Vancouver rundown for Thursday, September 18,
2025. A new extortion task force is being set
up in B .C. with one goal, targeting threats
and violence in the South Asian business community.
The RCMP -led task force will include 40 members
from various agencies. Police say 45 extortion
attempts and 27 shootings are under investigation
in Surrey from this year alone. The Surrey Police
Service says it's very close to making arrests
in this year's shootings and arsons. Other news,
a car fire on the freeway in Abbotsford during
the Wednesday morning rush caused many people
to be late. The small car went up in flames in
the East Lanes just east of Sumas Way at around
7 a .m. No one was hurt. Vancouver's Bright Nights
Holiday Festival is leaving Stanley Park for
a return to Surrey. The annual event will now
be held at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds from November
28 to December 28 this year. The event is a fundraiser
for the BC Burn Fund. In recent years, it hit
a snag as the Stanley Park miniature train needed
repairs. The move now hitches the festival to
Surrey's already popular Noel Holiday Light Festival.
The ash that's reportedly fallen in parts of
the South Coast and Vancouver Island is not from
the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. That word
from the experts comes as parts of Washington
state have reported old ash kicked up by recent
winds. BC's hazy orange sky is more likely a
result of smoke from several wildfires. The forecast,
clouds for Thursday morning, sunny with gusty
winds by the afternoon, and sunshine for Friday,
clouds and showers. For all the details on these
local Vancouver area stories, along with those
links, go to vancouverrundown .substack .com.