Highway 97C the Okanagan Connector remains closed in all directions, east of the Highway 5A Junction, as crews continue their work to assess a hazardous commercial vehicle fire. On December 31, 2019 at approximately 1 a.m., Merritt RCMP received a report of a commercial truck fire along Highway 97C east of the Highway 5A Aspen...

UPDATED INFORMATION FROM THE RCMP:  The investigators have completed a preliminary investigation and found that a westbound commercial tractor-trailer lost control and slid sideways across the three lanes striking the rear of an eastbound commercial transport vehicle and then a smaller Honda SUV before continuing over an...

A Kootenay man, environmental consultant Michael Keefer who lives in Rossland and Cranbrook, was invited to go to Uzbekistan for a conference on solutions to the Aralkum Desert problem.  While there, he toured the area and took many hundreds of pictures.  When I sat down with Keefer, who told me fascinating tales ...

Rossland-based crowdsourcing intelligence platform, Thoughtexchange, announced on December 5, 2019, that it has secured a $20M Series B financing in an oversubscribed round led by Information Venture Partners (Toronto) with participation from existing investor Yaletown Partners (Vancouver) and new investor Voyager Capital...

On Sunday I returned to Ottawa to prepare for the opening of the 43rd Parliament. Last week I was given my shadow cabinet roles—critic for Natural Resources and deputy critic for Transport.  I was the critic for Natural Resources for the last four years so know that file well, and issues of transport intersect natural resources...

UPDATED DECEMBER 4, 2019, 9:30 pm There are always changes going on in Rossland Range Recreation Site – whether it’s more logging by Atco, or volunteers improving cabins, or replacing of old cabins with newer cabins, or thinning or glading, or doing FireSmart work to reduce fire hazard, or filling woodsheds with firewood for...

The Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute (RDI) at Selkirk College has just released the 2019 Snapshot Report, a region wide check-up that investigates economic, social, environmental and cultural indicators for the Columbia-Basin Boundary. “RDI is continuing to provide research on well-being to support evidence-based ...

Scott Fraser, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation; Regional Chief Terry Teegee, BC Assembly of First Nations; Cheryl Casimer, First Nations Summit; Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Union of BC Indian Chiefs; and Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and member of Tsartlip First Nation, have issued the...

Pete Stamper is the new Chief Executive Officer of KC Recycling, and he moved to Rossland with his family in July of this year.  I learned this after receiving his press release announcing that KC Recycling is making significant investments to expand its capacity and will be able to recycle all of Canada’s cathode-ray-tube ...

A new BC Hydro report finds despite experiencing the most damaging winter storm in BC Hydro’s history last year, many British Columbians remain unprepared for storm-related power outages. The report entitled, ‘Weathering the storm: Many British Columbians not prepared for increasingly severe winter storms’ looks at the...