Listen up, sports fans.
It's time to celebrate the people who make sports programs in New Brunswick possible. Coaches Week runs from November 13-21 in New Brunswick and aims to both celebrate coaches and encourage sports fans to get involved.
Coach NB Executive Director Manon Oulette tells CHSJ News it doesn't matter how long it's been since you've played, you can still get involved because your coaching certification will never expire.
2 million people are involved in coaching throughout Canada.
Celebrating 40 years of providing mentoring services to youth and famillies in Saint John is the purpose behind the Big Night Out for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The first time event coming up tomorrow night at the Delta.
Executive Director Laurie Collins tells CHSJ News it's a brand new fundraiser with a youth focus.
She says they want big brothers and sisters and there little brothers and sisters to attend the event and some businesses have purchased tickets and donated them back so that can happen.
Collins says Big Brothers Big Sisters has a waiting list and are looking to match local kids with adults in the community. She adds the more you promote finding bigs the more littles you recruit as well.
The entertainment includes The Exemptions featuring Kyle McVer and Kidsing.
For more info on the Big Night Out tomorrow, click here
Christmas coming 6 weeks early to Saint John as streets, stores and malls are now in full festive mode.
Brunswick Square Promotions Manager Brandi Cooper says the mall always waits until after Remembrance Day to put up decorations. Every year they hire a decorator and they'll soon start having choirs singing at the mall.
The city is also preparing for the Santa Claus parade this Saturday by putting up festive lights and Christmas trees up and down King street. After the parade old Saint Nick will be making weekly appearances at Brunswick Square.
For those fans starved for NHL hockey because of the lockout, they can at least see some retired N-H-L'ers play tonight at the L-B-R.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Alumni and Friends will be taking on the Saint John Legends. Former Boston Bruin and Edmonton Oiler Marty McSorley tells CHSJ News he's having a blast and the name of the game is to have fun for both players and the fans who come out.
You can also pick up some autographs with gametime at 7:00.
The other former NHL'ers who will be suiting up include Stephane Richer, a two time 50 goal scorer, Ron Duguay and Mike Krushelnyski.
You see alot of for sale signs on the front lawns of homes around town. Does that mean the Saint John housing market is in a slump.
Remax reports it is a buyer's market and likely will remain so well into the foreseeable future.
Realtor Hodges Hamm says the average price of a home in Saint John is 175 thousand dollars, a drop of 4 or 5 thousand in the past year but it could have been alot worse and the local market actually defied expectations.
Quispamsis and the east side are the two most popular spots for home buyers. Millidgeville has cooled off.
It is taking longer to sell homes and Hamm concedes realtors are showing alot more of them to each prospective buyer.
With all the buzz over Councillor Susan Fullerton's proposed crack-down on prostitution, we asked our listeners what they think...
Sarah Jane: "Allowing these men and women to move indoors and OFF the streets would be best for everyone - brothels are as old as recorded history - and so is prostitution."
Kristy writes "Good. Nobody wants to see that!"
Marc: "Check in the history books of Saint John. All these problems, drugs included, have been present for 150 Years. What does council do? All talk, no action."
Kay: "They just need money, and with how hard it is to get a job in this stupid city unfortunately its kind of understandable."
Shawn: "If they had the money to pay tickets or fines then they probably wouldn't have to prostitute."
Lisa: "Get them away from the parks where the kids are playing...so disgusting. I don't see anything being done about that."
Daniel: "They should start publishing the names of ALL the johns they catch along with the pros who are charged."
Join that conversation on Facebook or Twitter.
The RCMP have released the name of a man who was shot to death Saturday in Baxter's Corner.
Ryan Firlotte died after police arrived at a local home where they found Firlotte and two other men suffering from gunshot wounds.
The two other wounded men were taken to the Regional Hospital where they remain.
Investigators later determined that the shooting happened at another location on Route 820 after a 35-year-old man was assaulted by two men in the Saint John area earlier in the day.
Police are describing the shooting as isolated incident but, say all four men involved knew each other.
Meanwhile, police say 28-year-old Jeffrey Defazio appeared in court in Saint John in connection with the assault earlier in the day.
The city's firefighters went to arbitration when they couldn't reach a contract agreement with the city and now the arbitrator has finished up and Common Council knows what the numbers are.
They don't seem to look too great for the city's bottom line.
Without specifying what effect these will have on the 2013 budget, the City's Finance Commissioner Greg Yeomans is suggesting there will be financial implications and cuts are being mentioned if the arbitration award is too expensive.
"A draconian measure" is what AIDS Saint John is calling Common Councillor Susan Fullerton's new motion on cracking down on prostitution.
Executive Direction Julie Dingwell tells CHSJ news the idea of charging sex workers with jaywalking or improper use of a sidewalk is backwards and mean spirited. She says she's surprised Fullerton didn't seek out more information on the issue, and thinks the Sex Trade Action Committee (whom Dingwell is chair of) will now have to come in and inform the new council.
Dingwell says prostitution in Saint John hasn't gotten worse, and says we need to deal with the underlying issues of addiction and poverty instead of criminally charging them. She says when you charge a sex worker $150 for jaywalking, it only makes them rush to work to pay that fine, which can be dangerous. She adds they already work very closely with police, and have recently hired a sex trade out reach worker to help stabilize sex workers get back on their feet.
Dingwell says sometimes with the sex trade it comes down to a moral issue, and when people make decisions based on moral ideas instead of evidence, it's always dangerous.
A jam-packed Delta ballroom sharing laughs and tears listening to a retired Canadian general speak about his career all while fundraising for the Salvation Army in Saint John.
Rick Hillier says he still supports the Salvation Army where he grew up in Campbellton, Newfoundland.
He says back in those days the Salvation Army was part of the social fabric of the community.
Fire Chief Kevin Clifford tells CHSJ News the Salvation Army has a rich history of helping the Saint John Fire Department. Clifford says the Community Response Vehicle gives them a physical presence at a fire scene to give out food and provide shelter.
He says the vehicle is a symbol of hope and it's about getting past the crisis of today.
All proceeds from the Hope In The City breakfast will go towards the Community Response Vehicle and for the breakfast program at the Center of Hope.
The Community Response Vehicle provided help earlier this year at the Charlotte Street fire scene in April and after the flooding in Perth Andover.
Grabbing your helmet and biking to UNB or the hospital to the uptown is daunting now, but that could change as soon as next year...the city's environmental committee, Green Feet originally suggesting the idea of a bike lane starting on University Avenue and joining up with the Harbour Passage.
Common Councillor Donnie Snook it's key for any growing city to connect its parks, commercial areas, and public spaces. Councillors Greg Norton and John MacKenzie were also vocal in their support.
Green Feet would like to see the $31,000 dollar project finished in 2013 if council does go ahead and approve the funding.
Councillor Susan Fullerton wants to penalize sex workers in the city with an idea borrowed from New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani which was to stamp out squeegee panhandlers by charging them under jaywalking bylaws.
Fullerton told common council she'd been made aware of an older by-law prohibiting people from selling items on the sidewalk, which could be used to fine sex workers. She also motioned police levying fines for jaywalking.
Councillor Shirley MacAlary tells CHSJ News that's unnecessary given Saint John's small population of sex workers and the police force's proven track record of dealing with the problem. Councillor Ray Strowbridge, on the other hand, gives Fullerton kudos for her creativity.
Fullerton says prostitution has increased recently in the Waterloo, Peters, and Garden Street area but did not give the source for that information. She wants the issue addressed within 30 days.
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