Feel-good Friday: Global BC’s highlights of the week

Each week at Global BC, we highlight our stories to bring a bright spot to your Friday and into the weekend.

Here are the five stories we want to share:

Richmond man wins $58M in first-ever Gold Ball Jackpot 6/49

A man in Richmond has won the first Gold Ball Jackpot prize in B.C., taking home a whopping $58 million.

The BC Lottery Corporation announced on Friday that Hao Ping Chung won the massive prize.

“I saw a big jackpot and bought a ticket,” recalled Chung. “It still feels unreal.”

For the Gold Ball Jackpot, the prize starts at $10 million and rises by $2 million every draw until someone wins.

This $58 million prize is also the largest jackpot in B.C. won from a playnow.com online ticket.

‘Vancouver is awesome’: Blind man robbed of cane finds a new home

Four weeks ago, Meysam Khataminia was struggling as a newcomer from Iran.

The blind man was living in shelters and unable to find a home. Then he was targeted by a thief who tried to steal his phone but managed to take off with his white cane.

Police caught the suspect and returned the cane.

Now, a month later, Khataminia has found a new home and has even begun performing as a concert pianist again.

Grateful for the help he has received since the theft of his cane, Khataminia said “Vancouver is awesome.”

“People are awesome here and I love Vancouver. I love people.”

Brilliant bubblegum blue: Eye-catching herring spawn filmed off B.C. coast

A video capturing a natural phenomenon off the Vancouver Island coast is generating interest worldwide.

Every year, when herring spawn, the water turns turquoise like a bubblegum or cotton candy blue.

Geoff Johnson, a photographer in Ucluelet who runs the channel UkeeTube, had always wanted to capture the herring spawn and he got his chance.

“This year, the planets aligned, it was a beautiful sunny day, I got the heads up, in time,” he said.

“If you’re watching a series of the great events in nature, you know, there’s a bunch of them that take place around the salmon run, the whale migration and the herring spawn — all happen right here on Vancouver Island.”

Herring play an important role in B.C.’s rich ecosystem, but federal officials say their numbers have been declining over the years.

Sobriety being celebrated at Vancouver comedy club

In a room where recovery meetings are held once a week, the idea to launch a much different type of comedy club was born.

“I wanted to create a space where those people could come and enjoy themselves without having to imbibe,” said Conor Levesque, founder of By The Hour Comedy.

Levesque’s dreams of a career in entertainment were derailed at a young age because of drinking. Now three-and-a-half years sober, he is making a comeback.

This pop-up night spot, which has become a permanent weekly feature, is offering an alternative for people in recovery and the sober curious, and is stocked with a variety of alcohol-free refreshments.

Cat-cloning a success for B.C. woman

From heartbreak and tragedy comes great joy, in the form of two kittens named Bear Bear and Honey Bear in honour of their genetic twin, Bear.

“Bear was the smartest cat, the smartest animal, I’ve ever had and I just wanted his genetic material to continue on ad infinitum,” Kris Stewart said.

“I just didn’t think Mother Earth was finished with Bear material so I wanted him to live on.”

Stewart lost her beloved cat Bear in 2022, when he was hit by a car.

She immediately started the process of cloning him with the help of a Texas company. The $50,000 procedure resulted in two new kittens that are genetic copies of her original cat.

“You have to save your pennies for it because it’s a little expensive, but things worked out OK for me and I was able to put aside some cash for it,” she said.

“But, the goal is just to let other pet parents know that this technology is out there.”

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