If you’ve noticed a lot of gas stations out of fuel around Metro Vancouver you aren’t seeing things. Many stations in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Surrey, Langley, and even in the Interior have been blocked off by yellow caution tape or a sign letting people know there’s nothing available. The main reason is that the BP Cherry Point refinery in Washington state’s Whatcom County went offline last week for scheduled maintenance. And while supply and prices were down, demand was up for the B.C. Day long weekend. Experts think things should be back to normal by this weekend — if not, in a week’s time.
The BC Emergency Health Service responded to over 200 heat-related incidents last week, during this year’s record-breaking heatwave. It says it responded to 210 calls from patients needing help across the province from July 25 to August 1. The calls come as Metro Vancouver recorded six days in a row of temperatures over 27 C degrees, an all-time record for those days.
The defense lawyer for the Dutch man accused of harassing and extorting Port Coquitlam teenager Amanda Todd began his closing arguments. Defense told a B-C Supreme Court jury trial they should convict Aydin Coban only if they are satisfied of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt. This comes after the Crown wrapped up its closing arguments telling the court that all roads lead to Coban, even though evidence in the case is circumstantial. Coban has pleaded not guilty to extortion, harassment, communication with a young person to commit a sexual offence and possessing child pornography.
A Surrey high school teacher has been banned from his profession for 15 years after entering into — quote –“inappropriately intimate relationships” with three former students shortly after they graduated. Documents posted online say the teacher entered into the relationships between 2005 and 2008, when he was working for the Surrey school district. The summary says the man, who is not named, hasn’t taught in an elementary or secondary school since April of 2015, when he took a leave from his position in Surrey, and that he resigned from the district in December of 2020.
After being closed for more than two years, the South Surrey Indoor Pool will open next month. The pool – the last of the city’s five indoor and eight outdoor aquatic facilities to still be closed after all were shut down in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic – will reopen on Sept. 20.