Top Stories – Oct 13 – Lakeshore & Richter

Lakeshore Road and Richter Street closures will begin next week and last for about 6 weeks. It’s to deal with services for the new development in that area. Next week, Lakeshore Northbound is closed between 7am and 7pm from Lanfranco to Richter, and will detour via Richter, while southbound will stay open. Both directions are open between 7pm and 7am.

A couple more electric vehicle charging stations for the public will be installed on the west side. They will be at the Mac’s Convenience Store at Boucherie and Highway 97. The province says 90% of all new light-duty vehicles sold here are to be zero emission by 2030. It claims by switching to an electric vehicle, an average driver saves about $2,500 every year on fuel.

RBC economists say Canada’s economy could fall into a recession as early as the first quarter of next year, but they expect unemployment to be less severe than previous downturns. They say lower-income Canadians will likely be hit the hardest, as purchasing power falls and interest rates for debt rise. They predict the jobless rate, which currently sits at 5.2%, will near seven percent.

Kelowna RCMP and a special unit that finds stolen cars were able to recover five vehicles and arrest five individuals, getting them off the streets over the course of one week in September. In addition, a break and enter suspect was identified, two individuals were arrested for outstanding warrants, two more were arrested for prohibited driving and three no insurance tickets were issued.

Preliminary reporting from the BC Coroners Service shows 247 deaths of homeless people were reported to the agency in 2021, which is a 75% increase over the number of lives lost in 2020. An average of about 153 deaths per year were reported between 2016 and 2020. Individuals between 30 and 59 years old accounted for 72% of reported deaths.

Twelve power line technicians and two operations supervisors from FortisBC have been in Prince Edward Island for 2 weeks to help restore service to Maritime Electric customers who lost power after Hurricane Fiona hit the region. The last time FortisBC crews were called in to assist outside provincial borders was when the Turks and Caicos Islands sustained considerable damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017.

An aromatic insect shaped like a shield is lurking around homes and feasting on stone fruits in parts of southern BC including Kelowna. The brown marmorated stink bug, an invasive species in Canada, is thriving thanks to summer-like weather extending into the fall. In the wine business, the presence of just a few adults at crush, can taint wine, creating contamination issues for grapes.
Alberta’s new premier stirred up a hornet’s nest when she said the unvaccinated have been the most discriminated-against group that she’s ever witnessed. At her first news conference, Danielle Smith said she would amend the human rights law to protect those who choose not to get vaccinated. BC’s John Horgan said for the incoming premier to focus on a sliver of the population who chose not to get vaccinated when there are many other health and drug challenges seems short-sighted.

U-S talk show host Alex Jones has been ordered to pay families of 8 Sandy Hook victims 965 million dollars. For years on his show, Jones said the 28 deaths at the elementary school in Connecticut were a hoax. The jury made the award based on defamation and slander as well as emotional distress. Jones’ lawyer says they will appeal.

Sports

The Kelowna Rockets got 2 goals from Norman Flamond last night in Victoria, but the Royals got 5 including an empty netter and picked up their first win of the WHL season. Next up for Kelowna is a home game tomorrow against Everett.

The BC Lions are hoping that a number of star players will return from injury before the regular season is over, including quarterback Nathan Rourke and receivers Lucky Whitehead and Bryan Burnham. Head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell says Rourke was a limited participant in practice on Tuesday.

The Vancouver Canucks began their regular season in Edmonton last night with a 5-3 loss after jumping out to a 3-0 lead.
Vancouver travels to Philadelphia next for an afternoon game on Saturday.

On the PGA Tour, the event this week is in Japan for the Zozo Championship. Corey Conners, Adam Svensson and Mackenzie Hughes are the Canadians that made the trip.

Thursday Night Football in the NFL is in Chicago. The 2 & 3 Bears host the 1 & 4 Washington Commanders. Kickoff is at 5:15.

The Buffalo Sabres signed defenseman Mattias Samuelsson to a seven-year extension worth 30 Million dollars. The long-term pact comes very early in his NHL career. The blue-liner has played just 54 games and has yet to score a goal.