Donation to "Lunch Connection" Program, Helping Kids Eat Healthy At School

Students in Saint John will get to enjoy more nutritious meals at school. All thanks to the funds being donated from Chop Chop Restaurant Week.

Uptown Saint John presenting Lunch Connection and Saint John the Baptist King Edward School with $4,282, towards giving kids healthy lunches. The Lunch Connection program helps provide students in need with a healthy lunch every day.

Leslie-Hamilton Brown is Vice Principal at Saint John  theBaptist King Edward School. She tells CHSJ News, "It helps every day to be able to feed the kids and that they know it's coming. We don't want them to ever feel, will we get a meal tomorrow?" she says.

She adds, having nutritious food available, helps kids focus better in class and academics have improved.

Construction Of Youth Shelter Starting Next Month

A former church in the South end being torn down to make way for a youth shelter. 

Crews dismantling the old St. James Anglican Church tomorrow as part of the preparatory work for Safe Harbour's emergency and transitional housing for the city's homeless young people. Construction is scheduled to begin next month, with plans to have the facility up and running by the summer of next year.

Project Coordinator Colin MacDonald tells CHSJ News this is monumental because it means this winter is the last that homeless youth have to spend outside. MacDonald says over the last three years they have seen momentum building for this project, and they will soon be announcing their partners.

Last year, 67 youth accessed an adult emergency shelter in Saint John and an estimated more than 100 youth need transitional housing.

More Call Center Jobs Announced

The premier, Postsecondary Education Minister Jody Carr, and other government officials were on hand this afternoon for the announcement of some more new call center jobs in the Port City.

The most recent job announcement comes at home-grown knowledge management consultant firm Innovatia. Premier David Alward tells CHSJ News his government is hoping to meet a new target of 850 new jobs under the One Job Pledge by the end of this fiscal year, which is in March.
 
Yesterday, TD Insurance announced the creation of 275 jobs at its Rothesay Avenue call center. Twenty-three of the jobs at Innovatia have already been filled by new graduates--and according to co-CEO David Grebenec they are looking to fill 45 more.

Armed Robbery At East Side Convenience Store

A robbery at the Kwik Way on Golden Grove Road just before 4pm today.

The caller reported a masked man with a gun came into the store and made off with cigarettes. No money was taken.

Police are currently looking for the suspect. No one was hurt.

Power Outages For Thousands Due To High Winds

3166 NB Power customers in the dark throughout the province with outages in Fredericton, Bouctouche, and St Stephen.

High winds have hit Charlotte County the hardest with over 2-thousand people without power.

Crews are working to get power back no but there's no word yet on when that will be.

Local Companies Encouraged To Join Shipbuilding Supplier Registry

Local companies being encouraged to try and get a piece of the shipbuilding action in Halifax. 

Enterprise Saint John hosting an information session for people looking to learn more about joining the supplier registry for the Irving Shipbuilding program.

Janet Scott of Enterprise Saint John tells CHSJ News there are over 100 different categories of materials and services that will be needed throughout the modernization program.

Scott says there are over 70 companies from the Port City on the registry, and about five have already have contracts, including Hemmings House Pictures who are documenting the upgrades to the Halifax shipyard. Mary Keith of JDI tells us there are about 2000 businesses in total currently registered on the site.

Irving Shipbuilding investing $300 million to upgrade the shipyard in Halifax.

One Swallow Does Not A Summer Make For Grits

One swallow does not a summer make--and just because the Liberals came close to toppling the Tory stronghold of Brandon-Souris in Manitoba doesn't mean they're a shoo-in against the Tories despite Justin Trudeau's apparent confidence. 

UPEI political science professor Don Desserud tells CHSJ News the Conservative Party needs to listen carefully to the rumblings of discontent with the Harper government.

Desserud says the NDP is probably the most disappointed party with very little to grab on to in terms of recent successes, and Thomas Mulcair's attacks on the senate are an easy way for them to score points with very little risk considering there are no New Democrat senators.

Broken Windows And Car Crashes Yesterday

Messy weather yesterday resulted in a number of minor crack-ups on the roads...but none of them were serious according to Sergeant Jay Henderson of the Saint John Police Department.

As well, the front window of a car on Young Street was smashed out and a purse taken--ditto for the window of the STR Convenience on Loch Lomond Road, although in that case nothing was stolen.

If you have information about these or any crimes, contact police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Provincial Health Minister and Liberal Leader Go Toe To Toe

Provincial Health Minister Ted Flemming and Liberal leader Brian Gallant locking horns in the Legislature on the Alward Government's promised catastrophic drug plan. 

Flemming refused to be pinned down on an exact date when the plan will be in place and then turned the tables, asking Gallant about his proposed moratorium on shale gas development, calling it a raw attempt to win votes and predicting it will be over the day after the provincial election is over.

Flemming says the catastrophic drug plan will be coming down during the current sitting of the Legislature but anything good takes time to put in place.

Ferry Crossing Cancelled

Bay Ferries letting us know the 4:00 sailing of the Princess of Acadia from Digby this afternoon and tomorrow morning's 9:00 sailing from Saint John are cancelled because of the weather.

East Side Breakin

City Police are investigating a breakin at the S-T-R convenience store along Loch Lomand Road. 

They don't believe anything was stolen, telling CHSJ News it appears whomever was responsible got in through the front door but was likely scared away when the alarm sounded.

Car Goes Off Road At Lepreau

(Photo Courtesy of Lt Paul Poirier)

Musquash Fire reporting a single vehicle crash along Route 790 in Lepreau, likely caused by icy road conditions. 

A car with four people inside went off the road and rolled down a deep ditch before landing on its wheels. 

The people inside managed to get out of the car by the time firefighters arrived. Two of them were taken to hospital with what looked like minor injuries.