Hurricane Lee is now threatening to make an earlier and windier landing in the Maritimes.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre said yesterday the storm may feature a “somewhat faster approach speed” as it passes Cape Cod and arrives in the region with hurricane force winds.

The centre also describes the arrival of Lee as “a Saturday event for the strongest impacts with lingering weaker conditions on Sunday.”

Lee is forecast to keep travelling north and lose strength in cooler waters before potentially making landfall in Canada and becoming a post-tropical storm.

 

 

Premier Tim Houston is expected to announce changes to his cabinet later today.

The shuffle comes just past the two-year mark in the Progressive Conservative government’s mandate.

The swearing-in ceremony for the ministers is to take place at Government House in Halifax.

 

 

Current and former students at Nova Scotia’s only francophone university are describing allegations of sexual assault and misconduct on campus in an online campaign.

The site, titled S-A Change Now, states there have been at least 53 sexual assaults either on Universite Sainte-Anne campus or involving students from the university between 2015 and 2019.

Within days of the site’s appearance on September 1st, the R-C-M-P made a public appeal for any information related to alleged sexual assaults at the school.

The school says that it is working on responding to calls for reform.

 

 

Nearly seven years after Afghanistan war veteran Lionel Desmond killed his family, then himself, in Upper Big Tracadie, the inquiry into the fatalities has resumed under a new judge.

The Nova Scotia government dismissed Judge Warren Zimmer as lead in the inquiry on June 30th, suggesting he had taken too long to come up with a report.

A lawyer for Lionel Desmond’s sister, Cassandra Desmond, told the court that she is concerned the change could undermine the credibility of any recommendations resulting from the inquiry.

The inquiry’s new lead, retired Judge Paul Scovil, has not provided a timeline on when his report might be ready.

 

 

Governor General Mary Simon continues with her visit to Nova Scotia today after arriving yesterday.  Today, Simon will visit Royal Naval Dockyard before moving on to Laing House in Halifax, which  provides mental health support to youth between the ages of 16 and 29.

She will also visit Fire Station 65 in Tantallon, where she will speak with firefighters and other first responders who were on the front lines of the recent wildfires northwest of Halifax.

On Friday, she will take part in the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the Ship Hector in Pictou, which carried Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia in the 18th century — and she will conclude her visit by delivering remarks at Black Cultural Centre in Cherry Brook.