News for Youse: Housing starts rise, Pattullo Bridge will close, and Vancouver's bid for Gretzky

by The Georgia Straight Staff on August 9th, 2013 at 9:05 AM

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Housing starts rise The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has reported that housing starts in Greater Vancouver were trending at 18,888 in July, up from 17,580 in June.

B.C. unemployment rises B.C.'s unemployment rate rose in July to 6.7 percent from 6.3 percent in June, according to Statistics Canada; the national rate increased to 7.2 percent from 7.1 percent from June.

Pattullo Bridge will close The Pattollo Bridge connecting downtown New Westminster with North Surrey will be closed from 9 p.m. until Monday morning so work crews can make some repairs.

West End postal problems CBC News has reported some West End residents' complaints of "sporadic mail delivery". The postal workers' union blames cutbacks at Canada Post.

IOC questions Russia's antigay laws Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, says he wants more information from Russia about the impact of its antigay legislation on people who will attend the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta apologizes CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has publicly said he's sorry for misleading Americans about medical marijuana. He now says there are genuine health benefits from cannabis.

PBS highlights Fukushima fallout Canadian public-health officials have downplayed the impact of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear-power plant leaking into the Pacific Ocean. But nuclear-fusion expert Arjun Makhijani has told PBS that strontium bioaccumulates in fish and algae and there aren't sufficient measurements farther out at sea. Read the transcript here.

Could Gretzky have been a Canuck? On the 25th anniversary of the trade of Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings, Sportsnet's Christine Simpson has suggested that there was an attempt to bring the Great One to Vancouver. Businessman Nelson Skalbania reportedly contacted Gretzky's agent, Mike Barnet, to say he wanted to buy the team with Jim Pattison and bring Gretzky to Vancouver as a part owner, but the Griffiths family didn't want to sell the Canucks.