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Students from Chemainus Secondary School were evacuated as a precaution Tuesday. (File photo by Don Bodger)

Chemainus Secondary evacuated as a precaution from fire call

Basement smell checked out but nothing found by fire crews

North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas was finally successful in his efforts to have council direct hime to write a letter to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure asking it to reconsider its decision not to make the Trans-Canada Highway the primary access point to Morgan Maples modular housing development in Chemainus. (Citizen file photo)

North Cowichan will try to intervene on issue of access to controversial development

Municipality will send letter to MoTI on having main access to Morgan Maples off TCH

North Cowichan’s council has directed staff to review its consent-agenda policy. (Citizen file photo)

North Cowichan will no longer redact names from correspondence to council

Council had been asked to review the policy

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This photo made available by NASA shows the planet Jupiter, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, on June 27, 2019. On Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, scientists said they have discovered 12 new moons around the gas giant, putting the total count at a record-breaking 92. That's more than any other planet in our solar system. (NASA, ESA, A. Simon/Goddard Space Flight Center, M.H. Wong/University of California, Berkeley via AP)
Jupiter’s moon count jumps to 92, most in solar system
(Black Press Media Creative)
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FILE - Spanish fashion designer Paco Rabanne poses with a model wearing a white dress with a metallic headpiece after presenting his 1992/93 fall-winter haute couture collection in Paris, France, on July 29, 1992. The Spanish-born pace-setting designer known for perfumes sold worldwide and his metallic, space-age fashions, has died, the group that owns his fashion house announced on its website Friday Feb.3, 2023. He was 88. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)
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Winter sunrise at Bare Point. (Photo by Ruth Hill)

January’s weather in the region all over the map

Five distinct phases in an ever-changing mid-winter landscape

Winter sunrise at Bare Point. (Photo by Ruth Hill)
North Cowichan considering moving forward with plan to transition to automated garbage pick up. (Citizen file photo)

North Cowichan considers moving forward with automated garbage pick up

Garbage fees could increase again in 2023, from $125 per year to $183, if plan approved

North Cowichan considering moving forward with plan to transition to automated garbage pick up. (Citizen file photo)
Cowichan Works has been fined $750 by Elections BC for breaking advertising rules during the municipal elections in October. (Citizen file photo)

Cowichan Works fined $750 by Elections BC for breaking advertising rules

Organization didn’t register as a third party during municipal elections in October

Cowichan Works has been fined $750 by Elections BC for breaking advertising rules during the municipal elections in October. (Citizen file photo)
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A man searches for people in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful quake has knocked down multiple buildings in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
VIDEO: Race to find survivors as quake aid pours into Turkey, Syria
B.C.’s Lt. Governor Janet Austin at the B.C. Legislature ahead of the annual Throne Speech on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (Wolfgang Depner/Black Press Media)
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Rescue dog Hope waits for departure at Cologne/Bonn Airport, in Cologne, Germany, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. To help the victims of the severe earthquakes in Turkey, rescue workers from ISAR Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia headed to the crisis areas. Rescuers in Turkey and war-ravaged Syria searched through the frigid night into Tuesday, hoping to pull more survivors from the rubble after an earthquake killed and injured thousands of people and toppled thousands of buildings across a wide region. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)
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The Uber app is seen on an iPhone near a driver’s vehicle after the company launched service in Vancouver, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. Uber Technologies Inc. says it is bringing its shared rides offering back to Canada with a new name. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
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Water flowing through the Clore River work area where Coastal GasLink contractors are digging a trench for a pipeline crossing. (Photo courtesy the Suzuki Foundation)

New fish habitat damage allegations levelled at northwest B.C. pipeline project

Coastal GasLink opponents say water overflowed a dam on Clore River due to inadequate safeguards

Water flowing through the Clore River work area where Coastal GasLink contractors are digging a trench for a pipeline crossing. (Photo courtesy the Suzuki Foundation)
Penticton resident Doreen Abbott ‘Nana’ failed to arrive at a friend’s house on the evening of Jan. 27 and has not been seen since. Her vehicle was found stuck in snow up Greyback Mountain Rd. on Jan. 28. (Facebook)

Penticton senior missing for 5 days; police call for dash-cam footage

Police are also asking to leave the search to the experts due to difficult terrain, cold weather

Penticton resident Doreen Abbott ‘Nana’ failed to arrive at a friend’s house on the evening of Jan. 27 and has not been seen since. Her vehicle was found stuck in snow up Greyback Mountain Rd. on Jan. 28. (Facebook)
An artist's depiction of the new Cowichan District Hospital. (Island Health)

Public welcomed to virtual info session on new Cowichan District Hospital

Zoom meeting to run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

An artist's depiction of the new Cowichan District Hospital. (Island Health)
A second engineer has lost their licence to practise over structural faults in a Langford apartment building formerly known as Danbrook One. (Black Press Media file photo)

Second engineer loses licence over troubled Vancouver Island apartment building

Theodore Sorensen had his registration with Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia cancelled

A second engineer has lost their licence to practise over structural faults in a Langford apartment building formerly known as Danbrook One. (Black Press Media file photo)
Municipality of North Cowichan.

