In early May a powerful sun storm made the Northern Lights visible from Vancouver Island, but no one predicted that the resulting magnetic disturbance would have been felt on the ocean floor as well.

Over the first full week of the month NASA recorded the strongest solar storm to reach earth in two decades. From May 3 to 9 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration observed 82 solar flares, which are giant explosions on the sun that send energy, light and high-speed particles into space.

The money isn’t all there, but the framing and the dream of a cultural library are moving forward as Hesquiaht elder and artist Tim Paul and friends press ahead with the construction of a cultural knowledge center. The new center is going up on Josephine Street in Port Alberni, at the site of the former NTC smokehouse which burnt down nearly 20 years ago.

A Port Alberni couple has been sentenced to 15 years after they pled guilty to manslaughter in the 2018 death of six-year-old Don-Tay Patrick Lucas.

Following sentencing, the judge allowed members of the Lucas family, including Don-tay’s biological father, to stand before the accused to offer words of forgiveness to them. There wasn’t a dry eye in the courtroom as the family reached out with words of love and compassion.

After more than a decade of development and construction, the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline was completed early this month. For coastal residents, this means that the number of tankers passing by southern Vancouver Island increases from five to 34 a month.

On Thursday, May 16 the mother and stepfather of a six-year-old are scheduled to appear in Port Alberni Law Courts to receive their sentence for the boy’s death.

Don-Tay Patrick Lucas was only six years old when he was found unresponsive in a south Port Alberni townhouse on March 13, 2018. First responders and police were told that the child was injured after a fall down the stairs, but suspicions arose immediately and the death became the focus of a years-long investigation by the RCMP and BC Coroner’s Service.

After an 18-month closure for seismic upgrades, the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia will reopen to the public next month.

Seismic upgrades were made to the museum’s Great Hall as well as the revitalization and reinterpretation of displays of Northwest Coast Indigenous carvings, poles, weavings and other works from the past and present.

Lelaina Jules (ƛ̓akʷapiqa) of Hesquiaht, grew up in Hot Springs Cove, 26 nautical miles north of Tofino. She spent 18 years in her home community learning her language, dances and songs. She learned where to fish, gather berries and medicines, and she learned how to swim safely at her local lake. 

Growing up rooted in her culture, on the land alongside encouragement from her parents, fueled a lifelong love for learning and education.

On May 7 the Ministry of Forests announced the launch of a new Forest Operations Map (FOM) portal where British Columbians can now access and comment on proposed operations, including cutblocks and roads, after amendments to Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA).

“The portal will allow greater public input on forestry activities, as well as greater transparency about forestry proposals within the province and what those proposed activities would entail, including roads, mapped areas of harvest and estimated time of harvest,” a recent press release stated.

At just 66 per cent of normal, the provincial snowpack for May 1 remains extremely low, but it is still too soon to determine what this year’s fire season will look like.

According to the most recent snow survey and water supply bulletin from the River Forecast Centre (RFC), Vancouver Island’s snowpack levels are currently sitting at 49 per cent of normal, which is unchanged from last month. For this time last year, the provincial snowpack was at 91 per cent and Vancouver Island was at 98 per cent.

Port Alberni is about to get hit with a new basketball championship some are calling “May Madness”.

Currently, 46 teams are registered for the first-ever Tseshaht Lightning Basketball Tournament on May 17 to May 19, which features six divisions: senior men, senior women, intermediate boys, intermediate girls, U13 boys and U13 girls.

“There is a hunger for the sport of basketball in Port Alberni,” said tournament organizer and Tseshaht Lightning U13 girls coach Nasimius Ross. “Basketball has been really hot. It’s been an awakening here in our town.”