How much do you pay for BC Medical Services Plan (MSP)?  This year, if you're a single person who earned $21,900 (or so) last year ("adjusted net income"), you'll pay nothing  -- as long as you applied for Premium Assistance.  But if you're a couple, and you and your spouse earned a total of $30,001 last year, then this year...

 World Rabies Day:  Sept 28, 2016 Bats and Other Wild Things -- and Rabies Having an occupied bat house in your yard poses very low risk to human health, and statistically is safer than owning a dog.  Bats are an integral part of a healthy environment, providing pollination services in some parts of the world,  essential...

On May 5th, the Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report titled, Federal Spending on Postsecondary Education. One of its findings was that Canadian college and university students come from disproportionately wealthy families—about 60% of students are from families in the top 40% of income. That’s perhaps not surprising, but a related find was:  the federal […]

Wild Pacific salmon face an upstream battle for survival Salmon have been swimming in Pacific Northwest waters for at least seven million years, as indicated by fossils of large saber-tooth salmon found in the area. During that time, they’ve been a key species in intricate, interconnected coastal ecosystems, bringing nitrogen...

Parents who paid busing fees for SD 20 students will soon be getting a refund, according to a mass email sent out today by Superintendent Bill Ford. “Good news! We have received confirmation today that the Transportation Spending Plan that the School District submitted to the Ministry of Education for approval has been approved,” the […]

A meditation on pasts, personal and historical:  Part I By Charles Jeanes This is the longest column (8,500 words!) I have ever offered. The topic warrants it, I believe. I like to think my preoccupations are not peculiar to me and there is something in this piece that provokes their own reflections in my readers. Change and...

Selkirk College marked 50 years of post-secondary education in the West Kootenay and Boundary region at its Homecoming Weekend in Castlegar. Events throughout this past weekend included a Board of Governors & President’s Reception on Friday night, a Community Pancake Breakfast and re-enactment of The Great Trek on Saturday...

The Honourable Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, will be one of the special guests at the Selkirk College 50th Anniversary Homecoming Weekend celebration. The representative of Her Majesty The Queen in British Columbia, The Lieutenant Governor will take part in the Through The Decades Gala which goes ...

Take a stroll along the Centennial Trail and Moe's Loop, and watch for new plaques posted along the way -- there are 16 altogether, with interesting nuggets of information (and the odd bit of entertaining misinformation, but you'll be able to tell the differece)  about Rossland's history.   One  favorite refers to the Rossland...

We Canadians are such nice people.  We don't look very hard for opportunities to sue other people, unlike our more litigious neighbours south of the border.  Here's an example from right here in the Greater Rossland area.  True story: A mountain biker was riding uphill on a popular trail when an out-of-control downhill rider...