Wednesday - Jan 7 - Competing on a national stage

🌨️ High 2°C

Good morning—and welcome to 2026.

This is our first issue of the year. We were planning to be in your inbox a couple of days ago, but a technical hiccup got in the way—thanks for your patience, and our apologies for the delay.

We’re kicking things off with a great local story: two UFV undergraduates who stood out at a national sustainable agriculture hackathon, competing alongside master’s and PhD students and showing they belong on a much bigger stage. You’ll also find your usual Need to Know roundup below, with key updates from across the Fraser Valley.

Here’s to a strong start to the year.

-The FVC team (Emily, Robyn and William)

Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope | Mission

🚘 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.

Today’s Feature

Need to Know

⚖️ An Agassiz woman charged with reckless discharge of a firearm after allegedly shooting at police in June 2025 was deemed fit to stand trial despite being diagnosed with unspecified psychosis and religious delusions. [Hope Standard]

🚧 The BC government awarded a $242 million contract to Metro Vancouver Infrastructure Partnership to reconstruct the Highway 11 interchange in Abbotsford, with construction beginning this month to reduce congestion and add HOV lanes, bike paths, and truck parking. [Fraser Valley Today]

💰 A Rosedale resident won $500,000 from the November 21, 2025 Lotto Max Extra draw after checking his ticket on the BCLC app at home. [Fraser Valley Today]

🚌 Mission Public School District is trading its electric bus for a diesel model after the vehicle experienced 10 months of downtime over three years due to reliability issues. [Mission Record]

🏘️ Chilliwack's typical single-family home assessed value dropped one per cent from $907,000 to $902,000, reflecting a softer housing market across the Lower Mainland where total assessments decreased from $2.01 trillion to $1.92 trillion. [Chilliwack Progress]

🎄 D.W. Poppy Secondary graduates raised over $2,000 for their June dry grad celebration at The Koop through a Christmas tree chipping and bottle drive fundraiser on January 3, supported by donations from Arbor Pro Tree Services and Pro Contractors. [Langley Advance Times]

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🗓 Things to do

Weekend Family Arts: Family art-making sessions on Saturdays from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at The Reach in Abbotsford welcome guests of all ages with children accompanied by parents or guardians, running January 10 and 24 with pre-registration required at $5 per session.

Sourdough Simplified with Rise Baking Lab: A four-hour beginner-friendly sourdough class on Saturday, January 11 at 9:00 AM covers building and maintaining a starter, understanding fermentation, and mastering shaping and baking techniques for $194.25 including GST.

Comedy Open Mic @ Old Abbey Ales: Abbotsford's weekly comedy open mic on Sunday, January 11 features five-minute sets for all experience levels with doors opening at 6:00 PM and the show starting at 7:00 PM at Old Abbey Ales (Mt. Lehman and Fraser Highway), with free admission for ages 19+ and a one-drink minimum encouraged.

The Gown Lowdown (Everything But The Groom): An educational bridal seminar for newly engaged brides takes place Tuesday, January 27 at 6:00 PM at Everything But The Groom’s Langley boutique, offering expert guidance on dress-shopping timelines, sizing, budgeting, alterations, fabrics, trends, and accessories, plus live models, insights from an in-house seamstress, and an open Q&A with bridal experts; tickets and pre-registration required.

Have an event to tell us about? Email [email protected] to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

That’s it!

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