Top Stories – March 8 – Wild and Dangerous

Some tense moments yesterday morning at North Glenmore Elementary School. When students arrived, RCMP advised the school to get the students inside right away and keep them there. There had been calls about an accident, a man with a gun, and a stolen vehicle. A woman was taken to hospital with serious, but not life-threatening injuries. RCMP Inspector Adam MacIntosh said a man was later arrested while trying to get away from police on Highway 97 at Grizzly Drive in West Kelowna resulting in the northbound lanes being diverted through residential areas. Police confirmed they fired rubber bullets at the man and hit him at least once. The 33 year old suspect was taken into custody as he tried to carjack another vehicle. Officers seized three firearms. General Duty RCMP, Air Services and the Critical Response Unit were all involved.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine deepened yesterday as Russian forces intensified their shelling. Food, water, heat and medicine grew increasingly scarce, in what the country called a medieval-style siege by Moscow to batter it into submission. A third round of talks between the two sides ended with a top Ukrainian official saying there had been minor, unspecified progress toward establishing safe corridors that would allow civilians to escape the fighting.

Victoria is committing a further 18.4 million dollars for the recovery of Lytton. This funding will cover the costs of debris removal, archeological work and soil remediation for municipal and all uninsured and underinsured properties in the village. The debris removal will start with municipal properties today and expand to residential properties when that work is completed.

There were concerns that with the cutbacks that WestJet has announced that flights to sun destinations from Kelowna might be affected, but that is not the case. YLW tells us the airline is still doing non-stops to Cancun, Cabo and Puerto Vallarta until mid-April, which was the original plan. In May will come flights to Ottawa and Kitchener/Waterloo on Flair and 4 weekly flights to Winnipeg on Swoop.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is opening the door to spending more on Canada’s military in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As part of his trip to Europe, the PM said the Liberal government previously committed to spending hundreds of billions of additional dollars on the military as part of its defence policy but acknowledged the world has changed since that policy was released five years ago.

There were just under 1,000 new cases of covid 19 in BC on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Yesterday, there were 285 in the province, with 64 in the Interior, the lowest in months. Eleven deaths, including 3 for interior health were reported over the weekend. The outbreak is over at Sun Pointe Village.

After 27 years leading the YMCA in the Okanagan, Sharon Peterson is turning the keys over to someone she has known for a long time. Allyson Graf has a 24 year history with the organization and will become the new CEO. Working with the Y, she has initiated a number of new programs to serve vulnerable populations in the Okanagan.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked major disruptions to a United Nations program that helps prevent hunger around the world. Ukraine is one of the world’s major wheat exporters and since Russia’s attack, global wheat prices have risen to levels not seen since 2008. In many countries, bread is a staple food and large numbers of countries in Asia and the Middle East import wheat from Russia and Ukraine.

Sports

The NHL will reintroduce its “Reverse Retro” jersey series next season. The uniforms will feature new designs rather than recirculate last season’s threads from when the league first hit the ‘way back’ button.

A Russian gymnast is expected to be investigated after displaying a symbol on his uniform supporting the invasion of Ukraine. He taped the “Z” symbol, seen on Russian tanks and military vehicles to his vest for a medal ceremony at a World Cup event in Qatar.

John Evans of the West Kelowna Warriors was named the BC hockey league’s 1st star for last week. The 19 year old led all players with seven points in three games, on three goals and four assists.

The Tampa Bay Rays are among a handful of teams interested in free-agent first baseman Freddie Freeman and made him an offer before the lockout began. The 32-year-old hit 31 home runs, 83 RBIs, and 120 runs scored for the World Series winning Atlanta Braves.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley has been suspended for the entire 2022 season and possibly longer for betting on NFL games. The league said Ridley gambled during a five-day period in late November 2021 while he was on the non-football illness list.

If any suitors are interested in acquiring P.K. Subban before this month’s NHL trade deadline, it appears the New Jersey Devils are willing to listen. General manager Tom Fitzgerald told Subban that they are not at a spot where they’re looking to extend his contract at this point.