Top Stories – Aug 26 – Arrested Again

The prolific offender we told you about earlier this week is behind bars again. Yesterday morning about 9, Justin Collins was spotted in a parking lot on Water Street and was allegedly tampering with a vehicle. He was found an hour later and arrested on an outstanding warrant and possession of stolen property. Collins has generated 423 police files in 7 years.

The province is investing more money in local projects that help people who find themselves homeless. Kelowna’s Outdoor Navigation Strategy will receive just over 1.1 Million dollars. It features a Navigation Hub offering coordinated health, social, and peer supports. Satellite sites dispersed through the community will offer additional social services.

Wouldn’t we all like to do this. A Kelowna man was at Playtime Casino for 20 minutes playing a progressive slot when he won just over a Million bucks. Josh Alexander had bet $5.25. Vacations in Mexico, Australia and California will be ticked off his bucket list.

More details from the national census last year have been released, this time it’s about language. In the Kelowna area, English was identified as the mother tongue by 84.6 percent of the population, French was 1.5% while ‘other’ came in at 12 percent. In the ‘other’ category, Punjabi was at the top at 1.6 percent, followed by Spanish at point-eight percent. At the bottom was Korean at point-three percent.

Interior Health’s former chief medical health officer has been charged with more child sex crimes out of Grande Prairie. Dr. Albert de Villiers, who was the health authority’s top doctor until June 2021 is already scheduled to appear in court in January for a trial on charges of sexual assault and sexual interference. He is now charged with invitation to sexual touching, voyeurism and making sexually explicit material available to a child.

Small business confidence in BC continued its downward trend as both short-term and long-term optimism dropped by 3 and 4 points in August. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business Barometer found small business owners continue to feel the pressures of higher costs and labour shortages, and they’re taking a wait-and-see approach. That impacts confidence, hiring plans, and business growth plans.

If you love a good bargain and the thrill of the garage sale hunt combined, you’ll want to check out the final Trunk Sale of the year. Mark down Saturday, September 24 at Okanagan College. If you’d like to be a seller, go to rdco.com/trunksale . There’s no cost to participate and the first 150 vendors are accepted. The actual sale will run from 8 to noon.

It’s been a busy year on the Okanagan Rail Trail. The stewardship group, Friends of Okanagan Rail Trail, said they get asked about the number of users by many people. The counts for January to July this year show more than 382,000 users on the section from Coldstream to Lake Country, over 79,000 in Lake Country, and 375,000 in Kelowna which is bikes only.

The well-being of physicians across Canada has dropped with many doctors reporting poorer mental health than before the pandemic. The Canadian Medical Association’s national physician health survey found 53 percent of respondents reported symptoms of burnout, including emotional exhaustion. The reported burnout rate among doctors was 1.7 times higher than it was in the last survey in 2017.

Sports

The Canadian women opened up the World Hockey Championships in Denmark with a 4 to 1 win over Finland yesterday. Next up is a 10am game against Switzerland tomorrow and the preliminary round continues on Sunday at 6am against Japan.

The Toronto Blue Jays are back home for a weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels. Last night in Boston, they made it a series sweep with a 6-5 win in 10 innings.

The Okanagan Sun put their 4 & 0 BCFC record on the line tomorrow at the Apple Bowl. The Prince George Kodiaks are in town for a 4pm start.

Heading into round 2 of the LPGA’s CP Open in Ottawa, Paula Reto from South Africa has the lead after shooting 9 under on the first day. Canada’s Brooke Henderson is just 2 under.

Two games in the CFL today. The Ti-Cats take on the Argos at 4:30 in Toronto and the BC Lions host the Roughriders at 7:30. Last night in Winnipeg, the Bombers beat the Stampeders 31 to 29.

Novak Djokovic will not play in the U.S. Open, as expected, because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and not allowed to travel to the States. Play is scheduled to begin at Flushing Meadows in New York on Monday.