Top Stories – Feb 23 – Lower Mission Standoff

There was a large police presence in the 600 block of Tomby Court in the Lower Mission yesterday. The Southeast District Critical Incident Program was activated, and with assistance from an Incident Commander, Crisis Negotiators as well as the Emergency Response Team, the incident was resolved peacefully and one man was taken into custody. It initially came in as a report of a disturbance among occupants at a house.

Kelowna RCMP responded to a report of a robbery that occurred in the 2800-block of Highway 97 late yesterday afternoon. A woman was sitting in her vehicle while parked in a parking lot when a man opened the passenger door, threatened her with a knife and demanded her belongings. A struggle ensued and the woman received injuries. The victim was transported to hospital, treated and released. The suspect is described man with a dark complexion, 5’11”, wearing a black jacket, black pants and a black medical-style mask.

Over the long weekend, there were 21-hundred new covid-19 cases in BC, including 610 for Interior Health. There were 217 in our region yesterday. Over the 96 hours, 44 new deaths were reported in the province. There will be an update from Dr. Henry this afternoon at 3.

The U.S., Canada and all 27 European Union nations are ordering initial penalties targeting Russian officials over their actions in Ukraine. Canadians are banned from all financial dealings with the breakaway states and purchasing Russian sovereign debt and dealing with two state-backed Russian banks.

Kelowna International Airport is receiving funding to support operations. The federal government will provide more than 3.2 million dollars to YLW from the Regional Air Transportation Initiative. This provides funding for essential routine maintenance and facility operations associated with the pandemic.

Ottawa’s largest mall was evacuated yesterday afternoon just hours after it was able to reopen following a three-week long occupation of the city’s downtown core. A deleted Twitter statement from police said they were responding to a shoplifting call with a possible weapon and one person had been arrested. The mall is just east of the Parliament Buildings, and had been closed since January 29.

The government’s representative in the Senate says members of a parliamentary committee set up to scrutinize the Emergencies Act will have to take an oath of secrecy. Senator Marc Gold also said that ministers are receiving hourly police updates about potential threats around the country to assess if the emergency law is still needed.

Small businesses were hoping to see measures to reduce costs and help with recovery in BC’s budget yesterday, but the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says there wasn’t much there. It appreciates there were no tax increases, however, the CFIB says small businesses are still feeling cost increases from employer-paid sick days, rising property taxes, the employers’ health tax and inflation.

Starting next Tuesday, the Old Vernon Road at Mill Creek Bridge will undergo what the city calls a ‘significant replacement’ to make sure it’s safe for decades to come. The existing timber bridge that is nearing the end of its service life will be replaced and Old Vernon Rd will be raised to accommodate flood flows. Traffic will be detoured to Bulman for 3-4 weeks.

Sports

The West Kelowna Warriors have their last game of the month tonight in Prince George. They currently sit 4th out of 9 teams in the BCHL Interior Division and have clinched a playoff spot.

Locked out baseball players and team owners will meet again today in an attempt to reach a deal that would salvage opening day on March 31. The talks during the second-longest work stoppage in baseball history marked only the second time since the lockout began that bargaining on economic issues has taken place on consecutive days.

In KIJHL playoffs last night, the Kelowna Chiefs and Summerland Steam went to 2 overtime periods before Summerland picked up a 4-3 win to take the first of their best of 7 playoff series. Game 2 goes tonight at 7 at Rutland Arena.

Some are wondering if Aaron Rodgers is going to announce his retirement from the NFL. The Green Bay quarterback put out a long Instagram post that seemed to thank almost everyone that has influenced his career.

The Steve Nash-coached Brooklyn Nets are signing free-agent guard Goran Dragic for the rest of the season. He was recently bought out by the San Antonio Spurs after being acquired in a deadline-day trade from the Raptors.

Formula One will get a glimpse of what the season may look like when its new generation of cars hits the track in a test session in Barcelona today. It will be the first preseason session following one of the biggest regulation changes in the series.