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Monday, August 30, 2010

Liberal Campaign Stops In City Today




Update On Body Found In River











Work continues to piece together who it was found floating in the Saint John River over the weekend.


City Police tell CHSJ News, it will be a few more days before they can identify the body that was spotted by people on the Highland Road in the North End just after four o'clock on Saturday.


Officers says the body is so badly decomposed, it is going to take DNA or dental records to make a positive identification.

Seadogs Like Their Chances For Memorial Cup














The Saint John Seadogs are loving a decision by the Q-League at it's Board of Govenors meeting held over the weekend.
An independent committee will select which Q-League city plays host to the 2012 Memorial Cup.
The team announced it's intention to host the tourney over a year ago.
President Wayne Long tells CHSJ News, their bid is solid.
Long says the Seadogs bid will have to be in to the league office by the end of November with the selction committee to arrive in the city for a site tour in February or March.

Ottawa Announces More Internships




















      (Saint John MP Rodney Weston)
          (Photo by Jim Hennessy) 

33 additional internships have been announced through the small business internship program.


This is for University graduates and small businesses in Atlantic Canada.


Saint John MP Rodney Weston says this program funds up to 75% or ten thousand dollars of a salary for 12 weeks.

Weston says this program has proven to be a success since it was launched last year.

Record-Breaking Heat In Saint John Today


You are experiencing record-breaking heat in Greater Saint John today.
Meterologist Linda Libby of Environment Canada tells CHSJ News we broke a 37-year-old record this afternoon.
The old mark was 28.3 set back in 1973 and as of 3 this afternoon we hit the 30 degree mark.

Libby says they will get official confirmation later this afternoon.
She adds the temperatures this week are about 10 degrees above normal.

Conservative Commitment To Small Business
















(Saint John Portland Conservative Candidate Trevor Holder)
                         (File Photo)

Anger....that is what the Conservative candidate for Saint John Portland is being greeted with by small business owners on the campaign trail.


Trevor Holder tells CHSJ News, he has never seen it like this and is vowing to make changes.


Holder says his party is proposing big changes for small business including rolling back the huge tax break for large industry to re-invest in the small business sector.

Provincial Forests Are Dry

It's no surprise to hear the forests in our province are dry given the warm temperatures this summer.
Wildland Fire Prevention Officer Charles Beaulieu tells CHSJ News we are still in better shape than last year with fewer fires and the fires we have are small.

Beaulieu says the forests are dry and some rain in the forecast for this weekend will help out. Most of the province is under a burn restriction and Beaulieu tells us by tomorrow afternoon the entire province will be restricted since the hot weather will stick around.

Premier Commits Money For Martinon

(Premier Graham campaigning in Martinon)
(photo by Gary MacDonald)

Premier Shawn Graham is committing $750,000 for a new railway overpass on the Westifield Road in Martinon.
The Premier made the commitment during a campaign whistle stop in the suburban area.
City officials say construction will be carried out next year to replace the old narrow bridge.
The road is being upgraded with sidewalks planned but the old bridge presented a roadblock because it's too narrow to handle sidewalks.
Residents in the area have been pushing for the upgrades to improve safety.

Mental Health Issues Pop Up On The Campaign Trail






Mental health issues creeping into the provincial election campaign today -- Premier Graham stopped to speak to some of the striking Brunswick Square workers as he was doing some glad handing along King Street late this morning.

And he met up with Sherry Branscombe who told the Premier not enough is being done to help the mentally challenged:


The Premier pledged to do his best to help her brother and others like him to which Branscombe said the Premier should make that a mandate promise and Graham said he was going to do that.
Graham continued his main streeting stopping for lunch at Market Square before heading to other Saint John area ridings.

Graham Speaks In King Square On Job Creation

Job creation and re-organizing Business New Brunswick.....two highlights of a speech delivered by Premier Graham today in Kings Square. Graham says the Conservative plan of splitting the department's duties and creating a new agency called InvestNB has been tried before and won't work:
He says within 18 months they recognized the importance of putting it back together.
He calls it an important tool for creating jobs saying Business New Brunswick is responsible for half of the 10,000 new jobs in the Province.

Graham says a new unit within Business New Brunswick, a business development agency, would be established to focus on creating high-paying jobs in high-growth sectors like information technology, biosciences and oil and gas.

Cash For Waste-Water In Quispamsis








The Liberals are committed to paying a third of the price tag for Quispamsis to connect their wasterwater collection system to Wildwood Park.


Mayor Murray Driscoll tells CHSJ News they've been trying to get this funding since September 2009, but they had to get ownership of the facility in Wildwood Park before moving forward.


Driscoll says the project will allow for more homes to open up in the area without the threat of the current facility in Wildwood park operating inefficiently.


The Province's share of the cash is conditional to Ottawa committing a third of the funding.

The Ex Opens Today At Exhibition Park

It's the final week of August and that means new events and plenty of old favourites are set up for the Saint John Ex. Exhibition Association President Blair MacDonald tells CHSJ News, along with new rides and events through-out the four days, there will be a lumberjack show.

MacDonald adds they changed the name because the Atlantic National Exhibition seemed a bit grand. Admission to the midway is free and everyday is bracelet day.
 
The EX is here until Friday and the gates open daily at noon starting tomorrow with a fireworks display as well starting at ten.

Highway Traffic On East Side To Be Disrupted

It won't be for long, but there will be a major traffic snag on Highway 1 today. The Department of Transportation is closing down both the eastbound and westbound lanes on the highway near the Crown Street off ramp.

The closure will take place at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and will last for about 15 minutes while blasting takes place for the One Mile House Interchange project.
 
You can expect noise and delays and drivers are encouraged to take alternate routes.

Common Council To Receive Petition Tonight From Friends Of Rockwood Park















(Entrance To Rockwood Park)
           (File Photo)

Common Council will be receiving a petition tonight with more than 2 thousand names on it opposing development within Rockwood Park against the backdrop of uncertainty over where the boundary is. The petition was circulated by the Friends of Rockwood Park.

Despite all the controversy, improvements are continuing within the park. Project Manager Peter Hanlon tells CHSJ News the bridge by the duck pond has to be redone and causeway opened up a bit.

Hanlon calls the concentration of ducks in such a small area to be an environmental mess and warns feeding them is actually making matters worse.

Teachers Are Back In School In District 6












(District 6 Schoolboard Superintendent Zoe Watson)
                           (File Photo)

The students may still be at home, but it's back to school for the teachers today in District 6.

Superintendant Zoe Watson says the teachers will be kept busy attending Development Days and says motivational speaker Ron Morrish is returning to present to them on student discipline.

Watson says Morrish will also be giving parents advice tonight at 7:00 in Sussex Regional High school and on Wednesday night at 7:00 in Kings Valley Wesleyan Church.

District 8 Getting Schools Ready For Next Week's Opening
















(District 8 Schoolboard Superintendent Susan Tipper)
                           (File Photo)

School supplies and new clothes are essential when heading back to school but their classrooms have to be ready for them.

District 8 Superintendent Susan Tipper tells CHSJ News has some of the oldest infrastructure in the Province so the work is costly and time consuming.

Tipper says one of the biggest challenges for the district was when a transformer blew at Forest Hills school leaving it without power for a while but, it has since been fixed and the school will be ready when classes start next week.
 
Tipper adds they are also working to make every school in the district wheelchair accessible.