Top Stories – Aug 9 – Battle Continues

Crews continued planned ignitions to fortify and consolidate key sections of hand and machine guard on the western and northern flanks of the Keremeos Creek wildfire yesterday. Strong gains were made in the field Sunday and those gains were holding. These ignitions are expected to be low-intensity and will serve to secure control lines. Helicopters will be standing by in all planned ignition areas.

Around noon on Sunday Kelowna RCMP arrested a man for being confrontational with people on the waterfront walkway at the foot of Bernard. Witnesses say he was shouting racist slurs and threatening some with a hammer. Police recognized the man, who had been released from custody earlier that day and has a history of mental health and drug problems, but has refused help. He was to appear in front of a judge yesterday.

Impaired driving is the suspected cause of a crash near Vernon last Friday that killed two people. Police say a southbound pickup crossed into the oncoming lane on Highway 97 near the Army Camp and hit an oncoming vehicle. It then smashed into a Toyota SUV, killing a 71 year old man and 65 year old woman from Vancouver.

Canada Blood Services is calling on donors to book and keep appointments as it faces a decrease in collections. The organization says it currently has only four days worth of O-positive blood type supply and not much more of others. There are 57-thousand open appointments that must be filled before the end of August across Canada. Book one at blood.ca .

The Regional District is getting set for the fall elections. Candidate information packages are now available for the Central Okanagan East and West Electoral Area Directors and Zone 1 and 2 School Trustee positions. All the info is online at rdco.com/elections .

Odd summer timing and the ongoing sexual assault scandal at Hockey Canada could be the reason thousands of tickets to the World Junior Hockey Championship are still available. About 13-hundred tickets are available for tomorrow when Canada takes on Latvia and about 15-hundred seats for the final game are also available along with hundreds of other tickets to watch games during the 11-day tournament.

Police are looking to hear from anyone who may have witnessed or would have dashcam footage of an accident last Wednesday afternoon about 1:30. It involved a motorcycle that t-boned a Volkswagen on Harvey near Kirschner. Both people on the bike suffered serious injuries.

Calls for paramedics tend to spike during heat events and with temperatures forecast for the mid thirties around here this week that could mean delays. The Ambulance Paramedics and Dispatchers of BC says they’re about 50 percent full-time and part-time right now with almost 1,000 vacancies across the province. E-Comm, which runs 9-1-1 call centres is begging people to only call if it’s an emergency.

And a former Superintendent for school district 23 has passed away. Ron Rubadeau had been battling serious health issues for many years. He was superintendent from 1996 to 2006 and served in supervisory positions starting in 1977. The district says a proud moment for Ron happened when 22-thousand students each planted a number of trees to help replace those lost in the 2003 wildfire… a Guinness World Record for planting trees at one time.

Sports

The World Junior Hockey Championships get underway in Edmonton today with 3 games. The Czech Republic plays Slovakia at 11, it’s Latvia and Finland at 3 followed by the U-S and Germany at 7. Canada will play Latvia tomorrow at 3. Canada had a 3-0 lead after the first period against Sweden yesterday in a pre-tournament game and hung on for a 4-3 win.

The Toronto Blue Jays play their second of three games in Baltimore later this afternoon. Last night at Camden Yards the Orioles had a 5-1 lead after 3 innings and went on to a 7-4 win.

Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron is coming back for another season. The five-time Selke Trophy winner signed a one-year deal with the Bruins on Monday. It will pay him $2.5 million, with another possible 2.5 million in incentives.

The Baltimore Ravens and All-Pro kicker Justin Tucker agreed to a four-year contract extension through the 2027 season. Tucker will regain sole possession of the NFL’s highest-paid kicker honor with at 24-million dollars.

Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant told the team that he will continue to request a trade from the franchise unless head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks are fired. The former MVP requested a trade at the end of June following a disappointing season that ended in a first-round exit.