Top Stories – May 23 – Tax Time

Kelowna property owners will find out this week how much they owe in taxes for the year. The city says invoices are in the mail and payment is due by Tuesday July 4th. West Kelowna is mailing property tax notices at the end of this week, while emailed notices have already gone out to more than 1,500 residents.

As usual, gas prices took a big jump before the May long weekend, but there are concerns that this year they may not be so quick to go back down. Though higher prices from the current fires in Alberta could be a shorter term effect, the longer the fires and production shutdowns go on, the longer elevated prices would last.

The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3-Billion privacy fine and ordered it to stop transferring users’ personal information to the States by October. The decision applies to user data like names, email, viewing history, geolocation and other information that Meta uses for targeted online ads.

The recent warmer than average weather has had its effect on the snowpack levels in the province. In the Okanagan as of May 15th it was 81% of normal for this time of year. Province wide it was 66%. The lowest region, which does not bode well for forest fire season, was the East Kootenay at 26%.

Experts say data from a growing number of satellites is giving firefighters new tools to predict the behaviour of fire and analyze the consequences. Mike Flannigan of Thompson Rivers University says data from the hundreds of Earth observation satellites is being used more and more. Canada is building the world’s first purpose-built wildfire monitoring satellite, set to launch in 2029.

Russia claims it has won control of Ukraine’s eastern city of Bakhmut after a grinding nine-month conflict in which tens of thousands of fighters have died. However top Ukrainian military leaders say the battle is not over as they still hold a small portion of the destroyed 400 year old city. The war is making it next to impossible for foreign journalists to access the area.

With the rain over the long weekend the high stream flow warning in the Okanagan has once again been upgraded to a flood watch. People living along the banks of rivers and streams are cautioned to keep watch for sudden increases in the water flow. And hikers are advised to keep themselves and pets away from the edges as they may be undermined.

After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asserted Canada’s continued support for Ukraine at the end of the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Japan. Trudeau said it’s not a ceasefire that is needed… it’s peace. He added that peace can only be achieved if Russia decides to stop its ongoing invasion of a sovereign neighbour.

A volcano in Mexico affectionately known as “El Popo”, which literally translates to “the poop” (it’s Popocatepetl) is spewing gas, smoke and ash near schools. The more than 54-hundred-metre mountain is about 70 kilometres southeast of Mexico City. Evacuations have not been ordered so far.

Sports

In the NHL Eastern Conference Final last night Florida beat Carolina 1-0 to take a 3 games to none lead. Game 4 is tomorrow.
Game three of the Western final goes tonight at 5:00 in Dallas with Las Vegas up 2-0.

The CFL exhibition season kicked off yesterday with an Alberta battle. In Calgary, the Stampeders beat the Elks 29-24. The BC Lions play in Regina on Saturday.

There’s a report the Toronto Raptors met with former Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash to talk about the team’s coaching vacancy.