Common Council has passed a new bylaw requiring all skateboarders on designated city owned properties to wear helmets.
Mayor Mel Norton had to break a deadlock for the first time when an amendment requiring only skateboarders 16 and under to wear helmets was introduced. The Mayor deciding all skateboarders should be donning head protection.
Common Councillor Greg Norton says Police Chief Bill Reid has endorsed the measure. Norton also wonders if hockey players have to wear helmets then why not skateboarders.
22 year old Scott Childs, who argued against the all encompassing bylaw, warns skateboarding in the city is going to take a hit.
He also predicts you're going to see more skateboarders take to the streets again and those skilled skateboarders who are looking for professional careers in the sport may even move out of the city.
Common Council voting in favour of demolishing the now closed Loch Lomand Community Centre but whether a new building will be constructed is another matter. Councillor Susan Fullerton isn't all that enthused about doing that.
She says when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars, you have to cut your sail to fit your cloth and, right now, the city's cloth is pretty thin.
Fullerton is hoping all the groups that used the Community Centre, which is considered unsafe, can be relocated elsewhere, get settled in and the issue will simply go away.
Bikers and biker wannabes won't want to miss this one.
The first-ever Fundy Shore Road motorcycle rally is coming to Saint John from Wednesday until Friday. Bikers from across the region will be participating n guided rides, a parade of lights through the uptown, and competing in a show 'n' shine.
The bikers are coming through the Port City on their way to the Wharf Rat Rallly in Digby. The event will also include a tug boat water show, chainsaw art, vendors, and live entertainment. It kicks off at Eldridge's on Wednesday night and the show 'n' shine happens on Thursday at 4 in the Coast Guard parking lot.
Here is the full schedule of events:
Wednesday, August 28th: Meet and Greet at Elridge's Honda and Harley Davidson, including a BBQ and live entertainment 6-9pm
Thursday, August 29th: Guided Ride departing from Elridge's (registration Weds at the meet & greet) 10am-2pm -Live entertainment on the Market Square Boardwalk from 12-11pm -Vendor Market on the Boardwalk from 12-6pm -Tug Boat water show in the harbour at 3:30 -Show and Shine at the Coast Guard parking lot: register at noon, judging at 4pm, winners announced at 5:30 -Parade of lights through uptown Saint John: register at 6pm, departs Coast Guard parking lot at 8pm/ Friday, August 30th: Send off breakfast at Carleton Community Center 8am-12pm
The police and crime stoppers are asking the public to keep a sharp eye out for outdoor grow ops.
Pot growers plant marijuana on their own property, but also use crown land and use chicken wire to prevent damage from animals. Other plants are sometimes used to camouflage the plants, and a water supply is usually nearby.
Growers will often use ATV and walking trails to get to the site. Unsuspecting folks have been known to locate a grow op simply by accident or, by recognizing the skunk like odour of pot.
If you suspect there's a grow op in your area, contact the police or Crime Stoppers and you could get a cash reward of up to $2,000. Call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or visit www.crimenb.ca.
If the pipeline is coming to Saint John, we need to make sure we have enough skilled workers to fill the jobs it might create--and the provincial government has released a new skill development strategy with that goal in mind.
One of the items is expanding the successful Teen Apprenticeship Program in Saint John which started off as a pilot. The government also plans to conduct labour market to find out what sort of positions will be needed in the future. A “women in trades" program is also in the works.
Big Brothers Big Sisters holding a big fundraiser over the coming days....and if you like to read, you'll definitely want to check it out.
The organization is holding its yearly Big Book Sale at the bottom level of Brunswick Square from today until Saturday, with new books put out every day.
Prices range from a dollar to two dollars. It starts at 10am each day and runs until 6pm.
The Canadian Labour Congress has found that average unionized workers in Saint John made just over 7 bucks more per hour than non-union workers.
While that doesn't come as much of a surprise to most people, the boost is even more significant for women workers: women in unions tend to make almost 10 bucks an hour more than their non-union peers.
The Congress report points out that the entire economy benefits from the higher wages for union employees, because it translates to more dollars being spent in our community.
Major Crime is investigating after a crash early this morning around 2 on the west side. A vehicle left the road and rammed into a building at the Saint John Marina.
It took several hours before the vehicle could be safely removed from the building.
