Top Stories – July 12 – City Hall Delayed

West Kelowna council will get an update today on progress on the new city hall and library complex. What they will hear is that planned occupancy will be delayed from late this year until the spring of 2023. Issues with labour shortages, supply chain and material shortages are blamed. So far, the city’s portion of the cost has not increased from 18 Million dollars.

Canada’s industry minister met yesterday with the head of Rogers Communications in the wake of last week’s massive outage that paralyzed the company’s network. The service outage began on Friday morning and lasted at least 15 hours, knocking out access to many health-care, law enforcement and banking services. Many customers reported service disruptions stretching into Sunday.

Officials in Washington state are gearing up for a battle to trap and wipe out nests of invasive Asian giant hornets. The department of agriculture is holding a training day where participants will get a hands-on seminar on how to trace, trap and destroy the five-centimetre long hornets in their nests. It’s believed the huge wasps arrived in the Pacific Northwest in freight shipments and they have been found in Washington state and BC.

As water outflow along Mission Creek slows and the water level lowers, several underpasses along the Greenway trail have reopened. They include the ones at Lakeshore, Gordon and Casorso Road bridges. Still closed while damage assessments are being carried out is the area between the Peck Road parking area, upstream to the Field Road Saskatoon trail access in Scenic Canyon Regional Park.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is calling on premiers meeting in Victoria to help businesses deal with the cost of doing business… specifically fuel. The group wants governments to temporarily eliminate or lower federal and provincial fuel excise taxes and pause planned hikes to carbon taxes. The CFIB says 3 provinces have provided temporary relief at the pumps, now the federal and other provincial governments need to follow their lead.

Canadian nursing leaders say they’ve sent a message to the premiers that patients and nurses are suffering through a ‘dire staffing crisis’ that threatens the sustainability of public health care. The Canadian Federation of Nurses says they have been struggling through staffing shortages, forced overtime and cancelled vacations, with no end in sight. The provinces want Ottawa increase its share of spending from 22 to 35 percent to help improve the system.

People travelling through the Kelowna International Airport will benefit from an expansion and upgrade of the terminal, which will use mass timber through the Province’s Mass Timber Demonstration Program. The project is anticipated to break ground next year and Mayor Colin Basran says YLW is the gateway to the Okanagan, and the choice to use mass timber is an important decision to highlight the characteristics reflective of the region. Mass timber products are solid, structural load-bearing components such as columns, beams, and panels.

A poll shows Canadians are making increasingly tough budget decisions amid rising interest rates and inflation. The MNP survey found over a quarter of us are cutting back on essentials like food, housing and utilities. And nearly half of respondents are reining in non-essential spending on outings like travelling, dining out and entertainment.

The U-S is backing Canada’s intention to allow a natural gas pipeline between Russia and Europe to resume operations by returning repaired equipment to Germany from Montreal. Conservatives in Canada and a Ukrainian group say it undermines sanctions against Russia. But State Department spokesman Ned Price says it’s the right decision because it will allow Europe to fortify its gas reserves in the short term.

Sports

The Colorado Avalanche promoted Chris MacFarland to general manager while naming Joe Sakic president of hockey operations. ‘Burnaby Joe’ successfully rebuilt Colorado into a powerhouse and won General Manager of the Year last week after a bunch of trades he made led them to the Stanley Cup.

There’s word the Seattle Seahawks have had internal discussions about acquiring 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. His agent says that the 30-year-old is progressing well from surgery and his shoulder rehab is on schedule and he’s expected to resume throwing this month.

Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk from the Blue Jays were named to the American League’s starting lineup for the all-star game. Alek Manoah was selected as one of the pitchers while George Springer will go as a reserve.

The Montreal Alouettes have changed their minds about who will be calling their offensive plays following the firing of head coach and offensive coordinator Khari Jones. Word is that quarterbacks coach Anthony Calvillo will be in charge of the offensive decision-making going forward.

The Kelowna Crows have been without a Women’s rugby team since 2019, but they are back and in recruiting mode for this fall and winter. It’s for those 19 and over and no experience is necessary. For info go to kelownacrows.com and from the 3-bar drop-down menu, choose Teams then Senior Women.

Redblacks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli is set to undergo a bone-based surgical procedure on his leg that will sideline him for at least 10-12 weeks. Roughriders defensive lineman Garrett Marino hit Masoli low with just over five minutes left in Friday’s game. The CFL started an investigation into the hit.