Thursday - Dec. 21, 2023 - Strings attached

🌧 High 9C

Good morning!

This morning, before they de-camped to school (and before I woke up), my kids were scurrying about the house decorating. I learned this when I walked straight into a wooden snowflake dangling at eye-level in the hallway. Four-foot-tall eight-year-olds, it turns out, do not think a lot about what it’s like to live life two feet higher.

I remember when I was younger and smaller and I got a chance to climb onto a chair and see life from an adult’s point of view. The one thing I remember was the fridge, and the realization that there was a top to the fridge—a place where things (yes, mostly dust but sometimes other things!) could exist out of sight from the world below.

It’s almost Christmas. Which means no newsletters next Monday or Tuesday. But we will return for the back half of the week. Which means we, like most other news outlets, will be rolling out some year-end stuff.

The secret here is that it’s usually so reporters can takes some extra time off or generally slow down a little bit. Anyways, we’re going to do so by giving a quick recap of the biggest stories of the year in each community in four different areas: politics, housing/development/transportation, the environment, and a catch-all breaking news category. But if we do this by ourselves, we’re going to miss something big, so we want your help: If you have two minutes, take this six-question quick survey and tell us the stories, issues and people that had the biggest impact in your community.

– Tyler

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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

Now strings attached

If they’re going to fork over $6 million to Surrey-based Fraser Health, Fraser Valley politicians want a say in how the money is used.

The politicians who sit on the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital District board (gently) thumbed their nose at the health authority last week by refusing to ante up the full amount of money requested by Fraser Health for upcoming capital projects.

Instead of passing along the full amount requested, the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital District held back half—about $3.2 million—pending further talks.

• Today, Tyler writes about the latest push for more local input into health funding decisions in the Fraser Valley.

Related

Need to Know

🏥 A woman with a painful infection died after waiting for 14 hours in Abbotsford Regional Hospital’s emergency room [Abbotsford News]

🔥 A garage in Langley burned down Tuesday night, but firefighters kept the flames from spreading to a nearby house [Aldergrove Star]

🔎 Police want the public to help identify a Langley woman seriously injured after being struck by a truck Monday; (she can’t communicate at the moment) [Langley RCMP]

👉 A non-profit that has been monitoring progress towards Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action has given up annual reports because progress is so slow [CityNews]

🏒 Abbotsford Canucks forward Jermaine Loewen wrote a children’s book about how hockey is for everyone [Abbotsford Canucks]

🚒 A women’s transition house that is under construction caught fire Tuesday but escaped serious damage [Chilliwack Progress]

🐱 A kitten that was found seriously injured beside an Abbotsford road has had surgery [Abbotsford News]

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The Agenda

A fence of prevention is worth a pound of salt

Chilliwack city crews have again erected a fence they hope will help keep a rural road clear of snow—if it ever falls this winter.

The fence was erected just off the eastern side of Prest Road and is intended to provide a barrier and stop snow from blowing across the flat prairie and onto the key north-south artery following snow events.

It’s not the first time crews have erected a snow fence having done so the previous year. Other communities, including Agassiz, have also experimented with the scheme. Chilliwack has also created natural snow fences by planting shrubs to prevent blowing snow from covering roads at particularly tricky locations. One planted in 2018 remains in place today.

Construction on 264 Interchange to start in a year

Construction on Highway 1’s new 264 Street Interchange will begin in “late 2024.” The province has shortlisted three companies that will compete for the right to build the new junction, the government announced in a press release yesterday.

Designs for the new junction were released earlier this year. You can see a larger image here. They show the junction will involve a new truck parking area, along with a bus exchange and park-and-ride lot with 180 stalls.

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As part of a membership, you get our special weekend roundup of all the things you might’ve missed each week!

🗓 Things to do this week/end

😃 Family fun: Minter Gardening in Chilliwack is hosting a family fun day Dec. 23 with music, games for kids, and fundraising. Details online.

🎶 Classical music: Songs Stings & Steps presents A symphony for Christmas at Central Heights Church in Abbotsford Dec. 22. Tickets online.

🏒 Hockey: The Vancouver Giants host the Victoria Royals Dec. 27 at the Langley Events Centre. Tickets online.

Want even more? Insider members get a comprehensive events listing every Thursday, plus a weekly Saturday round-up edition with behind-the-scenes content. Becoming a member costs less than $2 a week and helps support the ongoing production of The Current’s newsletters and in-depth journalism. Become a member here.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

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