Top Stories – Feb 10 – Looking For Owners

Kelowna RCMP are making an effort to reunite some stolen tools with their rightful owners. An investigation yielded 300-thousand dollars of stolen property in Penticton and Lake Country. Among the property seized are tools that have initials written on them and eight Delta faucets that have unique barcodes. (Above)

When it comes to the easing of covid restrictions in BC, Dr. Bonnie Henry says any changes will come next Tuesday before a number of orders are set to expire. She says the decisions will be made based on what is happening here… not what other provinces are doing. Dr. Henry says it is still a severe respiratory illness and more variants will be coming and vaccination is the best way to deal with it.

The Regional District is developing a Regional Housing Strategy to explore tools and actions that can address housing issues, needs and gaps throughout the Central Okanagan. Residents are invited to participate by completing an online community survey. It’s available at rdco.com/housing until the end of the month.

The Public Health Officer says the number of lives lost to suspected illicit drugs in BC last year is ‘beyond devastating’. Dr. Bonnie Henry says no words can soften the losses of the 2,224 families that lost loved ones. In the Kelowna region, updated numbers show a record 73 deaths from illicit drugs last year, compared to 61 in 2020.

There were 1,187 new cases of covid-19 in BC yesterday, which included 370 for interior health. 50 percent of people 12 and over have had 2 doses of vaccine and a booster. Dr. Bonnie Henry says they will be dropping the reporting of daily Active cases as they no longer reflect what is happening in the community and are not accurate.

People protesting the vaccine mandates shut down the largest border crossing between the US and Canada yesterday…. the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor. Several Ottawa city councillors have raised the idea of filing injunctions on behalf of the city to stop vehicles idling in the core, or to keep vehicles away from city transit routes. In Alberta, RCMP wrote down licence plates at the Coutts border crossing after saying they would begin enforcement with ticketing if necessary.

Census 2021 population data showed the Central Okanagan is the fastest growing metropolitan area in Canada with a growth rate of 14% from 2016-2021. The City of Kelowna’s population was 144,576 last year, compared to 127,390 in 2016, while the City of West Kelowna increased to 36,078 from 32,655. The census also shows BC’s population above 5 Million for the first time.

A Quebec father who is not vaccinated against COVID-19 has regained the right to have visits with his 12-year-old son. A judge ruled that it is no longer in the child’s best interest to deny him in-person contact given the improving COVID situation in the province. With the suspension due to end, the child’s mother had asked the court for it to be extended.

TV ratings for the first weekend of the 2022 Beijing Olympics show a 25 percent drop in Canadian viewers from the last Winter Games, with an even steeper decline in NBC’s American viewership. Audience levels for the Canada-USA women’s hockey game peaked at 1.3 million which was higher than the average audience for other hours.

Sports

Canada beat Germany 5-1 in men’s preliminary round hockey at the Beijing Olympics this morning. We play the U-S tomorrow night at 8:10.

The Vancouver Canucks were not the same team last night that had beaten Arizona the night before. The Islanders scored 5 straight goals in the first period that chased Jaroslav Halak from net in favour of Thatcher Demko. Final score was 6-3.

Veteran Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask announced his retirement from the NHL after 15 seasons yesterday. The 34-year-old returned from hip surgery this season, but he only appeared in four games before opting to hang up his pads for good.

Like the men today, Canada’s women’s Olympic hockey team will mean some early alarms tomorrow for live viewers. The quarterfinal game with Sweden starts at 5:10 in the morning.

Bruins agitator Brad Marchand earned himself a meeting with the NHL’s disciplinary people after his attack on Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry on Tuesday. Marchand is suspended after he punched Jarry in the head, then circled back and jammed his stick into the netminder’s mask after he stopped a late shot.

Less than a year after Dominique Ducharme led the Montreal Canadiens on an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final, he was fired yesterday. Taking over on an interim basis, is Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis. Montreal sits last in the NHL standings with an 8-30-7 record.

The BC Lions brought back a familiar face to the defensive line with the signing of David Menard. He re-joins the Lions after spending 2021 with the Montreal Alouettes where he registered a career-high eight sacks.