HOUSE IN NEW GLASGOW – SIX PEOPLE INSIDE UNHURT
***Updated 9:03 AM
A house fire this morning at the corner of Pine and Summer Street off East River Road this morning has been keeping crews busy. Constable Ken MacDonald says regional police are directing traffic away from the fire until mid-morning as crews work further and try to determine exactly how the fire got started. Constable Ken MacDonald says there were six people inside that two-storey home, and luckily, no serious injuries. (Photos Courtesy Brian Cameron)
NEW BRUNSWICK GAS PRICES UP THIS WEEK
If you’ve been thinking the jump in the world price of oil is going to affect your wallet, you’re probably right. Gas and diesel prices are up again in New Brunswick, and our new prices come in at midnight. New Brunswick gas is up by an extra 4.6 cents per litre this week. Diesel prices in that province are up by 3 cents.
Nova Scotia has 30 active cases of COVID-19 this morning, with 8 new cases in the latest update from Public Health.
Three of the cases are in Northern Zone and are close contacts of previous infections.
Two of the cases are in Eastern Zone and are related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada and three are in the Central Zone. As a result of the two new cases in the Northern Zone and the business exposures sites in Truro, the Truro Campus of the Community College will host mobile COVID testing today from 10 until 6. For more on that testing, visit http://www.nshealth.ca/covid-exposures
People are asked to look for the signs and register at the Mobile Health Unit vans located in the TRURO NSCC parking lot. Testing will take place in the lobby of the cafeteria. Additional dates might be added after today in Truro, depending on the demand.
VALLEY APPLE BLOSSOM FESTIVAL CANCELLED IN FAVOUR OF SMALLER EVENTS
The latest event victim from the ongoing pandemic is the Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom. It’s usually held in May, but for the second year in a row, the formal festival is being cancelled, although there is hope for some smaller “off-shoot” events. Those safer and smaller-scale events will be announced as the Spring draws closer.
TEACHERS TO GET ANSWERS ON PENSION PROSPECTS
The province and Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) have appointed an independent three-person expert panel to recommend ways to protect and strengthen the Teachers’ Pension Plan. The plan has an unfunded liability of $1.5 billion. While there is no immediate risk the plan won’t be able to meet its ongoing pension obligations, there are currently more people drawing a teacher’s pension in this province than there are paying into it.
TRUMP IMPEACHED FOR THE SECOND TIME
A law professor at Amherst College in Massachusetts says the prospect of Donald Trump being impeached is the perfect end to his presidency. Lawrence Douglas says if you can’t impeach a man who convinces violent followers to try to overthrow government proceedings in the capitol itself, you might as well remove the impeachment clause from the U-S constitution altogether. Trump was officially impeached again yesterday. If the U-S Senate decides to do the same thing, Trump could be barred from ever running for public office again. (with files from CBC, AP)
NOVA SCOTIA FORESTRY OPERATORS IN LINE FOR COVID CASH
Nova Scotia’s forestry sector operators can apply to recover extra costs for keeping their employees and communities safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. An agreement between Ottawa and the Province will make more than $668,000 from the federal Forest Sector Safety Measures Fund available to small and medium-sized forestry businesses in Nova Scotia. Businesses can apply to recover costs for COVID-19 safety measures incurred between April and Dec. 31st of last year. Eligible costs include personal protective equipment, handwashing stations, extra vehicles and accommodations. To apply, your business must have fewer than 500 employees and the main business activity needs to be in forestry and logging, wood product manufacturing or pulp and paper making.
CENTRAL NOVA M-P FRASER VOTED “BEST ORATOR” IN PARLIAMENT
We told you he was in the running earlier this week, and now Central Nova M-P Sean Fraser has been voted by fellow parliamentarians as the Best Orator in the entire House of Commons. As a winner of that title in the MacLean’s Parliamentarian of the Year Awards, Fraser wants people here in the riding of Central Nova to know that he’s humbled. He says growing up in Merigomish, he always looked up to people who could clarify complicated subjects without the need for the over-use of “fancy words..” In the past, the MacLean’s Parliamentarian Best Orator honours have gone to former interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae; former minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird; and former Green Party leader Elizabeth May.
