Vancouver's mayor says the addition of 13 more electric vehicles now means this city has the greenest municipal fleet in Canada with more than 60 battery-powered pieces of equipment.
Gregor Robertson says these cars will reduce the city's carbon footprint and fuel costs more than 20 thousand dollars per year.
Thirteen more vehicles will be bought next year.
Homicide investigators say a second degree murder charge has been laid against the 35-year old wife of a man killed in a Richmond apartment building early yesterday.
Pui Chun "Winnie" Poon appeared in court this morning.
An autopsy to determine how her 38-year old husband died is taking place today.
Police have already said the murder, which happened in the 87-hundred block of Ackroyd Road, was the result of a domestic dispute.
With temperatures on the rise over the next few days, B.C.’s Wildfire Management branch is on alert.
Fire information officer Alyson Couch says there is a chance we'll start to see an increase in fire activity across B.C.
"The fire danger ratings have started to change, and we are seeing more areas with extreme and high. Right now the areas with the highest ratings are in the North East and many regions in the South as well."
That means crews could be busy over the next few days.
Although officials don't have a fire ban in place currently, Couch says campers should be extra vigilant.
A landlord in Maple Ridge has been charged with counseling someone to commit murder.
Ridge Meadows RCMP say Jagdev Singh "Jack" Athwal has been charged in connection with what they call a a disturbing threat of a serious criminal nature.
They say the 71-year-old has been released from custody on conditions he not contact certain residents, not be within two blocks of the Gordon Towers apartment complex at 222nd Street, off Dewdney Trunk Road, and not possess any firearms or explosives.
Police add their main goal right now is to ensure the safety of victims and witnesses.
They have yet to release any other details in the case.
Athwal owns several properties in Maple Ridge.
In 2008, the district won a court case against him after he dumped dirt into Morse Creek next to his properties on 224th Street, as well as cut down trees without proper permits.
He is to appear back in court tomorrow.
Mounties are commending a five-year-old girl on Vancouver Island for calling 9-11 and helping to save her mother's life.
West Shore RCMP say a dispatcher took a call this morning from a frantic young girl in Langford who said her mother had fallen in the backyard and wasn't getting up.
Dispatcher: "9-11, do you require police, fire or ambulance? Hello?"
Girl: "Um, my mommy fell down in the backyard and she wouldn't get up!"
Dispatcher: "Okay, hang on a second. I need you to calm down. What did you say, your mom what?"
Girl: "She fell down on the cement in the backyard and she wouldn't get up!"
The dispatcher learned the girl was at home with two younger brothers, ages 3 and 1, while her father was at work.
First responders arrived and found the 31-year-old mother outside on the patio having a seizure. She was treated and is now in good health.
The girl told officers her grandmother had taught her to call 9-11 in an emergency.
BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins may be facing trouble from within.
Party director John Crocock denies there was an effort made last weekend at a board meeting to oust Cummins.
"Well no. I mean, we are always always trying to improve ourselves and things like that and there is always different things. I mean, people can try to say what they want or whatever, but we are the Conservatives. We are trying to improve ourselves. We are trying to, you know ... We have to make sure we have our leadership review every year."
Crocock says, rather, the push was to review his leadership as per party bylaws.
"No, no, not at all. We are just having a leadership review. In our bylaws, we have to have a leadership review. Right now, they might change, but right now every year we have a leadership review. It builds up moral, people get asked, 'Do you support the leader?' ... That is another good reason to go to the AGM."
He was asked if he would support Cummins in a leadership review.
"Well that's, that's a silent ballot. Either way, I am not... I am not... you know... Hey, that was a good one (laughter). As I said, it's... uhhh, that is a month from now and we will see what we can do."
The leadership review will be held at the party's annual general meeting in Langley Sept 22.
For his part, Cummins says he doesn't feel threatened.
"We are looking forward to it and fully support the review. t is required by the existing constitution and, you know, I think it is a great idea. It holds everybody to account and it makes the membership feel they have a say in the way things are run."
He says while some within the party might be unhappy, most support him.
"Most of the party is quite supportive. When I took the party over, if you look at the last provincial election, the party got two percent of the vote. We are consistently above 20 percent, which was our first target. We are set to move even higher this fall. I would say that the vast majority of the party feels the same."
Cummins is also playing down the departure of Hamish Marshall: "He has got two new startup companies that he is operating and travels quite frequently and he was unable to continue as campaign director."
Tory MLA John van Dongen declined to comment on internal party matters.
