Rockwood Park Attacker Sentenced

A 27 year old Saint John man  has been sentenced to 4 years and 1 month in federal jail for an attack on a jogger in Rockwood Park.

Nathan Dean was described by the defense as a shy man with a small social circle--and admitted in court he himself isn't sure why, on  October 3, he jumped out of the bushes into the path of a female jogger carrying a knife, his face masked with pantyhose.

Judge Andrew LeMeasure said the sentence needs to reflect the level of fear the attack put into the community as well as the harm to the individual victim. In a statement read to the court the unnamed woman said she's now more fearful and was traumatized by the event. The 4 year, 1 month sentence subtracts the 5 months Dean has already served.

Repsol Closes Sale - Canaport Not Included

Repsol won't be selling it's stake in the Canaport L-N-G terminal - at least not for the time being - the Spanish based company says it's completed a 6.7-billion dollar deal with Shell to buy a number of its Liquefied Natural Gas holdings.
But - it says the low natural gas prices in the U-S thanks to a glut of American produced shale gas makes it difficult to put a long term value on the facility.
Instead Shell has signed a ten year deal with Repsol to supply liquefied natural gas to the terminal.
Repsol owns a 75-percent share of the Canaport terminal while Irving Oil has a 25-percent stake in the facility.

Trudeau Campaigns In Rothesay & Milford

Liberal leadership candidate Justin Trudeau making a couple quick stops in Greater Saint John today.
Trudeau tells CHSJ News he was touched so many longtime Lliberals and business leaders came out to the fundraising breakfast in Rothesay.

He says they wanted to talk about their concerns including the cost overruns of the Point Lepreau refurbishment.

Trudeau supports the idea of a West-East pipeline adding he has always said we have to be better at transforming our own resources within our own borders.

Trudeau also gave a speech to a crowd at the Dennis Morris Community Center which included Former Mayor Ivan Court, MP Dominic Leblanc and Provincial Liberal Leader Brian Gallant.

Big Saint John Event For International Women's Day

Women in the Port City will have a singular chance to network, re-energize and take part in some inspiring conversations on International Women's Day.

Rhoda Welshman is organizing Pathways to Empowerment at the Delta on March 8th that will feature a wide range of inspirational women. 

Best-selling author, entrepreneur and Honourary Colonel Barabara Stegmann will deliver the keynote address. Stegmann appeared on Dragon's Den where she received $75,000 in venture capital for her brand, 7 Virtues. 

Registration is $75 which includes the discussion panel, lunch, keynote speech and other bonuses. 200 women are signed up so far. For more information, click here

Quispamsis Businessman Fined

A local businessman pleading guilty on charges of failing to file his taxes.

Gregory Paul Watson from Quispamsis fined $10,500 dollars in Saint John Provincial Court. He's been charged with failing to file personal income tax returns from 2008-2010 and four GST/HST returns for 2009-2010.

He's been given one year to pay up, and a compliance order was issued for outstanding returns.

Trudeau In Town

Local Grits get a boost today with Federal leadership candidate Justin Trudeau in town.

Trudeau will take part in two events in the Greater Saint John area today.

A fundraising breakfast in Rothesay and a meet and greet on the West side.

Atlantic Potash Plans To Build Plant In Saint John

Atlantic Potash Corporation plans to build a proposed specialty fertilizer production facility in Saint John.

The proposed facility would be developed on approximately 100 acres of land in McAllister Industrial Park and is expected to cost $350 million, creating over 1,200 jobs during construction.

Once operational, the facility would generate over 1,300 jobs, more than $40 million in wages and salaries, approximately $344 million in expenditures and $4 million in municipal taxes annually.

Keith Attoe, co-project lead for Atlantic Potash, says global demand for fertilizer is growing quickly and their plan with this new facility is to produce and export 380,000 tons annually of fertilizers from Saint John to buyers in markets including Europe and South America.

The facility would produce three potash-based specialty fertilizers, which include urea, potassium nitrate and ammonium chloride. 

Over the next two years, Atlantic Potash will be undertaking the mandatory approval processes including the completion of an environmental impact assessment.      Construction would start two years after the EIA process is approved.   Operations at the fertilizer production facility are anticipated to start in 2017.

Kennebecasis Drive Fire

 17 firefighters spending 4 hours battling a blaze at 944 Kennebecasis Drive.

Platoon Chief Eric Garland tells CHSJ News when crews arrived they found the fire which started in a chimney had spread.

It spread to the roof and crews were able to knock it down.
 
One person was in the house at the time but was not hurt.
 
Investigators are looking into the cause but it's believed to be accidental.

Common Causes Hosts Meeting On Problems With P3s

H20 is a boiling-hot topic in the port city.

Common Causes, which calls itself "an assembly of social movements committed to defending democracy, the environment and human rights", hosted a town hall meeting on Monday night to talk about the public-private-partnership funding model the city is looking at to pay for an upgraded water system, and the problems it would present.

The forum's moderator was Andrew Graham, a member of the group. He tells CHSJ news that the meeting at the Saint John Arts Centre accomplished two things. It educated the public about the risks of P3 funding, and gave local people a platform to ask about the issue and to give their own input.

Their words might very well transform into action; there was talk of submitting a letter to common council this week, congregating at the meeting next Monday, and regrouping the day after.