Police aren't commenting on how the collision transpired and whether there was excessive speed. The traffic division is also part of the investigation.
Two people sustained minor injuries are were treated in hospital.
A funeral service is scheduled tomorrow morning at Sacred Heart Church for a 21 year old woman who died last week in a two vehicle collision on Main Street in Hampton.
Andraya Dianne McEwen-Muise got married earlier this month to Josh Muise.
The RCMP say it appears she wasn't wearing a seat belt and her vehicle wound up in a nearby ditch after being struck by another one driven by a 17 year old girl. According to police, she was travelling in the opposite direction and crossed the centre line.
The Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project is one of the first studies of its kind on the effect fracking has on human health.
Researchers carried out the study over a year and a half and what they found challenges the industry position that fracking is harmless to people.
They uncovered seven cases of skin rashes, four of eye irritation, 13 of breathing problems along with three of headaches and dizziness that were plausibly connected to fracking.
The Loch Lomand Community Centre has become a hazard with the city being told the building should not be used because the flooring is not up to National Safety Code standards.
Estabrooks Engineering. which assessed the building, has determined it would cost more than 300 thousand dollars to do all the repairs with no guarantee more defects wouldn't be discovered.
Common Council has a recommendation from city staff that the building be torn down and be replaced by another one outside the watershed area at an estimated cost of more than 392 thousand dollars.
At least one member of Common Council is worried about the status of the city's application for a public-private partnership or P-3 funding arrangement to pay for clean drinking water.
Councillors have been told the city is confident its application will be approved by P-3's Board of Directors.
As consulting fees for the project have now exceeded 200 thousand dollars, Councillor Bill Farren is looking for greater assurance this won't turn out to be a waste of money.
Mayor Mel Norton says the city has a strong application and no other Council in the history of the city has come this close to achieving the goal of delivering clean drinking water to Saint Johnners. A decision from P-3 is expected next month.
Could the old Synagogue building on Carleton Street at Wellington Row be used for fashion shows, modeling and Zumba classes?
That idea is being floated to Common Council by Normand Hector who has been operating N-W-H Modeling and Fashion Shows for ten years, first at the old Forest Glen Community Centre and now at Howard Johnsons.
Hector says he would retain the heritage of the building where he believes more fashion events could be staged.
Hector has also looked at the old Paramount Theatre in King Square and Pascal Emerson's on King Street but found them to be uneconomical.
Common Councillor Gerry Lowe has raised the possibility of turning the building into office space for the city and non-profit organisations.
The annual Dragon Boat Festival is fundraiser for an awesome cause---but one team got more than they bargained for as teams paddled off Renforth Wharf raising money for the the St Joseph's Hospital Foundation.
Jenn Martin captained the Radio River Racers and she was on hand to see the unexpected mishap. She explains the wind conditions whipped up whitecaps on the river to the point that one boat ended up tipping over and all 21 team members went into the drink. It took 7 boats to fish everyone out.
Everyone was wearing life jackets and properly briefed on safety procedures so no one was hurt. Only one other dragon boat has tipped in the history of the festival and that was in Fredericton several years ago.
Twelve people are temporarily homeless and one person seriously injured after a pre-dawn fire today gutted part of a large two-storey house containing several apartments in downtown Fredericton.
There was significant heat, smoke or water damage throughout the wood-frame structure. One woman was rescued unconscious from a ground-floor apartment and hospitalized.
The fire at 379 Charlotte Street was reported shortly after 5 a.m. when tenants were awakened by a smoke detector. There was no immediate word on the cause.
A few years back the Liberal government of the day made a big show of the poverty reduction plan put together in Saint John. Since then precious little has happened on that front to the chagrin of many provincial anti-poverty activists.
Jean Claude Basque of the Common Front for Social Justice says if anything more people are struggling since the plan was created.
An announcement in Fredericton tomorrow may mean the government is starting to take notice. A series of public discussions leading to the renewal of the poverty reduction plan will be announced.
Premier David Alward and Healthy and Inclusive Communities Minister Dorothy Shephard will be there.
If you are game for a road trip, a new exhibit at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium in St. Andrew's may be a fun adventure for the family.
