A multi-vehicle crash in Surrey last night has left one person dead and others in hospital. According to Surrey RCMP, a driver was pronounced dead at the scene of a crash in Whalley on 108 Avenue near 140 Street around 7’oclock. Due to the severity of the collision, 108 Avenue has been shut down between 139 Street and 140 Street with traffic control personnel in place.
Stats Can says the annual rate of inflation hit 6.7 per cent in March, the fastest year-over-year increase since January 1991. The increase compared with gain of 5.7 per cent in February. Fueling much of the increase in March were higher prices at the pumps as gas prices rose 39.8 per cent compared with the same month one year earlier. Other things that contributed, the hot housing market, supply-chain constraints and the war in Ukraine that has affected prices for oil and food.
Teens and their parents in Mission are being warned to be careful after reports of a person demanding nude images over Snapchat. Mounties say over the last few weeks they’ve received several reports involving early-to mid teens getting accosted on the app. The reports include a third party who is unknown to the teens, who will begin chatting to them online and then demanding explicit photos. According to RCMP, the person is using a fake profile with the IP address showing overseas – and often makes threats of harm to the victims families as well as threats to forward these images to others. While the investigation is ongoing, Mounties are suggesting parents talk to their kids about the risks of engaging with strangers virtually and sending explicit images, and to avoid downloading the app.
More than two dozen co-workers in Richmond are thousands of dollars richer thanks to a Lotto Max draw. The B-C Lottery Corporation says the group of 26 people pooled their money for a ticket and ended up winning a 250-thousand-dollar prize on April Fools’ Day. It says the winners all have different plans for their prizes but did celebrate with a pizza lunch for their entire office.
The United Nations’ refugee agency has announced another grim milestone in the Russian war on Ukraine. It says more than five-million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russian troops invaded on February 24th. The war has spawned Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Countries taking in refugees are providing various forms of support, but need international help. The mayor of Warsaw says Poland’s capital is at capacity and can’t house more refugees.
A new report says as climate change boosts the risk of soaring summer temperatures in much of Canada, governments need to start considering extreme heat a natural disaster. Experts say Canada should be ringing the alarm bell about the risk of intense heat. Heat is not listed as a natural disaster on the federal government’s website, even though it has proven deadlier than most of the other threats listed. The heat wave that hit BC last summer killed nearly 600 people — most of them in a one-week span at the end of June.
The provincial government says it has found 70 permanent homes for people who lost their housing when fire destroyed the Winters Hotel in Vancouver last week. It says it has worked with the Atira Women’s Resource Society to open the homes in former Columbia Hotel that was recently purchased by the group. It says Atira will transfer services and building-management staff from the Winters Hotel to the renamed Tawow building, which gets operating funding from B-C Housing. The province says tenants began moving into the Tawow building yesterday and rents will not change as a result of the move.
The University of British Columbia says it will continue a mask mandate in indoor public places on its campuses until the end of June. The school said in an announcement today that masks remain an important measure to protect against COVID-19. The provincial government lifted its mask mandate for indoor public places in March. But U-B-C says its decision to keep its policy in place comes amid rising case numbers and an anticipated sixth wave of the pandemic due to the more transmissible Omicron BA.2 variant.
Advance voting begins on Friday in a Vancouver byelection where B-C Liberal leader Kevin Falcon is hoping to win a seat in the legislature. The byelection has been called to find a replacement for former Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson, who resigned after the N-D-P won a majority in the last provincial election. The riding on Vancouver’s west side has voted Liberal in every provincial election since 1991. Advance polls will also be open next Wednesday ahead of byelection day on Saturday, April 30th.
R-C-M-P say a Canada-wide warrant has been issued for a suspect in a shooting late last year in Surrey. Police say a man suffered non life-threatening injuries in what was believed to be a targeted shooting on December 30th. The Mounties say their investigation identified a suspect and the B-C Prosecution Service approved charges in the shooting last month. They say 28-year-old Tevain Lloyd is wanted on charges of aggravated assault and two weapon offenses. (The Canadian Press)
British Columbia is looking to other places to solve its nursing shortage. The province is starting with financial support to help internationally trained nurses get registered and licensed faster. B-C will provide a maximum of 16-thousand-dollars to about 15-hundred internationally educated nurses to pay for everything from application fees to English language testing and education upgrading.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will send heavy artillery to Ukraine. Trudeau says he’s been in close contact with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canada is very responsive to what Ukraine needs. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two eldest daughters and a dozen others are the targets of new sanctions announced by the federal government. The United States and European Union have targeted the sisters and other Putin family members, saying they believe the Russian leader has hidden assets with them.