Demand for criminal background checks for employment has ballooned, growing 40 per cent in the last year, the BC Concessionaires, a security organization, said Wednesday.

VICTORIA — Adversity has been no stranger to the public life of Premier Gordon Campbell. Over the years he’s endured a war over his carbon tax, narrowly lost an election in 1996 many thought he should win and has seen his government become the focus of a corruption trial, to name just a few of his difficulties.

A few simple precautions can safeguard your Christmas goodies against Grinch-like thieves this holiday season.

Victoria's Rich Harden and the Texas Rangers have reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year contract that guarantees the pitcher $7.5 million US, a person familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday.

Surrey parent Paul Jubenvill has withdrawn his human rights complaint over an elementary school’s refusal to provide space for a Bible study group.

A woman in her late 80s was sexually assaulted at Surrey Memorial Hospital by an elderly male patient, police and health authorities confirmed Wednesday.

A composite sketch of a man wanted for a sexual assault of a 25-year-old woman in Vancouver last month has now been released.

VICTORIA — Officials at BC Housing are planning an information campaign to combat potential negative press about homelessness during the 2010 Olympic Games.

A wheelchair was found abandoned on the north side of the seawall adjacent to Kits Pool at Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver on Wednesday night, triggering a police search of the area.

A selection of hits, fights and goals from hockey around North America Wednesday.

Maybe there’s something to these lowered expectations for the Vancouver Giants.

Lindsay Rempel's friends and family have only one Christmas wish this year - to raise enough money to buy the Victoria mother an expensive treatment for a rare disease.

Wood Wheaton Chevrolet will be a driving force behind the Prince George Fury.The local auto dealership was announced Tuesday as the major sponsor of the first-year Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League club. Wood Wheaton has contributed $20,000 to help cover the operating expenses of the Fury.“I’m a very big fan of soccer,” said Wood Wheaton owner Craig Wood. “Soccer is a big part of our ...

The three farm workers killed in an Abbotsford, B.C., crash in 2007 would be alive today if the province had cracked down on safety following a similar crash three years earlier, a coroner's inquest was told Wednesday.

According to RCMP sources, there were at least five Mounties from the local region who attended the funeral for the four slain Washington State police officers, murdered in the line of duty last week. Three of the officers were from the Prince George city RCMP detachment while the other two were from elsewhere in the North District area. There may have been others. All RCMP members were invited ...

The Salvation Army in Prince George will receive one huge Christmas gift from Save-On-Foods.Today, Save-On-Foods is sending up a semi-trailer chucked full of groceries for Salvation Army Food Banks in northern B.C.The 25,000-pound donation will include canned goods, cereals, pastas, snacks, paper products, pet food, diapers and baby food.Prince George is among four areas receiving semi-trailers ...

Canadian forest companies continue to face challenging times, but Western Canadian companies fared better in the third quarter of this year than their eastern counterparts.The forest and paper industry has losses of $632 million in the three months ending in October, which exceeded losses of $552 million reported during the same period last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers quarterly ...

The Prince George Spruce Kings congratulate Melissa Lawrence of Prince George, the winner of the third early bird draw in the 28th Annual Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery. Ticket number 3713 was purchased at Canadian Tire and was drawn from the Show Home Lottery barrel at the house in the Aberdeen Glen Subdivision on Sunday night at 8 p.m.When notified her ticket had been drawn as the early-bird ...

MPs in the House of Commons vote 253-37 in favour of a harmonized sales tax for Ontario and B.C.

One of the five men arrested during a recent Whitehorse drug bust pleaded guilty to selling Ecstasy today, but indicated he will fight the more serious charges against him.

The Yukon has lost one of its own. The Yukon has lost one of its own. Life-long Yukoner Lloyd Ryder passed away Monday at the age of 87. He is remembered by many Yukoners for his lengthy flying career, which began in 1956. He began flying commercially in 1962 with Whitehorse Flying Service.

In what has turned into a David and Goliath battle, the plight of Keno City residents who contend they are being pushed aside by Alexco Resource Corp. and its plans for mining silver in the region, is being ignored by the Yukon government, says Liberal MLA Eric Fairclough.

Canada's Winter Olympic athletes are calling on the prime minister to support an agreement on cutting greenhouse gases at the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen.

GETTING SOME AIR TIME – The Whitehorse Minor Soccer Toonie Tournament was held over the weekend at the Canada Games Centre and Yukon College. Here players battle it out in Sunday’s gold medal match.

It was opening weekend at Mt. Sima this past weekend. It was opening weekend at Mt. Sima this past weekend.