Many of the affordable housing units operated by non-profit organizations in the Columbia Basin need energy retrofits, such as replacing boilers and windows. A new Columbia Basin Trust program will provide funding and support to help make these improvements possible. “This new program will help ensure existing affordable...

Castlegar’s Columbia Avenue Complete Streets program got a major boost over the weekend, when two higher levels of government announced more than $3 million in grant funding toward the project. The federal and provincial governments have committed $1, 607,421 each to the project, with the City of Castlegar paying the remaining...

Teck Trail Operations has completed construction of the Groundwater Treatment Plant, a $46-million investment to address groundwater affected by the site’s historical activities. Commissioning of the plant is currently under way, and the plant is expected to be fully operational by summer 2017. “The Groundwater Treatment Plant...

This winter, over 3,000 elementary students throughout the Columbia Basin stepped out of their classrooms and into the magical world of Winter Wonder. In the Castlegar area, Winter Wonder educators Alyssa Belanger, Genna Lazier and Mary Searchfield took twenty Kindergarten to Grade 3 classes from Kinnaird Elementary, Fruitvale...

Scissors and Paste The academic supervisor for my post-grad thesis in history would not have approved of what I do in this edition of the Arc. He dismissed the method (with a curl of his lip) thus: “writing with scissors and paste, Charles.” I have looked over several pieces of writing recently, some of it my own, and I am ...

Avalanche Canada is asking the public to be extremely careful when venturing into the backcountry over the next few days as recent high elevation rain has created very dangerous avalanche conditions. "Very large natural avalanches are expected on Wednesday," said the Avalanche Canada website warning. "Now is an appropriate ...

In 2011, I travelled with my family down Yukon’s Hart River. It’s one of seven pure rivers in the Peel River watershed, a 68,000-square-kilometre wilderness that’s been at the centre of a legal dispute for many years and a land-use planning debate for more than a decade. For two weeks, we fished from the river’s vibrant green...

The March 19 edition of Joe Hill Coffee House features talent from near and far: ·         Johnny P. Johnson, with Javan on fiddle – Prairie roots, rising stars in the Kootenays, songs of life and experience ·         The Reluctant Dragon – highlights from the upcoming show by the Rossland Light Opera Players ·         Anna...

 A recent documentary film, " A New Economy," explores what might happen if working together for the common good were to become the most common business model. Can the world be saved?  Can co-operation save us? Or can global capitalism, with its dependence on the infinite exponential economic growth demanded by return on...

This past weekend the Globe and Mail reported that lobbyists in the province have been making political donations on behalf of their clients, effectively camouflaging the identity of the real donors and breaking B.C.'s Elections Act in the process. On Sunday, Elections B.C. announced it was conducting an investigation into ...