NOVA SCOTIA TORIES OFFER ADVICE TO INCOMING PREMIER ON COVID BRIEFINGS

The Nova Scotia P-C party is once again trying to up its game to get ready for the next provincial election.  Sackville-area P-C MLA Brad Johns says COVID-19 briefings should be free from politics, but the line has been increasingly blurred over the last few months with Stephen McNeil in the Premier’s chair.  Johns says incoming Premier Iain Rankin, who’ll be sworn in next Tuesday, would be wise to keep politics out of future COVID-19 briefings.  Johns says the outgoing Premier’s presence at weekly briefings has “diluted the science with political mudslinging.”

FRASER SAYS VACCINES ON  TRACK WITH LATEST DOSAGE NUMBERS

Central Nova Liberal M-P Sean Fraser is out with a new explanation on the country’s vaccine supply.  He says 475,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are slated to arrive in Canada next week.  He says each week thereafter, we expect deliveries of 444,600 doses every 7 days, until the end of March.   In addition, Fraser says Canadians can expect to receive 1.3 Million more doses of the Moderna vaccine in March.

Coupled with what’s already here, that means 6 Million vaccine doses in Canada by the end of March. Beyond March, the Central Nova MP says we can expect 84 Million doses of both vaccines by September, making sure every Canadian who wants to be inoculated against the virus can get one by that time.

 

“SOUND OF MUSIC” GOING AHEAD IN MAY AS PART OF IMPRESSIVE COLLABORATION

Through a unique partnership among the Rotary Club of Pictou, the deCoste Centre and the Pictou County Wellness Centre, the Rotary’s production of ‘The Sound of Music’ will hit the stage at the Wellness Centre this May 27, 28 and 29.  They’ve already sold 300 seats per night, and they’re hoping COVID rules will allow them to increase that by 100 audience members per night.

When COVID-19 triggered gathering restrictions and stay-at-home orders last March, the Rotary Club of Pictou was just weeks away from staging its production of ‘The Sound of Music’. A heartbreaking decision was quickly made to reschedule the production to March of this year.

Rotary Club Member Don Hill is also directing the musical.  He says “We are so pleased to have this opportunity to stage the show. Our cast and orchestra had done months of rehearsals and was ready to go last March. They are thrilled to finally get the chance to stage the musical. Besides the cast and musicians, this decision is a major victory for the Rotary Club. This annual project is a major fundraiser that supports community programs year-round.”  We’ll keep you posted as things evolve.

 

NB GAS PRICES INCREASE FOR TENTH CONSECUTIVE WEEK

New Brunswick gas prices are up less than a penny this week (9-tenths of a cent more expensive) and diesel prices across the border are up by 1.6 cents.  But this is the tenth week in a row that prices have inched higher.  Nova Scotia’s new prices come in at midnight.

 

Public Health is reporting 3 new COVID cases from the latest update – all of them in the Central one.   One of the people infected is self-isolating after traveling to New Brunswick, while the other two cases are being investigated. One of those infected people under investigation is connected to a school in Beaverbank, just outside of Lower Sackville, which will stay closed to students in the Halifax school zone until next Tuesday, February 23rd.

Officials say there are now 14 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, including one person in I-C-U.

 

Mobile Units will be offering community-based COVID-19 testing in Sheet Harbour tomorrow. (Friday)  Testing will be available from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sheet Harbour Legion – Branch #58, for anyone who is asymptomatic, who is not required to self-isolate, and who is not a close contact of a person with COVID-19.

Officials say anyone tested at this clinic does not need to self-isolate while waiting for their results, and for listeners in the Sheet Harbour area,  both drop-in testing and pre-booked appointments are available tomorrow.

Two businesses on Commercial Street in New Minas have been flagged for possible exposure to COVID-19 one week ago yesterday, on Wednesday, February 10^th.  Health officials say they are MIDAS from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Walmart from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

 

POLICE CONTINUE PROBE INTO WESTVILLE SEXUAL ASSAULT

Westville Police have charged a man in his twenties with sexual assault.  Westville Police Chief Howie Dunbar says his officers had some help from Pictou County RCMP in answering a call about a woman in distress at a home in Westville on Tuesday. The 24-year-old suspect made his first court appearance yesterday.  Police says the charges include sexual assault, overcoming resistance, forcible confinement, uttering threats and assault. The investigation continues.

 

FORMER JUSTICE REMEMBERED AS “MORE THAN FAIR”

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is paying tribute to Justice Heather Robertson, who died suddenly last week at the age of 73.  Chief Justice Deborah Smith says Robertson was an “amazing individual” who tackled challenges with dignity and determination and had an “innate sense of fairness.” A Dalhousie Law School graduate, Robertson was called to the bar in November 1975 and later worked in the business world.

In 1995, she was appointed chief of staff to then premier John Savage, and she also later served as chair of the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board before her appointment to the bench in 1998.

Robertson was presiding over a case in 2004, when applause broke out in her courtroom after she ruled that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

In addition to her duties as a judge, Robertson served on the courthouse standards committee and was involved in overseeing the construction and renovation of new courthouses.

 

VALENTINE’S DAY SQUABBLE BRINGS IN POLICE, WOMAN ACCUSED OF BITING RCMP OFFICER

   

On the South Shore, this doesn’t sound like much of a Valentine’s Day love-fest.  A pair of 19-year-olds from Gold River are facing charges after they refused to leave a Cookville restaurant peacefully during Sunday’s Valentine’s Day lunch hour.

Police were called to a complaint of a couple arguing at the restaurant – and when they arrived, the pair refused to leave.

An RCMP officer tried to arrest the woman, but she resisted and punched the officer in the face, kicked him in the chest, spit in his eye and bit him and a second officer who intervened.

RCMP say the man then tried to intervene and was arrested, with the two officers suffering minor injuries.

Mackenzie Page Jennings is facing four charges, including assaulting a cop. Daniel Dwayne Johnson is charged with causing a disturbance and obstructing a police officer.

They’ll get to recall their Valentine’s Day events in front of a local judge in April.

 

MARS LANDING DUE LATE THIS AFTERNOON

Chris Herd plans to be in his living room in Edmonton today but his heart will be on Mars.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The University of Alberta planetary geologist — one of a select team of scientists working with NASA — hopes to watch the successful touchdown of the Perseverance Rover, a probe designed to eventually bring back rocks from the red planet that could reveal signs of life. Things should culminate in a landing around 5 o’clock this afternoon, Atlantic Time.