Top Stories – Jan 6 – Wanted: Dayton McAlpine

West Kelowna RCMP are asking for help in tracking down 34 year old Dayton Lloyd McAlpine who’s wanted in connection to a violent assault last Friday morning. It happened at a home on Cameron Road and he has been charged with Assault Causing Bodily Harm. McAlpine has a tattoo of ‘DLM’ on his right forearm and should not be approached if spotted… call 911. There’s a picture of him and a Ford Focus he may be driving (above).

The sales numbers for single family homes and townhouses were down in the Central Okanagan last month, but prices were up from a year ago. The benchmark price for homes topped a Million dollars… up 32%, while townhomes were at 687-thousand with a gain of 26%. Condo sales were up 7% while the price jumped 28% to 512-thousand

Air Transat says passengers who were partying maskless on a recent Sunwing flight from Montreal to Mexico will not be allowed on its planes as they try to return to Canada. Sunwing cancelled the group’s return flight from Cancun that was scheduled for yesterday, saying the behaviour had contravened several Canadian Aviation Regulations as well as public health rules. Passengers who violated regulations face fines of up to $5,000 per offence.

If you own a dog in the Central Okanagan or Westbank First Nation, it’s time to renew your friend’s license for another year. In RDCO it can be done online at rdco.com/dogs and there’s a discount if you do it before the end of February. In WFN, new tags can be picked up and paid for at the band office.

The City of West Kelowna has issued a Boil Water Notice for the West Kelowna Estates System, following a water main break in the Scott Crescent area. Crews completed repairs last night, however, the Notice will continue for several more days while they conduct multiple follow up tests, as required.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is ramping up delivery of rapid tests to the provinces as they run scarce across the country and access to molecular tests is restricted. 140 million tests will be distributed this month on a per-capita basis… that’s triple the number that provinces received in December. The PM also confirmed there are enough vaccine doses in Canada for everyone to get their booster.

BC reported 38-hundred new covid cases yesterday, including 473 for interior health where there are 2,563 active cases. Also, 92.4%, or 4 Million of all eligible adults in BC have received their first dose of vaccine, 89.7% have had 2 shots and 23.1% have received a third dose. No additional deaths were reported.

A huge jump for some gas prices yesterday. While some stations were still selling regular at 137.9 late in the afternoon others had jumped to 156.9. In Vernon, gas is going for about 139.9.

Farmers’ markets in the province are receiving funding from the governments of Canada and BC to help cover the costs to expand local food and beverage sales, and operate during emergencies. The one-time program is providing 475- thousand dollars with up to 15-thousand available for each eligible applicant. That includes non-profit groups, co-operatives, for-profit corporations, local governments and First Nations that operate a farmers’ market that primarily sells BC food and beverage products.

Sports

A trio of Quebec-born ex-NHLers headline the list of candidates in the Montreal Canadiens’ search for a general manager. The club plans to interview Roberto Luongo, Daniel Briere, and Mathieu Darche for the vacancy.

The Chicago Blackhawks have traded forward Alex Nylander to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for forward Sam Lafferty. The son of long time NHLer Michael Nylander and the younger brother of Leafs forward William Nylander, has played exclusively with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs this season.

In Merritt last night, the West Kelowna Warriors dumped the Centennials 8-2 in BCHL play. Next up for the Warriors is another game against Merritt on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.

Seattle Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny’s late-season resurgence now includes an NFC Offensive Player of the Week award. In Seattle’s 51-29 win over the Detroit Lions, Penny ran for 170 rushing yards on 25 carries with two touchdowns.

The Kelowna Rockets have acquired forward Adam Kydd and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2023 WHL Prospects draft from the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for forward Steel Quiring. The 19 year old has appeared in 30 games for the Hitmen this season, posting 19 points.

The PGA Tour returns to the golf schedule this week, and in not a bad place… Hawaii. It’s the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua on Maui. The winners-only event was won last year by Harris English.