Page 46 - Rob Munro News Today

July 29, 2021 - 2:59 PM Penticton City Council turned down a request from Mayor John Vassilaki for five new police officers today, July 29, at a special council meeting. The request from the mayor came after Rick Thorpe, former MLA for the city, suggested earlier this month that money be taken from city reserves to fund more police officers in response to growing crime in the city. He was the first caller to council, via Zoom, after the decision was made. “It’s amazing t...

July 27, 2021 - 6:00 PM Air quality in the Central and North Okanagan worsened dramatically over the course of the day today as Kamloops improved slightly. By 4:45 p.m., the provincial Air Quality Health Index ranked Central and North Okanagan air quality at 10+. Their scale goes from one to 10 with 10 being the highest risk to health so 10+ pushes that off the scale. Kamloops was listed at 10 while there was no reading available for the South Okanagan. That index reports air...

July 27, 2021 - 1:00 PM Anyone needing to renew auto or house insurance during an evacuation alert – or sometimes even being within 50 km of an active fire – may have problems buying some types of insurance. If a home or vehicle is already insured, it’s covered. But buying a new vehicle or home can create problems. “Given the elevated risk of vehicle damage in areas under fire evacuation alerts or orders, while the alert or order is in place, we do restrict the sale o...

July 26, 2021 - 4:30 PM Kelowna city council unanimously rejected a proposal today for what could have been the city’s tallest building. The project on Bertram Street, just north of Bernard Avenue downtown, was first proposed to be 46 storeys but was reduced to 35. City staff said it was the wrong height for that location, which had been designated as a transitional site at only 12 storeys. Councillors agreed. “I’m looking forward to voting against this today because I...

July 26, 2021 - 4:48 PM The Ministry of Environment has issued a heat advisory for the Thompson and Okanagan regions and beyond. “A strengthening ridge of high pressure over the southern interior will boost daytime high temperatures into the mid to high 30s Celsius with overnight lows in the mid to high teens later this week,” a ministry news release states. “The time frame with the hottest weather will be from Wednesday to Saturday.” The advisory may become a warning...

July 22, 2021 - 3:08 PM Kelowna RCMP have charged and arrested the man suspected of trying to start a wildfire in West Kelowna on July 10. A suspect was arrested at the time and released pending charges. A Kelowna RCMP news release today, July 22, says the BC Prosecution Service approved a charge of arson. Stephen Leader, 36, was arrested this morning, charged with arson, taken into custody and faced court this afternoon.

July 20, 2021 - 3:08 PM B.C. saw one of its highest daily number of new COVID-19 cases in the past month with 76 recorded in the past 24 hours. That includes 37, almost half, in the Interior Health region alone, according to a Health Ministry news release today, July 20. There were 27 new cases in the Fraser Health region, nine in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, three in the Vancouver Island Health region and none in the Northern Health region. There are 692 active case...

July 19, 2021 - 6:00 PM Smoke is going to be a fact of life in the Thompson and Okanagan regions for months to come. Environment Canada’s almost daily Special Air Quality Statements cover broad areas of these regions but don’t pinpoint which area is going to be hit hardest at any particular time. That’s just too hard to predict. “Subtle changes in wind directions or changes in upper air stability, all those things will impact the amount of smoke you’ll be getting,�...

Image Credit: Submitted/City of Penticton July 19, 2021 - 4:31 PM The developers of a proposed major rental housing complex in Penticton have knocked two storeys off one of their proposed buildings and cut 21 units. The project was rejected by city council in a tie vote in May. It’s for the former Kampe property which covers 3.62 acres at 435 Green Avenue West. The original plan called for two six-storey buildings with a total of 151 units. There was strong public oppositi...

July 15, 2021 - 7:00 PM Murli Pendharkar served as both a superintendent of schools and chair of the Board of Education in the Central Okanagan and was a prominent volunteer before dying earlier this week at the age of 91. Born in a rural village in India, the third youngest of 11 children, on Feb. 17, 1930, he embraced education early in his life. “His mother taught them all to sing their addition and multiplication tables before they were old enough to go to school, prepa...