🚑 Breaking & Incidents
- Vancouver police issued 1,226 e‑scooter contacts in September, most for missing helmets. The Vancouver Police Department says 920 riders were stopped for not wearing helmets between Sept. 4 and the end of the month, resulting in 167 tickets and 753 warnings. Two riders died or were seriously injured this summer after collisions; the VPD’s helmet blitz continues through the weekend, Insp. Stephanie Willoughby said.
🚨 Crime & Public Safety
- Five foreign nationals were arrested under Project E_PURSUANCE in connection with B.C. extortion, arson and shootings. Langley RCMP Supt. Harm Dosange said arrests occurred in Surrey and at Toronto‑Pearson, and seizures included firearms and suspected cocaine, fentanyl and opium. Dosange said investigators expect more charges across Western Canada after evidence-sharing with policing partners.
- North Vancouver RCMP investigating linked assaults where victims were lured via Grindr on Aug. 27–31. Police say two reported incidents and CCTV evidence of a likely third near Ross Road Elementary on Aug. 29; officers ask that the unreported victim come forward and anyone with video contact Const. Paul Reece.
🏛️ Government & Politics
- BC NDP leader David Eby pledged a “price guard” to cap grocery profit margins on staples like milk and eggs. Announced in Kelowna on day 11 of the campaign, the proposal also includes mandated per‑unit pricing and a plan to work with Ottawa to open a Lower Mainland independent food terminal for local farmers and smaller grocers.
🏈 Sports
- Connor McDavid had four assists as the Oilers beat the Canucks 9‑7 in Vancouver on Thursday. Evan Bouchard recorded a goal and two assists and became the first NHL defenceman with eight points through his team’s first two games, the Oilers improved to 1‑0‑1 while the Canucks are 1‑1‑0.
- Oilers coach Mike Babcock blamed coaching for defensive lapses after the team surrendered 13 goals in two games. Babcock singled out defence as a focus at Friday practice and cited specific concerns for Jake Walman and newcomer Shakir Mukhamadullin ahead of Saturday’s game in Seattle.
📰 Also Today
- LNG Canada plans $33 billion Kitimat expansion using Chinese steel.
- Five foreign nationals arrested in B.C. extortions, shootings and arsons, RCMP say.
- Drivers told to expect delays as Vancouver begins Georgia Viaduct repairs, city warns.
- Climate Week: lessons from North America’s top meteorologists reported at Climate Week.
- Tofino‑area landfill bans neoprene wetsuits, council announces.
- Nanaimo voters list safety and street disorder as top concerns, local data suggests complexity.
- Okanagan grape growers say crop insurance model failing amid wildfire smoke taint issues.
- New totem pole raised in Hagwilget, B.C., first time in 85 years.
- B.C. woman ordered to pay $35,000 for repeatedly sharing ex’s intimate images.
- Report: B.C. firefighters still using wildfire data from the 1990s, experts say.
- Penticton breaks ground on new fire hall headquarters, officials mark ceremony.
- Deal reached to reopen shuttered Howe Sound pulp mill, union says.
- B.C. police watchdog flags lack of co‑operation in a death investigation as ‘problematic’.
- Fort St. John truckers staged a convoy over high diesel prices, organizers say.
- Former chief coroner Lisa Lapointe to run for B.C. Greens in Saanich South.
- Tsawwassen First Nation identifies two elders killed in crash outside a mall.
- Oilers and Canucks took lessons from two wild, high‑scoring games this week.
