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Monday, April 7, 2014

Crews Require Jaws Of Life In Sandy Point Road Crash

A scary crash sending 3 adults and a child to hospital after a car left Sandy Point Road ending up in a stream at the bottom of an embankment.

One person was stuck in the backseat of the vehicle so the jaws of life were required to get them out.

It was a challenging rescue for police and fire as they were standing 2-3 feet of water in a small brook. 



Emergency services got the call just before 3:30pm.

Weird Case Of Mistaken Parakeet Identity

Two colourful missing parakeets have been found safe---one was stolen and another flew away from its owner.

When the parakeet was turned into Codiac RCMP everyone thought "Vern" the had come home---that is until another person showed up a pet store with another Vern.

Now, they figure the bird is “Cosmo” Vern's sibling who flew the coop back in February.

Constable Damien Thériault of the Codiac RCMP called it a strange case of mistaken identity because it's not like you see two rare birds like this disappear so close together.

Young Woman Assaulted On Duke Street

The Major Crime Unit is looking into an assault involving a weapon on a 21 year old girl on Saturday night.

It happened just after 11pm when the girl was grabbed from behind near Duke and Sydney Streets.  She was slightly hurt.

Officers are looking a white  man in his late 20's or early 30's, about 6 feet tall with brown hair wearing a dark winter jacket.


If you know anything, contact police at call 648-3333.

Flooding Will Soon Be An Issue

With up to 50 millimetres of rain forecasted in the region, New Brunswickers are being warned to keep an eye out and prepare for flooding. 

Richard Keeley of River Watch tells CHSJ News water levels are expected to peak on Wednesday and Thursday.

Keeley says if you live in a flood-prone area and you have a basement, you should move your belongings to a higher level and be sure that any drainage equipment is functioning properly. 

For a link to more information and updates, click here

Many SJ Business Owners Optimistic About The Future

The majority of the Port City's business community has high hopes for the coming year.

The Saint John Board of Trade Membership survey shows business confidence in the city is on the rise with 78-percent of respondents saying they expect their company to do much better or somewhat better in the coming year. 84-percent say they think the business community in the city is very supportive or at least somewhat supportive of their business.

Meantime the latest results from the Monthly Labour Force Survey released by Stats Canada showing a drop of 1.4-percent in employment in Saint John from February to March of this year. However, that's up 3-percent from March of last year.

Point Lepreau Is Offline

The Point Lepreau generating station is temporarily offline after an issue on Saturday night with one of the turbine system pumps.

The issue occurred on the non-nuclear side of the plant.

Repairs are underway and the station is expected to reconnect to the grid and power back up to 100 per cent later this week.

Health Minister Says Government Is On Right Track With Its Senior Care

Provincial Health Minister Ted Flemming says New Brunswick is ahead of all other provinces with the exception of Ontario when it comes to keeping seniors in their homes for as long as possible. 

Flemming says the "Home First" policy means the government, hopefully, won't have to spend a lot more money constructing new nursing homes for a growing population of seniors.
 

Flemming is even hoping to see the movement of seniors from long term hospital care, not necessarily into nursing homes, but back to their own homes as long as there's proper home care in place. 

He says the role of hospitals is to treat people, who are sic,k on a short term basis and move them out as quickly as possible.


Teen Facing Charges After A Bracelet Grew Legs



An update on the shoplifting incident at the mall on Friday.

A 14 year old arrested outside Brunswick Square after a bracelet was taken from a jewellry store.  


After a search, police found the boy also had some marijuana.  

He was held in custody until a court appeance facing three charges including theft under $5000.

Accused Armed Robber Back In Court

A 25 year old St. George man, facing a charge of armed robbery in the holdup of the Garden Street Circle "K" last Friday morning, is back in jail after making a brief court appearance. 

Stephen Hall of Fundy Bay Drive was in court for a bail hearing but asked for a one week adjournment. The judge agreed to that and scheduled his next court appearance for next Monday afternoon.

Tips Lead Police To Parakeet

Vern the bird is safe and sound.    

A sun conure parakeet stolen from a Dieppe shop last Month has been located. 

The Mounties got several tips after a picture of Vern along with pictures and descriptions of the two men came out last week. One of the tips allowed officers to recover him and he was not harmed.

No arrests have yet been made and if you know anything, contact Crime Stoppers anonymously. 


You can reach Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or click here.

Hospital And University Busier Than The Uptown These Days

The large numbers of people who make their way to the Regional Hospital and U-N-B Saint John each weekday were seen as a potential pool of riders for the Comex suburban bus service. 

It's estimated 16 hundred people from the Kennebecasis Valley go to the hospital and university to work or attend classes each weekday but It hasn't turned out that way. The problem, according to Saint John Transit General Manager Frank McCarey is that the starting times are all different.
 

McCarey does observe the hospital and university appear to be busier these past few years than the uptown, at least judging by bus ridership.

Peppercorns Recalled Over Salmonella Concerns

Various organic black peppercorns being pulled off grocery store shelves because they could be contaminated with salmonella.

Eleven products including three from Frontier, four from 365 Everyday Value and four from Simply Organic being recalled. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says if you have the product in your home you should throw it out or return it to the store where you bought it.

Salmonella can lead to fever, headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramps and diarrhea in healthy people. There have been no reports of anyone getting sick from eating any of these peppercorns.


Click here for a full list of the recalled products.

Saint John's Future Prosperity May Depend On Raising Literacy

Saint John is described as being right at the bottom when it comes to literacy rates and that, according to Yves Bourgeois of the Urban Studies Institute at U-N-B Saint John, doesn't bode well for turning around the economy in the future.

Research done at U-N-B has shown children who are having problems with literacy by Grade 2 may never recover. 


Literacy will be highlighted Tuesday morning at the Delta where the chief economist with the T-D Bank Craig Alexander will be speaking.  

Does New Brunswick Have A Work Ethic Problem?

We all know that New Brunswick has an employment problem--but does it also have a problem with its work ethic? 

That was the question posed to Premier David Alward, who responded it's not for him to say whether there's a work ethic problem. All he knows is that he meets New Brunswickers every day, and they want jobs.

That being said, the province has seen unfilled jobs in a number of sectors including Tourism and Hospitality, which can get short shrift as people leave for better paying jobs out West. 

But according to the Premier, we're seeing that trend of unfilled positions and empty classrooms turning around.