CHURCHILL ANNOUNCES NEW MONEY FOR SCHOOL PROTECTIVE GEAR, SAFER WATER AND LEARNING PROJECTS AIMED AT SEVERAL NOVA SCOTIA GRADE LEVELS
An announcement from the province and Ottawa on extra money to keep Nova Scotia schools safe and productive is putting out substantial tax dollars. Education Minister Zach Churchill has announced significant new investments in healthy food programs, math and literacy programs, personal protective equipment for staff and students, and other projects.
The $14.3 million to cover the cost comes from the federal Safe Return to Class Fund. The province will provide $4.1 million to pilot new online math and literacy programs to help students. Churchill says those will be accessible to students in class or at home. The new programs include grades 3 to 10 math, grades primary to 3 enhanced literacy, including phonemic awareness (ability to hear and manipulate larger units of sound, such as words, rhymes and syllables), phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension, in addition to grades 4 to 6 with money for “writing through practice.” There’s also serious cash going into touchless water-filling stations within the provincial school system.
Other key investments announced today (Dec 2nd) include:
— $1.5 million to purchase additional PPE, including masks, hand sanitizer and other supplies, for students and staff
— $700,000 to support a transition to blended learning, if required, so schools can reorganize and relocate furniture and supplies within a short period of time, if that’s what the pandemic mandates. (File Photo)
COVID-RELATED CHARGES SINCE MARCH STARTING TO ADD UP, WITH
A DOZEN EXPENSIVE FINES HANDED OUT JUST LAST NIGHT
Police across this province are not fooling around on COVID 19. They charged and fined 12 people $1,000 each last night in the south end of Halifax for not social distancing. RCMP and local police say a total of 320 people have now been charged for violating COVID-19 restrictions since the final week of March. Among that number, other tickets have been issued to business operators and individuals who failed to comply with some of the provincial closure and physical distancing orders that have been well-publicized since early last spring.
CENTRAL ZONE SCHOOL ADDS ONE MORE COVID INFECTION TUESDAY EVENING,
PLUS NEXT STEPS IN THE CORONAVIRUS CRACKDOWN
Premier Stephen McNeil says 21 Nova Scotians who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 this week did not have any symptoms before the tests were done. He’s also announcing two mobile testing units beginning to make the rounds across the province. Today’s stop for one of them is at the Northeast Kings Education Centre in Canning, where 2 student cases have been confirmed, although officials can’t yet figure out how or if those two infections are connected. And last night, (Dec 1st) the Central Zone confirmed another school case of COVID at St. Margaret’s Bay Elementary School. That school is closed indefinitely until deep-cleaning assessments are made.
Doctor Robert Strang says with 142 active COVID cases and 10 new cases, all in the Central Zone – we’re still seeing too many close contacts for each positive case. It started out at 3 contacts per person, and now it’s up to 8 contacts per positive infection – who need to be questioned, tested and monitored. The latest positive cases in the Northern Health Zone are on the border with the Halifax area, and health officials say they point to personal contacts in Halifax. Strang says if current restrictions need to be extended beyond December 8th, and move out to areas beyond the Halifax Central Zone , we’ll only know that as next week’s deadline draws closer and the numbers prove the need to up the ante.
Big news is coming in from the U-K, that its government has approved the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. Officials in that country expect to start the process of using the vaccinations as early as next week.
LONG TERM CARE HOMES CHANGING DESIGNATED CAREGIVER RULE
There is one precise new Coronavirus rule that is being set up right away. And that’s to reduce the number of designated caregivers in long-term care homes from 2, down to just one person for each resident. That is in effect right away.
When it comes to Christmas, Dr. Strang says we need to keep our celebrations small, to mark what we have as Nova Scotians, instead of what we won’t have this Christmas.
GROWTH NUMBERS SHOW THE ECONOMY HAS THE ABILITY TO BOUNCE BACK FROM COVID
The federal number-crunchers at Statistics Canada say the economy grew at a record annualized pace of 40.5 per cent in the third quarter. That, as businesses came out of COVID-19 lockdowns during the summer. Economists say that’s proof that sharp economic turnarounds are possible, and they’re fully expecting a repeat of that growth once this second wave of the pandemic is brought under control.
PROVINCES ATTACKING OTTAWA OVER HEALTH CARE SPENDING
The provinces are criticizing the federal Liberals for failing to signal more help for health-care systems and strained provincial coffers in its new spending plans, setting up a potential showdown next week between the prime minister and premiers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet Dec. 10th with the country’s premiers, who have been demanding a meeting since September to talk about the annual federal transfer payments to provinces and territories for health care. The provincial leaders say the already-established bump for health care of more than a BILLION dollars won’t be enough. The fiscal update released Monday, outlining some $25 billion in new spending to top up and expand existing programs and create new ones for hard-hit industries, contained no extra compensation for the Premiers to cover surging COVID costs at hospitals and clinics. (Cdn Press)
IS TRUMP TAKING MONEY FOR GRANTING PARDONS?
The U-S Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating what looks like a criminal scheme involving paying a bribe to people either in or affiliated with the White House. That series of bribes would be in exchange for an unknown person receiving a presidential pardon, according to court documents just being made public.
A large number of names have been redacted in the evidence. But the plot involved the person offering “a substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence.” The paperwork provides no indication Donald Trump was aware of the plot. The disclosure comes amid reports that Trump is considering pardoning a wide array of loyal contacts in the dying days of his presidency. (Source – TheHill.com)