A new exhibit features the lined seahorse which is sometimes found off the coast of Nova Scotia but mostly along the southern US coast and into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
The seahorse swim upright and their tail holds onto blades of sea grass, coral and other objects. Their colour and markings make them vary greatly and since they have no stomach they are constantly eating.
The aquarium is fundraising for the new creatures to assist with their upkeep. Donations can be made at the Aquarium or on their website. For more information, click here
Public Safety Minister Robery Trevors is expressing the government's support for the Safer Communities And Neighborhoods program, which many have feared was set for the chopping block.
Trevors announced more funding has been put behind the program, which allows citizens to anonymously report houses where crime is taking place and get tenants on the road to eviction.
The SCAN program had come under review earlier this summer after a tenant claimed she was evicted based on hearsay evidence but that was concluded to have been an isolated incident.
The 9th annual Dragon Boat Festival continues at Renforth wharf today with many teams, volunteers and spectators. All proceeds go towards buying specialized equipment for St. Joseph's Hospital.
Country 94/The Wave's Radio River Racers are back for Dragon Boat this year.
Captain Jenn Martin tells CHSJ News the team is just as pumped this year with most of the team a brand new group of paddlers.
She adds they do have a full boat and she can't believe the number of tents in the village this year.
Martin tells us between her blue face paint and her height she looks like a cross between an oompa-loompa and a smurf adding most people don't recognize her.
For more info about the Dragon Boat Festival, click here
The province announcing a half million dollar shot in the arm for a program that provides bursaries to undergrad medical students who plan to work as doctors.
The New Brunswick Medical Education Trust is aimed at attracting medical students to the province and retaining them once they start work as physicians.
The trust also aims to encourage New Brunswickers who studied medicine in other provinces to come home.
It was formally established in 2009 and 28 students received the 2013 awards this week.
For more information on the New Brunswick Medical Education Trust click here
It was a full house at NBCC for a kiosk-style information session on the West-East oil pipeline; however, Environmental activist Gordon Dalzell tells CHSJ News the format left a lot to be desired compared to a town hall meeting. Dalzell says big businesses tend to prefer the kiosk style format because they'd rather deal with people on an individual basis that in organized groups with a lot of information. Dalzell also says the National Energy Board Act has changed so that people have to fill out a ten page application in order to have their concerns formally heard--making it all the more important for people to make it out to the public engagement meetings.
The Saint John Dragon Boat Festival is kicking off tomorrow at Renforth Wharf to raise money for the Saint Joseph's Hospital Foundation.
Jill Logan of the Festival tells CHSJ News local musicians, performers and traditional Chinese dancers will entertain the crowds while the teams compete--and this year's festival is as big as ever with over 50 teams participating. This year the foundation is buying an ultrasound for diagnostic imaging and a microscope for surgical services for a total cost of $275,000 dollars.Logan says the teams have been hard at work all summer to make that goal a reality.
If you have been a fan of the Sea Dogs from the very beginning, you may enjoy an event in the City tomorrow. The inaugural Wallace McCain Memorial Alumni game is taking place at Harbour Station at 130 between Sea Dogs alumni and the UNB varsity Reds alumni.
The new event created as a way to remember the late father of Sea Dogs CEO Scott McCain. Wendy Corscadden of the Sea Dogs foundation tells CHSJ News longtime fans will be pleased with the turnout by former players.
She says many of the players who are in now in the NHL are coming back including Robert Mayer, Yann Sauve and Jonathan Huberdeau.
Following the Alumni game is a Family fun fair outside from 3 until 6 and then the Sea Dogs take to the ice in pre-season action against the Titan at 7. For more info, click here
NB Power's project involving the installation of thousands of LED lights in streetlights in many provincial municipalities is about a month ahead of schedule.
Crews began replacing high pressure sodium bulbs with the brighter more efficient LED's this spring.
17,000 LEDs are being installed around the province in places like Riverview, Miramichi and Fredericton, St Stephen and St. George. Moncton and Grand Manan will have them by the end of September.
Sherry Thomson of NB Power says the lights use less energy every year and a part of the utility's strategy to reduce and shift energy demand in the province.
Thomson adds when all the street lights have been replaced with the new LEDs, the province can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 324,000 tonnes over 20 years.
A 21 year old woman from Salt Springs is dead following a crash in Hampton.
It happened just after 4 yesterday on Main Street.