Members of the Musqueam band are threatening to escalate their protest over a housing project on top of an ancient burial ground in Vancouver.
Work permits set to expire Wednesday have been extended to September 15th.
Sparking anger from Rhiannon Bennett, one of the protesters camping out at the site below the Arthur Laing bridge.
'We need to continue to stand here vigil over these graves to ensure that no work is done on the property. That means that our people need to continue to make these personal sacrifices to care for our ancestors because the provincial government continues to show us disrespect."
Bennett fears construction will resume, but a spokesman for the Marpole Midden says the extensions are an 'administrative matter' and the owners are still waiting for a purchase offer from the Musqueam.
Last Friday marked 100 days since work was halted.
As for why the permits have been extended, staff with the Ministry of Forests and Lands insist no work is resuming and human remains on the site will be protected while negotiations continue between the developer and the Musqueam band.
A Government report looking at the pine beetle's impact in BC's central interior has taken the wrong approach in urging more logging. That's according to the Executive Director of Ancient Forest Alliance.
Ken Wu says the report's recommendation to increase the timber supply and value of pine-beetle wood could allow for logging in protected forests, "There's different ways to do more with less, to be more efficient. Instead they're looking at opening up our last protected areas and that's totally the wrong approach. Rewarding unsustainable behaviour with more unsustainable behaviour is what has pushed this whole planet to the ecological brink."
Wu says these protected areas include old growth forest, wildlife habitats, scenery, and recreational spots.
Cyclists may want to check out a new loop on the North Shore made out of a recycled bridge.
Metro Vancouver spokesman Bill Morrell says a bridge in the Coquitlam watershed was decommissioned back in 1999.
"So rather than throw away that steel and the bridge, Metro Vancouver explored what options there were for repurposing the bridge itself in a way that used the material and served a good public need."
The steel was cut up and paired with cedar logs from other old bridges to create two new pieces.
Now, those lay down a path from one side of the Seymour River to Bear Island in the middle, and across to the river's other shore.
It adds to an existing popular cyclist trail, now making it a 25-kilometre loop.
Health authorities are reminding parents to secure their windows, after recent reports of toddlers falling out.
Dr. Shelina Babul at BC Children's Hospital says at least 10 kids have been taken to hospital so far this year after falling out of windows.
In the past three weeks, at least three falls have been reported in Surrey, Mission and, just this week, Abbotsford.
Dr. Babul stresses window screens are not strong enough to support the weight of even a very small child, "Ensure that you've got window guards installed on your windows so that the window will not open more than four inches, or about 10 centimetres."
She also suggests moving furniture away from windows so kids won't climb up to look out, as well as supervising children at all times, especially when on balconies or decks.
The senior project manager for this weekend's repair work on the Pattullo Bridge says the 75-year old crossing still needs to be replaced, but there are no immediate plans to shut it down for more upgrades.
"We did take the opportunity to perform some spot inspections of the concrete deck on the south approach and also on the main bridge deck itself to identify if any work is required in the future and if so, how the work should proceed and what should be performed."
Darren Woodworth says this weekend's work had a price tag of about 250-thousand dollars.
"With this bridge, safety is our number one goal to ensure that the bridge remains safe. we appreciate how much inconvenience we caused the public, so it was very important to us that we do as much work as possible and complete this weekend, so the public could use the bridge again Monday morning."
He adds the work was only a temporary fix for bigger problems linked to the bridge's ability to withstand an earthquake, and other pains linked to Metro Vancouver's overall growth.
We should learn more later this morning about human remains found over the weekend in North Vancouver.
Homicide investigators have been in a wooded area behind a motel and restaurant on Curling Road since police were alerted Saturday.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has assumed control of the operation.
No word yet on whether the victim was a man or woman.
Neighbours are reporting the pathway near Capilano Road is often used by drug addicts to shoot up.
Police say more testing will be needed to determine cause of death.
But they say cause of death does appear to be suspicious after a body was found on the North Shore this weekend.
It was discovered off a gravel foot trail in the 2000 block of Curling Road.
More testing will also be needed to figure out how long the remains had been there and the gender of the victim.
Police will continue to canvass the neighborhood.
Processing the crime scene will take a few more days.
Abbotsford firefighters knocked down a grass fire at an elementary school over the noon hour.
Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Adams says the cause may be a discarded cigarette butt.
Adams says the fire at Tembrook Elementary was spreading quickly when firefighters showed up.
He says his crews usually see fire activity like this when the weather heats up.
