The provincial government has announced a new temporary protection order for the Salmon River watershed as continued low streamflows threaten the Chinook salmon population. In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship said the order, which cuts off cert...

The race for the mayor's chair is heating up in Vernon. Former Vernon mayor Wayne Lippert has announced he is running for the city's top job in the 2026 municipal election. Having previously served as mayor from 2005 to 2011, Lippert said he is entering the race because he believes Ver...

Crews on the Pear Lake wildfire are preparing to carry out more planned ignitions Wednesday, with hot and dry conditions expected to keep parts of the sprawling blaze active. The fire has scorched an estimated 160,315 hectares of the South Cariboo, with its southern tip about 22 kilometres northw...

More than 500 homes or other structures have been destroyed or damaged by wildfires in British Columbia this year, in a level of devastation comparable to some of the worst recent fire seasons. While the area of 4,300 square kilometres burned by the more than 1,000 fires so far this year has only...

A Penticton law firm is offering free legal advice to Bald Range evacuees who may have questions about their insurance policies. In an email to Castanet, Davie & Associates lawyer Jason Poon they were saddened by the situation in Summerland, watching the impact on local families and businesse...

A Kamloops comic book creator has self-published the fourth issue of his original series, and he's taken his creations to comic fans across the province. Nick Klie manages High Octane Comics, 250 Third Ave., and has been self-publishing his comic book series Life The Necropolis since 2023, wi...

As fires continue to bear down on B.C., officials are developing an “all-of-society” approach to build community resilience, bringing together FireSmart programs, risk reduction work and the forest sector, according to Forests Minister Ravi Parmar. “I've asked my ministry to...

The City of Penticton is warning that some residents' and businesses' utility bills mailed as part of the Aug. 14 billing cycle contain errors. The error only affects customers who receive their utility bills by physical mail. E-billing and the MyCity statements are correct. The muni...

Kamloops Mounties say six people were arrested and later released after officers "flooded" a Brocklehurst neighbourhood, responding to a report of a man armed with a gun. In a news release, RCMP Staff Sgt. Janelle Shoihet said the incident happened just after 9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15...

UPDATE: 4:15 p.m. Fire behaviour has been relatively stable over the Ainslie Creek wildfire burning near Merritt, but the BC Wildfire Service expects the next big test to come Friday with thunderstorms in the forecast. Gordon Robinson, BCWS fire information officer, said despite the recent sta...

Kelowna business leader and educator Laura Thurnheer is throwing her hat into the political ring. Thurnheer, a local business owner, former associate dean as OC and general manager of the British Columbia Wine Authority, announced Tuesday morning she will seek a seat on Kelowna city council. &...

B.C. wildfire season is far from over, with hotter, drier conditions expected to persist through the remaining weeks of summer, the minister responsible for the province's wildfire service warned Tuesday. “I would be the happiest guy in the world to stand up here and say that the fire s...

Chase RCMP say they are investigating incidents stemming from a 50th birthday celebration at the Scotch Creek Provincial Park last month which got out of hand and led to two separate calls to police. Police said on July 17 officers responded to a report of a disturbance at Shuswap Lake Provincial...

For another year, the Kalamalka Rotary Club and the Vernon Men’s Shed teamed up to keep the community beautiful, carrying on their tradition of clearing the Kalamalka Lakeview Drive lookout along Highway 97. Located near Okanagan College, the popular viewpoint gets taken over by weeds and b...

UPDATE: 4:41 p.m. The BC Wildfire Service says plenty of smoke is rising from the northeast corner of the massive Pear Lake wildfire, but the flames remain within the fire perimeter and there's been no new growth in this area. The sprawling, out-of-control wildfire has burned more than 16...

The Alberta Utilities Commission has denied an application to build a natural gas plant in Olds, Alta., that would have powered a massive data centre complex. Synapse Real Estate Corp. had proposed a 10-building campus with 1.4 gigawatts of power generation — about enough to power the City ...

The federal government moved last week to formally repeal the electric vehicle sales mandate, but the more stringent emission standards Prime Minister Mark Carney promised to replace it with is not close to being finalized. In a notice in the Canada Gazette posted on Friday, the government outlin...

A fire in Port Coquitlam, B.C., has destroyed two homes and sent one firefighter to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Jason Marshall, deputy fire chief with the Port Coquitlam Fire Department, says officers received reports before 10 a.m. on Sunday about a structure fire in the cit...

Ontario and Ottawa are announcing up to $1 billion to help municipalities in the province build infrastructure for more homes. The money will go to municipalities that do not collect development charges for things like roads, bridges and water systems. The Ontario government and the federal go...

Smoke continues to linger over much of Southern B.C. Sunday. Environment Canada's air quality warnings remain in place for a large portion of the region, including the Thompson-Okanagan. While most of the area is under a “yellow” warning, the South Okanagan and Fraser Canyon re...

Okanagan Falls is hosting a camp of around 300 firefighters with the BC Wildfire Service in Keogan Sports Park for crews battling the Bald Range wildfire in Summerland. Erin Catherall, fire information officer, said on Wednesday afternoon that crews working night shifts are residing within the di...