Top Stories – Nov 5 – PAC Treasurer Charged

The former treasurer of the South Rutland Elementary School Parent Advisory Committee has been charged with Fraud, Theft over $5,000, Using a Forged Document and Altering the Books. Andrea Blanchard was investigated after school and PAC executives claimed thousands of dollars went missing. RCMP began looking into it almost 3 years ago.

The latest modelling data for COVID-19 in BC shows a steady decrease in cases, but a “stubbornly high hospitalization rate”. Unvaccinated people made up 60 percent of the new cases in October and 72 percent of the hospitalizations. BCCDC says there are 54 people in hospital in the Interior with half in critical care and there were 115 new cases yesterday.

It’s going to get dark a lot earlier starting Sunday. Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend as we go back to Standard Time until March 13. So, before you go to bed Saturday turn the clocks back one hour and enjoy that extra hour of sleep.

Sales were down but prices were up when it came to real estate in the Central Okanagan last month. The average single family home price was up almost 30% to 961-thousand dollars while sales fell 29% from one year ago. As for condos, sales dropped 6.7%, but the average sale price was 22% higher than 12 months ago, at almost 478-thousand.

Regional District of Central Okanagan Board of Directors have elected a new chairperson. Following a secret ballot vote, Director and Kelowna Councillor, Loyal Wooldridge was named as successor to Gail Given. The RDCO says he’s well-known in the local business community and supports a number of local organizations including the KGH Foundation, Kelowna Women’s Shelter and Etcetera Youth Kelowna.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce says it’s “irrational” for Canada to require fully vaccinated travellers to complete an expensive COVID−19 test before crossing the border to come home. It can cost between $150 and $300, making it prohibitively expensive for many families. The group says the test is redundant for fully vaccinated travellers and of all border tests done between Aug. 9 and Oct. 21, only 0.18 percent were positive.

This winter, the province is providing more than 1,900 temporary shelter spaces and nearly 360 extreme weather response shelter spaces so homeless people have a warm place to sleep and get out of the cold and rain. In Kelowna they are located at 550 Doyle, 425 Leon and 1083 Richter with a total of 152 spaces. In West Kelowna, there are 53 spaces at 2545 Churchill and 2515 Bartley. Those are in addition to the non-profit shelters in operation.

The 2021 wildfire season saw the destruction of the village of Lytton and homes levelled in several other Interior regions, but the BC Wildfire Service says it was not the worst season on record. Between April 1 and Sept. 30th, 1,610 wildfires charred 8,682 square kilometres. In 2017, 12-thousand square kilometres of land burned. This year, 35% were sparked by lightning or other natural events, while 60 percent were linked to human activity.

The lump found in the throat of Premier John Horgan is cancerous. He remains positive, saying that his prognosis is good and he expects to make a full recovery. He adds that while undergoing chemo treatment, he will continue to participate virtually in briefings, cabinet meetings, and other meetings like the Council of the Federation.

Sports

Two home games for the Kelowna Rockets this weekend. Tonight they host the Portland Winterhawks, while the Prince George Cougars visit tomorrow. Both games start at 7.

The Vancouver Canucks are back in action tonight after a couple of days off following their first home win. Thatcher Demko is once again expected to start in goal as the Nashville Predators are at Rogers Arena.

On the west side, the Warriors have 2 home BCHL games this weekend. The Cranbrook Bucks are at Royal LePage Place tonight, while the Merritt Centennials come across the Connector tomorrow. Both games start at 7

The BC Lions are pretty much out of the CFL playoff picture and it doesn’t get any easier. They are in Hamilton to take on the Tiger Cats today at 4.

The Kelowna Chiefs have just one home game this weekend when they host Osoyoos tomorrow at 7 at Rutland Arena.

The Formula One Road show is in Mexico City this weekend with qualifying tomorrow and the race on Sunday.

Also in Mexico, Matthew Wolff leads the PGA Tour event going into round 2 in Playa del Carmen after shooting a career best 10 under 61.