A tentative agreement has been reached between the British Columbia Medical Association (BCMA) and the B.C. government on a renewed Physician Master Agreement covering approximately 10,000 specialists and family physicians in the province. Building on the success of the previous master agreement, the proposed four-year deal...

Anyone who thought Dan Albas’ private member’s bill was going to open the floodgates to cheap cross-border shopping for wine should think again. When Albas’s Bill C-311 is finally passed, the provinces will experience an immediate shortfall in revenue. Indeed, John Skinner, the owner of Painted Rock Winery in Penticton is...

BC Hydro is anticipating Kootenay Lake levels will continue to rise slightly during the weekend. Currently the lake is just marginally below last year’s peak of 1751.71 feet. The exact level and date of this year’s peak is dependent on temperature and rainfall amounts. Lakeshore property owners are urged to protect their homes and waterfront […]

The Regional District of Central Kootenay declared a State of Local Emergency in Area B of the Regional District Friday. Bill Macpherson, Public Information Officer for the Emergency Operations Centre said in a press release, “the declaration pertains to a narrow strip of land at the bottom of the Goat River, bordered by Highway 21 […]

All of the celebrations surrounding SunFest recently have me thinking about small-town dynamics. I am definitely a small-town girl through and through. I love the community support, the sense of safety, and being able to walk down the main drag and wave at a dozen people I know as they drive by. Don’t get me […]

The City of Castlegar will be spending just under $50,000 to review their development cost charges, after an unanimous vote at Monday night's regular council meeting. Councillor and chair of council's planning and development committee, Kevin Chernoff, said the fee structure is more important than many realize. "They are...

The compassionate efforts of a Harrop man sadly didn’t save the life of a little black bear who was struck on Highway 3A last week. Gary Urquhart and his son were driving home on the North Shore, about three miles from the Big Orange Bridge at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 26 when they saw […]

The vision of a unified transit system covering both the Kootenay Boundary and Central Kootenay regions is a step closer to reality, according to Castlegar mayor Lawrence Chernoff. Chernoff is also chair of the newly-formed West Kootenay Transit Committee, which had its first meeting Wednesday. “We met yesterday with BC Transit, and that’s when it […]

WestJet has asked representatives of the West Kootenay Regional Airport Advisory Committee to meet with airline staff later this month to discuss why WestJet should come to Castlegar (see also: http://castlegarsource.com/news/westjet-clarifies-invitation-19383). Castlegar mayor Lawrence Chernoff, Nelson mayor John Dooley, city manager John Malcolm and former MP (and air traffic controller) Jim Gouk will be among the […]

With the heavy rainfall over the past two days, and snow at higher elevations, the Boundary rivers are on a high stream advisory and others throughout the Kootenays and Okanagan are on flood watch. The BC River Forecast Centre is upgrading the advisory to a flood watch for: Monashees including Eagle River, Shuswap River,...