With cans, bottles and other recyclables piling up next to blue bins around the town, one councillor is saying Rothesay is close to getting curbside recycling.
Matt Alexander, who sits on the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, tells
CHSJ News they've been talking about curbside recycling for the past
year, and are looking at implementing it in the fall.
However, he's just been named the town's representative to look at regionalization of waste and says talks on that front could affect the plan to start curbside recycling then positively or negatively.
Alexander says collaborating on the waste issue will be a good thing. He says by working together, there's the potential to save money. He says we need to find ways to increase education on recycling and composting and create programs to deal with the stagnating levels.
The Fundy Solid Waste Commission looking for a new regional approach to increase recycling and composting in place by next summer.
The amount of material being recycled and composted in the Fundy Region is stagnating.....So says Brenda MacCallum of the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission who wants to see a review of what can be done to get people to throw away less garbage.
She tells CHSJ News one option is a pay as you throw system with people being charged for the additional garbage they toss out.
MacCallum says the town of Hampton has imposed a limit on garbage with success without illegal dumping. The town of Rothesay is moving towards curbside recycling.
The Solid Waste Commission would like a regional approach and a decision made on what that should be by next June.
Regional Policing is supposed to be talked about at today's meeting of the Fundy Regional Service Commission and Rothesay Mayor Bill Bishop will be voicing that town's opposition.
Rothesay Council has passed a motion to make clear it has no interest in such an arrangement after hearing opposition from both the police commission and police union in the K-V.
Mayor Mel Norton is pushing for the idea of one regional police department for the Saint John area but Bishop says he has not been shown where the economic advantage is for the town.
Quispamsis Mayor Murray Driscoll has also come out against. Both say the two police departments co-operate with eachother and they want to see that to continue.
Rothesay Council wants a report on train traffic going through the town these days, wondering how safe it really is.
This item was put on the town's agenda by Deputy Mayor Nancy Grant long before the train derailment over the weekend in Quebec. She says the train tracks are very close to homes and that scares her.
Grant says the only way to evacuate the people in Kennebecasis Park would be by water since the train tracks are at the only access to and from K-Park.
She's also expressing concern at seeing trains with as many as 82 rail cars passing through the town and almost all of them are transporting petroleum which is highly combustable.
Councillor Peter Lewis says he lives near the rail tracks and would like the see the trains go at a slower speed through the town. Municipalities have no say over trains and can't even impose a speed limit.
An increase in business is prompting an upgrade of the long term parking area at the airport.
Work is underway until July 19th on expanding and reconfiguring the parking lot with the addition of 90 spaces.
Airport President and C-E-O David Allen says the current lot is at capacity thanks to unprecedented growth in the winter seasonal flights by Sunwing and growing numbers for Air Canada.
If you have to use the long term lot, access to it may be relocated temporarily but Allen says when it's all done, manoevering about will be alot easier.
The President of the Midwives Association of New Brunswick calls a funding cut by the provincial government a shameful loss.
Citing financial constraints, the government is suspending the work of the council in implementing policies and standards necessary for the implemention of midwifery services.
Association President Nathalie Pambrun tells CHSJ News cutting funding is short-sighted and makes no sense at this time.
She says they have some good momentum with the work the council has already done and she finds it very unfortunate that it should close for such a small amount of money.
Pambrun says they are disappointed by the government's decision adding people have been waiting for access to these services since the government announced the implementation of the Midwifery Act in 2010.
The City's fire chief thinks it's a little too soon to be drawing parallels between the Lac Megantic derailment and explosion and the potential for a similar disaster in Saint John.
Kevin Clifford tells CHSJ News the National Transportation Safety Board has a significant regulatory process to ensure the rail lines are safe.
The rail cars were carrying crude destined for the Irving Oil Refinery.
He says we should wait until see what the investigation finds before drawing any comparisons.
Clifford says our firefighters are trained for these types of events adding worst case scenarios are their business.
You can find out today the results of the provincial moose draw.
Over 66,000 people applied to get just over 4,600 licenses in the province. That's a thousand more than were available 3 years ago. The increase is meant to control the moose population where the animals have become a problem.
Moose season starts in September, and if you got a license you should receive a letter. Hunters who entered the draw may find out if they were successful
either by calling 1-800-459-3729 on a touchtone telephone or by checking
online at the Department of Natural Resources website.
You'll need your Medicare number to confirm your identity.
To buy the actual license, bring your card to
a Service New Brunswick centre on or after August 19.
The 2013 moose hunting season runs from September 26 to the 28th.
It's going to take a lot of twine, yarn, floss and patience to break this world record.
Girl Guides from New Brunswick and P.E.I. are in the process of making 8000 friendship bracelets, in an effort to beat the current Guinness World Record for longest chain of friendship bracelets. The current record, created on May 1st, stands at 7,507.
Deb Maber of Girl Guides Canada tells CHSJ News the group of 600 has been making the bracelets over for the last few months, and they'll continue to make them until a summer camp near Sussex on August 11-17. On the last day, everyone in the camp will make a large circle and they'll join all the bracelets together to form one giant loop. The loop will be counted and measured, then the documentation will be sent off to Guinness.
Earlier this year, the Girl Guide World Centre in India put out a call for the bracelets, which they sell in shops to fund programs. Maber says that sparked the idea to attempt breaking a world record as a way to get people excited about making them.
The latest unemployment figures for the province are depressing and provincial Liberal Leader Brian Gallant claims the economic indicators don't look all that great over the next year.
He accuses the Alward Government of taking the lazy way out when it comes to across the board cuts in spending which Gallant tells CHSJ News ought to have been more strategic. He says the Liberals would invest more in education, starting with preschool and make post secondary more accessible, the goal being to turn New Brunswick into the innovation province.
