Port Alberni

Lauren Spencer-Smith’s first original song became an overnight TikTok sensation after she posted a 45-second clip on the social media site. She released her song in early July and it has already been streamed 1.5 million times. (MICAH SUAREZ PHOTO)

Vancouver Island singer’s new song becomes TikTok sensation

Lauren Spencer-Smith has released her first original song

 

Kayla Castellarin from the BC SPCA Alberni-Clayoquot branch holds up one of three roosters presently housed at the animal shelter. This Japanese bantam rooster came in a week ago after it and a second one were discovered abandoned in the bush by Great Central Lake. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Young bantam roosters dumped in bush west of central Vancouver Island city

BC SPCA has seen rise in dumped fowl since backyard chickens became legal

 

Members of the Island Health team (back from left) Carlee Bushell, Dr. Mike Benusic, Charlotte Brown, Kaylee Gray (front from left) Matt Erickson and Mike Munro in front of the health authority’s new mobile vaccination clinic, the “Vax Van.” (Kiernan Green/News Staff)

Island Health’s ‘Vax Van’ coming to Port Alberni

Mobile COVID-19 immunization clinic will stop here July 28 on Island-wide tour

 

Retired RCMP Staff Sgt. Dale Djos was in Port Alberni on Wednesday, July 21, 2021 to receive a Commanding Officer’s Commendation, presented by Port Alberni RCMP Inspector Eric Rochette, left. Retired journalist Shayne Morrow, right, wrote a book titled The Bulldog and the Helix about Djos’s efforts to solve a pair of murders in the city. Djos was one of three people to receive similar awards. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Island RCMP officers honoured for cracking pair of high-profile cold case murders

Carolyn Lee and Jessica States murders happened 20 years apart in Port Alberni

Retired RCMP Staff Sgt. Dale Djos was in Port Alberni on Wednesday, July 21, 2021 to receive a Commanding Officer’s Commendation, presented by Port Alberni RCMP Inspector Eric Rochette, left. Retired journalist Shayne Morrow, right, wrote a book titled The Bulldog and the Helix about Djos’s efforts to solve a pair of murders in the city. Djos was one of three people to receive similar awards. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Michael Lee, MLA for Vancouver-Langara and candidate for the B.C. Liberal Party leadership, stops at the Port Alberni waterfront during a tour of Vancouver Island, July 15, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

B.C. Liberals must rebuild party trust, says leadership candidate

Michael Lee brings message of inclusivity, unity to Vancouver Island campaign tour

Michael Lee, MLA for Vancouver-Langara and candidate for the B.C. Liberal Party leadership, stops at the Port Alberni waterfront during a tour of Vancouver Island, July 15, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Workers secure equipment on a flatdeck at the Somass Sawmill site on Friday, July 15, 2021. The mill has not been in operation since 2017. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

City of Port Alberni looks at options for Somass Sawmill property

No word on negotiations, but sawmill has been busy with activity

Workers secure equipment on a flatdeck at the Somass Sawmill site on Friday, July 15, 2021. The mill has not been in operation since 2017. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Commercial gillnet fisher Ryan Daynes repairs his net from the Lily M. on one of the wharf fingers at Centennial Pier, Port Alberni, on June 24, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Commercial salmon fishers left high and dry over sudden DFO closures

Island MP calls on federal fisheries minister to provide financial relief

Commercial gillnet fisher Ryan Daynes repairs his net from the Lily M. on one of the wharf fingers at Centennial Pier, Port Alberni, on June 24, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
A female varsity player fires a shot on goal during a game at West Coast Hockey Prep Camp in Port Alberni on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. (ELENA RARDON / ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS)

Hockey prep camp draws hundreds of young athletes to Port Alberni

Alberni Valley Multiplex open to spectators

A female varsity player fires a shot on goal during a game at West Coast Hockey Prep Camp in Port Alberni on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. (ELENA RARDON / ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS)
A firefighter with Port Alberni Fire Department mops up a fire in Dry Creek Park early Tuesday, July 13, 2021. It was the second fire crews attended in a few hours in Dry Creek. (PHOTO COURTESY PAFD)

Vancouver Island man arrested for arson as RCMP investigate rash of wildfires

Charges ‘not necessarily’ connected to human-caused fires in forested areas

A firefighter with Port Alberni Fire Department mops up a fire in Dry Creek Park early Tuesday, July 13, 2021. It was the second fire crews attended in a few hours in Dry Creek. (PHOTO COURTESY PAFD)
San Group owners Kamal Sanghera, left, Suki Sanghera and Paul Deol (from the Langley operation) announce $100 million in investments in their Port Alberni forestry operations on June 2, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Langley-based San Group donates lumber to help rebuild fire-ravaged village of Lytton

