Statistics Canada says the economy added 90-thousand jobs in August in the third consecutive monthly rise.The unemployment rate fell to 7.1 per cent for the month, compared with 7.5 per cent in July, bringing the rate to the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic last year.The agency says overall employment is within 156-thousand jobs, or 0.8 per cent, of the level recorded in February 2020 before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

B.C. is reporting 774 new cases of COVID-19, including three epi-linked cases, for a total of 172,338 cases in the province.There are 5,594 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 164,470 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 262 individuals are in hospital and 130 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. In the past 24 hours, five new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 1,847.The new deaths include:Fraser Health: threeNorthern Health: oneIsland Health: oneThere have been no new health-care facility outb

A pair of unseeded teenagers will take the stage in the U.S. Open women's semifinals: 18-year-old Emma Raducanu of Britain and 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez of Canada. The 73rd-ranked Fernandez takes on No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the first semifinal Thursday night. Play in that match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in Arthur Ashe Stadium. That will be followed by the 150th ranked Raducanu against No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece. Raducanu is the first female qualifier to get to the final four at the U.S. Open in the professional era, which began in 1968. None of the four women remaining

In September 2018 the New Westminster Police Department received a report of suspected fraud connected to a New Westminster medical office. The victim claimed that cash was missing from the medical office, and that suspicious large withdrawals were appearing in the bank account connected to the business. The NWPD Major Crime Unit launched an investigation into the missing money and soon took conduct over another investigation involving large withdrawals from another medical office located in Vancouver. In total it is believed approximately $130,000.00 was stolen through both medical offices. A

The British Columbia government is asking residents to provide input on proposed anti-racism legislation as members of marginalized communities say the collection of data will help groups flourish. Rachna Singh, the parliamentary secretary for anti-racism initiatives, says the public feedback will help better identify systemic racism in existing government programs. B.C. residents can share their thoughts through an online government portal until Nov. 30. Singh says systemic racism has led to a mistrust in government programs by marginalized groups. Dr. June Francis, an assistant professor at

The province has released details of its plan to trap and kill dozens of coyotes in Stanley Park over the next two weeks, and the Forest Ministry confirms the cull is underway. It says one coyote was euthanized on Tuesday night and modified foothold traps which minimize the chance of any pain are being used to capture and hold the animals until a provincial wildlife officer arrives to deal with them. The ministry says relocation is not an option, the coyotes are food-conditioned and aggressive, and the stomach contents of each animal will be examined to determine its diet, while all the coyot

Victoria police say they arrested a man last week who they believe has connections to Lower Mainland organized crime groups, and has been the subject of a drug-trafficking investigation since late July. Police say they stopped a vehicle in the 4700 block of Sooke Road, arrested the man and seized cash, drugs and the car. Police say they seized nearly 350 grams of cocaine, more than 260 grams of methamphetamine, nearly 100 grams of fentanyl and nearly 22,000 dollars in cash. They say the street value of these drugs is estimated to be more than 60,000 dollars. Victoria police on Twitter: VicPD'

The wildfire situation is continually evolving, and the information below is current as of 7 p.m. (Pacific time) on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021.Fires:Wildfires burning in B.C.: 209Since April 1, 2021:1,584 wildfires868,604 hectares of area burnedActive fires by fire centre:Cariboo: 25Coastal: 13Kamloops: 59Northwest: 5Prince George: 52Southeast: 55Resources:*Updated weekly and current as of Sept. 2Firefighters and other personnel fighting the fires: 2,522Out-of-province firefighters: 434Helicopters and planes supporting ground crews: 63Evacuations:Evacuation orders: 4 (-1)Evacuation alerts: 14 (-

A new report says costs for a COVID-19 patient treated in intensive care can climb to an estimated $50,000 compared with about $8,400 dollars for someone who's had a heart attack. The Canadian Institute for Health Information report says the cost for a pneumonia patient being in ICU is about eight-thousand dollars.But it says COVID patients remain there for much longer and, on average, their treatment amounts to about $23,000.The report covers data from between January 2020 and March 2021.It says COVID-19 cost Canada's health-care system a billion dollars during that time, but it excludes cost