Provincial Health Minister Ted Flemming says the Alward Government had to dig the province out of a huge financial hole created by the Liberals under then Premier Shawn Graham and that can't be done overnight or even in four years.
Flemming maintains the potential of natural gas in the province is incredible and then there's the west to east oil pipeline which is looking more and more likely so he's optimistic about how the future will play out.
Flemming goes on to say potential investors want to be assured the province is managed well and not virtually bankrupt.
After posting an online survey to see how people in the Kennebecasis Valley feel about the proliferation of deer, the information gathered will be passed on to the Natural Resources Department.
Rothesay Mayor Bill Bishop tells CHSJ News it will be up to Natural Resources to come up with a plan, if any, and concedes the options are limited but there's no doubt people are being adversely affected and want something done. The big question is what that might be.
Bishop says he's amazed at how many car accidents are happening because of the deer roaming all over the place and there is also a concern about Lyme Disease from ticks found on deer, the effects of which can be debilitating.
Bishop says one suggestion was to tranquilize the deer and transfer them to other places where there's a scarcity but that is no only expensive, the death rate among the deer who are taken away to another location is high.
A few years ago, Natural Resources made the suggestion of bringing in archers for a cull which has been done in other jurisdictions with some success.
The Provincial NDP leader says people are willing to pay more taxes if they feel they are getting enough service for their money.
Dominic Cardy says tax hikes that kicked in on July 1st will impact take home pay.
He tells CHSJ News we need to have a serious conversation about what public services we want and how much we are willing to pay for them.
He says an NDP goverment will be open about the cost of the world's best services.
Cardy says he's not sure if provincial taxes are too high or too low but he does know they are not going in the right direction.
The train that derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, killing at least five people, was hauling cars filled with crude oil destined for the oil refinery in Saint John.
Irving Oil issuing a statement confirming that Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway was transporting the product to the Port City and offering emergency response assistance to authorities.
About 40 people are missing and 30 buildings have been demolished after the tanker cars, covered in oil, caught fire.
It's not yet completely clear how the train, which was parked for a crew change, somehow slipped its brakes, rolled downhill and left the tracks. Transportation Safety Board investigators are waiting to investigate the train wreckage.
Scorching summer weather can be downright dangerous. With the humidex reaching the high thirties across the province over the last couple of days, people are at a high risk of getting sick from the heat.
Chief Medical Officer Eilish Cleary says muscle cramps, fatigue, headache, or nausea are symptoms of heat-related illness. If you experience these, go to a cool place, drink a cold, non-alcoholic drink and rest. Cleary says this could save your life.
Click here for a list of ways to prevent heat-related illness.
A busy Saturday shift for firefighters included a slew of fire alarms going off, one of which was at an industrial site.
Acting Platoon Chief Brian Wilson says a small fire in a belt at 30 Jervis Lane was extinguished by employees, while firefighters made sure the blaze was out and cut off power to the equipment.
They were also called to the South end to respond to a house fire. When they showed up at 132 Broad Street, they discovered the cause of the blaze was a pot on a stove. They aired out the building and cleared the smoke.
They also responded to half a dozen or more medical calls across the city.
A husband and wife team from Ontario are in the Musquash Estuary capturing nature. But they're each doing it differently and for different reasons.
Naturalist Fred Schueler, a retired biologist, is conducting biological inventories at the site and will catalogue what he sees. Aleta Karstad, an artist, will be painting the lower Bay of Fundy. Karstad tells CHSJ News it's a marriage of art and science.
She says there are challenges to painting outside, everything you'd expect when you're immersed in the environment; the changing of the light and weather, insects and the cold and wetness have to be taken into consideration when you're painting.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada is inviting the public to meet Schueler and Karstad at an open house today at 1pm in the Musquash Community Centre, 31 Malcolm Meehan Road. At 3:30pm, Karstad will lead a talk on what it's like to paint in the field. The NCC is hosting a free painting workshop tomorrow from 10am to 3pm. To register, call 1-877-231-4400 or e-mail brittany.cliffford@natureconservancy.ca.
Click here to view and bid on Karstad's paintings.
A man is dead after being struck by a train.
Saint John Police tell us it happened at 5:45am near Haymarket Square. An autopsy is being performed this morning. The incident is under investigation by police, though no foul play is suspected.
The hum of fans and air conditioners blasting will be a sound heard in homes province-wide today as the scorching weather continues.
Doug Mercer, lead meteorologist with Environment Canada, tells CHSJ News we can expect more of the same for all of the Maritimes. We'll see temperatures near what we had yesterday for today and tomorrow, with a humidex of between 35°C and 39°C degrees forecasted. A humidex advisory has been issued for Southeastern portion of the province.
Mercer cautions you to stay out of the sun today, and says make sure to do any strenuous activity early in the morning or late in the evening when temperatures have dropped. He says to use common sense when it's hot outside; stay out of the sun, drink lots of water and wear something to cover your head.
Three
heat records were broken in the province yesterday. One in Saint John,
the second in Saint Leonard and the third in Moncton.
A highway crash sending a motorcyclist to hospital.
The 39 year-old man driving the motorcycle collided with a car that was coming onto the highway from a driveway. He was brought to hospital with multiple fractures, while the 53 year-old woman driving the car was not hurt.
The collision happening on Highway 3, near St. Stephen. The Mounties are investigating and say speed was not a factor in the crash.
A boating accident in St. George sending one person to the Saint John Regional Hospital.
RCMP say around 9:30 Thursday night on the Canal Waterway, a boat collided with old cement railway foundation near the Route 770 Bridge and Old St. Andrews Junction.
Sgt. Bob MacKnight tells us one person had a lacerated forehead, while the other passenger in the boat suffered serious head trauma and was transported to hospital.
MacKnight says there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol.
