Top Stories – Oct 5 – Short Bus Strike

The bus driver’s strike in Kelowna will be a short one. Just 1 day. Mayor Colin Basran has announced that both sides agreed to binding arbitration in order to come to a new agreement and the drivers will return to work tomorrow. Picket lines went up at 4am after the Amalgamated Transit Union says it tried bargaining but doesn’t think First Transit cares enough about the community or drivers to bring the respect that is deserved.

A development permit was approved by Kelowna Council for a six-story apartment building on four adjacent lots on Coronation Avenue between St. Paul and Richter. The proposal includes 60 residential units, with a mix of bachelor, one and two-bedroom units and ground-level townhomes.

Canadian kids are getting a failing grade from ParticipAction for their screen time during the pandemic. The latest report card on physical activity gives children and youth a ‘D’ for overall physical activity, with only about 28 percent getting the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day.

Advance voting for the October 15 municipal elections begins today in most communities. It doesn’t happen every day and the locations can change. Check your city’s website or call city hall for locations and times. Today it’s at Parkinson Rec Centre in Kelowna, city hall in West Kelowna, municipal hall in Lake Country and at the community centre in Peachland. All from 8am to 8pm.

Interior Health says leaflets falsely claiming Ivermectin will protect and/or treat people from COVID-19 are circulating in Kelowna. The veterinary or human versions is an antiparasitic drug that has not been authorized for the prevention or treatment of COVID. The veterinary version of Ivermectin can cause serious health problems such as vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, seizures, coma and even death.

Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets. The scene offered more evidence of Moscow’s latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week. Meanwhile, the US announced it would provide an additional $625 million in military aid.

A significant quantity of drugs has been taken off the streets after a routine stop by RCMP in the downtown core. As an officer checked a vehicle and driver from Saskatchewan, 215 grams of Meth, 46.5 grams of Cocaine, 27-grams of Fentanyl, 27 grams of Benzos and $2,300 in cash was seized. Police say this quantity of Benzos with Fentanyl indicates the suspect may have been planning on cutting the drugs together, which makes the use of Naloxone ineffective during an overdose.

BC Attorney General Murray Rankin says fighting crime by arresting more people is futile and that the government has no plans to arrest its way out of crime issues. Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon accused the government of quickly freeing repeat offenders despite a report citing increasing incidents of violent crime across the province. Rankin says the government is considering a range of options to keep people safe.

That asteroid that got smacked by a NASA spacecraft is now being trailed by thousands of kilometres of debris. Astronomers captured the scene millions of miles away with a telescope in Chile. The picture clearly shows a rapidly expanding trail of dust and rubble that was spewed from the impact crater.

Sports

The Kelowna Rockets will try and build on Saturday’s win in Prince George when they host Victoria tonight at Prospera Place. The pregame show with Regan Bartel begins at 6:35 on 1047 The Lizard.

The Rockets traded 20 year-old forward Jake Poole to the Victoria Royals in exchange for an eighth-round pick in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft. He’s been with the team for three seasons and play his former teammates tonight.

The Vancouver Canucks will attempt to get their 1st preseason win tonight when they take on Edmonton who beat them 7 to 2 on Monday night. The game is at the Abbotsford Centre and gets underway at 7.

In Baltimore last night the baseball game with Toronto was postponed as the rain hadn’t stopped yet. They will try and make it up as a double header today with game one first pitch at 9:35am our time and game two 1st pitch at 1:05. That will wrap it up for the regular season.

Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run of the season last night, breaking Roger Maris’ American League record and setting what some fans consider baseball’s “clean” standard. Barry Bonds, who denied using performance enhancing drugs, holds the major league record of 73 home runs, set with the San Francisco Giants in 2001.

The Kenny Pickett era is officially underway in Pittsburgh. The rookie quarterback will make his first career start when the Steelers visit Buffalo this weekend. Pickett was the 20th overall pick in the draft.