State Of The Art Commons Building Officially Opens

UNB Saint John now has a new signature building to hang their hat on as the Hans W. Klohn Commons officially opens.

The state of the art facility features study room, conference centre, and a library.

Hans Klohn was there to cut the ribbon and he tells CHSJ News he owes a debt of gratitude to the Irvings, who named the building after him.

UNB Saint John Vice President Robert MacKinnon says the project had a lot of momentum.   

He says staff and faculty were some of the first people to donate and all three levels of government provided funding.
 
The city donated 2 million dollars towards the 25 million dollar project.

Mayor Says Tax Hike Would Be "Worst Case Scenario"

While the city goes back to the province with reform approvals on the pension plan, Mayor Ivan Court can't guarantee that taxes won't go up if the province rejects their plans.

He tells CHSJ News that will be a worst case scenario but adds the threat of a tax hike always looms over the head of council -- they deal with it every year with the annual budgets.

He says the city has held the tax rate for the past 3 years and council will cross that bridge when it gets there.

New Banners and Billboards Show Off City's Championship Pedigree

The city will be showing off its rich hockey championship history with a series of banners and billboards around the city.

Each banner shows one of the major national hockey titles that a Saint John team has won --  The Hardy Cup, The Allan Cup, The Calder Cup, and the Memorial Cup.

Meanwhile, the billboard shows Mike Thomas and Steven Anthony holding the Memorial Cup and tells visitors they're entering championship territory.

Sea Dogs President Wayne Long tells CHSJ News it's a great honour and the recognition form the city means a lot.

The banners will be going up around Harbour Station and the Lord Beaverbrook Rink later today while the billboards will go up on Highway 1 leading into the city and at the airport.

New Trial Date For City Man Charged With Attempted Murder

An adjournment ordered as the trial of 22-year old Trent Byers was scheduled to get underway. Byers will remain in jail until his new trial date now set to begin on October 12th.

Byers is charged with attempting to murder Bruce Higgins, who was found lying on the corner of Main and Albert in the early morning hours of April 15th suffering from a gunshot wound to the stomach.

Higgins told police he was going to meet Byers at the corner of Albert and Main to make a drug buy but says a car pulled up and that's when he was shot.

Longtime City Business Closing Its Doors

The local economy taking a hit with word a long time business in the city will be closing its doors for good on September 16th. City Laundry on City Road has been in operation since 1919. 

23 employees were notified of the closure yesterday after efforts to find a buyer failed. 

CHSJ News has been told a number of factors contributed to the decision to close but that it's getting more difficult to run a family business which had been in the Trecartin family.

Upcoming Culture Days Event Launches In Saint John

Saint Johners can take part in a celebration of the arts happening here, around the province and across the country later this month.  Last year's Culture Days featured over 80 events and organizers are hoping the 2011 event will exceed that.  Co-chair Susan Chalmers-Gauvin says culture has an enormous social and economic impact.
She says in some ways it's the best kept secret with its benefits for health and education adding it's the heart of our communities.
Artist Freeman Patterson tells CHSJ News the impact of the arts is vast and generally unrecognized.  He says people recognize the oil industry along with aquaculture and agriculture but, collectively arts and culture jobs employ more people.
There is still time to add your event to Culture Days, for more info click here

A Special Year At Rothesay-Netherwood School

The 2011-2012 school year will be special at Rothesay Netherwood School because of its 135th anniversary.

The school will have 268 students enrolled from grades 6 through 12. This is the largest contingent ever in the school’s history.

 85% of students come from families of all backgrounds in Atlantic Canada, with the remainder coming from other provinces, the US, the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe and Asia.

The school year also marks the 25th year that Paul Kitchen has been the Head. There will be special celebrations throughout the year marking the 135th anniversary, capped off by the awarding of prizes and graduation of its grade 12 class in June 2012.

Big Upgrade Underway At Refinery

The Irving Oil Refinery is beginning a 50-million dollar maintenance and upgrade project.

The project will take place over the next 12 weeks and will be underway 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Irving Oil says the project will create 700 jobs and most workers will be from the province.

Work will be done on various chemical processing units.