PRO-TRUMP CROWDS GO WILD WITH PROTESTS, WASHINGTON, D-C LOCKDOWN FOLLOWS,
BIDEN’S VICTORY IS NOW CERTIFIED
(Associated Press Photo)
The assault by several hundred people prone to violence among several-thousand peaceful protesters on the U-S Capitol yesterday is making headlines around the world this morning. Four people have died as a result. Fifty people were arrested and weapons were seized, along with guns and pipe bombs.
What was supposed to be a historic day in the U.S. capital lived up to that billing for all the wrong reasons as an angry throng of Donald Trump supporters managed to overpower police and lay siege to Capitol Hill. Lawmakers were in the process of certifying Joe Biden’s victory. They were forced to temporarily stop the vote count.
(Canadian Press Photo)
But just hours later, things backfired on the Trump flag wavers, who were shut down by police and the national guard. So with the Capitol fully secured, lawmakers reconvened their joint session, determined to send the message that they wouldn’t have their work interrupted. As a result, Joe Biden’s victory is now formally validated.
Vice President Mike Pence led off with this statement : “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win,” he said. “This is still the people’s house.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed never to be kept from the people’s business by “thugs, mobs or threats.”
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney led off the evening session by saying “The best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth,” Romney said. “And the truth is, president-elect Biden won this election.”
(Photo – Reuters News)
One woman died of a gunshot wound. Three others died of medical distress. The day ended with Donald Trump being blocked by facebook and twitter for inciting violence. There has also been talk of putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge, using the 25th amendment to declare Donald Trump mentally unfit to finish his term. (With files from Canadian Press)
FORMER U-S STATE PROSECTOR SAYS FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AT STAKE IN WASHINGTON
JC Planas is a Florida Elections Lawyer and former State Prosecutor, and says attacks on journalists covering the protests in Washington yesterday are an attack on freedom of the press. Planas says the first amendment right guaranteeing that freedom has been disrespected and weakened by Donald Trump. He says Canadian journalists covering the violent protests at the U-S Capital yesterday, and who were derided and attacked by the pro-Trump crowd deserve a full apology. A similar protest in Vancouver yesterday saw a CBC photojournalist attacked by Trumpers in that city. (With files from CBC News)
BAKER DUE IN COURT AFTER CROSSING INTO NORTHERN NOVA SCOTIA FOLLOWING SHOOTING
A 24-year-old man who’s been accused of shooting a teacher near a Moncton-area high school is due in court today. That, after he was arrested here in Nova Scotia about 4 hours after his car was found abandoned in downtown Amherst yesterday morning. 24-year-old Janson Bryan Baker had apparently been involved in a Moncton bank robbery in the past and was also convicted of threatening a taxi driver with a knife. His crossing into Nova Scotia created widespread public alerts about him carrying weapons until he was arrested in Amherst just after 12 noon yesterday. (RCMP Photo)
NEPHEW HELPING PICTOU COUNTY UNCLE SERIOUSLY HURT IN THIS WEEK’S MOBILE HOME FIRE
As this week’s arson case from that mobile home fire in Abercrombie makes its way through the courts, the family of the man who sustained life threatening injuries in the fire has started a GoFundMe page to help him recover from burns and smoke inhalation sustained in the blaze. Meanwhile, the Fox Brook man charged with deliberately setting fire to that mini-home has been sent for a psychiatric assessment. (James Fraser MacKay in GO FUND ME photo)
GAS PRICES UP IN NEW BRUNSWICK THIS WEEK
Gas prices are up by one-and-a-half cents per litre in New Brunswick this morning. Diesel is down by eight-tenths of a cent. Nova Scotia’s weekly price setting is at midnight.
NOVA SCOTIA COVID CASES BEGINNING TO RISE – ALSO UP SHARPLY IN NB
Experts are asking if Nova Scotia’s 12 new cases of COVID-19 are the beginning of the post-Christmas surge they’ve been concerned about. There are now 29 active infections across the province. Officials say there are two new cases in the Western Zone, including a travel-related case and a close contact of a previous infection.
Public Health says the one new case in the Eastern Zone is a student at St. F-X in Antigonish that we told you about yesterday.
The remaining nine cases are in the Central Zone and include seven close contacts of previous cases, a travel-related case and a case that is under investigation.
Regionally, PEI recorded four new cases of Coronavirus yesterday, with 31 new infections being confirmed in New Brunswick.
NEGATIVE COVID TESTS FOR FLYING INTO CANADA BEGIN TODAY
Today is the day the federal government is beginning its official mandate that means all international travellers (ages 5+) will have to test negative for COVID-19 before arriving at any Canadian Airport. That means they’ll need to get a negative result in the country they’re arriving from. So that will need to be a major part of any planning for people coming into the country as of today, in order to keep infected people from spreading COVID when they arrive.
NOVA SCOTIA DRIVERS NEED TO ASK TO GET COVID INSURANCE SAVINGS
With more than 20 insurance companies applying to Nova Scotia’s provincial regulator for car insurance reductions, it’s no secret that people who’ve been working from home should be saving on their premiums. If you haven’t – the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Atlantic Office says you’re the one who needs to call your insurance agent to ask for those savings. And if you’re feeling guilty about that, consider what an insurance analysis company told CBC News yesterday. Hellosafe says it estimates the savings on accident payouts by car insurance companies in the Atlantic provinces totalled more than $328-million in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. That, as most drivers have been staying home for large parts of the year to avoid the pandemic.
