Day

B.C.’s mining industry heads into 2015 with slumping commodity prices, closures and layoffs at coal operations and efforts to continue recovery from B.C.’s worst mine-related structural failure. Imperial Metals applied last week to restart the Mount Polley copper-gold mine near Williams Lake, to produce about half the ore it did before its tailings dam abruptly failed in August 2014. The company’s Red Chris copper-gold mine in northwestern B.C. is up and running, but...

There’s a new look to an area on the main floor of the downtown public library, and many users will be relieved to see it. The new public washrooms at the library were officially opened Monday morning, but Mayor Lyn Hall was disappointed when he found out they were untying a ribbon to mark the event. “I had heard we were going to cut a strip of toilet paper,” he said. Chief librarian Janet Marren said the improvements had been a long time coming. “We hard many times...

A police training exercise turned out to be more than just training on Friday. At about 9 a.m. members of the North District Emergency Response Team and Prince George Police Dog Service teams converged on an abandoned building on Pickering Road off Highway 16, just east of the Yellowhead Bridge. Both teams were there as part of their on-going training. As the teams approached the building, officers noticed signs that the building had been broken into and that the culprits were likely still...

The 2015 Canada Winter Games opening ceremony is on track to kick-off the games in grand style, say organizers. The TSN/RDS nationally-broadcasted opening ceremony will take place at the CN Centre in Prince George on February 13, at 5 p.m. With an assembled cast of over 180 performers, the ceremony, , presented by the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, will highlight local talent and the pride of northern British Columbia. ‘‘Athletes from over 800 communities across Canada will...

In Provincial Court on Dec. 16: Dallas A. Durak was found guilty of theft of property with a value less than $5,000, sentenced to 32 days in jail, placed on probation for six months and assessed a victim surcharge of $100. Darrell H. Gagnon was found guilty of assault, sentenced to 52 days in jail, placed on probation for one year and assessed a victim surcharge of $100. Gagnon was also found guilty of failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking, sentenced to 45 days in jail,...

The new Giscome Elementary School and adjoining East Line activity centre were officially opened Friday. Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond met with the school’s 26 kindergarten to Grade 7 students and toured the classrooms to highlight the official opening, according to a government press release. “I am very proud to help officially open the new Giscome Elementary school,” said Bond. The fate of the Giscome school was questionable going back to 2009 when a Ministry of...

Crews with the City of Prince George worked overnight clearing windrows and salting as needed on routes throughout the city. Today, crews will focus on snow clearing in the yellow zone, per the Garbage Collection Map, and will be grading as necessary on Priority One and Priority Two routes downtown and in the Carter Light Industrial Area. Salting, sanding, and sidewalk operations will continue today. During the night shift, crews will be clearing windrows on Foothills Blvd.

There are lots things that make me scratch my head (no, not lice). This week has produced a number of items that make me go … hmmm? • • • Big news out of city hall this week with city manager Beth James quitting/retiring/getting laid off/getting fired or whatever they’re calling it these days. (Blew one of my 2015 predictions out of the water, but that’s another story.) However, why is it that when the city and the city manager part ways the city issues a press release, but when the media...

The love affair with George Clooney is over. No, not mine (I wish) but it seems with the rest of the world that idolized him. It was a short honeymoon. For the past three decades fans have swooned over Clooney with a passion not seen since the fainting-in-arms Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind. When the world’s most eligible bachelor happily took himself off the market last year, fans wished him well. His romantic, picturesque wedding in Venice was widely photographed...