Pictou County District RCMP is investigating suspicious fires that occurred in both Lyons Brook and St. Pauls.

On July 22 at approximately 1:40 a.m., Pictou County District RCMP and fire responded to a report of a fire at an old bridge in St. Pauls. 

RCMP officers learned that the fire had already gone out prior to the arrival of firefighters. The bridge itself was a wood structure that was no longer in use. 

On July 25, at approximately 12:05 a.m., Pictou County District RCMP and fire responded to a report of a fire at a bridge on a trail in Lyons Brook. 

The fire department was able to successfully extinguish the fire however the bridge was completely destroyed. 

The bridge was also a wooden structure, similar to the one in St. Pauls. 

Both of these fires have been deemed suspicious.

The investigations are ongoing and being assisted by the Pictou County District General Investigation Section and the Nova Scotia Fire Marshal’s Office.

Anyone with information on the incidents is asked to call Pictou County RCMP or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers.

 

The provincial government is now offering low-income seniors a chance to apply for as much as $750 in aid from the Seniors Care Grant.

That’s $250 more than what has been offered through the grant until now. 

Barbara Adams, the seniors and long-term care minister, said the increase came about as a result of feedback from seniors who received the initial $500 aid but said they needed more.

Liberal MLA Kelly Regan said making extra funds available to struggling seniors is welcome news but not enough people qualify because of the income limit.

Seniors who want to apply need to make less than $37,500 a year to be eligible for the grant. 

 

A senior Mountie testified Thursday he believes political inference was behind RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s determination to have police release details on the guns used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting.

Chief Supt. Chris Leather made the comment at the public inquiry while being cross-examined by the lawyer representing the victims families.

Earlier this week, RCMP Chief Supt. Darren Campbell alleged that during a meeting on April 28, 2020, Lucki said she promised the Prime Minister’s Office that the information on the guns would be released in connection with the Liberal government’s “pending gun control legislation.”

The government was in the midst of drafting new gun control measures to reduce access to semi-automatic weapons in the days following the mass shooting. 

Campbell and Leather both testified this week that releasing the information on the guns would have interfered with the ongoing investigation into who provided the killer with the semi-automatic weapons.

 

Nova Scotia is reporting 60 new hospital admissions and 1,910 Positive PCR Tests from the week of July 19th – 25th, which is an increase from last weeks numbers. 

As of Tuesday, there were 42 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, down from 44 at that time last week. Six people were being treated in the intensive care unit

The Median Age of people being admitted to hospital with COVID-19 is 75.