Good morning and welcome to your edition of Sunrise. |
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Forecasters issue 'bomb cyclone' warning
Environment Canada is warning that a “bomb cyclone” is expected to bring powerful winds to most of Vancouver Island and the B.C. coast, with hurricane-force gusts of 120 km/h predicted for some areas this week.
Context: The weather agency has issued more than a dozen warnings for coastal areas, saying the peak wind speeds are expected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
• Areas expected to be hit hardest include northern Vancouver Island and the north and central coasts, but gusts of up to 100 km/h are also forecast for heavily populated centres including Victoria and the Sunshine Coast.
You should know: The warnings stretch from Prince Rupert in the north to the southern tip of Vancouver Island, while Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley are the subject of a special weather statement.
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Kim Bolan: Heavily fortified Surrey home linked to Mexican cartel was searched in previous RCMP probe
A luxurious Surrey house that police say is linked to a Mexican cartel had been identified in another major drug trafficking investigation dating back a decade, Postmedia has learned.
The owner of the house, James Sclater, is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the B.C. government that argues the property, as well as a second Surrey house he owns, should be forfeited as the proceeds of crime.
Last week, the RCMP’s federal and serious organized crime unit announced it had disrupted drug traffickers linked to the notorious Sinaloa cartel from setting up shop in B.C.
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• Two people were killed in a fiery rollover crash on northbound Highway 99 in Surrey early Monday morning around 3:30 a.m., between 16 and 32 Avenues. Surrey RCMP is working to identify the victims, while the highway was closed for investigation and drivers were rerouted.
• Prince Harry visited Vancouver to promote the upcoming Invictus Games, participating in activities with students at Seaforth Armoury on Monday. The Duke of Sussex helped launch a school program about the games' history and purpose, encouraging students to spread awareness of the February event, which will include winter sports for the first time.
• Doctors in Nanaimo and Victoria set up "pop-up" overdose prevention sites outside hospitals on Monday after Vancouver Island Health Authority shut down their initial efforts on hospital grounds, citing frustration with the lack of promised government support. The volunteers, led by Dr. Jess Wilder and Dr. Ryan Herriot, aim to address the overdose crisis by providing harm reduction services, despite facing police intervention and political resistance.
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(The Good Mutt Photography) |
“I was stunned. Receiving this level of recognition is something I never could have dreamed of when I first started pursuing this passion.” |
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Vaughn Palmer: Hit the ground running? No, the B.C. NDP is stumbling out of the starting gate
VICTORIA — Premier David Eby appointed a new cabinet Monday with priorities much the same as the priorities of the government that almost lost the election.
“The top priorities will be bringing down costs for families, strengthening health care, making communities safer, and growing the economy so everyone feels the benefits,” said Eby in a news release.
When Eby took office as premier two years ago, his priorities were addressing the cost of living, housing affordability, access to health care, public safety and a sustainable economy.
He also promised to deliver “results that people can see and feel and touch and experience” before the next election.
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Metro Vancouver eyes standardized six-storey wood apartments
A Metro Vancouver report on rental housing proposes to build six-storey apartment buildings out of wood to expedite construction.
Why it matters: Concrete buildings typically cost 20 to 24 per cent more to build than wooden ones. So the report, Streamlining the Delivery of Rental Housing Through Pre-Approved Plans and Off-Site Construction, which will probably go to Metro in January, calls for low-rise wood frame buildings.
• The idea is to draft regulations for these buildings that essentially pre-approve them, cutting out the need for time-consuming rezoning applications, and to also allow for some prefabrication of the buildings in factories.
What they're saying: “Time is a really substantial component of (building) cost, whether or not you’ve got land carrying costs during that entirety of that time,” said Michael Epp, director of housing, planning and development at Metro Vancouver. “You’re paying your professional consultants, you’ve got insurance costs, you’ve got (construction) escalation (costs). So the shorter you can make that time, the more you’re saving. On some projects, this could be hundreds of thousands of dollars a month that can be saved when you’re shaving time off.”
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THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD |
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