet plant

VERNON - Parents will be given an opportunity to voice their concerns to the Vernon School District regarding a proposed pellet plant. The district called another meeting on Pinnacle Renewable Energy and Tolko’s plans to build a pellet plant near Lavington Elementary at a special board meeting Wednesday night.  Residents asked the board to hold...

Hot Wednesday hits records, cools off for long weekend

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It was the last hot day of August Wednesday with temperatures soaring into the 30s across the region, and while several cities closed in on record highs only Vernon hit the mark. Yesterday Vernon hit 33.5 Celsius, hot enough to tie the record set in 1986, and Kelowna also came close but couldn’t...

Park concept dashed with sale of historic Kal Lake estate

VERNON - One of the Okanagan’s top 100 most expensive residential properties—a historical home on the shores of Kalamalka Lake—is in new hands, albeit not the ones its former owner had hoped for. The 2.4-acre estate belonging to the late Margaret Ormsby, featuring 420 feet of waterfront off Coldstream Creek Road, was on the market...

Teachers asked to ‘voluntarily stand down’

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - In an effort to get negotiations moving, Education Minister Peter Fassbender met with the lead negotiators today and asked teachers to ‘voluntarily stand down and let classes start while the parties are in mediation.’ Fassbender met with B.C. Teachers’ Federation President Jim Iker and B.C. Public School Employers’ Association representative Peter Cameron Wednesday...

Public meeting will focus on teacher strike, proposed Lavington plant

VERNON - A special meeting set for tonight will focus on two topics that have been in the news lately: The teacher strike and a proposed pellet plant in Lavington. The special meeting, called specifically by the school district to address the two issues, starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the board office on 15...

UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm watch ends

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A severe thunderstorm watch issued this morning has been lifted for Kamloops, Vernon and the Shuswap. Environment Canada issued the watch for nine different regions, include the North and South Thompson, the North Okanagan and the Shuswap, this morning. The watch extended north through the Cariboo and east to the Alberta border in...

Loss of rail is loss of history

VERNON - It once brought growth to the region, but now the railway linking Vernon with Kelowna is being erased one rail tie at a time. Since the last spike was laid in 1925, the nearly 50-kilometer stretch of track has carried many passengers and untold quantities of freight. But its glory days are long...

Crews chasing abandoned campfires after ban ends

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The first weekend after the campfire ban was lifted, B.C. Wildfire crews were called to put out abandoned campfires across the region that could have resulted in much larger fires. “We had nine abandoned campfires, we definitely did see the number of calls go up,” Fire Information Officer Kayla Pepper says. “It is...

Heartland stars rolling through town

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If you are a fan of Heartland get your cameras ready, the stars of the hit Canadian show tour Southern B.C. raising funds for Sophie’s Place during a six-day motorcycle marathon. The Cruise with a Cause marathon began Monday and first stopped in Whistler. Tuesday the stars will make their way to Cache...

Owners worried about missing pet store cat

VERNON - Russel the cat is always pulling wild and ridiculous stunts, but a recent vanishing act is worrying his owners. Russel, a fixture of AJ’s Pets & Things for nearly seven years, has been missing since Aug. 20. While possible, owner Lisa Badach says it’s not like the champagne coloured tabby to wander out...

Suspect arrested after trying to run police off the road with stolen truck

VERNON - The driver of a stolen truck gave police a hard time before crashing the absconded ride and being placed under arrest.  Police were notified Aug. 23 around 12:31 p.m. that a stolen vehicle was traveling on 25 Avenue towards Francis Street. Officers located the truck speeding down Hartnell Road a short time later....

Donation jars lifted from Vernon corner store

VERNON - A thief was caught on camera after a botched robbery at a corner store in Vernon last week. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the crook entered Lakeview Market, located at 1501 32 Avenue, around 5:30 p.m. Friday. The approximately 40-year-old man had a white t-shirt wrapped around his face and yellow gloves on...

Accused in drive-by shooting granted bail

KAMLOOPS – One of two men accused in a fatal drive-by shooting in Salmon Arm was granted bail Friday morning in Kamloops Supreme Court. Jeremy Davis, 24, was released on a $100,000 surety. He and Jordan Larry Barnes, 27, are charged with the second degree murder of Nicolas Larsen, 24. RCMP statements say Larsen was...

Strange Vernon crash investigation like a scene from a TV show

VERNON -  Mounties are looking for witnesses to help them figure out a bizarre series of events overnight that could have been straight out of a mystery crime show. At about 1 a.m. Aug. 21, an officer was called to investigate a reported accident in the 3700 block of Welker Road in Vernon. The caller...

Local government to make an offer on rail corridor

OKANAGAN - A group of Okanagan municipalities plan to make CN an offer this fall for an almost 50 kilometre long rail corridor between Vernon and Kelowna. Doug Gilchrist, City of Kelowna real estate and community planning director says a jurisdictional acquisition team made up of Kelowna, Lake Country, Coldstream, the North Okanagan Regional District...

Director leads motion against proposed gravel pit

VERNON - A resident’s attempt to build a gravel pit on the outskirts of the City of Vernon has revealed concerning flaws in the application process, says a North Okanagan politician. Not for the applicant, but for people in the community affected by the potential noise, dust and economic impact of the gravel pit itself....

Why you’ve seen so many missing person reports on your news feed this summer

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The faces of missing people from the Thompson-Okanagan have poured into news feeds over the last few months, but police say it’s nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year. Spokesperson for the RCMP Const. Kris Clark says the summer months typically see more reports of missing people. “You’ve got the...

HELSTON: Suspects walk without charges in high profile cases—what’s going on?

Over the course of a week, police let the suspects in two separate, serious incidents walk without charges. The first incident was a shooting in Polson Park Aug. 12. Police said multiple people were involved and several shots were fired. Later that day, one person was arrested in Vernon and three in Kelowna. The next...

UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm watch ended

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The severe thunderstorm watch for today ended at 6:54 p.m. for all regions except Penticton, which saw the watch lifted just before 9 p.m. Today marked the fifth day in the past 10 days a severe thunderstorm was issued for the region. Environment Canada issued the severe thunderstorm watch Thursday morning for the...