Top Stories – Oct 21 – House Fire

About 7:30 last night the Kelowna Fire Department  received a 911 call reporting a fire inside a home in the 1900 block of McDougall St. The first arriving officer reported visible flame showing from the roof of a large single-family home. It was confirmed by the home owner that no one was inside the structure. Crews worked hard to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading to the homes on either side. The home suffered extensive damage.

David Eby will officially be declared the leader of the BC New Democratic Party today, clearing the way for him to eventually be sworn in as premier. At a news conference yesterday, John Horgan said he will soon start the transition of power with his former Attorney General. Earlier, the NDP’s executive voted to disqualify Anjali Appadurai from the party’s leadership race over alleged breaches of the contest’s rules.

Expect to see more kids around, and in the stores today. It’s a district-wide public school Professional Development Day in the Central Okanagan. There are 182 days of instruction this year and 7 non-instructional days.

Members of BC’s Taiwanese-Canadian community are paying tribute to a Burnaby Mountie who was stabbed to death in the line of duty this week. The president of the BC’s Taiwanese Canadian Association, says the community will do whatever it can to support Constable Yang’s family, and has been in contact with the RCMP about holding a memorial in her honour.

The cooler, damper weather will be a welcome sight for those who fight wildfires in this extended season. Locally, one is burning about 26 kilometres northwest of West Kelowna and was last estimated at 54 hectares after combining from 4 separate fires. Meanwhile another one was spotted west of Rose Valley Lake at was at 2 hectares. Both fires were human caused.

A new park is being planned for the Lower Mission. DeHart Community Park has been on the books for 12 years and funding for it is now available through the city’s Development Cost Charge program. The design is anticipated for completion next Spring and you can register for walkshops and workshops online or fill out the survey before Nov. 20 at getinvolved.kelowna.ca.

Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard was sentenced to five years behind bars for the sexual assault of an Ottawa woman, which the judge called a “particularly degrading rape.” The judge said she accepted the woman’s evidence in its entirety. The 38-year-old Hedley frontman had pleaded not guilty to all charges. A jury found him guilty in June.

A man that has had 111 negative encounters with the police, has had another one added to the list. Kelowna RCMP found a man had broken into a vehicle in the 1800 block of Underhill, but he ran off as they approached and eventually got on a bike. But he was found a short time later and arrested, fingerprinted and released pending further investigation for a charge of mischief under $5000.

With shorter days and cooler temperatures, crews are getting West Kelowna’s parks ready for winter and will close most fields and parks washrooms by Oct. 31. The Rosewood Sports Field will stay open through the third week of November for youth football season. The all-season washrooms at Willow Beach will also remain open and playgrounds stay open year-round.

Thousands of dry shampoo products from Unilever have been recalled in Canada over the cancer-causing chemical benzene. The products manufactured by Dove, Bed Head and Tresemmé were sold in the country between January 2020 and October 2022. For more details go to Health Canada recalls and scroll down the first or second page.

Sports

Just one game for the Kelowna Rockets this weekend as the top team in the Eastern conference of the WHL pays a rare visit to Kelowna. The game against the Winnipeg Ice is at 7:05 tomorrow, which means the pregame show on (our sister station) 1047 The Lizard and rocketfan.ca begins at 6:35

The West Kelowna Warriors have 2 BCHL games this weekend. Tonight they take on the Wild in Wenatchee and then are back home tomorrow to host the Surrey Eagles at 7 at Royal LePage Place.

Two games left this year for the BC Lions to secure home field advantage in the first round of the CFL playoffs. Tonight they are in Edmonton to take on the Elks at 6:30

More than 400,000 racing fans are expected in Austin, Texas for this weekend’s Formula One race. Qualifying goes tomorrow at 3pm with the race on Sunday at noon.

The Okanagan Sun play the Westshore Rebels tomorrow for the BC Football Conference championship. The Sun are undefeated this year. Game time is 4PM at the Apple Bowl.

Minnesota scored on a delayed penalty in overtime with the extra man on the ice, to hand the Vancouver Canucks their 5th loss in as many games to start the season. The final score last night was 4 to 3. Vancouver’s 1st home game of the season is tomorrow at 7 when Buffalo visits Rogers Arena.