An apology after commuters faced traffic chaos on the Port Mann bridge this morning.

Drivers faced long delays after crews blocked off a westbound lane until quarter after six.

Project spokesperson Greg Johnson says crews paving overnight had to keep the lane closed when they encountered difficulty replacing a concrete safety barrier.

"Opening the lane to traffic without that safety barrier would have been a safety issue, so we're apologizing for the inconvenience we caused the commuters."

Johnson says as work on the bridge continues until December's official opening, drivers can expect more closures.

A 65-year-old Ladysmith man facing child porn charges has been sentenced to an eighteen month conditional sentence after pleading guilty to a lesser offense.

Bruce Alexander Rogers plead guilty October 11th to making or publishing obscene matter.

His sentence also includes three years probation and a one hundred dollar victim surcharge. 

He was arrested last December following what Nanaimo RCMP called the largest child porn investigation they've ever handled, which turned up massive amounts of evidence. 

A Surrey-based businessman is taking a website to court for publishing what he says is defamatory material.

Robin Lee Dickson is suing TheDirty.com for posting what he says is false information about him.

He says the material was calculated to expose him to ridicule and hatred, and has damaged his reputation.

In the notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Dickson claims the site invites users to submit offensive and defamatory content about normal, everyday people.

Dickson wants the court to order TheDirty.com to stop publishing content relating to him, and wants damages.

TheDirty.com founder Hooman Abedi Karamian and the site's internet provider and web host are also named in the lawsuit.

With Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" playing, a victorious Barack Obama took the stage at his headquarters in Chicago early Wednesday morning, shortly after being re-elected to the White House for four more years.

"And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you, and you've made me a better president.  And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do, and the future that lies ahead."

Obama says he and challenger Mitt Romney battled fiercely...because they love the country deeply.

"From George, to Lenore, to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service, and that is a legacy that we honour and applaud tonight."

Obama added he looks forward to sitting down with Romney in the weeks ahead to talk about where they can work together to move the United States forward.

Obama took the key battleground state of Ohio, which put him over the threshold of 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Among the other states he won, are Iowa, Virginia, Colorado, and New Hampshire.

Mitt Romney gave a short but gracious speech after his defeat.

In addition to thanking running mate, Paul Ryan, and his family,  Romney thanked his team across the country.

"Thanks for all the hours of work, for the calls, for the speeches and appearances, for the resources and for the prayers, you gave deeply from yourselves and performed magnificently, and you inspired us and you humbled us.  You've been the very best we could have imagined."

He said the nation is at a critical point -- and said leaders have to "reach across the aisle to do the peoples' work".

Meanwhile, Democrats keep control of the Senate, and Republicans control in the House of Representatives.

Congress is therefore, still divided, which could mean continuing problems for Obama in trying to enact certain legislation.

With Florida not yet declared, Obama has 303 electoral college votes.

Romney has 206.

A University of Victoria professor says Obama's re-election could have implications for BC.

Dr. Janni Aragon is an expert on American politics.

"I do think with a strong American economy, it'll be benefit B.C. Can Obama do that in two years, in four years? We'll just have to wait and see."

Aragon adds Obama's election could signal leftward momentum throughout North America which could impact May's provincial election.

A Democrat party club met at Ceili's Pub on Granville to watch the US election, and were happy with the result.

When word came through that Obama had won the election, members of the Vancouver chapter of Democrats Abroad could hardly contain themselves.

"It was crazy in here...people applauding and crying wildly...I was expecting dancing in the streets when I came out into Granville Street here...there was cheering and people waving flags and jumping up and down. It was great."

While members of the club all seemed optimistic this would be the result, some say they were surprised the result came through so early in the night.

Prime Minster Stephen Harper has offered his congratulations to Obama.

He says Canada and the United States enjoy one of the closest and most extensive relationships in the world.

Harper points out that over the last four years, he and Obama worked on several important bilateral initiatives to generate jobs and growth in both countries.

That includes the Beyond the Border Action Plan, which will speed up trade and travel across our borders while also enhancing security.

