Grand Forks mayor Brian Taylor will be meeting with officials from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) after comments he made during his annual Canada Day speech this year. Taylor openly criticized the CBSA for being too tough on American tourists and locals, thereby making the border crossing experience a “frightening”...

A sexual assault in downtown Trail in the middle of the afternoon this weekend saw police identify and arrest a suspect within hours of the incident, according to RCMP Sgt. Rob Hawton. “On Sunday …at approximately 1:50 p.m., a young lady in her late teens was sitting on a bench on Cedar Avenue in Trail, when she was approached...

Proposed environmental and safety precautions are not enough for residents along the Granby River north of Grand Forks to believe that a granite mine, whose products are heading to China, should proceed. “The negative impacts far outweigh the benefits to this community or to Canada,” said Dana Riester who lives near the bluff....

Thanks to a recent Nelson council meeting, everyone is focused on the subject of drugs. Adrian Barnes‘ June 30 opinion piece is an example, and another is a letter in the Star. I quote that letter by K.M. Sykes: …it’s paramount to ask the right [questions}, the deeper ones, the ones that embrace a higher level of awareness…...

Truth be told, the truth is elusive. It can never be “final” since it is grounded in the human mindset and limited to facts known at a point in time. As more details become known, social attitudes and customs change and a new truth emerges. This is our life story, yet humans hunger for a reality that is anchored to our senses....

A logging truck sideswiped a minivan after losing control on the slush that covered Highway 3 around the Mud Lake area – just east of the Paulson Bridge – at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 3.  “That was ugly weather,” said Trail RCMP sergeant Rob Hawthon. “(The bad weather) was not unusual but not to that extent. You’re at a pretty...

When it comes to jobs and the economy we often get conflicting messages as to how many jobs were actually created.  I thought it would be interesting to share some figures that Statistics Canada released for the month of May. THE BASICS The Canadian economy as a whole added just 7,700 jobs in May – a relatively weak showing. ...

More than 1,300 small businesses in the Okanagan and Kootenays are reaping big savings on their electricity bills thanks to a $6.85 million lighting installation program sponsored by the Province of British Columbia and FortisBC.  “Small businesses in the Okanagan and Kootenays wanted a program that would make saving energy...

My craving for a great science fiction / alien thriller was thoroughly satiated this weekend after an intense ride with director Ridley Scott aboard the spaceship Prometheus. Scott's classic original Alien set the bar high for every alien from space film for the past   three decades. As a co-owner of the Alien trilogy, I have...

United Nations trade and climate change advisor Aaron Cosbey—a Rossland resident—attended the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and he was back again last week for the glitz, fanfare, and "complete failure" of the Rio +20 anniversary conference."It was a very predictable thing," Cosbey said, listing many reasons...