After four avalanche fatalities in the past six days, the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC) is urging backcountry users to make cautious and conservative decisions while in avalanche terrain. “We’ve been dealt a pretty troublesome snowpack this season and our terrain choices need to reflect that fact,” explains Karl Klassen, ...

Fearing & White are heading to The Gem to perform on April 7th in support of their new album, Tea and Confidences. The album is currently streaming here.  Canadian singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing met Belfast troubadour Andy White backstage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 1998. Forming an instant friendship, the two...

Recently three prominent conservation organizations: Ducks Unlimited, Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and the Nature Trust of B.C. were highly critical of the B.C. Liberal Government’s agenda of increasing grazing leases from 10 years to 20-25 years. The criticism was directed at range tenures that included the lands ...

On Tuesday March 25 at 7:30 pm Spotlight Films will be showing “The Crash Reel” at the Gem Theatre. This film is done verite style, which combines improvisation and camera to unveil a truth or highlight subjects hidden behind crude reality, in this case the explosive issue of traumatic brain injury. This is a telling tale of...

With interest in the Selkirk College Rural Pre-Medicine Program high, the application deadline has been extended to provide more opportunities for those interested in getting a start on a career in medicine. Selkirk College launched the Rural Pre-Medicine Advanced Diploma and Associate Degree Program late last year. The three-year program has received significant interest, but […]

Police are indicating  there may be some connection between a series of armed robberies in the area, most recently, one this afternoon at the downtown Kootenay Savings branch.   "On March 11 at approximately 1:18 pm, the Castlegar RCMP Detachment received a complaint of a bank robbery alarm at the Kootenay Savings Credit Union...

Crimea Knock knock. Who’s there? Crimea. Crimea who? Crimea a river. Click. (phone is hung up.) Putin is knocking on Obama’s door… This was a Facebaook cartoon posted March 4. Clever joke. For me it says enough. Who told the USA it is the champion of global rights and the law of international politics? It seems to think that...

Horses are not raised according to the food safety protocols required of food animals. The wide array of highly toxic medications they are commonly administered convinces me that horsemeat poses an unacceptable risk to the health of those who consume it.  In the hopes of legislating severe restrictions on Canada’s horse...

Footloose the musical graced the stage of Grand Forks Secondary School on March 7th, 8th, and 9th. The main character of the play is a boy named Ren McCormack (played by Aaron Baker), whom I have known for a long time and had no idea he could sing so well. The nice thing about the play was the set. The set was simple and...

For those of you who follow the proceedings in the legislature you will very likely see the best and the worst of the process of government. It is a process steeped in tradition and is somewhat archaic and slow to respond to change. However, I believe that those who put their names on a ballot to represent the people in their...