Rainbow Park Will Be Open For Skating Soon

For those of you looking to go for a skate at Rainbow Park, you will have to wait a little longer.

New equipment will be installed in about two weeks that will generate the ice -- repairs were needed and it is now cold enough to test the ice equipment.

Rainbow Park, which has a splash pad in the summer, had freezing problems last winter.

Irving Oil Drivers Trained To Identifty Drunk Drivers

Irving Oil and MADD Canada teaming up for the Red Ribbon Partnership that gets drunk drivers off the road.

MADD Canada reps, local police, and the RCMP training over 100 Irving Oil fleet drivers to identify and report drunk drivers.

Former MADD President Margaret Miller tells CHSJ News it's a natural partnership because truck drivers are on the front lines and making that 911 call to report an impaired driver can save many lives.

According to Police Chief Bill Reid, almost half of drunk drivers caught in the city are the result of 911 calls.

Confusion Over Use Of City Owned Vehicles

The city is being told by a consultant it has to spell out clearly if and when its vehicles can be used for personal use by its managers.

Kate Vigneau says one manager told her he wasn't sure if it was alright for him to pick up his daughter from daycare in a city vehicle.

 She spoke to other managers for the city who say if you're going to and from work, it's alright to make a stop to pick something up or do an errand.

Vigneau says that's not all that unusual among municipalities and she adds the city is doing alot that is right with the management of its fleet of vehicles.

Common Councillor Bill Farren says he finds the lack of clarity to be disturbing nonetheless.

Fredericton Company Builds Home For Attawapiskat

Imagine living in a shack in bitter winter temperatures without heat, a working toilet and running water.
That's the reality for the famillies living on the Attawapiskat First Nation where things are so desperate that the Harper government has taken over the day to day operations.
Maple Leaf Homes of Fredericton is creating 22 homes for the community and Sales Manager Jacques Roy tells CHSJ News their homes are very energy efficient with superinsulation to handle the artic climate.

He tells us where these homes are going the average temperature in the wintertime is minus 65 on average.


Roy says they understand the huge need in the northern first nation communities and they have the capacity to supply them and the experience with this type of housing.

Fire In North End

Its believed a wood stove may be the cause of a shed fire this morning on Sandy Point Road. 

The shed was fully involved when fire crews got there.

They managed to keep the blaze from spreading to a nearby house that was exposed.

Businesspeople Joining With School District To Close Poverty Gap

School District 8 and the Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative will be working together to tabulate what needs to be done to help students who are living in poverty succeed.

John Adams, who chairs the Education to Employment Working Group for the Business Community, says if you're looking for additional funding from government, you need hard numbers to make your case.
 
Adams says the goal is to close the gap between the students who are living in poverty and those from more affluent homes. 

The District 8 Education Council was told Saint John has a potential work force on its doorstep but too many people just don't have the proper skills employers are looking for.

Gas Prices Decline

Gas is costing you less after the weekly setting.

Self serve regular, in the city, is listed at $1.20.7. That's a decrease of less than half a cent a litre while diesel at $1.33.4 is just under 2 cents a litre cheaper that what it was. 

Heating oil is also cheaper now at $1.15.2, down from $1.16.9 with propane still the same at $1.17 a litre.

New French School For The K-V

Part of the new spending in the provincial government's capital budget for 2012-2013 is to build a new francophone school in the Kennebecasis Valley. 

The school for students from kindergarten through grade 5 is expected to be ready in 2014. 

Right now, they have to either go to a satellite school on the Pettingill Road or make the trek to Samuel de Champlain in Millidgeville.