MIDWAY, B.C. — Mayor Martin Fromme stands beside the Village of Midway’s heritage hotel, looking toward a narrow bridge over the fast-flowing Kettle River, and the dirt road and under-construction can...

Joe Francis—of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ infamy, et al—lost this Bel Air mansion to the U.S. government in 2018. Uncle Sam sold it this month. Francis bought the place for $5.5 million in the early 2000s, sh...