The culmination of over 13 years of planning, proposals, grant writing, and construction will be coming to fruition next Friday as the Christina Living Arts Centre hosts it’s grand opening.   This official ceremony will mark the region’s first Leadership in Energy and Ecological Design (LEED) building which will house Canada’s first LEED artisan’s gallery.   […]

Governments love ‘sin’ taxes. They fill up the coffers while creating the illusion that government is the high-minded protector of society’s moral well-being. But should government be running ‘sin’ businesses? If the performance of the BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is any indication, the answer is no – it creates far too much risk for players […]

 It’s still impaired driving if you’re driving a boat. That’s a message local police are failing to get through to residents, as road stops continue to net inordinately high numbers of impaired drivers leaving local lakes, campgrounds and beaches.   This past weekend saw two impaired charges and four suspensions, while the weekend of July […]

 Castlegar could be enjoying as much as double the transit service it has in the past as the city prepares to ink a deal with BC Transit, in concert with RDCK Areas I and J. City CAO John Malcolm said improved services could be in place as soon as January 2011.   “BC Transit (after lengthy community consultation) put forward...

 Outsiders find Castlegar bloomin' beautiful – at least that's the hope of Communities in Bloom (CiB) organizers after judges toured the city last week. Darlene Kalawsky, CiB coordinator, said two national-level judges received royal treatment over the course of almost two days, gathering tons of information that will hopefully...

A flood of community support and assistance has washed over the Community Harvest Food Bank, after manager Deb McIntosh told local media the resource was in jeopardy.   McIntosh announced last week that the food bank was seeing increased demand and only had weeks left before having to close its doors, if more donations didn’t […]

On July 26, officers from the West Kootenay Traffic Services and Castlegar RCMP executed a Search Warrant at a Suspected Marihuana Grow Operation in the 3100 Block Of Broadwater Road in Robson.  Seized from the residence was 1/4 pound of high-grade marihuana suspected to have been a product of the grow op. Also seized from ...

 This past weekend my wife and I had the opportunity to spend some time with friends of ours, and during the day the discussion turned to wrongful death laws in B.C. Terry Napora (Terry Napora Law Offices) and Derek Miura (Derek Miura Law Corporation) informed me of the gross injustice families face in B.C .when […]

 You may think you know culture here in the Basin, but be prepared to discover something new! The Columbia Basin Culture Tour (CBCT) is a free,self-guided tour showcasing local arts, culture and heritage throughout the region Saturday and Sunday, August 14-15, 2010 from 10 am to 5 pm.   Take a road trip to a different community...

 This week I spent a whole bunch of time trying to help someone whose hard drive had crashed.  Her laptop got dropped, after which she wasn’t able to turn it on.  When I plugged it into another machine, the computer couldn’t even see that there was a hard drive there.  I phoned her to let […]