News

A hearty welcome goes out this week to Rio, the new Halifax police horse who will be formally sworn in on Canada Day. The CBC is currently running a contest to rename Rio, so as of Friday, our pithy Duran Duran-inspired headline will be officially out of date. Rio will replace Halifax’s current lone police […]

Nova Scotia’s anti-Sunday shopping law: Law, or meekly-enforced suggestion? Discuss. Personally, we’re inclined to go with “suggestion” after the events of last week. The Atlantic Superstore on Barrington Street first skirted the Sunday shopping ban on June 11, and consequently kicked the floodgates wide open—as in, province-wide. Last week, Sobeys responded to the Superstore venture […]

We promise not to go on at length about the provincial election. Honest. Everybody knows the results by now anyway; the Conservatives won another minority, R-Mac still presides. Yeah, yeah, fine. But still, we feel the need to mention: of all the stories to emerge on election night, you gotta feel for former Waverley-Fall River-Beaver […]

Oh, what an eventful week it’s been for the Halifax Regional School Board. It all started with the reassignment of Gordon Young, who up until last Thursday had been the board’s director of programs. Young had also been the principal of Halifax West High School five years ago during the incident involving teacher Lindsay Willow, […]

The Halifax Regional School Board released a survey this week that is asking teachers to disclose their sexual orientation. The survey, which also questions staff about disabilities and race, asks teachers to identify if they are heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian (No transgendered tick-box? What gives?). Although the board claims that the survey is simply […]

A group of approximately 17 campers were rounded up last Saturday night on McNabs Island by provincial conservation officers and told to fold up their tends and go home. Although overnight camping has traditionally been permitted on McNabs, the two conservation officers were apparently unaware of the unique camping conditions that prevail on the island. […]

On Wednesday afternoon, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board decided to renew the liquor license at the now-infamous Dartmouth strip club Sensations Cabaret—with some conditions. Big conditions. Fully-clothed conditions. Spread over a whopping 108 pages, the ruling’s biggest decision can be boiled down to a single declaration, found on page 107: “Effective 12:01 a.m. […]

Ah, spring—a magical time for a young premier. So many firsts. Last week, rookie premier Rodney MacDonald released his first budget as leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative party, and the Rod’ster aimed to please. Taxes, cut! Spending, up! NDP campaign pledges, borrowed! (The budget included an eight percent sales tax rebate on home heating […]

Last week, dirt-pushing machines appeared on the Halifax Common to break ground on the new $500,000 skatepark backed by the Halifax Skatepark Coalition. According to Coalition director/chairperson Jacquie Thillaye, the hope is that the new park will be fully skateable by mid-summer. “We’re looking at a two-to-three-month build schedule,” she says. The existing skatepark will […]

If you’re going to be in southern Ontario this weekend, be sure to take a bemused glance at Toronto’s Downhome Show, “a celebration of East Coast food, drink, comedy, and music,” according to the show’s website. The show, designed to give ex-pat Maritimers a little taste of home, does a fine job at capturing the […]

Remember fossil fuels? Like, oil? They were these things we used to use for energy until the resource became too scarce and the cost became too crazy expensive. Good thing we came to our senses and started using other sources of energy…:::like in April 2006, when Nova Scotia Power announced their intent to make a […]