Harper’s (Un)Fair Elections Act Could Spark Voter Surge
The Harper government seems intent on proving to its detractors that things can always get worse. They’ve one-upped themselves with the farce called the Fair Elections Act. It has been described as a direct threat to the right to vote and an assault on democracy by the very people our democracy assigns to examine these things....
LETTER: Scrap ALR proposal and save small farmers--A Rossland perspective
To the leaders of my province, I am a 34-year-old farmer in the Southern Interior working with my wife and son to build a business growing and selling food. We do not have the finances to own farmland, so we operate entirely on leased parcels. Because large agribusiness and government subsidies to the industrial food system...
Local author wins award at Kootenay Literary Competition
The Kootenay Literacy Competition (KLC) awards were handed on March 14 in Nelson. Of the award winners was a local resident. Leslie Davidson from Grand Forks won in the Adult Creative Non-Fiction category, along with Graham Kenyon of Rossland. Davidson won for her short story “Hold On.” The winners were given their awards at...
The tsunami that struck northeastern Japan is now three years past, but it hasn’t stopped making waves
Debris travelling all the way from Japan has brought with it a number of Japanese marine species to the west coast, some of which have the potential to become invasive and devastate the coastal ecosystem. Scientists were shocked to find that 165 different species had travelled from Japanese waters to the coast of North America...
LETTER: An open letter to Mayor Taylor
This open letter to Mayor Brian Taylor was submitted by Grand Forks resident Julia Butler. Dear Mayor Taylor At the council meeting on March 10, I presented council with a letter from Coralee Oakes, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development stating, “I assure you that the Province of British Columbia does not...
Court injunction gives hope to those who need medicinal weed
While new regulations around medical marijuana production came into effect on April 1, a court injunction (recently appealed by the federal government) has granted growers with licenses under the own system to keep producing their own medicine until a legal challenge against the federal government’s new law is heard The move...
Trust environmental focus renewed
Columbia Basin Trust’s new Environment Strategic Plan is now completed and will guide the Trust’s water and environment initiatives from 2014 to 2019. It sets goals in five areas: water, ecosystems, climate change, environmental education, and helping to strengthen organizations that focus on the environment. The plan is now...
Grohman Narrows Dredging — still too early to tell
Preliminary findings of a study to determine the feasibility of dredging Grohman Narrows were presented by BC Hydro to elected officials and the public on March 26 in Nelson. “Does it make sense to proceed? It’s still to be determined,” said Sabrina Locicero, BC Hydro’s stakeholder engagement advisor. Locicero was one of...
Nelson Police Department rolls out innovative Restorative Justice Program
The Nelson Police Department is advocating for the introduction of a Restorative Justice program as an option to laying criminal charges when a crime has been committed. The program, spearheaded by NPD Sergeant Dino Falcone and coordinated by Restorative Justice Program Coordinator Gerry Sobie, is looking for volunteers....
COMMENT: Remember climate change? The forgotten threat...
According to BC Hydro, in Earth Hour 2014 their customers accrued less than half the savings achieved in 2013. Is this because the lights people turned off were more efficient lights or is it because fewer lights were turned off? Maybe it’s a combination of both; however, it’s my belief that climate change has almost disappeared...
