I hope you had a good weekend. I enjoyed the sun — it’s easier to do when things cool off at night, still! — and had my first Nechako swim of the year, which I assume must be the earliest it’s ever happened. I also had my first mosquito bites and got raspberry thorns in my hand while cleaning up the yard. Seems like summer is here, in May.

With that, some early warning — I’m thinking about how I want to treat this letter moving into summer. It will definitely be reduced output, I’m just not sure how much — maybe taking Mondays off, or just doing one a week, or maybe a few weeks altogether, or some combination of those, depending on what’s warranted. Climate-related disasters aside, summer tends to slow down, news-wise, and it’s good to step outside of that.

But, not quite yet! We still have May to get through and I will at the least be finishing this month out on a weekly schedule. So lets get into the…

Quick news:

• Here are the ten nominees vying for two positions on the Prince George school board, in a by-election set for June 17. I will have more of a write-up on these folks before then, and I’m sure other media will, as well — which I’ll share here!

• Saturday tied the heat record for May 13 but it doesn’t look like Sunday set anything?

• Not everyone was as lucky as we were as new fires prompted more evacuation orders in the northeast. Meanwhile, here’s a look at how the city is preparing for a potential worst-case scenario fire season — and what you need to know about it. And here’s the forecast from B.C. Wildfire.

• In happier summer news, the Park Drive-In Theatre (and mini-golf, and go-karts) is opening up again, under new ownership after the previous ones decided to give it up, after a multi-year run of doing it as a family business. Mario and the new Fast and Furious movie kick the season off this coming weekend.

• Also next weekend: the opening of Huble Homestead.

• And the Community Moves Festival is coming up May 24.

• As Prince George moves toward forcing everyone without a home and not in shelters to live in Moccasin Flats, here are some of the people who don’t feel safe doing so, including a woman who was shot in that encampment.

• Here’s the latest research on ticks in the Prince George region.

• Prince George comedian creates hot sauce.

• The Citizen has compiled a list of businsses for sale, including Sticky’s Candy, GameChangerz VR and the Ristretto Coffee House.

• The creators of FanCon are releasing a short film shot and set at FanCon: “It is about an incompetent, intergalactic conqueror who crash lands at a Comicon and must subdue the locals before his merciless counterpart.” The event was well-attended enough to ensure it will be moving forward in 2024.

• An empty downtown lot is set to be an 80-unit apartment.

• The wait list for surgeries is up in Northern Health.

• Prince George brothers benefiting from autism guide dogs.

• Chancey Hall wins Prince George Art Battle.

• Here’s a Reddit thread with people wish-listing infrastructure and additions they’d like to see in the city.

• And here are some hot animals:

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