Water Smart Ambassadors are now in 12 communities across the Basin, educating residents about water conservation and offering free residential landscape and irrigation system audits. The Columbia Basin Water Smart Initiative (Water Smart), developed by Columbia Basin Trust (CBT), helps local governments assess their water conservation needs and develops plans to reduce community water consumption. […]

Dear Editor;  Your story “Budget fails to make life more affordable for Canadian families: Atamanenko” is misleading. As Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), I would like to correct MP Atamanenko’s statements and set the record straight.   Our Government is committed to strengthening the Canadian economy and promoting economic development. Measures […]

The spider of ingenuity and necessity has spun a green web of information and resources in the West Kootenay in the pursuit of the sustainability bug, pulling together some of the disparate and far flung legs of the movement. Called the CB Green web directory (http://www.cbgreen.ca/), it is a listing of organizations and businesses in […]

B.C. small businesses have innovative ideas on how to conserve energy, but many do not have the time or money to make their ideas happen. The $550,000 LiveSmart Champion Program can help small business make their energy-efficient ideas a reality. Small business can submit their energy saving ideas to the Ministry of Energy and Mines […]

Thirty-six B.C. communities — including Kaslo, Cranbrook and Fernie — have agreed to adopt a new building regulation that promotes the use of alternative energy by requiring all new single family homes built in their community to be solar hot water ready. During construction, houses will be built to accommodate future installation of a renewable […]

This is debatable. One of the province’s major auto insurance companies has released its top 30 worst roads in the province and only one West Kootenay strip of pavement has made the cut. BCAA’s public polling of the province’s 20 worst roads has named the chunk of road from Balfour to Kaslo and over to […]

By Hephzibah Anderson, The Observer By now, most casually informed shoppers know that cheap  fashion is something none of us can afford. We’re aware that the nimble needlework of children has been found in high street shops, that seas have died satisfy our cotton addiction and that sweatshops are far from being a thing of […]

The US online advertising market is poised for rapid growth this year, with spending expected to exceed $31 billion, according to a new forecast by eMarketer. The firm estimates online advertising spending in the US will grow 20.2% to $31.3 billion in 2011, up from $26 billion in 2010, when the market grew 14.9%. “The […]

 This past Friday, RSS's class of 2011 celebrated in style. Strutting thei stuff as they drove, sea-do'd and quaded down Columbia in their finest....

The Canadian Press The B.C. government is expanding an anti-bullying program in schools across the province, targeting children in kindergarten and pre-school. Premier Christy Clark says the Roots of Empathy program is recognized internationally as a way to teach young kids core values like respect, kindness and empathy. “Children deserve to grow up without fear […]