Top Stories – Dec 7 – Westside Food Drive

West Kelowna Fire Rescue’s 24th Annual Holiday Food Drive is underway in support of the Central Okanagan Community Food Bank. Tonight and tomorrow Firefighters and staff will volunteer their time, going door to door in a handful of neighbourhoods from 6 to 8pm to collect non-perishable food donations. There are also collection bins set up outside each of West Kelowna’s four fire halls until the 15th.

After a snowy weekend and morning yesterday, parking bans on snow routes in Kelowna are now in effect. Residents parked on the street have until 11am to find alternative off-street parking. Bans will be in effect until the City says they have been lifted. More details at kelowna.ca/snowroutes .

Travellers who can’t access the government’s ArriveCan app, or simply forget to fill it out, may start to get a break at the border. Canada’s public safety minister has given new instructions to border officials to allow people to provide their travel details in person. Members of Parliament have received hundreds of complaints about the policy, over inaccessibility and unreliability.

Once again local residents can pay homage to loved ones this holiday season by placing an ornament on the Tree of Memories at the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitors can place an ornament on the large tree located under the dome at the Promontory Green Interment Garden. They can also be hung on the spruce trees that frame the Legacy Gardens and the Bennett Memorial. It’s open from 8am to 5pm daily.

There were 946 new cases of covid 19 in BC over the last 3 days, which included 211 in the Interior. There were 67 yesterday. In our region, there are 48 people in hospital, 29 in critical care. There have been 34-thousand cases of covid in Interior Health.

As the old line goes: The last thing you want to hear from someone in an emergency is – I’m from the government and I’m here to help. But those were the words from Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth as he encourages local governments to reach out to the province to request support in recovering from floods. He added that the province wants to help communities build up better than before.

The nomination period is open for Kelowna’s 47th Annual Civic & Community Awards. They recognize outstanding residents, athletes, artists, organizations and businesses who positively contribute to the city. Nomination forms, award criteria, and past recipients can be found at kelowna.ca/civicawards .

The province says progress is being made repairing highways affected by storms and flooding as Highway 1 through the Fraser Valley to Hope reopened for use last week. That means they were able to delete the essential travel designation for Highway 7. There’s no clear time for when the restriction banning non-essential travel on Highway 3 will be lifted as it’s crucial to the supply chain between the coast and interior.

Merck Canada plans to manufacture its oral antiviral COVID-19 drug in this country, making the Canada a global hub for the production of the potentially game-changing treatment. The drug is currently pending Health Canada approval. The antiviral works by blocking the enzyme essential for viral replication.

Sports

In Vancouver last night with new coach Bruce Boudreau and assistant Scott Walker, who’s a former Canuck behind the bench, the Canucks picked up a big 4-0 shut out of the Los Angeles Kings. Canuck legend Stan Smyl has been named interim GM. Boston visits Rogers Arena tomorrow for a 6pm start.

Monday Night Football shuffled off to Buffalo and New England now has top spot in the AFC after a 14-10 win. It was a game that saw limited throws by the quarterbacks as the wind was gusting to 80 kph and the temperature was around freezing.

The Kelowna Rockets have taken their WHL show to America for a couple if games. They play in Seattle tonight and move a bit north to Everett tomorrow night.

Alain Vigneault is a ‘former coach’ again. He was fired by the Flyers after they lost their eighth straight game Sunday, in an embarrassing 7-1 defeat on home ice to the Tampa Bay. Mike Yeo takes over for the time being.

If you need a local hockey fix tonight head to Rutland Arena. The Kelowna Chiefs take on the Summerland Steam in a KIJHL match up. Puck drops at 7. And captain Ty Marchant was named one of the league’s Stars of the Week.

Canadian tennis star Bianca Andreescu, will take a mental break from tennis and sit out the start of next season. The 21 year old wants to “re-set, recover, and grow” after a challenging two years that included getting COVID.