Top Stories – Dec 7 – Bait Busted

Within a few hours of being deployed, someone made the mistake of driving off in an RCMP bait car. Officers converged to the area of Dilworth Drive as it was being tracked and arrested both occupants for theft of a motor vehicle. During a search, a taser was found in a fanny pack on the floor of the vehicle and police say the suspects also caused extensive damage to the doors and ignition.

David Eby has been sworn in as premier, and today we will find out if he is making any big changes to his cabinet. The ceremony begins about 10 this morning at Government House in Victoria. It will be livestreamed on the province’s social media pages.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft is on its way home after using lunar gravity as a slingshot after a three-week successful mission. But the biggest challenge still lies ahead: hitting the atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound and surviving the fiery re-entry. It is due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off California on Sunday.

The benchmark price for a single family home in the Central Okanagan last month was back up to just over one million dollars. However sales dipped 52% from a year ago to 120. Condo sales were down 56% to just 72 units, but the price was up to 511 thousand dollars.

David Jones, the Supervisor at Kelowna RCMP Detachment Cellblock has been recognized with the Commissionaires Distinguished Service Medal for his dedicated and exemplary service. He has worked in the detachment since 2011. The CDSM has been awarded since 1989 but less then 30 have been granted.

Canada’s auditor general says COVID-19 benefits were delivered quickly and helped mitigate economic suffering, however, the federal government hasn’t done enough to recover overpayments. Karen Hogan estimates $4.6 billion was paid to people who were not eligible, while another $27.4 billion in payments to individuals and businesses should be further investigated.

Doctors in BC have ratified a $708-million, three-year deal with the province that includes a new payment model that the government hopes will help attract and retain family physicians. The new agreement includes pay increases for all doctors with additional money for overhead costs. There’s also more money for specialist recruitment and retention, rural programs, after-hours on-call programs and team-based care.

About 3,400 BC Hydro customers in West Kelowna/Westbank were left in the cold yesterday morning. The power went off just before 10 and wasn’t restored until 11:30. As for the cause… on Hydro’s website it was listed as “other”.

A BC Supreme Court judge has upheld more than $343,000 in cost-recovery fines that were handed to Tolko Industries for starting a wildfire in 2016. It burned about four square kilometres after escaping from a debris pile that a contractor set on fire at a Tolko cut block in central BC.

Sports

Heads up from the Kelowna Rockets that the annual teddy bear toss is at Friday’s game. Interior Health protocols require stuffed animals to be new with tags attached and placed in bags before being tossed onto the ice.

One of the BC Lions’ all-time greatest players is hanging up the cleats. Bryan Burnham announced his retirement after a remarkable eight-year career as a receiver with the team.

The Canucks have a quick one game road trip down the coast tonight. They take on the Sharks at 7:30.

That didn’t take long. The Los Angeles Rams claimed quarterback Baker Mayfield off waivers following his release on Monday from the Panthers.