For the fifth consecutive year, FortisBC is encouraging individuals and communities to pledge to reduce electricity and natural gas use during Earth Hour from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. March 23. “FortisBC PowerSense encourages customers to turn every hour into an ‘Earth Hour’ by making impactful changes that can reduce energy use and...

From the outside Blueberry Creek Community School (BCCS) looks like any typical small older rural elementary school but BCCS is anything but typical. BCCS is a Ministry of Education designated Neighbourhood of Learning and a Ministry of Children and Family Development designated Community HUB. Both ministerial designations ...

Representatives of the Community Foundation of Castlegar recently met with Castlegar mayor Lawrence Chernoff, Area I director Andy Davidoff, and Area J director Gordon Zaitsoff to seek their support as the foundation moves towards becoming fully functional. “We were looking for letters of support,” said foundation president...

A request from the Element to be allowed to stay open an extra hour for a special event this Friday sparked a great deal of controversy regarding city emergency services at city council's regular meeting Monday night. Councillor Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff, vice chair of council's Public Safety Committee, brought up the two false...

A water shutdown Feb. 20 had some residents wondering for weeks why their water was coming out cloudy or milky, and whether it was safe to drink. With a second shutdown scheduled for tonight between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m., it stands to reasons that residents will once again be concerned, but city director of public works Chris...

Castlegar’s Dam City Rollers have something in common with that 70’s sitcom The Jeffersons..they’re Movin’ On Up! The Dams have recently secured a swanky new practice and bouting space, and it’s a polished, heated, sprung-wood one – Castlegar’s Selkirk College Gymnasium! Moving into this space has been the culmination of years...

Human beings should be treasured. Material is to be used. Our crises now all originate from one source – things are treasured, people are used. Very little commentary is posted after my columns. I do wonder if I am writing into a vacuum sometimes. But then, I have felt the same over a dozen years of broadcasting a program on...

Partygoers got out of hand and three people are facing criminal charges after a special event at a local bar, according to RCMP Cpl. Debbie Postnikoff. “The Castlegar RCMP were kept busy in the downtown area during the evening of Feb. 15 into the early hours of the morning on Feb.16, specifically dealing with 15 files involving...

If you look at the photo accompanying this article, you'll see a big, bad cop in a flak vest ... knitting. Yes, that's right, it's Castlegar RCMP Const. Rob Gardner knitting with a group of grade-schoolers at Twin Rivers Elementary School. And don't make fun of the vest, word on the street is, those knitting needles can be ...

Warnings for caution in the Kootenay Boundary back country for snow enthusiasts are high this weekend. With a lot of variation in the snowpack around the region, the Canadian Avalanche Centre advises that wind and new snow have increased the avalanche danger considerably.   At the time of writing, 10-30 cm of snow overlies ...