The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations will be conducting a 22-hectare prescribed burn 15 kilometres north of Deer Park (near Twobit Creek) to help restore local ecosystems. This controlled burn will occur sometime between April 4 and May 15, but timing will depend on weather and site conditions. While...

A Castlegar man who made some poor decisions is now paying quite the price for them, according to RCMP Sgt. Chad Badry. “On April 2, at 4:30 p.m., a member of the West Kootenay Integrated Road Safety Unit came across a 43-year-old male motorcyclist driving his brand new Harley Davidson in excess of 127km/h in an 80km/h zone on Highway 3A near Thrums,” Badry said in a press release Monday.

While it still may not look very much like it in some corners, winter is releasing its grip on the West Kootenay. Snowfalls turning to rain showers, songbirds returning to the trees, and creeks swollen with runoff signal the return of spring to the region. And, along with the seasonal turns, every four years also brings with...

The Regional District of Central Kootenay is encouraging residents whose homes or contents incurred damage from floods or slides between March 15-23, 2017 to apply for Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA). The RDCK said in a media release Monday Emergency Management BC has authorized funding for those claimants who qualify and who are unable to obtain insurance to cover their losses. "Applicants should first check with their insurance agent to determine if their current insurance policy provides coverage for the resulting damage," said the RDCK media release.

Over the past month I have visited most of the RCMP detachments in South Okanagan-West Kootenay.  While the conversations covered some of the obvious law and order issues such as marijuana legalization, rising levels of property crime and staffing levels for highway patrol, I was surprised that one issue dominated most of my...

If anyone thought March was a little wetter than normal, they were right. March 2017 checked in as one of the wettest months on record said Ron Lakeman, Weather Forecaster for the Southeast Fire Centre in Castlegar in the monthly weather synopsis. “The total amount of precipitation was 125.4 millimetres and very close to twice...

In a press release sent out after 11 p.m. Saturday night, RCMP Cpl. Brett Turner announced that a missing 12-year-old Castlegar boy is back home. "It is my great pleasure to announce that our missing 12-year-old boy has been located," Turner said. "After an exhaustive investigation into his latest whereabouts, police were led...

Smile! You’re now on BC Transit Camera. BC Transit recently announced starting in April, six bus in the Nelson Transit fleet will phase in the installation of closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras. BC Transit Communications Manager Jonathon Dyck said all medium- and heavy-duty buses acquired after 2005 will have the cameras installed, and new buses, 27 feet and longer, will be delivered with the cameras already factory-installed. 

A group of nursing students are credited with helping the victim of an early-morning car accident Thursday, according to RCMP Sgt. Laurel Mathew.   "On March 30 ... at approximately 8 a.m, Castlegar RCMP along with Castlegar Fire Department and EMS attended a single-vehicle roll-over accident on Columbia Avenue just north of...

The first intake of the three-year, $6-million Columbia Basin Trust’s new Built Heritage Grants is now open.   “We know that there are projects that organizations will want to get started on this year, so we’ve timed our first grant intake to help them take advantage of this year’s building season,” said Wayne Lundeberg, the Trust’s Director, Delivery of Benefits.