LIVE B.C. seeks ban on using drugs in 'all public spaces,' shifting approach to decriminalization
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
The first event ever inside Climate Pledge Arena -- whether it will be considered the official first event or not -- was far from a soft opening.
"Dave Grohl said he was going to tear the building down," joked Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke on Wednesday, barely 12 hours after Foo Fighters christened the new facility. "He came close, at 2 1/2 hours I think he was intent."
The home of the Seattle Kraken survived the screams and guitars of rock stars once this week and seems ready for its hockey debut on Saturday night when the Kraken host the Vancouver Canucks. Before the first home game for the NHL's newest franchise, the arena will have its first official event Friday night when Coldplay performs there.
The week's events -- which began with Tuesday night's benefit show featuring Foo Fighters -- are the culmination of a process that started nearly five years ago when Oak View Group was selected by the city of Seattle to renovate what had been known as KeyArena when it was home to the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA.
It was originally earmarked as a $600,000 project. When the doors open for the first Kraken game, the price tag will have topped $1 billion, with the facility now featuring plush premium seating sections, exclusive clubs and the first three-sided dual scoreboard system.
The arena also is running off electricity generated in part by solar panels, will use recycled rain water for its icemaking and has a living wall of vegetation on one of the concourses.
The building also resolved a long struggle to find a suitable arena for pro sports and concerts. It will also be home to the WNBA's Storm and perhaps someday the NBA once again.
"We're very pleased on what we have created for Seattle in this moment of truth," Leiweke said.
Some finishing touches were being applied all over the building Wednesday, from cleaning in the tunnel suites that lead from the NHL locker rooms to the ice, to some of the concession areas that had equipment delayed due to shipping issues.
The Kraken locker room was done, complete with the team's logo on the ceiling. But it still needed to be set up by the team's equipment staff after Seattle spent the first week of the regular season on the road.
Ken Johnsen, the construction executive who oversaw the arena project, said shipping delays created a little apprehension in the closing months of the project. For example, COVID-19 issues and a backlog of ships waiting to unload cargo at various ports around the United States delayed the arrival of risers manufactured in Slovakia to be used for retractable seating in the lower bowl of the arena.
Johnsen said they had to use air freight in some instances to get the materials on time.
"If you weren't watching things really carefully, this (chair) might be in a container in Long Beach," Johnsen said. "So I would say we really started even before July focusing on what's coming, where is it, are we going to have a supply chain problem, and I'm really proud that we didn't."
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.