In recent years, major Canadian cities have seen the demise of many long-standing single-screen movie houses. In quick succession, Vancouver lost the Hollywood, Denman and Ridge theatres. In Burnaby, Surrey, Victoria and Kelowna, still more marquee lights were permanently switched off, suggesting a trend alarming to movie-lovers:...

Wildfires are sweeping B.C. Close to 900 have burned through 600,000 hectares so far this year, blanketing western North America with smoke. Fighting them has cost more than $230 million — and the season is far from over. It’s not just B.C. Thousands of people from B.C. to California have fled homes as fires rage. Greenland...

How much alcohol should a person be allowed to have in her bloodstream while being in control of a  motor vehicle?  Is there a "safe" limit below which someone is not really impaired, or  not too impaired? Canada's Justice Minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, is considering lowering  the blood-alcohol content limit that constitutes...

During  Rossland's  Miners Hall renovation, I was disappointed to see that the new roof is a dark chocolate brown instead of a  more reflective, pale colour that would help to cool not only the building, but also our city.   The more of a building's  sky-facing surfaces that can reflect the sun's energy, rather than absorbing...

According to a new survey completed by Insights West, most drivers say that driving in the province has gotten worse in the last five years – pointing at bad driving behaviours as one of the top contributors to B.C.’s road problems. Respondents feel that drivers today are more distracted, more aggressive and more impatient, making […]

A message from the BC Southwest Fire Centre Information Officer: Effective at noon (Pacific time) on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017, the operation of any off-road vehicle for recreational purposes on Crown land will be prohibited throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre, Kamloops Fire Centre and Southeast Fire Centre. In addition, all...

A message from the City of Rossland: As of today, there are approximately 140 wildfires burning across the province of BC. In the Southeast Fire Centre, there are approximately 20 total wildfires burning  with 4 of them being fires of note (the closest to the City of Rossland is the Harrop Creek Fire, NE of Nelson). Further...

Governments change — along with laws, regulations and priorities. It’s the nature of democracies. In Canada, we’ve seen environmental laws implemented, then weakened or overturned, then strengthened and re-instated. But the basic necessities of health, well-being and life shouldn’t be subject to the shifting agendas of political...

The sale of Teck's  two-thirds share of the Waneta dam to BC Hydro is now subject to "a number of conditions" according to press releases dated August 1, 2017.  Those conditions include review and approval by the BC Utilities Commission, and assuming that it goes forward, the sale is not likely to be completed before early ...

In response to the extreme fire situation in British Columbia, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is suspending public recreational access to all its lands in the province. This is a precautionary measure in order to minimize the chance of human-caused wildfires in any more of the province, and to contribute to public...