West Shore

Left to right: Royal Bay students Payton Gust, Oskar Wood, Cheyenne Norman, Julia Morrison, Tanisha Spiller and Izzy Kroll made up the team who painted their high school’s crosswalk. (Royal Bay Secondary School photo)

Senior student leaves mark at Vancouver Island high school for LGBTQ+ students

Crosswalk at Colwood’s Royal Bay Secondary painted in support of marginalized community members

 

While recovering several items reported stolen from the set of a Netflix movie in early April, West Shore RCMP also seized drugs and drug trafficking items from a Colwood residence last week. (Black Press Media file photo)

Electronics, credit cards taken from Netflix series set found in Colwood home

West Shore RCMP seize stolen items, drugs, trafficking materials

 

Pathfinders and Wild Wise Sooke built slim, black bat houses to be hung around Sooke. (Submitted/Wild Wise Sooke)

Vancouver Island teens build bat condos

Wild Wise Sooke says bats will sleep, hibernate and raise their young in the boxes

 

These are just a handful of Vancouver Island’s missing person cases. Clockwise from top left: Lisa Marie Young, Lindsey Nicholls, Micheal Dunahee, Jesokah Adkens, Belinda Cameron and Emma Fillipoff. (File photos courtesy of family members and police departments)

Gorge skull fragment could bring closure to one Greater Victoria missing person case

Skeletal remains found in Greater Victoria have not yet been identified

These are just a handful of Vancouver Island’s missing person cases. Clockwise from top left: Lisa Marie Young, Lindsey Nicholls, Micheal Dunahee, Jesokah Adkens, Belinda Cameron and Emma Fillipoff. (File photos courtesy of family members and police departments)
Patrick OLeary won $1 million in the March 24 draw of the Lotto 6/49. (BCLC image)

Sooke man cashes $1-million lottery ticket

The excavator operator had to look twice to confirm the win

Patrick OLeary won $1 million in the March 24 draw of the Lotto 6/49. (BCLC image)
Langford Fire Rescue (Black Press Media file photo)

Langford looks to strike out on its own for emergency fire dispatch services

Mayor Stew Young says the city is large enough to negotiate solo

Langford Fire Rescue (Black Press Media file photo)
A fire destroyed a commercial building on Idlemore Road early Tuesday. The fire is under investigation. (Kenn Mount photo)

Early morning fire destroys new Sooke distillery

Firefighters still investigating cause of Island Shiners Distillery blaze early Tuesday

A fire destroyed a commercial building on Idlemore Road early Tuesday. The fire is under investigation. (Kenn Mount photo)
Test positivity rates in Greater Victoria from April 23 to 29. (BC CDC data)

Leaked data shows View Royal top of COVID-19 list for Greater Victoria

View Royal mayor says week was a blip for the township, not the norm

Test positivity rates in Greater Victoria from April 23 to 29. (BC CDC data)
The Capital Regional District’s Langford-based fire dispatch could be dissolved by the end of the year, replaced by a larger dispatcher in Saanich or Surrey. (Black Press Media file photo)

Langford-based CRD Fire Dispatch could see its last call this year

$1 million in mandatory upgrades too expensive for local municipalities, says Langford mayor

The Capital Regional District’s Langford-based fire dispatch could be dissolved by the end of the year, replaced by a larger dispatcher in Saanich or Surrey. (Black Press Media file photo)
Ford Preston, 12, is collecting gently used sports equipment to make sure every youth is able to participate, no matter the price. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)

12-year-old lacrosse player on a mission to make sure everyone can play sports

Ford Preston is collecting gently used equipment to be distributed to youth on the West Shore

Ford Preston, 12, is collecting gently used sports equipment to make sure every youth is able to participate, no matter the price. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)
Pacific sand dollars are a local species which belong to the same group as sea urchins. While alive, they are covered entirely by thousands of densely packed, short and slender spikes. (Photo courtesy of Louise Page)

The peculiar life of Vancouver Island’s Pacific sand dollar

UVic biology professor Louise Page offers a glace into sand dollars’ world under the water

  • May 9, 2021
Pacific sand dollars are a local species which belong to the same group as sea urchins. While alive, they are covered entirely by thousands of densely packed, short and slender spikes. (Photo courtesy of Louise Page)
Garden centre manager Jack Olszewski and Chris Beaudoin say business has grown by 50 per cent at the Sooke Home Hardware Store. (Rick Stiebel - Sooke News Mirror)

