British Columbia is delaying the full return to classrooms in January to allow public health officials to assess the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and give school staff time to implement enhanced safety measures. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside says staff and students whose parents are health workers, as well as those who need extra support, will return to schools Jan. 3 or 4. All other students will return to classrooms Jan. 10. Whiteside says enhanced safety measures will include the cancellation of extracurricular sports and plans to control crowding at schools, such as thro

The world junior men's hockey championship in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., was cancelled Wednesday in the face of lost games due to COVID-19. A third game forfeited in two days left the International Ice Hockey Federation, Hockey Canada and organizing committee with few options to continue a tournament with competitive integrity, and they opted to call off the 11-day, 10-country tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta. After two days of games, players testing positive for COVID-19 had put defending champion United States, Russia and Czechia into mandatory quarantines by Wednesday. Canada w

Mounties are on the scene of a train derailment in southern Alberta. They say the Canadian Pacific Rail train had an engine derail at 9:30 am and some empty fuel cars tipped over near Barons north of Lethbridge. Some diesel is spilling out. No injuries have been reported. Crews are clearing the scene of a train derailment near a small village in Saskatchewan. Canadian Pacific Railway says in a statement that a freight train carrying potash went off the tracks last night near Craven, which is about 38 kilometres northwest of Regina. The company says there were no injuries or public safety conc

Canada's two most-populous provinces are again smashing daily COVID-19 records. Ontario has surpassed its previous one-day record set Christmas Day with 10,436 new COVID-19 cases. Quebec is reporting more than 13,000 new infections. As cases threaten to overwhelm Quebec's health-care system, unions say a plan to permit some asymptomatic staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 to stay on the job is too risky. Meanwhile, Nunavut's premier says a ban on indoor gatherings is being extended to January 17th as a result of the rising case counts of the Omicron variant. The territory now has 74 C

The Kelowna RCMP Drugs and Organized Crime Section have arrested two men for selling drugs to teens.Over the past year, the Kelowna RCMP has received numerous complaints about a male suspect selling psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD and cannabis to teens in Kelowna. Through investigation, the police identified two male suspects who were selling the substances throughout Kelowna. The teens would contact the suspects through text message and receive a menu for the illegal substances. They would then arrange to meet with the suspects at various locations.On December 9, 2021, the Kelowna RCMP Drug

The British Columbia Teachers Federation wants the province to delay the start of the winter term in public schools across B.C. as cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 mount. Several social media messages posted by the BCTF and retweeted by union president Teri Mooring say provincial and district officials ``need to do much more'' if they intend to keep schools open in January. The messages list eight expectations to safely reopen schools. Recommendations include: free N-95 masks and rapid tests in all schools; staggered class, recess and lunch times; and, ramped up testing and vaccinatio

British Columbia health officials are scheduled to release an update today on COVID-19 cases, vaccinations, hospitalizations and deaths in the province. The health ministry reported 1,785 new cases of the virus in B.C. on Tuesday. It said in a news release that the numbers are ``preliminary'' and Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry will release an update at 3 p.m. Experts warn case numbers are likely to be much higher than reported because testing centres are overwhelmed and some patients might have decided not to get tested over the holidays. Henry sa

There will be no respite from frigid temperatures until the end of the week for most of Western Canada as arctic wind chills blanket the area, sending temperatures plummeting. Environment Canada says most of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, along with parts of Manitoba and Ontario, are still under extreme cold warnings with wind chills plunging down to -50 C in some areas. Environment Canada says the frigid arctic air mass enveloping southern parts of Saskatchewan won't let up until the end of the week. The weather agency says most of Alberta will see extreme cold conditions with

B.C. is reporting 1,785 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 243,731 cases in the province.Note: Case counts provided on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021, are preliminary.The new cases include:791 new cases in Fraser Health400 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health269 new cases in Interior Health42 new cases in Northern Health283 new cases in Island HealthThe Ministry of Health will return to regular reporting of COVID-19 cases, vaccinations, hospitalizations and deaths, and cases and hospitalizations by vaccination status on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021.