Top Stories – September 29

Kelowna will show its respect to the victims of residential schools, and present hope for a better future, as it marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation tomorrow. Flags will be at half-mast in condolence to survivors of the residential school system and to commemorate the thousands of Indigenous children who died in that system. The city will also light-up the Sails in orange, representing hopefulness for a new respectful relationship.

In consideration of the new public holiday, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Westbank First Nation offices will be closed tomorrow for a day of honouring, healing and reconciliation. The property tax due date will be extended to Friday at 4:00pm. To avoid a 10% penalty, have payments and home owners grant submitted before the due date.

To help offset rising operating expenses at the Westside waste disposal and recycling centre, starting January 1 disposal fees will increase for garbage, clean wood waste and mattresses. Information about the changes will be provided to customers in the coming months. The fee for yard waste will stay at a buck-a-bag.

If there were 162 new cases of covid 19 in the interior health region of BC yesterday. That was part of 652 in all of BC, where there are just under 6,000 active cases. The number of people in hospital in our region has dropped to 43, but 40 of them are in critical care. All immunization clinics are closed tomorrow.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says 2 doses of any covid vaccine, no matter what combination, continues to be highly protective against infection and hospitalization. However, she says with continuing outbreaks in long term care facilities, booster shots will start to be given next week to residents. The best time frame is 6 months after the 2nd dose. They will also be offered a high dose flu shot.

Elizabeth May could return to the Greens as interim leader to stabilize the embattled party. The former leader of the Greens, who is one of two Green MPs in the House of Commons, is expected to be considered by the party’s governing body as a caretaker until a full-time leader is elected.

The Regional Board has received a report outlining an interim White Rock Lake wildfire recovery plan. The document outlines the initial short, medium and long-term recovery objectives and will evolve as the response moves forward. A Community Recovery manager will work to ensure the objectives are achieved.

Kelowna Council approved the draft 2040 Transportation Master Plan, a long-term, citywide plan for transportation improvements that will help keep Kelowna moving, now and into the future. The plan has set targets for 2040, including doubling transit ridership, quadrupling the number of trips made by bicycle, and reducing the average distance each person drives by 20 percent.

Ben Lee Park playground in Kelowna is getting an upgrade, including the installation of a new, accessible swing. Fencing will go up around the playground on Monday, before upgrade work goes into full “swing” and is expected to finish with the playground reopening by the end of October. Work will be contained within the playground area and the rest of Ben Lee Park will remain open to public access.

Sports

Maybe the Ottawa RedBlacks should play all their games on a Tuesday night following a much-needed 34-24 win over the Elks. Ottawa scored 2 touchdowns on their first 2 possessions and never looked back.

At Royal Le Page arena in West Kelowna last night, the Warriors picked up a 4-3 overtime win over the Prince George Spruce Kings in BCHL exhibition play. That pegs West Kelowna’s preseason so far at 2 & 1.

The Blue Jays began an important home stand against the Yankees with a loss at Rogers Centre. The bats simply weren’t working and the result was a 7-2 defeat.

The NHL is looking into the possibility that San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane violated the league’s COVID protocols. No specific details were released, but it comes after the league cleared Kane in a gambling investigation last week.

Kelowna Rockets have acquired forward Colton Dach from the Saskatoon Blades in exchange for Rockets centre Trevor Wong. They were looking for a bigger guy in the center and Dach fills that bill at 6′ 3″.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be getting some much-needed help at cornerback as veteran corner Richard Sherman is heading to Florida for a visit. Tampa has averaged 29 points against per game and owns the league’s worst pass defense, giving up 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns through the air.