Top Stories – Aug 15 – Homicide On Lawrence

RCMP are not saying what weapon was used but a man is dead after a confrontation outside a nightclub in the 200 block of Lawrence Friday night. Witnesses say one man ran off after the incident, but no one has been charged or arrested yet. Police believe the victim and suspect were known to each other.

The BC General Employees Union and its 33-thousand members will be in a legal strike position later today. They have been working without a contract since April 1. Money is the main sticking point with the union wanting a deal to cover the 8 percent annual inflation rate, while the government is offering 11 percent over 3 years.

Plans are underway to sift through Canadian sewage to test for, and measure monkeypox, polio and other potential health threats. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater detection became a key way to track the spread of the virus. The monkeypox disease comes from the same family of viruses that cause smallpox, which was declared eradicated in 1980.

Those lightning storms we had on Thursday and Friday night, weren’t just isolated to the Okanagan. BC Wildfire says there were almost 18-thousand strikes across the province that started 140 new fires. The Service says it was ready and had resources pre-positioned and as a result, by Saturday night more than half of them were out or under control.

A series of economic reports due out over the next few days includes the latest reading on inflation. Stats Canada will report its consumer price index for July tomorrow. Inflation soared to a nearly 40-year high of 8.1 percent in June from a year ago. Economists are predicting inflation may have peaked because gas prices have been falling.

A United Nations-chartered ship loaded with 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grain destined for Ethiopia has set sail from a Black Sea port. It’s the first shipment of its kind in a World Food Program plan to assist countries facing famine. Ethiopia is one of five that the U.N. considers at risk of starvation.

A Kelowna man has been fined 7-thousand dollars and banned from hunting for 6 years for shooting a male mule deer with a crossbow out of season. It happened in a residential area on Lakeshore Drive in February 2021. After being hit, the deer ran off but was found dead in a garden by a child the next morning. The man was not identified, but the BC Conservation Officer Service says he pled guilty in court.

The Keremeos Creek fire is still a wildfire of note, but it has shown just a bit of growth over the last few days and it was last estimated at just under 7,000 hectares. Most of the growth is due to more accurate mapping. Highway 3A is open but drivers are reminded that burned fences could give animals and livestock access to the road.

The U.S. Coast Guard responded to a diesel spill off the west coast of Washington state’s San Juan Island. A 49-foot fishing vessel sank with an estimated 98-hundred litres of fuel on board. All 5 crew members were rescued and authorities are tracking the spill, about 25 kilometres east of Victoria, to ensure Southern Resident Killer Whales near the Islands don’t come in contact with it.

Sports

It’s Canada’s final preliminary round game at the World Junior Hockey Tournament in Edmonton as we take on Finland at 3pm. Canada’s record is 3 & 0 going into it following a win against Czechia on Saturday.

The BC Lions winning streak is now at 4 after a field goal with 2 seconds left from Sean Whyte gave them a 41-40 win in Calgary on the weekend. The Leos are in Regina Friday for the first of a home and home series with the Roughriders.

After a weekend where they went 1 & 2 against Cleveland, the Toronto Blue Jays welcome Baltimore to Rogers Centre today for the first of three games. It’ll get underway just after 4

The PGA Tour’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, and 2.7 Million dollars, was won by Will Zalatoris in a 4 round playoff with Sepp Straka. Both golfers finished regulation at 15 under par.

Saturday was a great night for football at the Apple Bowl and the Okanagan Sun took full advantage of it. They scored 7 touchdowns in the first half alone on the way to a 65-29 victory over the Westshore Rebels for their 3rd straight win to start the season.