Packed council agenda includes investment in 12 electric light-duty vehicles

North Cowichan making inroads on continuing to reduce emissions over time

  • Jan 29, 2023
Municipality of North Cowichan.
Bruce Coates, from the Cowichan Valley Naturalists’ Society, stands next to a large old-growth tree that is among at least five that were recently found by him and Larry Pynn in a remote area of North Cowichan’s municipal forest reserve. (Photo submitted)

Conservation activist hopes old growth giants in forest reserve can inspire vision for future

Pynn believes there are more

Bruce Coates, from the Cowichan Valley Naturalists’ Society, stands next to a large old-growth tree that is among at least five that were recently found by him and Larry Pynn in a remote area of North Cowichan’s municipal forest reserve. (Photo submitted)
Work continues along Coastal GasLink’s natural gas pipeline stretching from northeastern B.C. to the LNG Canada liquefied natural gas plant being built at Kitimat. (File photo)

$213K fine issued to Coastal GasLink pipeline for environmental breach in northwest B.C.

Fine is the third for the pipeline project that will move natural gas from Dawson Creek to Kitimat

Work continues along Coastal GasLink’s natural gas pipeline stretching from northeastern B.C. to the LNG Canada liquefied natural gas plant being built at Kitimat. (File photo)
Canfor is closing its Houston sawmill in April, calling the move temporary pending a decision to build a new one. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Canfor closing its Houston mill in April amid weak market; new facility under consideration

Closure being called ‘temporary’ pending decision by Canfor board

Canfor is closing its Houston sawmill in April, calling the move temporary pending a decision to build a new one. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Danielle Myles Wilson, the CAO of the CVRD, said she and district staff will help directors try to find ways to decrease the proposed tax increase for 2023. (Citizen file photo)

CVRD’s draft budget for 2023 calls for 12.19% tax increase

But directors say they will work to bring the number down

Danielle Myles Wilson, the CAO of the CVRD, said she and district staff will help directors try to find ways to decrease the proposed tax increase for 2023. (Citizen file photo)
North Cowichan’s senior environment specialist Dr. Dave Preikshot is looking for input from the public as the municipality develops a new biodiversity-protection policy. (Citizen file photo)

North Cowichan developing new biodiversity-protection policy

Municipality looking to public for input

  • Jan 22, 2023
North Cowichan’s senior environment specialist Dr. Dave Preikshot is looking for input from the public as the municipality develops a new biodiversity-protection policy. (Citizen file photo)
B.C. Premier David Eby at the Crofton mill announcement, backed by Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey. (Photo by Don Bodger)

Government, Paper Excellence investments putting 100 workers back to work in Crofton

Partnership between the province, feds and company the key to innovative approach

B.C. Premier David Eby at the Crofton mill announcement, backed by Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey. (Photo by Don Bodger)
Premier David Eby will be at the Catalyst Crofton mill Friday morning to make an announcement. (Photo by Don Bodger)

Premier Eby at Crofton mill Friday morning for an announcement

Details to come on promoting value-added innovation

Premier David Eby will be at the Catalyst Crofton mill Friday morning to make an announcement. (Photo by Don Bodger)
Jon Coleman (left) and other members of the Cowichan Tribes-owned Khowutzun Development Corporation set up a protest line at the site of the new Cowichan District Hospital on Bell McKinnon Road in December that stopped work for 11 days. (Robert Barron/Citizen)

Cowichan Tribes frustrated by lack of progress on hospital work dispute

Cowichan Tribes say First Nation companies are being treated unfairly

Jon Coleman (left) and other members of the Cowichan Tribes-owned Khowutzun Development Corporation set up a protest line at the site of the new Cowichan District Hospital on Bell McKinnon Road in December that stopped work for 11 days. (Robert Barron/Citizen)
Kate Segall, the CVRD’s director for Mill Bay/Malahat, said area directors’ salaries should reflect the Cowichan Valley’s living wage. (Citizen file photo)

Most CVRD electoral area directors want a pay raise

Claim current pay is well below living wage

Kate Segall, the CVRD’s director for Mill Bay/Malahat, said area directors’ salaries should reflect the Cowichan Valley’s living wage. (Citizen file photo)
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