The West Kootenay region experienced record-breaking high temperatures in spring and summer 2015. By early July, wild fires burned at Nelson’s doorstep, and the city was on Stage 4 water restrictions for two months. Outside Nelson, rural residents, dependent on surface water, continued to see lower water levels in the streams they rely on for […]

Camera buffs have a few weeks to collect those award winning photos for entry into the West Kootenay Camera Club Photo contest. Deadline for entries is (Saturday) April 23 at 4 p.m. Entries can be submitted to:  Kel Print in Castlegar, Doell Photography in Trail, or Vogue Photography in Nelson.  Photographer Jim Lawrence of...

A trio of regional science enthusiasts are ready to travel to Quebec to represent the region following a successful showing at the West Kootenay Boundary Science Fair Saturday at L.V. Rogers high school in Nelson. Joining Dylan Peil of LVR, who now has qualified three times to attend the Canada-wide Science Fair, are the...

The board of directors of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) has directed staff to close the Reuse Centres at RDKB landfills. The Reuse Centres which have been in place at McKelvey Creek (Trail), Grand Forks and West Boundary (Greenwood) landfills will shut down on April 9th .   “When we introduced the Reuse ...

There was plenty of precipitation, but not much accumulation of snow at the higher elevations said Ron Lakeman, Weather Forecaster for the Southeast Fire Centre in his monthly weather release. "As is typical of a late winter-spring El Nino, March of 2016 was mild and very wet,'' Lakeman said. "The mean monthly temperature was...

Following a successful pilot program in 2015, Premier Christy Clark announced Wednesday a $2 million boost to the province’s invasive mussel defence program that will see eight permanent mussel inspection stations installed at major entry points along B.C.’s borders. “B.C. is leading the fight against invasive species,” said...

 Seven Summits Centre for Learning  Will Take a New Form Rossland's innovative approach to maintaining K-12 education in Rossland is about to shift into a new phase, with a new form -- but what that form will be is not yet decided.  The new form is necessary because the provincial government has decided that it can no longer...

Editor's Note:  It's that time again.  If one hasn't already filed an income tax return, maybe the information below from the Canada Revenue Agency  will be helpful.  Or not.  Some of us dinosaurs prefer filing returns on actual paper -- which came in handy that year when large numbers of e-files were hacked.  But we're pretty...

Time is running out for local writers wishing feedback on their writing from well-known authors Sharon Butala and J. Edward Chamberlin, who will be participating in the 3rd Convergence Writers’ Weekend in Silverton, B.C., May 13-14. Participants wishing to participate in writing workshops with Butala and Chamberlin during the...

By David Suzuki More Affordable + More Jobs In the midst of controversy over B.C.’s Peace River Site C dam project, the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association released a study showing the province could get the same amount of energy more affordably from geothermal sources for about half the construction costs. Unlike Site C,...