Last year, the Operations Communications Center (OCC) in Kelowna received a total of 221,073 911 calls, of which 46,033 were abandoned. Over half (53 percent) of those abandoned calls were generated from mobile devices, as more and more people are primarily using wireless technology as means of communication. The RCMP Southeast District 911 OCC located in Kelowna […]

Parties across the riding celebrated the return of Alex Atamanenko, New Democratic Party, to office as the Member of Parliament for the B.C. Southern Interior last night. Not only does Atamanenko return to his position as representative for the region, he does so now as an experienced critic and member of the official opposition. Canadian […]

Parks Canada staff found a dog who survived a plane crash in BC that killed his owner earlier this week. The parks service says a rescue team found Rusty alive and well Friday afternoon near the crash site in Yoho National Park, in the Rocky Mountains near the B.C.-Alberta border. The border collie survived the […]

Afternoon commuters were slowed Monday on their drive home from work by a three-vehicle accident on Highway 3A, 300 meters east of Pacific Insight Electronics.  RCMP, the Nelson Fire Department and B.C. Ambulance all responded to the accident that saw two occupants taken to Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson with non-life-threatening injuries. At approximately 4:15 […]

B.C.’s minimum wage has moved up for the first time in 10 years. As of Sunday, the province’s base-line wage lifted from last place in Canada with the first of three 75-cents-perhour increases over the next year. The impact of the change to $10.25 per hour by May 1, 2012 — and to $9.50 on […]

 The White House today released a detailed Hawaii birth certificate in an attempt to put to rest the issue of President Barack Obama’s legitimacy to hold the office of president. Shortly after the unexpected release, the president spoke live on national television, explaining, “We do not have time for this kind of silliness.” President Obama noted that the issue of his […]

 The Trades have long been an important piece of the West Kootenay's economic backbone and this week, as part of the Secondary School Apprenticeship (SSA) program offered by School District 20, 15 deserving students were rewarded for their efforts with one thousand dollar scholarships. Designed as a transition program to ease...

For the second time this week hockey has trumped politics. The tele-town hall meeting about the pros and cons of the harmonized sales tax planned for Nelson, Castlegar and the Kootenay region has been cancelled because it conflicts with a Canucks playoff game. A town hall had been planned for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. (7:30 […]

Green postal boxes in rural areas will be a thing of the past as Canada Post now looks to organize the country lanes of the regional district into distinct communities, says the RDCK’s chief administrative officer. Jim Gustafson said community postal stations are coming to the Regional District of Central Kootenay — as money is […]

With the West Kootenay having become fertile soil for many innovative food system initiatives, another project is now underway which hopes to build the capacity within the West Kootenay to form a regional food system organization. Often referred to as ‘food councils,’ ’roundtables,’ ‘networks’ or ‘coalitions,’ hundreds of these types of regional organizations do already […]