KelownaNow

More students in the Okanagan will soon have access to training for in-demand careers in health care. This is thanks to a $1.5-million investment from the Province of British Columbia to support the launch of new Medical Laboratory Technologist (MLT) and Medical Laboratory Assistant (MLA) programs at Okanagan College (OC).

A BC Supreme Court judge acquitted a 43-year-old man who was tried in Prince George on charges of sexual interference and sexual assault against his stepdaughter. In a July 8 verdict, Justice Shannon Ramsay decided the Crown did not prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, due to inconsistencies in testimony. The alleged offences took place between November 2016 and November 2020, when the complainant was between the ages of eight and 11-years-old.

Kelowna’s municipal election is coming up this October, and residents are invited to help design something voters will be proud to wear: the City’s next “I Voted” sticker. The City of Kelowna is calling on creatives of all ages — students, artists, doodlers and designers — to submit original sticker designs that will be handed out at voting locations during the 2026 municipal election.

Members of the community who are ages 55 and older are invited to join the YMCA’s free Choose to Move program at the H2O Adventure + Fitness Centre. The YMCA of Southern Interior BC has proudly served the Kelowna community for 45 years, while YMCAs across Canada celebrate 175 years of impact.

It’s looking like another gorgeous summer weekend in the Central Okanagan. The forecast for the Kelowna area is pretty simple over the next two days. You can expect plenty of blue skies and sunshine with highs around 30°C and overnight lows in the mid-teens. The forecaster also expects a bit of a breeze both days, which should provide a bit of relief from the heat. The one x-factor this weekend is wildfire smoke from the large fires burning in the Fraser Canyon.

At the nexus of nostalgia, vibe and good eats and drinks is an award-winning pub. That pub is Ellison Field Taphouse Kitchen & Bar at Kelowna International Airport -- this year's victor in the 'airport bar or pub of the year' category at the Airport Food & Beverage and Hospitality Awards in Bengaluru, India. As the accolade is international in nature, Ellison Field Taphouse beat out contending eateries from New Zealand, Edinburgh and the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain.

Allison Young is ready to leave the non-profit sector after a career spanning over two decades. The last half of that career was 10 years of service to the KGH Foundation, which included the past five years as CEO. Interior Health announced this morning that Young will be retiring from the non-profit sector and leaving her role as KGH Foundation CEO on Feb. 1, 2027.

Synchromesh Wines in Okanagan Falls makes not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, but eight different Rieslings. Such a devotion to the 'king of grapes' is a natural for the owners of Synchromesh. The Dickinson family -- Alan and Amy and Alan's parents, John and Kirsty -- so love the varietal that when they started to look for land to start a winery in 2009 the overriding stipulation was that it would grow only the highest quality Riesling.

(UPDATE: July 17 @ 3:40 pm) - For the first time in a week, the RCMP has provided further information on the subjects of a since-cancelled Amber Alert that began in Alberta and spread to British Columbia last week. Police are now officially searching for two missing children – six-year-old Lanakai Morrison and four-year-old Karl Morrison. Lanakai was the subject of the original Amber Alert, while Karl was said to be in the travelling party at first.

Like many who win a massive lottery jackpot, the numbers just didn’t make sense to Wing Wah C. at first. The Burnaby resident was checking his ticket from the July 4 BC/49 draw on his tablet when his confusion began. “The first thing that came to my mind was maybe the tablet was wrong,” he explained. “Usually I see $1 or $10, so to see $2 million was new!” Once he made sense of the seven-digit number and confirmed he wasn’t imagining things, he told his wife the life-changing news.