The New Year will include a move toward pesticide- and herbicide-free parks as Castlegar city council joins forces with the Kootenay Food Services Society to launch a pilot project exploring the city’s lanscaping care options. Councillor Russ Hearne, outgoing chair fo the Transportation and Civic Works committee, said the partnership seem an almost … well, […]

Zellstoff Celgar manager Al Hitzroth said it’s a relief for his organization to head into the New Year with some framework in place for resolving its tax dispute with the City of Castlegar – this, after Celgar, last night, made an almost-half-million-dollar payment to the city and committed to monthly payments to reduce the outstanding […]

The City of Castlegar got a stunning early Christmas present last night when they received the first real break in negotiations with the city’s primary rate payer, Celgar. The pulp mill has been in discussions with the city since July of this year, when Celgar declined to pay it’s $3.6-million municipal tax bill and filed […]

Environmental educators across the Columbia Basin are being given a special holiday gift courtesy of the Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network (CBEEN) and the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT): the opportunity to apply for a professional development bursary of up to $500. A total of $5000 in bursaries will be available starting January 1, 2010 for […]

As we enter into the final days before Christmas and prepare to spend time with our loved ones, it’s a great time for us to also look at the impact our holiday season has on our environment. We all expect to have extra waste during the holidays, but every year our nations have increases as […]

Celgar manager Al Hitzroth shared some of his company’s perspectives today regarding a tax dispute between Celgar and the City of Castlegar, discussing a conflict that has been gaining widespread media attention since it began in July. The issue had arisen months before that, in fact, when Celgar demanded a 50-per-cent tax cut in December […]

The following is a press release issued by the provincial government:   Environment Minister Barry Penner is asking British  Columbians for their input on whether additional restrictions should be  placed on the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes. “It just makes sense to limit pesticide use to what is actually  required to accomplish a particular […]

It appears the Grinch is at work in Castlegar, marring the holiday season with ill-considered “pranks” that could ultimately cost people their lives. Castlegar RCMP Sgt. Laurel Mathew said there have been at least five known incidences of suspects throwing rocks and/or chunks of wood at passing vehicles along the 800 block of Columbia Avenue, […]

A request, by the City of Castlegar, for the B.C. Supreme Court to expedite the case filed against the city by Celgar for “unreasonable” tax rates has been refused. Castlegar mayor Lawrence Chernoff said he found out in a meeting Monday that Celgar said “no” to a January court date and, since Celgar’s approval was […]

Castlegar’s most recent wave of Swine Flu (H1N1) has crested and is receding, but the pandemic isn’t over yet. The city emergency ward, according to Cheryl Whittleton, team leader for emergency and flu coordinator for IHA, is still seeing an average one or two patients a day with flu-like symptoms – which means contagion is […]