Top Stories – June 22 – Replica in Park

Kelowna RCMP received calls about 11:30 yesterday morning about a man in Kerry Park apparently carrying a concealed gun. Many officers and a police dog descended on the park and quickly arrested a man who they determined was homeless and suffered from a number of issues. The weapon was a replica BB gun and it was seized and will be destroyed. Police released the man without charges and assisted him in receiving some of the assistance he requires.

A Quebec-based anti-gun unit says 45 people have been arrested and 440 guns have been seized in raids targeting manufacturers of 3D-printed or “ghost” guns across eight provinces including BC. Authorities say they’re increasingly concerned about untraceable weapons, which are assembled at home or 3D-printed without serial numbers. The take included handguns, long guns and silencers.

Clean-up and environmental containment were underway in the Ottawa River after a deadly military helicopter crash in eastern Ontario. The Defence Department confirmed that the bodies of two missing Royal Canadian Air Force members were found Tuesday night. The crash happened during a training exercise.

The BC Cherry Association has hired helicopters to blow the recent rainfall off the crop that is now growing. Cherries that are nearly ripe have a high natural sugar content and that draws in rainwater causing the fruit to swell and split. The Ministry of Agriculture says growers are aware that the noise can be annoying to neighbours, and they only use helicopters as a last resort to save the crop.

Beginning Monday, and lasting until the end of July, there’ll be roadwork at the intersection of Sexsmith and Longhill roads. There will be single lane alternating traffic on Sexsmith, and Longhill between Rifle and Sexsmith will be fully closed to traffic for the duration. Longhill will get a safer approach onto Sexsmith, including a ‘smart’ right turn, while Sexsmith will be widened to include a dedicated left turn lane onto Longhill.

The U-S Coast Guard official said yesterday the hunt for a missing submersible off Newfoundland remains a search and rescue mission. Captain Jamie Frederick says two remotely operated vehicles are being used to a depth of four-thousand metres and that several more, capable of submerging deeper were expected to reach the search site by this morning.

Following a public hearing, Kelowna Council voted 8-1 to change the land use designation of the Kelowna Springs golf property back to private recreational from industrial. Councillor Loyal Wooldridge, who was the lone vote against the switch, said was still private land and couldn’t be guaranteed to continue as a golf course. Mayor Tom Dyas added the future use of the property will be up to the landowners.

The stage is set up for West Kelowna’s Music in the Park season. Concerts will run every Friday evening, except July 7, until Aug. 25 from 6:30 to 9pm in the Annette Beaudreau Amphitheatre next to the Johnson Bentley Aquatic Centre. You can sit in the stands or take a chair and sit on the grass. Details and lineups are at westkelownacity.ca/musicinthepark .

Canada Bread has been fined $50 million after pleading guilty to its role in a criminal price-fixing scheme that inflated the wholesale price of bread. The Competition Bureau says it’s the highest price-fixing fine ever imposed by a Canadian court. It says the company admitted that it arranged with its competitor, Weston Foods to increase prices for various bagged and sliced bread products.

Sports

The 2-0 BC Lions help kick off week 3 in the CFL tonight. They take on the Blue Bombers, who are also 2-0, at IG Field. The game starts at 5:30.

The Kelowna Falcons lost 8-4 to the Bellingham Bells last night. They’ll go at it again tonight at 6:35 at Elks Stadium.

Henrik Lundqvist, Pierre Turgeon, Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, and Caroline Ouellette were announced as the Hockey Hall of Fame five-player 2023 class. It’s also inducting Ken Hitchcock and Pierre Lacroix as builders.

The Blue Jays are off today. They wrapped up 3 games in Miami yesterday with a 6-3 win to go 2 & 1 against the Marlins.