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West Kelowna
West Kelowna moves closer to becoming a city
WEST KELOWNA - A bid by the District of West Kelowna to apply for an updgrade to city status is moving to the next level after only 166 counter petitions were submitted during the alternative approval process. “There is no significant concern from the public and I think we made the right call using the...
Breastfeeding moms could prevail in West Kelowna
WEST KELOWNA - Breastfeeding is a right protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom and according to a report from staff, District of West Kelowna staff should be trained in to recognize this — to do anything else is sex discrimination. The staff report recommends West Kelowna get behind a request originally made...
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...
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...
West Kelowna stabbing victim dies in hospital
WEST KELOWNA – The 45-year-old West Kelowna man who was stabbed in a fight last…
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...
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...
Gas prices jump in the Central Okanagan
KELOWNA - If you’re running low on gas and can find a gas station that has yet to get the memo, you might want to fill up. Gasbuddy.com users are reporting an 11 cent jump in the price of regular gas, from $1.11.9 to $1.22.9 at stations across the Central Okanagan. And you might have...
The heart-breaking reason this nine-year-old boy quit hockey
"TO WIN AS A TEAM AND LOSE AS A TEAM IS A PRICELESS CONCEPT THAT SHOULD BE CHERISHED AND VALUED MORE THAN WINNING AT ALL COST" KELOWNA - A young hockey player made a heart-breaking decision to quit his hockey team with only two games left in the season and his father’s written reasons for...
UPDATE: Man arrested after stabbing in West Kelowna
WEST KELOWNA – A 45-year-old man remains in hospital with life threatening injuries after he was stabbed early Wednesday afternoon. RCMP were called about a stabbing near the intersection of Solar Road and Elliot Road in West Kelowna just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29. “When police attended they located a 45-year-old man suffering...
Motorcycle, cash and pendant stolen in separate thefts
KELOWNA – RCMP are asking the public for help locating several items stolen in Kelowna and West Kelowna over the last ten days. On April 19 a client at a Kelowna tanning salon left behind a gold eagle pendant in one of the rooms. When the owner returned the pendant was missing. It is said...
West Kelowna irrigation systems the target of a special brand of vandalism
WEST KELOWNA - Faced with an unusual type of vandalism aimed at its irrigation systems, the District of West Kelowna is asking for help trying to put an end to it. “This isn’t your typical loser kicking over a sprinkler head,” parks supervisor Stacey Harding says. “Whoever is doing this has a knowledge of irrigation...
Theft of big rig puts local logger down but not out
WEST KELOWNA - The owner of a $300,000 truck and low-bed trailer stolen at the end of March says the theft hit him hard but hasn’t knocked him out. “It was a big financial impact and a huge inconvenience,” Scott Horovatin, who used the 2014 Kenworth and trailer to run his own small logging outfit,...
Westside board of trade computers hacked, warns clients not to open emails
WEST KELOWNA - The Greater Westside Board of Trade says its computers have been hacked and its email contact list compromised. The board sent out an emergency email today urging people not to open attachments or zip files from any emails people may have received from the business promotion organization. The email apologized for the...
No refunds for closed O-Go Play pass holders
WEST KELOWNA – Some local families are scrambling for another child-friendly activity after a West Kelowna attraction closed its’ doors without warning two weeks ago. Laura Huntington spent more than $100 on an annual pass at O-Go Play in October. She’s been taking her two-year-old son Reece there almost every day but last week when...
No end in sight for sewage sludge sit-in at premier’s constituency office
WEST KELOWNA - The chiefs of the five native bands occupying Christy Clark’s office in West Kelowna say only an agreement with the province will end their protest. “We’re prepared to stay as long as it takes to come to some kind of the agreement with the province,” Chief Aaron Sam of the Upper Nicola...
Two Okanagan wind farms get green light
OKANAGAN – The first wind farms ever built in the Okanagan will be producing electricity by 2016. Agreements between B.C. Hydro and Zero Emission Energy Development have been inked for wind farms west of Summerland and west of Kelowna, according to a media release from the B.C. Liberal caucus. The White Rock-based company will be...
Kelowna to review prayer policy after Supreme Court ruling bans them at public meetings
KELOWNA - A ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada about conducting prayers at public meetings has prompted the City of Kelowna to review its own council procedures bylaw. While there are no prayers given at regular council meetings, deputy city clerk Karen Needham says a prayer is offered at the public hearings held every...
Remembering Const. Neil Bruce 50 years after his murder
WEST KELOWNA - The death of Const. Neil Bruce, 50 years ago today, was similar to what Kamloops experienced in 1962 or Mayerthorpe in 2005; the murder of local RCMP officers and the shocking realization for local residents that the men and women who serve and protect our communities can also end up as victims...
Robbery starts in bank, ends in bathroom
WEST KELOWNA - RCMP have arrested two men in connection with the robbery of the CIBC branch on Louie Drive in West Kelowna yesterday afternoon. RCMP spokesman Cpl. Joe Duncan said in a press release that a man walked into the bank at 2000 Louie Dr. on Monday, April 13, threatened a teller and demanded...
Wildfire fuel reduction critical as risk on the rise in West Kelowna
WEST KELOWNA - If you see smoke coming from up Bear Creek in the next few weeks, it’s likely not a raging wildfire. What you’re seeing is actually a fuel mitigation program designed to stop a raging wildfire from starting in the first place. “What you see behind me is what keeps firefighters awake at...
Neighbours fight crime with Block Watch program
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - In a world where social media provides almost instantaneous connections, an anti-crime program that relies on email and the telephone for neighbours to stay connected seems almost anachronistic. But that’s the model the Block Watch program still uses in British Columbia and local crime prevention coordinator Duane MacTavish says it is doing...
ReStore opens Kelowna location
KELOWNA – After a very successful year in West Kelowna, Habitat for Humanity has opened another ReStore in the Central Okanagan, this time in Kelowna. Executive Director Deb Guthrie says the Kelowna ReStore, which takes in items donated from the public, resells them and uses the profits to build homes for families in need, is even bigger...
Criminals should worry about Facebook in West Kelowna’s Shannon Lake
WEST KELOWNA - You almost have to pity the drug dealer, con man or break-in artist who tries to do business in Shannon Lake. The walls have eyes and they are all connected to each other. A suspicious thin, white male, late teens, maybe early 20s, driving an old silver or grey Buick, made that...