The victim's car collided with another vehicle driven by a 17 year old girl from Norton.
The teenager was injured and remains in hospital.
The Mounties tell CHSJ News they have determined that the victim was not wearing a seatbelt and that her vehicle was hit by an oncoming vehicle that crossed the centre line.
Main Street was blocked to traffic for more than 3 hours at the scene.
A college gymnasium filled with the chatter of questions about the Energy East pipeline being asked and answered.
The kiosk-style event at NBCC is one of many happening around the province. Spokesperson for TransCanada Phillipe Cannon tells CHSJ News they chose that style for the open house instead of a town hall-style so that the those attending could just go up to a booth and get their question answered directly instead of having to speak in front of a large group. Cannon says the general tone in New Brunswick seems to be one of curiosity. He says the further east you go in Canada, the less familiar people are with the pipeline industry so people living here have lots of questions. He says they've been getting many questions about safety, how pipelines are built and how they work.
These open houses are happening all over the province. If you didn't make it to this event, another meeting is being held on September 10 at the St. Alphonsus Parish Hall in Hampton, then the next day at the Legion in Chipman.
The first-ever Walmart Supercentre in New Brunswick is going to have its grand opening ceremony tomorrow at the 450 Westmorland Road location.
The 129,000 square foot store has been remodeled to include a new fresh grocery section. There are also more dry, fresh and frozen offerings. The store is one of 37 Supercentre projects planned across Canada.
The expansion will create 20 new jobs --and so far, nearly 450 people have applied. The store will be having Grand Opening Block Party on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with face-painting, live music, refreshments and samples.
Sixty-two-year-old convicted sex offender Roger Ernest Joseph Roberge has been relocated from Saint John to Halifax.
Roberge had been assessed as a high risk to re-offend in terms of both sexual and non-sexual violence. His criminal record dates back to 1969 and his major distinguishing feature is his numerous facial tattoos.
No word on the reason for the relocation. Roberge had been living in a halfway house monitored by the Saint John Police Force's Family Protection Unit.
The Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park will be getting a major financial boost this fall. More than $800,000 is being invested to upgrade the gift shop and interpretive centre at the provincial park, with construction beginning at the end of the summer.
The renovations will include enlarging the gift shop, making it wheelchair acessible, and adding a first aid station. The site became a park in 1958 and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the province.
A shelter made of plywood and metal has been up for weeks on an uptown street to protect passersby from possible debris after bricks fell off the top half of an old building.
It happened on July 31, and Property Manager Bob Morgan tells CHSJ News they put up scaffolding the next day in front of 196-198 Princess and a mason cleaned the rest of the loose brick from the building.
Because it falls in a heritage area, Morgan says he had to wait until the next Heritage Board Development meeting to get a heritage permit. Now that he has one, he's hoping work will start next week and take three weeks to complete.
They think water got under the eaves-troughs over the years which deteriorated some of the brick work and caused it to fall. Nobody was hurt.
They spread ticks, cause car crashes and even attack humans—deer aren't just a nuisance, they're downright dangerous—and as we wait to see what, if any, plan the province's Department of Natural Resources will put in place to control our numbers, one Canadian city has started a bow and arrow hunt to deal with their exploding urban population.
The Mayor of Kenora, Ontario, David Canfield, tells CHSJ News he highly recommends this method. Canfield says it's probably the best method possible for controlling the number of deer, because you only have a short range with a bow and arrow. He says deer are an emotional issue for people, but at the end of the day, it's about sustainability.
A few years ago New Brunswick's DNR considered bringing in archers to deal with the booming population. Another suggestion was to tranquilize the deer and bring them somewhere with low numbers, but the rate of deer death with that method was very high. Rothesay's town council expressed shock at the numbers of car crashes caused by deer just this year: over 700. That number was revealed as the results from the Kennebecasis Valley deer survey came in.
It's been three years almost to the day since the official sod turning at Peel Plaza. Now, the new police headquarters and and law courts are celebrating their grand opening.
Police Chief Bill Reid tells CHSJ News they want the public to be able to see how their tax dollars were spent on the new facility, and thus will be arranging tour bookings on weekends and other convenient times.
Reid pointed out that the force had occupied City Hall since the 1970s, and it was never supposed to be permanent arrangement--so the new facility was long overdue.