Harper says he looks forward to working with the Obama administration and other partners to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, which seeks to boost trade in the Asia-Pacific region.

Voters in Maine and Maryland have voted in favour of approving same-sex marriage.

Those in Washington State and Colorado have voted in favour of legalzing the recreational use of marijuana.

 (photo courtesy of Kevin MacDonald)

No injuries are reported after a huge barn fire in rural Abbotsford early this morning.

The 80 foot by 50 foot barn near Ross Road and 58th Avenue burst into flames about 1:30am.

A woman living in a trailer next to the barn woke up to what she thought was a windstorm and looked out to see the inferno.

She says "of course I left right away.  Grabbed my keys, grabbed the vehicle and go.  And what did you see when you left?  Sparks, lots of sparks and fire."

At one point, her trailer was surrounded by flames, but firefighters were able to save it.

The cause of the fire isn't known, but some thought is being given to an electrical fault.

A prominent Vancouver City Councillor says his main concern about BC's new watchdog for municipal governments was who's paying her salary.

Now that's been settled, so Raymond Louie says he's confident Basia Ruta won't find anything wrong with how this city is run, "City of Vancouver, I know, is well run and we just were confirmed by our credit rating agencies. Our information is clear and transparent. This just is an example of how Vancouver is well run, but let's see what the auditor comes up with."

Meanwhile, NPA Councillor George Affleck says he's hoping the new Auditor-General will force the Vision Vancouver dominated Council to be more transparent.

Vancouver's Mayor was grilled at a West End town hall meeting.

On Kinder Morgan's pipeline plans, Gregor Robertson says the city is looking at a new bylaw he calls a game changer.

Robertson says the proposed bylaw would require oil carriers to have massive liability insurance in case of a spill.

The crowd also pressed the Mayor on affordability in housing.
 
Robertson says the city is doing the best it can but is looking for help from the feds.

The crowd also got a little feisty about the closing of Robson Street by the art gallery. They want it reopened, especially for transit.

Former Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is staying mum over rumours of a possible BC Liberal nomination bid in Vancouver-False Creek.
 
Sullivan did drop a hint something will be announced soon, "Oh, I am really focused on the public salons and I am just working hard and I will be putting my mind to other things tomorrow and especially on Friday. I think I might have a good idea on Friday."

Lorne Mayencourt is also rumoured to be interested in the nomination.
 
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson wishes Sullivan well, "I wish him the best. You know, anyone that jumps into politics, particularly for a second round you know, deserves credit."

If successful, Sullivan could face Constance Barnes in the spring election, "I have known Sam Sullivan for years and I do have great respect for Sam Sullivan."

Barnes also has to win the NDP nomination. She is facing Matt Toner. A prominent Vancouver City Councillor says his main concern about BC's new watchdog for municipal governments was who's paying her salary.

Now that's been settled, so Raymond Louie says he's confident Basia Ruta won't find anything wrong with how this city is run, "City of Vancouver, I know, is well run and we just were confirmed by our credit rating agencies. Our information is clear and transparent. This just is an example of how Vancouver is well run, but let's see what the auditor comes up with."

Meanwhile, NPA Councillor George Affleck says he's hoping the new Auditor-General will force the Vision Vancouver dominated Council to be more transparent.

Abbotsford Fire-Rescue was called just after 7 pm Wednesday for a fire involving an R-V at Myrtle and Lefevre.
 
Staff Sergeant Amar Kingra: "We responded to a report of a motor home on fire at the 27 thousand block of Myrtle Avenue. The motor home is completely destroyed. Upon arrival, after talking to family members, it appears there was some sort of assault between two brothers. One may have started the fire. His injuries don't appear to be life threatening."

The suspect fled in a vehicle and was later found by police.

Investigations by both police and fire are now underway.

Vancouver City Council is pondering a new bylaw that could be a "game changer" when it comes to oil pipelines running to and through the city.
 
