Top Stories – Sept 26 – Rail Trail Runover

A guy in a pickup with Alberta plates ended up driving down the rail trail early Sunday morning and ran over a man who was camped on it in a tent. RCMP say alcohol is believed to be a factor and the driver was arrested. The man was taken to hospital with what police are calling ‘significant injuries.’ The accident happened near Baillie Avenue.

It was called a tropical storm but Fiona came ashore in Atlantic Canada with hurricane force winds on the weekend. Gusts up to 157 km per hour were recorded in Nova Scotia, and PEI and Newfoundland were hard hit as well. Up to a dozen homes were reportedly washed into the sea. Residents are cleaning up, but it could take days for power and communications to be restored. The wrath of Hurricane Fiona put up some impressive numbers according to a meteorologist with Environment Canada. Rodney Barney with the Gander Weather Office says the highest winds were recorded in Wreckhouse with gusts peaking at 177 km/h Saturday afternoon. He says winds reached 134 km/h in Port aux Basques and 117 in Stephenville.

Starting in December, parents in BC will save up to $550 per month for each child they have in licensed child care centres. The province is directly funding those facilities so families don’t have to apply for the savings. It will lower fees for kids that are kindergarten-aged and younger.

Five people in Kelowna and West Kelowna died from drug overdoses on Saturday. RCMP say one was a 32 year old man in a home in the 800 block of Saucier. The other 4 were found dead in two other locations. Police didn’t say if any particular drug was found at the scenes but was warning the public that more overdoses are possible.

The Province will be holding an information session for small-flock poultry owners in Kelowna about the avian influenza virus. It happens on Thursday from 8:30 – 1 at Reid Hall in Benvoulin Heritage Park. There’s no cost but you must be registered by going to eventbrite.ca and typing Kelowna avian in the search area.

A group loosely associated with the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protest in Ottawa has been ordered evicted from a former church. A judge ruled ‘The United People of Canada’ breached an agreement of purchase and sale with the property’s owners by failing to pay deposits totalling $100,000 on August 10 despite two extensions of the deadline.

The Kicking Horse Canyon section of the Trans Canada Highway is now closed until December 1st. It means a detour on highways 93S and 95, which will add about 90 minutes to travel time. The highway WILL be open over the Thanksgiving long weekend next month

Workers applying for employment insurance benefits will now have to qualify based on pre-pandemic rules as temporary measures have expired. Workers had qualified for EI based on having 420 insurable employment hours. They would normally need between 420 and 700 hours depending on the regional unemployment rate.

Sports

The Kelowna Rockets are getting set to hit the road later this week. They’ll play games in Prince George on Friday and Saturday. In their first regular season game at Prospera on the weekend, they dropped a 6-5 overtime decision to the Winterhawks. Adam Kydd had a goal and 4 assists for the Rockets.

The BC Lions are now tied with Calgary for 2nd place in the CFL West. A Stampeders win on Saturday gave both teams 18 points. Winnipeg leads with 24. The Lions host Ottawa on Friday.

The West Kelowna Warriors started their season off on the right skate with two wins on Vancouver Island. They beat Cowichan Valley 2-1 and Victoria 5-1. Next up is their first home game on Friday when Wenatchee comes across the border.

The Toronto Blue Jays started the weekend 2 games ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East… and they ended the weekend 2 games ahead after splitting their 4 games with the Rays.

A Vancouver Canucks split squad had games against Calgary in Alberta and Vancouver yesterday and lost both of them… 3-2 in OT and 4-0. Next up are games against Seattle on Thursday and Saturday.

The Okanagan Sun clinched 1st place in the BC Football Conference on Saturday with a 42-10 win over the Langley Rams. The Sun are now 8 & 0 this season and have 2 road games left.

Monday Night Football has the 1&1 Dallas Cowboys visiting the 2&0 New York Giants.