Top Stories – Jan 7 – Bite Out Of Crime

An RCMP K-9 named Jak, who has been on duty in Kelowna since November helped officers take a bite out of crime. A 41 year old prolific offender from Nakusp who had been driving a stolen truck was found under a new construction house at McKinley Beach but refused to come out. Big mistake. He was treated for bite wounds at KGH and remanded in custody.

If winter camping is on your to-do list, head to Manning Park. The new Skyview Campground near Lightning Lake is open with 62 campsites during the winter and 92 during the summer. All campsites have hookups for water, power and sewer, making it the first fully serviced campground for BC Parks.

New COVID-19 cases more than doubled in most Okanagan communities last week. Figures from the BC Centre For Disease Control showed 625 in the Central Okanagan, up from 267 the week before. Vernon went to 181 from 78, while Penticton skyrocketed to 155 cases, up from 26.

The January 17 deadline for business license renewals in Kelowna is a few days away. A license is required to own or operate a business including retail and commercial, management and professional firms, and home-based businesses. Licenses must be renewed annually and are subject to a $25 late payment penalty.

The government reported 3,223 new covid-19 cases yesterday, compared to 38-hundred the day before. There were 408 in the interior, which was also down. The number of people in hospital in our region remains stable at 38 with 25 in critical care.

An Ottawa researcher is asking a judge to order Canada’s national archives to speed up work on his request for old RCMP records. In 2018, Michael Dagg filed an access request for records on Project Anecdote, a fraud and corruption investigation by the RCMP 25 years ago. The archives identified 780-thousand pages of paper and microfilm records and said it would need an extension of 29,200 days to process the request, making the due date March 25, 2098.

A West Kelowna gym that refused to close down according to provincial health orders got a visit from Interior Health and the RCMP yesterday. The owner of Iron Energy Fitness was handed a 23-hundred dollar fine and again told to shut down. The owner says the order violates his Charter Rights and vows to stay open until he is arrested

A reminder from the regional district about garbage pick up. For those with curbside garbage and recycling pickup, delays are possible due to the snow and icy conditions. If your cart isn’t picked up on your regular day due to weather, you’re asked to leave it out until crews can empty it.

2021 was a great year for most of the music business. Audio on-demand streaming set a single-year high with 988-Billion streams. But there was also a big step into the past as vinyl sales surpassed CDs as the most-sold physical format for the first time since MRC Data started measuring music sales in 1991.

Sports

As of this morning, the Vancouver Canucks are still preparing to return to work tomorrow. The puck is scheduled to drop against Ottawa at 7 PM at Rogers Arena.

It’s the final regular season weekend for the NFL and it starts with 2 games tomorrow. Kansas City is in Denver to take on the Broncos at 1:30, while the Eagles host the Cowboys at 5:15.

The Kelowna Rockets have 1 home game this weekend. The Vancouver Giants visit to Prospera Place for tonight has been postponed due to covid on the Giants, while the Portland Winterhawks will make the trip across the border tomorrow for a 7pm start.

And just one game for the West Kelowna Warriors as well this weekend after tonight’s game against Penticton was canceled due to covid on the Vees. Tomorrow West Kelowna will host Merritt at Royal LePage place at 7.

In KIJHL play, the Kelowna Chiefs have just one game this weekend and it’s tonight at Rutland Arena. The Summerland Steam make the trip up the highway for a 7pm faceoff.

Going into the second round of the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui, Cameron Smith of Australia is in the lead at 8 under par. There are no Canadians in the field.