Mayor Gregor Robertson says the bylaw, if passed, would require oil carriers to have massive liability insurance in case of a spill, "Well, the maximum that is provided for under Canadian law is 1.2 billion. But you know, we have seen 10's of billions of dollars of impact in the Gulf Coast. If a spill happened here in Vancouver and impacted Stanley Park, the costs are massive and we want to be sure the industry was totally responsible for that; and that would be many of billions of dollars of a worst case scenario."

Robertson says it is a "gap in the system" that all the potential costs of a big oil spill wouldn't be covered by current liability insurance rates.
 
Robertson also says Kinder Morgan is robbing the city of a voice by holding hearings into the twinning of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline in Calgary.

A Vision Vancouver town hall in the West End was mostly a friendly affair but not when it came to closing off a section of Robson Street for the one block by the Vancouver Art gallery.

A shouting match erupted over the issue with Mayor Gregor Robertson admitting it is an issue.

"It is a clear example of where you change something and actually the whole system doesn't work for some people maybe it works better for others."

NPA councilor George Affleck says summer closures can lead to a fun environment but right now nothing is going on in the space and keeping it closed doesn’t make much sense.

And Affleck says by keeping Robson shut down for the block it could be the city’s taxpayers could be on the hook for the costs of rerouting transit.

"If we looked at the costs of diverting the buses in and around to get through there, the trolley wires, all those things from a turning point of view it would be a god question to ask Translink those costs but I am guessing it is a significant cost for the city."

However Affleck says don’t expect the street to open up anytime soon as Vision Vancouver seems to have its mind made up. 

The bitter internal struggle in the BC Conservative Party has not only gone public it is about to play out inside a Court room.  

Three so-called dissidents whose memberships have been revoked have lawyer-ed up to fight back.   

A lawyer representing Ariane Exkardt, John Crocock, and Allison Patton have served the party.
 
Patton says she isn't sure if the party will reinstate their memberships to avoid Supreme Court or not, "It is hard to say. We do have a plan for a hearing in December where the lawyer will attend and discuss with the Judge, the case. And in the meantime, the Board has some time to respond with their lawyers."

Patton says due process wasn't followed in revoking their memberships and the three are on firm legal ground.

Police continue to say little about what is going on near the Starlight Casino in the Queensborough Landing area of New Westminster.

Dozens of police officers converged on the area a few hours ago and are believed to be negotiating with a distrasught man with a gun

Says CKNW reporter Jordan Armstrong, "My G-P-S device tells me i'm 1-kilometre away from the starlight casino but this is as close as I can get."

Police have set up roadblocks all over the place as they deal with this incident near the Casino.

No official details from police at this point but we are hearing from witnesses that there may be a man with a gun in the area of the Casino.

We do not know if he has taken any hostages but there is a huge police presence.

Some callers to the CKNW newsroom report hearing police negotiators yell at the suspect within the past few minutes, to "Drop the gun, Drop the gun."

Within the past few minutes there were a couple of ambulances that went along highway 91-a approaching the casino and we have already heard that southbound traffic across the queensborough bridge has been blocked for quite some time, and now northbound traffic is being blocked as well.

It's not just new westminster police we're talking about here because also at the scene are RCMP vehicles, there's a Port Moody police car, Delta police - all helping out with this incident which we have yet to receive any official details on just yet.

A tense situation continues near the Starlight Casino in the Queensborough landing area of New Westminster.

Just over three hours after this incident began, New Westminster Police have just briefed the media for the first time.

Inspector Phil Eastwood says the standoff began just before 6am after Starlight Casino staff noticed a man with a gun in the parking lot.
 
"What I can tell you in terms of the general situation-we have a single male who is outside the Casino building in an area that is basically cordoned off with the Emergency Response Team.  We have negotiators in place that I believe that are in communication with him and we are just waiting for that situation to resolve itself as safely as we possibly can.  ANYBODY STILL INSIDE THE CASINO - ARE THEY ARE BEING KEPT INSIDE?  They are all being kept inside, I can't tell you how many people, but I know that obviously the business was up and running when this started so that if anyone is inside they would have been held there for their own safety.  EARLY REPORTS SUGGESTING SOME SHOTS MAY HAVE BEEN FIRED? I can't confirm that at all.  THIS IS NOT A HOSTAGE TAKING SITUATION?  It is not a hostage situation at all, one male with what we believe is a handgun outside the building with police resources around him."

