West Shore

Athena and Venus, ready to ride. (Zoe Ducklow - Sooke News Mirror)

Goggling double-dog motorcycle sidecar brings smiles to B.C. commuters

Athena and Venus are all teeth and smiles from their Harley-Davidson sidecar

 

Flowers and candles were laid on the driveway of the Weber home, where Kerri Weber was found dead in November 2020. (Black Press Media file photo)

Greater Victoria man to stand trial for death of his wife last November

Ken Weber is charged with second-degree murder of his wife, Kerri Weber

 

The Royal Victoria Marathon returns to an in-person race in October with half-marathon and 8K events. (Black Press Media file photo)

Royal Victoria Marathon returns with in-person racing this fall

41st annual event sees half marathon, 8K race scheduled for Oct. 10

 

The emergency department at Victoria General Hospital. Sarah and her daughter frequent the ER as they can’t find supports in the community. (Black Press Media file photo)

Mind the Gap: Vancouver Island children in crisis

Navigating Greater Victoria’s mental health system

The emergency department at Victoria General Hospital. Sarah and her daughter frequent the ER as they can’t find supports in the community. (Black Press Media file photo)
The Victoria Fish and Game Protective Association is asking for the public’s help in finding the gun range’s unofficial mascot, Otis the llama. (Photo courtesy of Victoria Fish and Game Protective Association/ Facebook)

Missing llama has Malahat gun range on the hunt

Otis the llama, a range regular, has been missing for about two weeks

The Victoria Fish and Game Protective Association is asking for the public’s help in finding the gun range’s unofficial mascot, Otis the llama. (Photo courtesy of Victoria Fish and Game Protective Association/ Facebook)
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 22, 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)
Potatoes have two genetic centre of origins, one from the lowlands in Chile and the other from the highlands in Bolivia. The highlands potatoes flower and produce fruit profusely, which is where the seeds come from. They contribute to exciting and ecologically imporant genetic diversity of potatoes. (Submitted/Fiona Hamersley Chambers)

Vancouver Island farmer shares secret for inventing a new potato

Using seeds anyone can name their own variety

Potatoes have two genetic centre of origins, one from the lowlands in Chile and the other from the highlands in Bolivia. The highlands potatoes flower and produce fruit profusely, which is where the seeds come from. They contribute to exciting and ecologically imporant genetic diversity of potatoes. (Submitted/Fiona Hamersley Chambers)
Lena Rousseau presents a legislative building staffer with a letter intended for John Horgan concerning Fairy Creek. (Kiernan Green / Victoria News Staff)

Logging protesters rally through Victoria to B.C. legislature

Protests across Vancouver Island show solidarity of those arrested at logging blockades

Lena Rousseau presents a legislative building staffer with a letter intended for John Horgan concerning Fairy Creek. (Kiernan Green / Victoria News Staff)
Sooke RCMP were tipped off about the gathering. (Black Press Media file photo)

Jordan River rave shut down, organizer hit with $2,300 fine

Sooke RCMP say 75 people were there on May 15

Sooke RCMP were tipped off about the gathering. (Black Press Media file photo)
Royal Bay Secondary School’s rainbow crosswalk was vandalized shortly after being painted but by Monday, coincidentally the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the crosswalk had been cleaned up and students had surrounded it with chalk messages of support and celebration. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)

B.C. high school’s pride crosswalk restored following ‘hateful’ graffiti attack

Hate terms, racial slur, phallic images spray-painted at Greater Victoria high school

Royal Bay Secondary School’s rainbow crosswalk was vandalized shortly after being painted but by Monday, coincidentally the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the crosswalk had been cleaned up and students had surrounded it with chalk messages of support and celebration. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)
The Sooke Animal Food and Rescue Society (SAFARS) helps make a difference to more than 50 feral cats in the region. (Contributed - SAFARS)

Vancouver Island volunteers making life easier feral cats

Food, veterinary services and more helps make a difference to abandoned cats in the region

The Sooke Animal Food and Rescue Society (SAFARS) helps make a difference to more than 50 feral cats in the region. (Contributed - SAFARS)
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)

Could Victoria skull fragment bring closure to an Island missing persons mystery?

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)
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)
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 bloom boom on Vancouver Island’

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)
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)

B.C.’s first electric school bus making the rounds in Victoria suburbs

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)
Val Napoleon, who earned her own law degree after becoming a grandmother, is instrumental in supporting the resurgence of Indigenous legal order in Canada. (UVic photo services)

Indigenous law being steadily rebuilt in Canada, says B.C. university professor

‘We don’t have to argue that Indigenous people have law anymore’

Val Napoleon, who earned her own law degree after becoming a grandmother, is instrumental in supporting the resurgence of Indigenous legal order in Canada. (UVic photo services)
A Vancouver Island resident, the Western-Terrestrial garter snake, hunts for some small fish underwater. (Photo courtesy of Frank Ritcey/Facebook)

Vancouver Island home to a healthy, useful four-species snake population

Islanders have nothing to fear from these scaly neighbours, none are harmful to people

A Vancouver Island resident, the Western-Terrestrial garter snake, hunts for some small fish underwater. (Photo courtesy of Frank Ritcey/Facebook)
Reuben Forsland in his East Sooke studio with the guitar he crafted from hemp wood that he hopes will start a conversation about sustainability. (Rick Stiebel - Sooke News Mirror)

B.C. artisan strikes a chord with unique and thoughtful custom guitars

Forslund channeling Hendrix for Slash and finding Equilibrium for his father with his creations

Reuben Forsland in his East Sooke studio with the guitar he crafted from hemp wood that he hopes will start a conversation about sustainability. (Rick Stiebel - Sooke News Mirror)
A bear stands in a field of hemlock parsley. (Courtesy Doug Jones)

Black bears need wild food, not Vancouver Island garbage: B.C. Conservation

May berries be the best treat they find this spring

A bear stands in a field of hemlock parsley. (Courtesy Doug Jones)
A Salish Sea Industrial crane operator removes a derelict sailboat off the shores of Cadboro Bay in December 2020. The province on Wednesday announced marine cleanup project funding to help a pair of organizations deal with local derelict boats and shoreline debris. (Black Press Media file photo)

Island organizations get provincial funding to clean up shorelines, derelict boats

Salish Sea Indigenous Marine Stewardship Project, Coastal Restoration Society received a total of $4.5 million

A Salish Sea Industrial crane operator removes a derelict sailboat off the shores of Cadboro Bay in December 2020. The province on Wednesday announced marine cleanup project funding to help a pair of organizations deal with local derelict boats and shoreline debris. (Black Press Media file photo)