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by Jody Blomme on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 3:46pm

Construction has started with a bang as Copcan crews jump right in to milling out the concrete of Columbia Avenue. The grinding on the north side of Columbia is complete as of Monday, and the dig starting Tuesday, May15th at St. Paul and Columbia will be a major part of the project: due to...

The need for speed: CBT's broadband corporation brings hyper-fast Internet to the Basin

by Andrew Bennett on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 3:45pm

For $1250 per month Rossland could hold the reins to a municipal Internet utility that connects to a world class, open access, fibre optic network that clocks stratospheric speeds, said Mark Halwa, chief operating officer of the Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation (CBBC), to a group that...

Kelvin Saldern steps down from Sustainability Commission, leaves a legacy

by Andrew Bennett on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 2:03pm

Council had high praise for Kelvin Saldern last week when they received his letter of resignation after years of volunteer work for the Sustainability Commission.

A readable ‘Road Block’: Rossland author launches new novel

by Adrian Barnes on 16 May 2012

Last week, Rossland author Yolanda Ridge launched her new novel, Road Block, at Cafe Books West--and by all accounts it was a raging success.

Lower Columbia housing woes addressed in ten year plan

by Andrew Bennett on 16 May 2012

Looking down from Red Mountain onto aging single family homes

Two years of work by volunteers, funders, and a consultant have recently culminated in the release of the "attainable housing needs assessment" (pdf

Parcel tax review panel ready to roll as hike in water tax is deferred until 2013

by Andrew Bennett on 16 May 2012

CAO Victor Kumar and Mayor Greg Granstrom

Complaints against the parcel taxes Rossland levies on certain properties will be heard by the Parcel Tax Roll Review Panel next Wednesday, May 23, at noon, at City Hall.

Apology to Berg Naqvi Lehmann

by Andrew Bennett on 16 May 2012

In an editorial on May 3 I wrote about an issue I had raised to the auditor that did not make it to council before the final audit, despite assurances that matters raised by the public would be addressed to s

Regional News

Got bats in your Koots?

by Contributor on 16 May 2012

The successful Kootenay Community Bat Project (KCBP) is gearing up for another year of identifying local bat species, providing educational programs and workshops, and assisting landowners with bat issues.

Of the sixteen species of bats in BC, half of them are considered vulnerable or threatened and an additional species, the little brown myotis, has recently been assessed for federal Endangered status. Information on local bat species and their roost sites is an important part of bat conservation and management.

Atamanenko Concerned About Proposed Changes to Meat Inspection Regulations

by Contributor on 16 May 2012

New Democrat MP, Alex Atamanenko (BC southern Interior) is appalled by the reckless changes to Meat Inspection Regulations (MIR) being proposed by the Conservative government that will leave Canadians wondering if the meat they buy is actually safe. Private inspectors, who may not be qualified, would now be able to inspect meat. Worse, these changes to meat inspection rules also change what meat is acceptable – meaning already-dead meat and crippled animals’ meat will be okay for processing for Canadians’ tables.

DriveBC now offering webcam views of Kootenay Lake ferries

by Contributor on 16 May 2012

Cameras show the lineup at the Balfour Ferry Terminal.

The first of 30 new webcams to be installed this year on the DriveBC network are now live, giving motorists a real-time view of traffic queues, weather and road conditions at the Kootenay Lake ferry terminals.

DriveBC web cameras are now live at:

* The Balfour ferry terminal, 35 km east of Nelson, looking north toward Highway 3A: http://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/pub/html/www/303.html

POLICE: Bush party goes bad

by Boundary Sentinel on 15 May 2012

A Grand Forks man has been charged after a bush party took an ugly turn Sunday night.

Timothy LaFreniere was charged with aggrevated assault and is scheduled to appear in court today.

At about 3:00 a.m. on May 13 the Grand Forks RCMP were called out to the local party spot known as moto after a complaint about a man with a knife. The bush party was being attended by teenagers and others in their early twenties.

Provincial & National

No excuse for further Liberal HST stalling

by Harvey Oberfeld on 16 May 2012

Provincial

No excuse for further Liberal HST stalling

The BC Liberals and their friends in the corporate and media communities, have tried to sell the public on their supposed “business” abilities…unlike those “socialists” on the other side.

And yet, after the voters ordered them to get rid of the HST, they are incapable of returning for a full NINETEEN MONTHS to a provincial sales tax regime that was in effect in this province for probably more than 50 years.

COMMENT: TRIUMF Lab helps make case for electoral finance reform

by Dermod Travis on 15 May 2012

Who would ever have thought that a single political donor could have disclosed so much about the sorry state of affairs surrounding money and politics in B.C.

In what they now call a “learning experience,” TRIUMF – Canada's nuclear physics laboratory located at the University of British Columbia – finally acknowledged last week that it wasn't the most prudent of moves to make $3,370 in political donations to the B.C. Liberal party over the past three years.

International News

Bush, aides convicted of Iraq war crimes in absentia by Malaysia

by Wikinews on 16 May 2012

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal in Malaysia has found former President of the United States George W. Bush and seven prominent former colleagues guilty of war crimes.

USA: The best, most disgusting reporting on food safety

by ProPublica on 09 May 2012

By Blair Hickman in ProPublica.

The recent brouhaha over pink slime (and other lovely mass meat production processes) is only the beginning. Here’s our roundup of some standout reporting about the food on your plate.