Top Stories – October 3

The current dog park at Westbank Centre Park will be permanently closed today as crews begin work to relocate it nearby. It has been on land leased from Central Okanagan Public Schools and the site is now needed for the George Pringle Secondary School reconstruction. The dog park will be moved to the northwestern side of the park, which is City-owned land and is expected to be completed later this fall.

Overdoses from smoking toxic drugs are outpacing the number of prevention sites in BC. Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says that of the 16-hundred overdose deaths this year, 65% came after smoking drugs in a province where just 40% of supervised consumption sites offer a safe place to smoke. Lapointe says smoking drugs is clearly much more popular than injecting and policies need to be adapted in order to reduce the death toll from the opioid crisis.

U2 has launched its residency at the high-tech, globe-shaped venue Sphere in Las Vegas. The visuals were created by floor-to-ceiling graphics that made it look like the band was at times performing in the Nevada desert. The band played inside the massive venue in front of an audience of more than 18-thousand.

Kelowna RCMP are appealing for witnesses to an accident involving a red pickup and an elderly woman pedestrian to come forward. It happened Friday afternoon about 3:35 in the 1100 Block of Sutherland, between Capri and Gordon. The woman’s condition has not been released.

Four homes in a Williams Lake, community of duplexes were ordered evacuated and the remainder are on evacuation alert over concerns about their structural integrity. An engineering report done found that they were not habitable. The city brought in a geotechnical engineer to get a structural assessment done on all 80 units in the complex.

Green Leader Elizabeth May is indicating she’s interested in being the next Speaker of the House of Commons. MPs will vote today on a replacement for Anthony Rota, who resigned last week. A handful of Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats are also interested in the job.

The BC legislature will return today for the fall session. Since it was last underway, the province has suffered the worst wildfire season in history and the provincial deficit has grown by $2.5 Billion. The cost of living will be the theme for the opposition BC United as it focuses on the rising cost of inflation across the province.

Hope you held on to some masks. There’s been a large increase in respiratory illnesses such as RSV and COVID, but that comes as no surprise as we enter into the colder months. With this comes new mandates, one of which is the return of masks in health-care facilities in the province starting today to increase protection.

The French government is vowing to deal with a scourge of bedbugs in Paris, with videos on social media showing critters in movie theatres and on high-speed trains. A recent study found one in 10 French households have already been dealing with bedbugs.

SPORTS

In the WHL, the Kelowna Rockets have the first of two back-to-back games in Prince George against the Cougars tonight. Regan Bartel’s pregame show on 1047 the Lizard begins at 6:30 with the play-by-play at 7.

Week 4 in the NFL wrapped up with Monday Night Football at MetLife Stadium where Seattle had no trouble beating the interception and penalty-prone New York Giants 24-3. The Seahawks are now 3 & 1 with a week 5 bye.

The best of three, wild card games begin today in Major League Baseball. The Blue Jays are on the road in Minnesota to play the Twins just after 1:30.

Veteran NHL forward Brandon Sutter announced his retirement. He played 13 seasons but hadn’t been in a game since the 2020-21 campaign with the Canucks due to long-term COVID symptoms.