He got a Canadian Country Music Association nomination when he was just 13 years old and now he's back with a grown up album. Brett Kissel is a singer songwriter from Flat Lake, Alberta who was nominated for a Rising star award back when the awards were held in Saint John in 2006. Kissel tells CHSJ News he loves working in country music because you can write an upbeat party song or something stripped down that's about love or loss.
You can hear Kissel's debut single "Started With A Song" on Country 94. His debut album comes out after the CCMA's in September. You can hear our full interview with Brett Kissel on Pulse 94 this Sunday after the 10am news.
International media attention for an Ontario mom who recieved an anonymous letter from a neighbor, telling her it would be better to euthanize her child with autism because he bothers others in the neighborhood.
Amanda Hensey has four kids ages one to 10. Her 10 year old and her 3 year old have autism.
She tells CHSJ News judgment from strangers pours salt in the wound. Hensey urges people to try and give parents the benefit of the doubt when their kids are having a meltdown, or even help by holding a door or offering to help bring grocery bags out to the car.
She says in a way she's glad the letter has gotten so much attention because it draws attention to prejudices that still exist against families of kids with autism and other disorders.
A $13 million project in Rothesay is slated to start in the Spring of next year.
Common Council approving in principle the building of a new arena on Scott Avenue, as well the refurbishment of the existing complex.
Before the new arena goes up, some residents in the area will have to leave their homes, but will they have to do it on their own dime? Mayor Bill Bishop tells CHSJ News town council plans on helping those people move and paying for any expenses they run up.
The town of Rothesay is calling for proposals for architectural design services right away. The new arena will include an indoor walking track and a full-size ice surface and it's expected to take between eight and 10 months to build. A proposed field house was estimated to cost between $25-30 million dollars, but the town said that was just too pricey.Bishop says they're hoping to get several million dollars from both provincial and federal governments for this project.
Standing room only at Quispamsis town hall, as a petition to remove a cement barricade on Autumn Avenue and Market Street was put before council.
The town's Director of Engineering and Works, Gary Losier tells CHSJ News the town has asked staff to do a traffic analysis of the area, examining speed, traffic volume and other factors. The results will be included in a staff report presented to council before a public hearing on the issue in October.
Losier says in 1984, council enacted a Stop & Close by-law to stop industrial vehicles from driving on the street. Since then, he says there have been many requests to open it back up and they've all been turned down.
Published by Ken Val Co-op Food Market, the petition says the barricade is bad for their business and other businesses in the area because when having to drive around the town to get to their store, drivers pass two other similar stores.
A drug bust in Chipman has resulted in the arrest of a 58 year old and a 60 year old man.
Police executed a search warrant Friday, finding a quantity of cocaine at a home on Beers Lane in Chipman. Sixty-year-old Gordon Stockford of Chipman has been charged with possession of cannabis resin and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The 58-year-old was released without charges. Stockford is expected to appear in court next month.
An Ontario basketball player will be bringing his talents to the Mill Rats this fall.
Mike Luby was drafted by the Mill Rats in the National Basketball league of Canada Draft.
Luby says it's been a long road to get this far adding between injuries and other disappointments he thought his career was over but he stuck with it and feels like he can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The 6'11'' Luby says the NBL will give him a good chance to crack an NBA roster.
It's the first day of Saint John's newest summer theater festival.
The Fundy Fringe Festival features 125 shows over five days by 25 acts including dance, music, improv, performance art and stand-up comedy. It kicks off officially at 11:30 this morning at the Sanctuary Theater, and live shows will be held at various uptown venues until the 10:15 tonight.
Most acts cost $10 or less and last less than an hour. For a full description of all the acts, click here and a schedule click here.
What if, instead of building a playground out of plastic and metal, you built one out of your natural surroundings?
That's the idea behind a natural playground, which is what Quispamsis Elementary School wants built in its backyard.
Their Community Play spokesperson, Christy Bourque tells CHSJ News natural playgrounds help kids understand their limits, take risks, meet challenges and some people say they can even cut down on bullying.
The playground is estimated to cost $740,000 dollars. Through fundraising efforts, students and their parents have raised $75,000. They've approached the town asking for their land and financial help. Quispamsis council referring the matter to town staff.