Donation follows on heels of Surrey’s Teal-Jones’s challenge to suppliers

San Group owners Kamal Sanghera, left, Suki Sanghera and Paul Deol (from the Langley operation) announce $100 million in investments in their Port Alberni forestry operations on June 2, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Museum assistant Amy Vandal unwraps a set of traditional tattoo needles as part of a new exhibit at the Alberni Valley Museum. (ELENA RARDON / ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS)

Alberni Museum explores Indigenous tattoos in new exhibit

Body Language exhibit runs until December 2021

Museum assistant Amy Vandal unwraps a set of traditional tattoo needles as part of a new exhibit at the Alberni Valley Museum. (ELENA RARDON / ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS)
RBC presents $80,000 cheque to North Island College. From left to right: Kathleen Kuhnert, NIC vice-president, Students & Community Engagement; Rick Eigler, RBC branch manager, Comox Valley; Kelly Bissell, RBC regional vice-president; Kelly Shopland, NIC executive director Indigenous Education; Aubrey Lively, RBC assistant branch manager; and Katharina Schulte-Bisping, RBC assistant branch manager.

RBC gives $80,000 to support Indigenous students at North Island College

Indigenous students at North Island College will be able to access expanded…

RBC presents $80,000 cheque to North Island College. From left to right: Kathleen Kuhnert, NIC vice-president, Students & Community Engagement; Rick Eigler, RBC branch manager, Comox Valley; Kelly Bissell, RBC regional vice-president; Kelly Shopland, NIC executive director Indigenous Education; Aubrey Lively, RBC assistant branch manager; and Katharina Schulte-Bisping, RBC assistant branch manager.
(BCLC image)

$200K lotto ticket purchased in Port Alberni

The $27 million Lotto Max jackpot was not won

(BCLC image)
Students make a “tiny home” sign with their hands as part of the Tiny Home Challenge at John Paul II Catholic School. (ELENA RARDON / ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS)

Vancouver Island school gets visit from Netflix show hosts for tiny home competition

Pilot Tiny Home elective was offered for Grades 4-7

Students make a “tiny home” sign with their hands as part of the Tiny Home Challenge at John Paul II Catholic School. (ELENA RARDON / ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS)
Tugboats from Timberrose Ventures prepare to move the decommissioned BC Ferry MV Tenaka from Port Alberni Harbour—where it had been sitting since 2016—to Ucluelet’s harbour June 23, 2021. The tugboat Timber Gale towed the vessel to the west coast. (PHOTO COURTESY TIMBERROSE VENTURES)

Former BC ferry leaves Port Alberni for Ucluelet harbour

Future of decommissioned car ferry MV Tenaka uncertain

Tugboats from Timberrose Ventures prepare to move the decommissioned BC Ferry MV Tenaka from Port Alberni Harbour—where it had been sitting since 2016—to Ucluelet’s harbour June 23, 2021. The tugboat Timber Gale towed the vessel to the west coast. (PHOTO COURTESY TIMBERROSE VENTURES)
A passenger bus involved in an accident along a logging road Friday night is carried from the crash scene by a tow-truck near Bamfield, B.C. on Saturday, September 14, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

UVic follows through on safety measures after fatal Bamfield bus crash

All recommendations have been implemented within timeline: university

A passenger bus involved in an accident along a logging road Friday night is carried from the crash scene by a tow-truck near Bamfield, B.C. on Saturday, September 14, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Fresh out of the paint shop sporting its new livery, a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter owned by Coulson Aviation leaves California to help fight wildfires in British Columbia. (FACEBOOK PHOTO)

B.C.-based Coulson Aviation signs contract to fight fires in province’s Interior

Water-bombing helicopter currently stationed near Kamloops

Fresh out of the paint shop sporting its new livery, a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter owned by Coulson Aviation leaves California to help fight wildfires in British Columbia. (FACEBOOK PHOTO)
A Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue vessel patrols the waters around Port Alberni. (NEWS FILE PHOTO)

Fisherman rescued after falling overboard in Alberni Inlet

Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station, Coast Guard assisted in efforts

A Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue vessel patrols the waters around Port Alberni. (NEWS FILE PHOTO)
North Island College graduates gathered at the Campbell River campus in early June to have their photo taken in their regalia. The photos are part of the virtual grad celebration, which is now live online. Photo supplied

North Island College launches Virtual Grad 2021

COVID-19 restrictions force second virtual graduation at NIC

North Island College graduates gathered at the Campbell River campus in early June to have their photo taken in their regalia. The photos are part of the virtual grad celebration, which is now live online. Photo supplied
Port Alberni’s RCMP station on Morton Street. (GOOGLE EARTH PHOTO)

Guards’ timelines show gaps in care of jailed B.C. teen

Former RCMP OIC brought in change following Jocelyn George’s death

Port Alberni’s RCMP station on Morton Street. (GOOGLE EARTH PHOTO)