Teen Back In Court On North End Death

A teen facing charges in the stabbing death of a city man will be back in court later this month.

The 17-year-old turned himself in to Hampton R-C-M-P Friday morning hours after a 29-year-old man was found lying on Barker street in the old North end.
The teen will be back in court on March 28th at 1:30pm to enter a plea in the case.

Lack Of Operating Room Time At Regional "Critical"

There should be 7 operating rooms running at the Regional Hospital but only 5 are being utilised because of a lack of resources and that's why the situation has become critical.

That, according to Dr. Andrea Garland, President of the Medical Staff Organisation in the Saint John Region.

 She tells CHSJ News wait times for surgery are longer and there's the risk of losing surgeons who have become frustrated with the situation.

Dr. Garland adds not having local autonomy with the administrative staff at the Horizon Health Network in Miramichi doesn't help.

Meanwhile, Lisa Caissie with the Horizon Health Network says management at the Regional Hospital met last week with the heads of the Clinical Department to discuss the operating room issues. 

She says more talks have been scheduled for tomorrow.

Energy Expert Says Safety Is A Concern

Concerns about the safety of nuclear power hitting home with a reactor down the road and the crisis unfolding in Japan.  An energy expert says there are always tradeoffs when it comes to safety with nuclear power.  Norm Rubin of Energy Probe tells CHSJ News companies can always spend more money to guard against things that seem unlikely including seismic activity.

He says Japan was prepared for 6.5 and they got a 9 and he adds if anyone had suggested they build the plant for a 9.0 magnitude earthquake they probably would have been laughed out of the room.
The Point Lepreau nuclear generating station is built on a fault and Rubin says the issue of seismic safety at Candu plants in Canada is a source of active discussion and controversy.

Man Facing Charges In Woman's Death

A man is facing a charge of criminal negligence causing death after a crash near the airport Friday night.
The head-on collision killing a 50-year-old Saint John area woman whose name is not being released by City Police.
The crash about 8:30 Friday forcing the closure of the airport arterial for over three hours.
The driver of the other vehicle is due back in court at a later date.

Decision Time On New Strategy For Growth

Common Council will be asked tonight to formally endorse Plan SJ's growth strategy.

Jacqueline Hamilton of Plan SJ says the goals are to bring about more economic and residential development in the city core along with the more efficient use of land which will improve the city's bottom line. The new direction would see 50 per cent of new development taking place in the urban core instead of just 15 per cent and 40 per cent in the suburban areas of the city instead of 60 per cent.

Mayor Ivan Court wants less sprawl arguing Saint John has too much territory with too few people and that's why it costs the city more to provide municipal services than in Fredericton or Moncton.

Court says Moncton and Fredericton combined would still be smaller than Saint John in the physical size of the city.

Enterprise Saint John Support New Growth Strategy

Enterprise Saint John is coming out with strong support in favour of Plan SJ's new growth strategy.

It also is telling Common Council that investment opportunities now being worked on could bring over 800 jobs to the region.

In the past month, there have been four visits to the city by potential investors and meetings with several others in Toronto.

Councillors have been told this can be tough slogging.....over 200 hours have been spent with just one potential investor and there's still more work to be done.

Old North End Needs Spelled Out

Common Council will be receiving a report tonight on the priorities for the old North End where 43.3 per cent of people who live there get by on low incomes with the median being just over 16 thousand 500 dollars a year.

The major priorities include pre-natal programmes which would include nutrition counselling, programmes aimed at getting young children ready to learn at school, expansion of recreational programming at the North End Community Centre, legal advice for teenagers and for adults, education and employment training along with addiction services.

Councillors will be told parents worry about the safety of their children when they're walking to the North End Community Centre.

New Military Health Centre At Gagetown

CFB Gagetown will be hosting a ribbon cutting of its own today at its health services centre.

The interim facilites are part of improvements announced by the Minister of National Defence back in the fall of 2009.
The centre will also include a new dental facility and integrated personnel support centre.

ACOA Minister Keith Ashfield will be on hand this morning for the ribbon-cutting at the CFB Gagetown Medical building.

Kingston To Open New Ambulance Station

A brand new ambulance station is opening in Kingston today.

Ambulance NB CEO Alan Stephen, Hampton-Kings MLA Bev Harrison and Tony Rickett of the Kingston local service district will be on hand for the grand opening on Route 845.

It gets underway at 1 o'clock today.