The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) will lower its activation level from Level 2 to Level 1 as of this weekend and begin to focus on long-term recovery and assistance for Johnsons Landing residents and others affected by flooding, sloughs or landslides, the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) announced Thursday. While the RDCK will remain […]

Finally, some good news for a region beseiged by calamitous weather events – the province’s Disaster Financial Assistance Program has designated overland flooding from June 3 to 12 and June 22 to July 2 as “qualifying events”, meaning home owners and small business owners may qualify for between $1,000 and $300,000 in relief funding to […]

On July 25, Zellstoff Celgar Limited Partnership was sentenced in B.C. Provincial court for depositing acutely lethal effluent into the Columbia River, and for other offences under the Environmental Management Act. The sentencing is the result of a conviction on February 16, 2012, following an eight-day trial. Zellstoff Celgar Limited Partnership was fined a total of […]

The body of a third victim has been recovered from the site of the Johnsons Landing mudslide, the BC Coroners Service has confirmed. The body of Rachel Webber, 17, was recovered by searchers at about 6 p.m. on July 25, the first day of the resumption of recovery efforts. Webber was located near the front […]

Do you feel Canadians are being led down the proverbial garden path by our federal government? Do you wish there were some way you could have more influence on Ottawa's decisions? And what's all this about moving our riding boundaries? Rossland politicos, mark down July 31, 6 p.m., for a "food for thought" potluck with our ...

The quadrennial Spirit of Innovation Awards are on again and KAST—the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology, the award organizers—want nominations for individuals, organizations, and businesses whose hard work exemplifies West Kootenay innovation and entrepreneurship.“The innovation, intellectual capital, and...

The Regional District of Central Kootenay is lifting the state of emergency for the area surrounding the HB Mine Dam site near Salmo. “Right now the situtation has stabilized . . . we’ve been able to shore up the one side of the dam,” said Francis Mika of the RDCK Emergency Operations Centre. Maika said […]

The times they are a-changing and housing in the Lower Columbia region needs to meet new demands on several levels, Attainable Housing Committee (AHC) chairperson Janet Morton told Rossland's council on July 16. Last year the AHC—a committee of the LCCDT (Lower Columbia Community Development Team)—hired consultant Matt Thomson...

The School Works Program pilot, which began its successful run in February, is being offered again this fall to Basin-based businesses and organizations. School Works provides an $8/hour wage subsidy to encourage small businesses and non-profit, First Nation and public sector organizations in the Basin to provide part-time employment for full-time high school and post-secondary […]

The leadership of the First Nations Summit is concerned with the approach laid out yesterday by BC on heavy oil pipelines in British Columbia. “Yesterday’s announcement clearly shows the Provincial Government is on the wrong track and does not fully understand the level of opposition or the reasons for opposition to both the...