"Oh we have had a few everytime...right around this time of year things get dried out and it just more and more it is just you know bark mulch you know any fence lines where you get some dry brush, blackberries, that sort of thing you have to be cautious and not discard cigarette butts or anything like that."
He says grass may look green but it is still tinder dry and can ignite quickly.
Vancouver's murder tally for the year 2010 has been increased by one...going from nine to ten.
Vancouver Police say after a year and half long investigation Jae Hyuck Richard Kim is facing two charges in November 2010 death of 27 year old Derek Crawford.
Crawford, from Burnaby, was found dead at a home on Battison Street.
Police said at the time he has died from injuries following a violent confrontation.
A lower mainland woman's suing a doctor and nurse after a surgical instrument was found inside her chest following reast augmentation.
The woman knew there was something wrong following the surgery because her right breast was painful and was lower and smaller than the other one.
She kept going back to her surgeon complaining about the pain but he insisted it was the result of scar tissue and would eventually go away.
It never did.
So the woman booked an ultrasound and "a tubular shaped foreign object" was spotted.
Still, the surgeon dismissed the report.
She eventually had the object removed by another doctor.
The woman's suing for costs and damages.
Residents around the PNE who offer their driveway as pay parking spots to fair-goers beware: the city is sending out teams to make sure it's legal.
Under city bylaws homeowners - unless they have a business licence - are only allowed to charge for one vehicle on their lot.
Any more and the fine can be as high as two-thousand-dollars.
Carli Edwards - the City's Assistant Director of Inspections - says "what we're concerned about is the impact that activity has so we're concerned about the safety violations of people blocking the street and sidewalk and we're also concerned about the nuisance it creates."
The PNE charges 20-dollars to park at the fair.
Many homeowners are charging between ten and 15-dollars.
A rough draft of proposed changes to the curriculum for Kindegarten to Grade 12 students will be posted by the Ministry of Education soon.
Vancouver school board chair Patti Bacchus says the changes have been in the works for a while.
Bacchus says her hope is the feedback doesn't stop and the changes will lead to more voices speaking out.
"Well I think it is really important than when there is any kind of significant change to curriculum that there is a lot of consultation a chance for people whether it is parents, students, teachers, people working in the system to see what is being proposed and have a chance to provide feedback. I would certainly encourage everyone to have a look at what gets posted this week and make their thoughts known."
Bacchus knows what changes she wants to see coming.
"Well we have certainly in discussions about the curriculum and where we are headed with personalized learning concerns that we have a very cluttered curriculum there is a lot of detail currently in the curriculum a lot of items that need to be covered and that it is going to shift to a more personalized model."
She says the streamlining is especially needed with the move to more personalized learning.
"Where we have students doing more project inquiry based learning we need to remove some of those details and allow that work to be done more creatively so I would hope we would see a narrowing down giving a little more in there for more creative open ended work from students."
The move has been years in the making with the rough draft of the curriculum changes being posted later this week or early next to the Ministry of Education's website.
BC's beleaguered carbon tax is getting a vote of confidence from a former federal Liberal leader.
MP Stephane Dion says the carbon levy has provided the lowest income tax in Canada for those who earn under $100,000 a year in BC.
"You pay less income tax that it would be the case otherwise so it is much better to pay taxes on what you burn than what you earn it is better for the environment and it is better for the economy so it is for British Columbians to decide of course but as a Canadian I am proud that one of our province saw the light and did the right thing."
Dion says campaigns to axe the carbon tax are irresponsible and overlook the benefits to families and low income earners.
"There are ways to be sure that the tax revenues go back into the pockets of the people especially low income people and families then you have a very valuable fiscal policy where you have cut taxes on the profitable activities like savings, and investments, and work, labour."
The tax is under review with its critics wanting it scrapped but Finance minister Kevin Falcon is hinting tweaks are more likely.
First it was opposition to the Northern Gateway Pipeline and now a couple of environmental groups are trying to head off construction of a hydro-electric project in BC's interior.
Holmes Hydro is looking to build a hydro-electric project that would generate power from ten tributaries of the Holmes River near McBride.
The David Suzuki Foundation and Watershed Watch Salmon Society have filed a petition in BC Supreme Court asking, among other things, that an interim injunction be issued prohibiting any construction or work from beginning on the project, including obtaining any approvals or permits.
The groups say the Holmes River is home to chinook salmon and at least five populations of an endangered variety of moss.
The groups also claim the Environmental Assessment Office initially decided not to require an Environmental Assessment Certificate.