Now the other part to this story is the traffic situation.

It's having quite an impact on morning commuters.

Highway 91-A is blocked completely right now so that means no access to the Queensborough Bridge north or southbound.

Premier Christy Clark calls the massive payouts toICBC executives 'ridiculous.'

The corporation has reduced its executive and announced it plans to chop an additional 250 positions, which would save them 29 million dollars a year. 

but through 2013 severance could cost ICBC up to 26 million dollars in a one year expense.

Clark says the payments are 'silly', but the corporation is bound by the contracts.

"It's very expensive to restructure, but we're going to save more every year as a result of the restructuring, so it's an expensive one-time cost and every year, we are going to be saving rate-payers more than this one-time cost."

Seven executives who were cut last week cut could end up getting almost two million dollars in severance.

More than six weeks after a link between a suspected serial killer from the U-S was drawn to BC's Highway of Tears murders, the search continues for new --solid-- evidence.

Since police revealed the name of that prime suspect in September, RCMP Staff Sergeant Wayne Clary says more than 300 tips have come in, "Unfortunately so far, relative to Bobby Jack Fowler, there's nothing definitively that will move the investigation forward."

Clary says investigators knew it would be difficult to find evidence involving murders recorded over the course of more than 30 years, "We were hoping we would get something we could bite into. They're trickling down and, never say never, and hopefully, we'll get what we need. As of now, nothing substantial."
 
The so-called Highway of Tears victims currently number 18.

Fowler, who died in a U-S prison, has been clearly linked to three victims. Colleen MacMillen, Pamela Darlington and Gale Weys were all young women who vanished from the Kamloops area in the early 1970's.

BC Hydro is a month or so away from installing all the new, and controversial, smart meters in homes and businesses across the Province.

Spokesperson Cindy Verschoor says they are 90-percent done with one point seven million smart meters installed, "We have got about a 100-thousand or so to install yet. In fact, the vast majority of meters that are left to install are commercial meters, so this program has been basically exchanging residential and commercial meters. What many people don't know is that our industrial customers have actually had smart meters for over ten years now."

However, Verschoor says the I-T and computer infrastructure behind the meters is still being worked on. She says people with meters can get them tested by an independent company. If they are off then Hydro will replace it, if not, the customer has to pay 100 bucks.

It seem the Union of BC Municipalities is warming to the idea of an Auditor General for local governments.

UBCM President and Quesnel Mayor Mary Sjostrom says there was some initial hesitation, "It was more the process. As soon as we became engaged. And you know, we were able to see some changes in the scope and the accountability of the office. And you know, we were provided that, as local government, we were much more comfortable."

Sjostrom says Mayors aren't ready to find fault with the Auditor General's processes, yet, "I know that our Cariboo Regional District has offered to be part of that first audit. I think as a Mayor, I would like to see how those roll out and then go accordingly."

On Wednesday, the Province named chartered accountant Basia Ruta as BC's first Municipal Auditor General.

Surrey mounties called in the Intigrated Homicide Investigation Team Thursday night.

IHIT's Corporal Adam MaCintosh says the case is in its early stages and there isn't much he can make public.

"Shortly after 7pm Surrey RCMP were called to a residence in the Fleetwood area as a result they entered into an homicide investigation. An individual was found deceased at a residence the Surrey RCMP called the Intigrated Homicide Investigation Team. About 8:30 we, being IHIT, became engaged in the investigation and we're in the process right now of obtaining information from Surrey RCMP and are in the very preliminary stages of the investigation."

Macintosh wouldn't reveal the victims gender.
 
He is promising an update in a couple of hours.