Top Stories – Oct 4 – Masks For All Students

The week begins with a new public health order involving school kids and masks. Every child from kindergarten through grade 12 is now required to wear a mask when inside a school building, including at their desks. They will also need to wear them while travelling on school buses. Schools will work to ensure masks are available to students who don’t have one.

Starting today, through to the end of the month, construction crews will begin realignment of Shannon View Drive in West Kelowna to improve safety and reduce the rockfall hazard. By realigning the road, a larger catchment area will be created to collect rocks. Single-lane alternating traffic will be in effect.

It’s the largest-ever fine in BC for feeding wildlife. A Whistler woman has been nailed for 60-thousand dollars for feeding bears. The Conservation Office says she had been feeding them upwards of 10 cases of apples, 50 pounds of carrots and up to 15 dozen eggs… a week.

Fencing will go up around the Ben Lee Park playground today, before upgrade work to install a new accessible swing gets into full gear. Work will be contained within the playground area and the rest of the park will remain open. A new Freedom Glider will be added to the playground which is a swing that wheelchair users can use without having to get out of their chair.

Students are settling into new housing at UBC Okanagan. The six-storey Skeena residence has 220 beds and includes amenities such as lounges, informal study space, an activity room and laundry facilities. It also provides guaranteed housing for incoming Indigenous students.

Canadians overwhelmingly support the idea of requiring vaccine passports to gain admittance to public places such as restaurants, bars and gyms. The Leger poll found 56% strongly support the plan and 22% somewhat support it.

A new Health Sciences Centre at Okanagan College in Kelowna has opened to help students enter the health-care sector. It has student-centred labs, classrooms and office space with a variety of health and social development programs. The building will support 591 students in various bachelor of science programs.

The weekend Covid 19 numbers for the Interior and BC will be released later today. On Friday there were 714 new cases, including 205 in Interior Health. There were 11 additional deaths in the province including 6 in our region where 45 people remained in critical care.

Pfizer has submitted initial data to Health Canada supporting use of its covid vaccine in kids between ages 5 and 11. At the same time, the company continues to work with the regulator ahead of a formal submission, which it expects to make by mid-month. Pfizer said its data showed a strong immune response among 22-hundred children in that age group in a U-S trial.

Sports

At Rogers Arena yesterday, the Canucks picked up their second win of the preseason with a 3-2 victory over Winnipeg. Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson each had a goal and assist. The Kraken will be released in Vancouver tomorrow night.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ season ended yesterday when the Yankees and Red Sox won their games. New York and Boston take the two wild card spots and will play tomorrow to decide who goes on to the divisional series

The West Kelowna Warriors wrapped up their preseason with a home and home set with the Vernon Vipers. Each team won on home ice and can now get ready for the regular season this weekend.

Brian White had his first Major League Soccer hat trick Saturday, leading the Whitecaps to a crucial 3-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes in Vancouver. The ‘Caps sit a single point below the playoff bar with seven games left to play.

The Kelowna Chiefs opened their KIJHL regular season by winning both games against Princeton. Next up is a trip to Osoyoos on Friday before a home game against Revelstoke on Saturday.

Monday Night Football is at SoFi stadium where the 2 & 1 L-A Chargers will host 3 & 0 Las Vegas. Yesterday in San Francisco, the Seahawks improved to 2 & 2 with a 28-21 win against the 49ers.