By far the largest consumption of natural gas occurs in the northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere. This is where the location away from the warmer southern climates, and the location in the interior of large land masses, result in large consumptions of natural gas for heating.

Occasionally I buy a Saturday edition of a Vancouver paper just to see what is happening in the city where I lived, off and on, for over 20 years.

When community relations manager Debra Saunders was working on bios for the Summerland Seniors Village newsletter, she spent significant time interviewing Les Johnson, a long-time Summerlander who had recently celebrated a milestone birthday.

What does it feel like, to live in fear? Not the short-term fear, that an oncoming car won’t stop in time. The long-term, constant fear that you, through no fault of your own, are a target for violence. Just because of who you are.

As we think about the message of Easter, let me share a couple of illustrations that Christians believe about Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.

We are going to be paying more to heat, eat and drive to work.

With Mars now the most intensively explored planet in the Solar System after ours, it is not surprising that we are continually having to review our ideas and preconceptions.

The District of Summerland announced the receipt of a $625,000 grant from the federal “Build Back Better” fund presented in the fall Economic Statement 2020.

If we are ever going to defeat COVID-19, then — in essence, we have to vaccinate at least 80%, but hopefully more, of the world’s population. 

He poked his head through my office door, back in the days when I still had an office. “Can we talk?” he asked.

It all began with a conversation on The Cannery’s patio.

With COVID now entering Year 2, Interior Health and the Ministry of Health have one important job to do — get the people of British Columbia vaccinated.

Over days, stresses had been building up in a big magnetic loop extending upward from the surface of the Sun. The solar wind, flowing outwards at hundreds of kilometres a second was dragging it upwards, stretching it.

Last weekend, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh presented the NDP’s plan to help young people thrive instead of being buried in student loan debt.

Canada’s two top military officers, General Jonathan Vance and Admiral Art McDonald, are under investigation for charges of sexual misconduct.

A couple of years ago, I had the great pleasure and privilege to hike the West Coast Trail; it is a wonder of a trail, a rugged and isolated path.

In previous media releases Interior Health has stated publicly that the move to repatriate the contracts from Pathways was part of a larger plan throughout the province and not due to any lack of services that Pathways has provided.

CARL KNOWS BEST

Many of us are captivated by the bizarre political drama currently playing out below our southern border.

This week, directors with the Regional District Okanagan Similkameen will receive a first draft of a new communications policy. Included is who should be the official media spokesperson for the board.

EDITOR'S NOTE: In recognition of St. Patrick's Day, we are running this excerpt from a novel by Penticton writer Russ McDevitt. McDevitt was born in Ireland and is proud of his Irish heritage.

In October, I wrote about the proposed ban of some single-use plastics announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

I am dreading a possible federal election in the next few months. Why? Well, the choices are not very exciting.

The current controversy in Summerland is the “green washing” of the $7 million proposed solar array. What seems to have been lost in the discussion? The fact is Summerland is lucky to be able to consider an alternative energy project because it owns its electrical utility.

This newspaper runs a daily feature, Today in History. It lists significant events that have happened on this particular day, long ago.

I grew up on the edge of a sprawling conurbation in Birmingham, England. If I stood on a local hill and gazed to the east, I would see the neon orange lights of endless back streets and factories of the industrial heartland — the pumping heart of a nation. As its arteries zigzagged out to th…

Add me to the list of people opposed to the suggestion of selling beer and wine at Skaha Lake Park in Penticton.

John Vassilaki proved that the most effective mayors are often those with no political affiliation.

We call the people we send into space “astronauts” — sailors of the stars, and the Russians call theirs “cosmonauts” — sailors of the cosmos. At the moment we are scarcely out of our cosmic backyard, but we have ambitions. We have spacecraft that have now left the Solar System; however, it w…

Last year, Gord Portman saved two people in a house fire in Penticton. When he saw his picture in the local newspaper, he said to himself, “Oh boy I need help.”

The people of Penticton elected Mayor John Vassialki and the five members of council.

Premier John Horgan got it wrong. I’m talking about the Site C decision to persevere with what I am sure will turn out to be the biggest white elephant in the province’s history.

I am coming up to my one-year anniversary of writing this column. In those 12 months, I do not believe I have quoted Pope Francis.

In June this year, Aunt Jemima will die. So will Uncle Ben.

With the news cycle we’ve been having in Penticton, today seems like the perfect day for an All-Good-News edition. Keeping with the theme of today’s special edition, I offer these pleasant observations.

Once upon a time, John, a Penticton man, was addicted “to everything” — alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex.

This week’s report is about the new firearms legislation.

When Summerland council voted last year to confirm a solar project for the district, we endorsed it.

The pandemic has pointed out some of the weaknesses — if not, in some cases, outright failure — of health care systems on both sides of the border.

A common question that’s been asked of us in the media for years — especially in Kelowna — “Why does our city keep electing the same people to municipal council?”

The federal government in Ottawa has approved a bill that would allow Canadians suffering from “grievous and irremediable mental illnesses” — the wording comes from a Canadian Press report — to opt for a medically assisted death.

As I was working at my dining room table early Monday morning, assembling the stories and photos for this week’s paper, some movement through the window beside me caught my eye.