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VICTORIA – Candidates for municipal and school board elections will have to register with Elections BC and report donations of $50 or more when they run in province-wide elections this November. Legislation tabled by the B.C. government Wednesday will extend the term of office to four years as well as tightening rules for campaign financing and advertising. Third-party advertisers will also have to register before promoting candidates, and financial disclosures will have to be filed with...

  The season is over for the female midget Northern Cougars, and Mario Desjardins isn’t sure what happened. “As a coach, you’re scratching your head a bit,” he said after the Cougars lost their semi-final series two games to one to the Thompson-Okanagan Rockets on the weekend. “We had good practices coming in, but nothing really clicked all weekend.” The Cougars, who finished second in the the regular season and had a first-round bye in the playoffs, won the opener at Kin 1 Friday by a...

Nicole McCormick’s e-mail to the reporter on Saturday said it all: “Great news!! Both girls made it to the Provincials which will be held in Penticton in June. Abbie was selected to compete in Intermediate Modern [category] and Caitlin for Junior Stage. They and I and their teachers are thrilled!” The news follows a March 21 Free Press story on the McCormick dance family, which focused on Nicole’s own experience with dance and how a few years ago she opened her own dance studio, Dance Your...

Her art is very unusual and Jean Walker is not surprised that many people have never heard of moosehair tufting. She learned the technique long ago from her grandmother and other Metis Elders. It takes time and patience, she says, and each finished work is unique. On Tuesday, Walker was at CNC for their Celebrate Aboriginal Culture event at the Gathering Place. The three-day event brought together many First Nations artists and their work so that students could learn about traditional...

In Prince George Provincial Court on March 11: Michael J.W. Desjarlais was found guilty of driving while prohibited and failing to comply with a probation order, sentenced to 90 days in jail to be served on an intermittent basis, placed on probation until the expiration of the jail sentence, assessed a victim surcharge of $200 and prohibited from driving for five year. Desjarlais was also found guilty of two counts of uttering threats, sentenced to one day in jail, placed on probation for...

Georgio’s Barber Shop has been an anchor tenant at Days Inn downtown since August 1964 but with the landmark hotel now sold to new owners, barber George Blanis feels lost at sea. Within weeks, the Days Inn on Quebec Street will become a Holiday Inn Express and Blanis, 77, will have to find a new place to set up shop, he says. Still, he will miss the little barber shop that has become like a second home to him since he immigrated here from Greece almost half a century ago. Last...

Bruce Gabriel is sure of one thing as he sits in the office of the new location for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 42. “This is the first and last time we’ll be doing this,” says the branch president. The Legion had been located on Seventh Avenue for years (past-president John Scott thinks it opened there in 1962), but is now close to opening at 1116 Sixth Ave. “There’s lots happening,” Gabriel says. “We’ve got people working on electrical...

The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George board gave third reading to a land use bylaw that would regulate the location of certified medical marijuana production facilities to an industrial zone and large parcel agricultural areas. In January, the board voted to amend the draft bylaw to increase the permitted parcel size for agricultural areas from 16 ha or larger to 259 ha (640 acres) or larger. A public hearing was conducted on the amended bylaw and after consideration the board gave...

VICTORIA – Legislature Speaker Linda Reid has paid back the $5,528 cost of her husband’s flight to a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in South Africa. Reid said Tuesday there is a long-standing practice of spouses accompanying B.C. officials on such trips, but the B.C. legislature’s internal financial standards are evolving in light of public expectations. “I traveled in my capacity as speaker,” Reid told reporters Tuesday after being questioned...