Mackenzie Read

1 week ago | cheknews.ca | Mackenzie Read

BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) has made procedural and technical changes to improve response time to avoid similar deaths to 18-year-old UVic student Sidney McIntyre-Starko’s last year. During day nine of a coroner’s inquest into McIntyre-Starko’s death, who died of an overdose while in a dorm at UVic in January 2024, BCEHS officials discussed some of the challenges they faced in repsonding to the call that day and procedural changes that have been made since.

1 week ago | cheknews.ca | Mackenzie Read

Two Victoria councillors are putting a motion to council to loosen some business licensing regulations at cannabis retailers throughout the city to help keep them open. Councillors Jeremy Caradonna and Matt Dell are looking to lower the staffing requirements, which currently state there must be two employees working during operating hours. “First cannabis bylaws were put in in 2016, which was pre-legalization, so the city was trying to get ahead of cannabis legalization,” Dell said.

1 week ago | cheknews.ca | Mackenzie Read

UVic Properties has made its first step in an expansion project, breaking ground on a new facility in the Vancouver Island Technology Park (VITP). On Monday, dignitaries turned over dirt where a parking lot will be transformed into a 45,000 square foot building, marking the first new building at the Park since itstransformation from hospital use. “We haven’t seen a new building here since 2001,” Peter Kuran, UVic Properties president & CEO, said.

3 weeks ago | cheknews.ca | Mackenzie Read

The provincial sales tax (PST) exemption for used zero-emission vehicles is quickly coming to an end, prompting some to make a quick purchase before the cost goes back up. During the 2025 provincial budget announcement, the government said it will be ending the exemption on May 1. The Ministry of Finance says this is a way to help find savings within the budget which had a record-setting $10.9 billion deficit.

3 weeks ago | cheknews.ca | Mackenzie Read

New police recruits in Victoria will now have to undergo more training as VicPD has launched a new community training program. The ‘Before the Badge’ program aims to build better relationships with diversity groups in the city and with police. “We want to make sure that the officers know from day one, in fact before they get their badge, the importance of community connections,” Chief Del Manak said.