Friday - Dec. 22, 2023 - Swapping parks for daycares

🌧 High 9C

Good morning!

The middle school boys’ basketball team my dad coaches just got new uniforms and they wanted to try them out. I’m home for a little while over the holidays, and I joined the alumni/teacher team to give the boys team a game. It was a smashing success (and I’m not only saying that because my team won). A few of the younger classes came out to watch in the stands, and I impressed everyone with my super-cool basketball skills (read: I went for a layup, tripped over my own feet, and bellyflopped on the gym floor under the basket.) It was still pretty fun.

– Grace

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

  Inside Langley’s plan to swap
park land for daycare spots

Langley is considering trading park space for childcare spots. 

Langley Township staff have compiled a list of 13 parks where daycares could be built to fill the community’s desperate childcare shortage. New daycare programs, starting with a pilot project in a single park, would be an important step to filling the gap in childcare options—but it’s not a perfect solution. 

• Today, Grace writes about a new plan for Langley daycare. 

Related

Need to Know

🧑‍🔬 Scientists at KPU have teamed up with local First Nations to emphasize the significance of biodiversity in the Fraser estuary [Langley Advance Times]

🌨️ Don’t count on a white Christmas, Meteorologists say [CBC]

➡️ An altercation in Chilliwack yesterday led to one arrest and one person hospitalized [Fraser Valley Today]

🚘️ An Agassiz man will be able to see his daughter more after winning a Chilliwack car giveaway [Chilliwack Progress]

🚓 A heavy police presence in Greendale did not involve the coroner’s service, RCMP said [Fraser Valley Today]

👩‍⚕️ BC premier promises to improve cancer care as pressure—from patients and political opposition—climbs [Vancouver Sun]

👉️ A Langley woman has been arrested on human trafficking charges [CTV]

🧸 Mastermind Toys will not accept gift cards after Christmas Eve—the store will be under new management in 2024 [Langley Advance Times]

🎄 Christmas will be “very different” for families affected by wildfires in BC [CTV]

🦁 How the sculptures at the entrances of many “Vancouver Special” homes came to be a beloved tradition [The Tyee]

🎅 An online historian used an AI program to create a version of Santa from every province and territory [Craig Baird/Twitter/X]

📷️ CURRENT CAM: Congratulations to Linda, who was the first to correctly guess the location of Wednesday’s Current Cam as the overpass on McBride Trail in Fort Langley.

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The Agenda

Bus route schedules change in Abbotsford

Several bus routes in Abbotsford are getting slightly different schedules.

Weekday BC Transit buses that run on Route 22 will shift their schedules to match the bell schedules at MEI, an Abbotsford private school, better. Meanwhile, buses on Route 21 between Aldergrove and Abbotsford will change to make connections between BC Transit and Metro Vancouver’s Translink buses more convenient for riders.

In order to keep transitions from bus to bus within Abbotsford smooth, several other routes will have small changes made to their schedules to match the larger changes on routes 21 and 22. Check out the updated times for stops near you here.

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💾 Flashback Friday

This photo, titled “Greetings from the Taylor family, Christmas 1935,” shows a snap of life in Langley in the 1930s. Two kids in a cart hitched to a pair of Shetland ponies roll through a pasture. An older girl sits on a larger horse behind them, and the family dogs cluster around them. The photo might have been sent around to family at Christmas time and intended to be a snapshot of the Taylor family’s life.

🗓 Things to do

😆 Christmas Comedy: Comedy duo James and Jamesy present O Christmas Tea, a British comedy, at Chilliwack Cultural Centre Wednesday, Dec. 27. Tickets online. The Clarke Theatre hosts the same show Dec. 31.

🎄 Festive improv: Very Very Improv presents its Holiday Fishbowl Challenge Thursday, Dec. 28 at Bez Arts Hub in Langley. Tickets online.

🎭️ Theatre: Gallery 7 Theatre in Abbotsford presents Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, a Pride and Prejuedice sequel, until Dec. 23 at the Matsqui Auditorium. Details online.

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Catch up

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