BC is reporting 531 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death. Health officials say there are 4,861active cases in the province. 244 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, including 66 in intensive care. There are 51 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants of concern, for a total of 627 cases. BC Health Minister Adrian Dix says vast improvements have been made in the province's vaccine roll out since a rough start on Monday, which means they can now accelerate the pace. Health authorities first started booking appointments for people 90 years and older as well as for Indigenous people

Prince George councillors want a word with CN Rail after it upgraded a rail crossing in the city and surprised council with a 118,000 dollar bill. Councillor Cori Ramsay says the need for flashing lights, bells, gates and other security devices at the crossing is not in dispute, but she says some notice from the railway giant about the incoming bill would have been nice. Ramsay says council spends hours trying to trim its budget, and faces a "huge hit" just three months into the year as it takes more than 100,000 dollars from its contingency fund. Council's intergovernmental relations committ

Yukon Premier Sandy Silver says, with no new cases of COVID-19 in his territory for another week, his government is ready to revise some of the restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. Speaking at a news conference this morning, Silver says full-time, in-class learning will begin next month for Grades 10 to 12, while universities are expected to return to face-to-face learning by September. Decisions about increasing the number of social contacts are also expected this spring or summer, although exact details will depend on immunization levels that health officials hope will soo

Health officials say COVID-19 outbreaks remain stubbornly frequent in one northwestern British Columbia city and are prompting a new approach to vaccinations. Northern Health, the Ministry of Health and the Provincial Health Officer say the entire community of Prince Rupert and nearby Port Edward will be immunized over the next three weeks. The first clinics for roughly 12,000 Prince Rupert-area residents begin Monday and continue until April 1. Those eligible can dial a dedicated phone line and appointments will be assigned based on age, with vaccinations for the city's oldest residents star

BC health officials say it's been one year since the first person in the province has died as a result of COVID-19, and since then there's been almost 1,400 other deaths. A joint statement from Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is reporting 550 new cases today and another two deaths. There are almost 5,000 active cases and of those, 249 people are in hospital, 68 of them in intensive care. There's been another 182 new cases linked to variants of concern for a total of 576 cases, many of them connected to the strain first found in the United Kingdom. Mor

A 33 year old former nanny on Vancouver Island has been handed an eight year prison term. Nanny is going to serve this term for abusing elementary schoolchildren in his care. Jonathan Robichaud was sentenced yesterday in BC Supreme Court in Victoria after pleading guilty last year to several charges related to three children from two Central Saanich families. In addition to the prison term, Robichaud must register as a sexual offender and abide by numerous conditions for 25 years after release, including restrictions on internet use and to stay away from places where children gather. In passi

The Transportation Safety Board says rain on the windshield may have played a part in a fiery helicopter crash in northwestern BC last August that killed the pilot. It happened August 17th near a worksite northwest of Stewart as heavy rain swept over the area where the Aberdeen Helicopters pilot was moving a dismantled drilling rig from one site to another. The TSB says as the rain arrived, the pilot flew out of the work area and tests indicate the helicopter had no mechanical issues and was under full power when GPS co-ordinates show it hit the upper edge of a nearby mountain seconds later a

Police say an itsy-bitsy intruder inside a vehicle in Newton caused a bit of a scramble and led a woman to cry out for help. Surrey RCMP say they received calls from the public after they saw a woman in distress Saturday afternoon. They say the woman opened the door of her white Toyota RAV-4 while it was moving to try and shoo the spider out. Police say they tracked down the man and woman in the vehicle. They confirmed there was no criminal activity, and they hadn't intended to cause alarm.

British Columbians eligible to make a COVID-19 vaccination appointment are being urged to keep trying if they failed to get through Monday on phone lines overwhelmed by calls.The Health Ministry confirms just under 15,000 appointments were booked on the first day residents over the age of 90 or Indigenous elders over 65 could make appointments.Only Fraser Health offered an online option for booking appointments and 8,722 were made there, while the Interior and Vancouver Island health authorities each recorded just under 2,500 bookings and residents in the north made just over 1,000.The minist