It’s all anyone can talk about and rightfully so. Gas prices broke more records this weekend in Metro Vancouver. We are at just under $2.34 a litre. A lot of British Columbians are directing their frustrations at our Premier. In response to the soaring prices, John Horgan is encouraging British Columbians to find alternatives in an effort to offset costs. However, the premier’s comment urging drivers “to think before you hop in the car, do you need to drive?” has received a variety of responses, many of which disagree with his approach. In a tweet Saturday, Mayor of Port Coquitlam Brad West accused the B.C. government of wanting high gas prices in an effort to stop people from driving. Horgan also encouraged British Columbians to work together as a way of reducing fuel costs. Saying quote…“If you’re going to the grocery store and you know that you’ve got a neighbour that needs something, ask if you can pick it up for them.
Police in Vancouver say two teens were arrested over the weekend after they allegedly used bear spray on a father and son and made racist remarks. They say the pair was walking home from a Vancouver Whitecaps game when they were confronted by a group of teens near a SkyTrain station police arrested two of the teens nearby and they believe the suspects and the victims knew each other. Police say the 13- and 17-year-old have since been released.
An anti-bullying convoy rolled into Cloverdale yesterday in support of a 15-year-old girl who was attacked outside of Hillcrest Elementary last week. The event was organized by the Whiskey Wizards, an online men’s mental health group who wanted to raise awareness of anti-bullying initiatives. Recently, a GoFundMe page was set up in support of the victim. The incident happened May 7, around 9:30 p.m. near Hillcrest Elementary School in Cloverdale and was recorded by someone in attendance. The victim can be seen in the video and is heard crying throughout . The group throws the victim’s shoe, as the teen tries to back away from the attackers. As they advance, they continue to call the victim names. Mounties say one youth was arrested however no charges were laid and the teen has since been released.
BC is set to launch a new one-stop system of services for children with issues like A-D-H-D, autism and Down syndrome, but some parents are concerned about how their kids will get help without a referral, assessment or diagnosis. The province also says there won’t be any waits, another thing parents are questioning because of the lack of health workers that would staff about 40 of the so-called hubs. The province says the first four hubs will open in northwestern B-C and the Okanagan next year, and the rest will follow by 2024, when parents of autistic kids will no longer get funding of up to 22-thousand dollars per child until age six.
The killing of 10 people in a Buffalo grocery store was the deadliest in a wave of fatal weekend shootings across the U-S, including at a California church and a Texas flea market. The 18-year-old white gunman accused in the Buffalo shootings made threats that brought police to his high school last spring, but he was never charged and had no further contact with police. The F-B-I is still working to confirm the authenticity of a racist 180-page document, reportedly written by the shooter that said the assault was intended to terrorize all non-white, non-Christian people and get them to leave the country.
Kremlin’s war on Ukraine continues to be a bloody affair. A Ukrainian military commander says Russian strikes overnight hit a local hospital, killing two and injuring nine, including a child. The regional military governor also noted Ukrainian special forces blew up Russian-held railway bridges that connected two highly sought-after towns….Russian forces have been trying for weeks to seize one of the towns — seen as a key site in the Donbas outside the territory that separatists held for the past several years.
A powerful symbol of the thawing of Cold War tensions is about to close up shop in Russia. McDonald’s is preparing to sell its Russian business, which includes 850 restaurants and employs 62-thousand people, due in large part to the Kremlin’s brutal war of aggression on Ukraine.
Canada’s transport minister says the federal government is doing what it can to fix the problems at major airports caused by staff shortfalls. Travellers have been complaining about long lineups and delayed flights because of a lack of staff. Last week, Omar Alghabra suggested the delays are happening because Canadians are out of practice after two years of COVID-19 has kept them home.
Vancouver Island R-C-M-P say the Integrated Major Crime Unit is investigating a homicide in Sooke. The Mounties say the body of a man was discovered at a residence in the community yesterday afternoon following an altercation. They say the parties involved knew each other and a person of interest was arrested at the scene. But police say that due to certain factors that can’t be disclosed at this time, the person has been released pending further Investigation.
Tesla C-E-O Elon Musk is giving the strongest hint yet he’d like to pay less for Twitter than his 44-billion-dollar offer made last month. Musk told a Miami technology conference that a viable deal at a lower price would not be out of the question. He also says an estimated 20 per cent of Twitter’s 229 million accounts are spam bots.
Vancouver police are investigating a fatal four-car collision that shut down a major street for several hours this morning. Police say it occurred when a Toyota Corolla believed to be speeding on Granville Street crossed into oncoming traffic and side-swiped a taxi carrying a fare. They say the Corolla then struck a Porsche and went airborne over a truck before landing on top of a Hyundai Elantra and coming to rest back on the pavement. The driver of the Corolla died at scene and the drivers of the two other cars were taken to hospital with injuries but no one in the taxi was hurt.
The B-C S-P-C-A says it rescued 60 animals on the weekend from an abandoned property in Surrey. The agency’s Eileen Drever says the animals include one ewe and 59 domestic shorthair cats ranging in age from a few days old to about seven years. Drever says they were found in “extremely unsanitary” conditions and many of the cats are suffering from medical issues as well as being emaciated and dehydrated while the ewe was also injured. All the cats have been assessed at S-P-C-A facilities in Surrey and Chilliwack and will continue to receive care until they can be put up for adoption.