Flower power: COVID restrictions fuel boom in Vancouver Island gardening

More people seeking flowers to add colour, says Sooke landscaper

Garden centre manager Jack Olszewski and Chris Beaudoin say business has grown by 50 per cent at the Sooke Home Hardware Store. (Rick Stiebel - Sooke News Mirror)
Stanley Fischer (right) died while in a Victoria police jail cell hours after he was arrested on Nov. 15, 1981. Forty years later, his family is questioning his cause of death. (Photo courtesy of Mark Fischer)

Family wants investigation into man’s 1981 death while in Victoria police custody

Stanley Fischer’s death was ruled a suicide after he was found hanging in his jail cell

Stanley Fischer (right) died while in a Victoria police jail cell hours after he was arrested on Nov. 15, 1981. Forty years later, his family is questioning his cause of death. (Photo courtesy of Mark Fischer)
Al Kowalko shows off the province’s first electric school bus, running kids to three elementary and two secondary schools on the West Shore. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)

West Shore proud owners of B.C.’s first electric school bus

No emissions, no fuel costs and less maintenance will offset the $750K upfront expense

Al Kowalko shows off the province’s first electric school bus, running kids to three elementary and two secondary schools on the West Shore. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)
Illegal goods seized in the simultaneous April 23 busts in Saanich and Sooke. (Courtesy of West Shore RCMP)

RCMP drug busts net trucks, cocaine, cash and Hells Angels gear

Simultaneous searches coordinated between West Shore, Saanich and Sooke police

Illegal goods seized in the simultaneous April 23 busts in Saanich and Sooke. (Courtesy of West Shore RCMP)
West Shore RCMP is requesting the public’s assistance in locating a missing Langford resident, Nevaeh Hansell. (West Shore RCMP)

MISSING: Police seek 13-year-old Langford girl last seen May 3

Police are asking for help to locate the teen

West Shore RCMP is requesting the public’s assistance in locating a missing Langford resident, Nevaeh Hansell. (West Shore RCMP)
Cst. Lewis and police dog Halla swept the exterior of the Victoria General Hospital May 4 after a suspicious package was found just outside the hospital. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)

RCMP bomb unit confirms package at Victoria General Hospital not explosive

Island Health says hospital operations weren’t impacted

Cst. Lewis and police dog Halla swept the exterior of the Victoria General Hospital May 4 after a suspicious package was found just outside the hospital. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)
Don Denton/West Shore NEW CUTLINE Langford Coun. Matt Sahlstrom raised objections to a ban on open burning at the Feb. 16 regular meeting of council. (Black Press files) - Matt Sahlstrom on his Colwood property with his two classic cars, a 1984 Fila Thunderbird (left) and a 1965 Ford Mustang convertible. The Fila Thunderbird is one of only 500 made and one of only two sold in BC.

Langford councillor flew to Arizona last month

Coun. Matt Sahlstrom told the mayor his house needed maintenance

Don Denton/West Shore NEW CUTLINE Langford Coun. Matt Sahlstrom raised objections to a ban on open burning at the Feb. 16 regular meeting of council. (Black Press files) - Matt Sahlstrom on his Colwood property with his two classic cars, a 1984 Fila Thunderbird (left) and a 1965 Ford Mustang convertible. The Fila Thunderbird is one of only 500 made and one of only two sold in BC.
Protesters have formally named the province as a third party in their appeal of the injunction granted against their blockade at Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew. (Will O’Connell photo)

Fairy Creek protesters add province to legal appeal to extend blockade

The government is where the quarrel lies, so it needs to be involved defendants say

Protesters have formally named the province as a third party in their appeal of the injunction granted against their blockade at Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew. (Will O’Connell photo)
Dinner After a Death, a painting by Sooke artist Bryan Cathcart is part of a collection featuring his work at the Outsiders and Others Gallery in Vancouver. (Contributed - Bryan Cathcart)

Sooke artist finds creativity by expanding artistic horizons

Bryan Cathcart, 26, featured at Vancouver gallery

Dinner After a Death, a painting by Sooke artist Bryan Cathcart is part of a collection featuring his work at the Outsiders and Others Gallery in Vancouver. (Contributed - Bryan Cathcart)