They found the remains of Alicia Ross last week. Twenty-five and missing for a month from her home in Markham, Alicia’s remains were scattered around picturesque cottage country on a lake near Coboconk, Ontario. Three days before, it was Jennifer Teague. Eighteen and missing 11 days since she left the night shift at Wendy’s and […]
News + Opinion
Coast newspaper coverage of Halifax city news, breaking news, HRM municipal politics, city hall news, local business, downtown development, Dartmouth, Sackville, Bedford, Nova Scotia, Halifax councillors and the mayor
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dial tones
With the CBC lockout entering its sixth week, woeful fans have had plenty of time to assess what they miss the most from their public broadcaster. Because regional branches of CBC Radio are shut down across the country, original local programming has all but disappeared from the airwaves while day-to-day operations are handled out of […]
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Shelter storm
At 9am on a recent Friday morning, a motley band of 50 social activists and low income people-many of no-fixed-address pushed shopping carts down Spring Garden Road and shouted out their need for more affordable housing now. “Are shopping carts our national housing strategy?” asked a hand-lettered sign sticking up from one of the carts. […]
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Locked in
“We’ve just put an offer on the table.” So begins the full page ad in the Globe and Mail (my colleague Tod Maffin reports that such ads cost about $63,000) on Day 45 of the CBC lockout. It’s going to create a lot of talk, this ad. People are going to think it means a […]
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Part 1: Getting out
“Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away alright.”—Randy Newman, “Louisiana 1927” New Orleans is gone. I left it behind me on Saturday, with my two kids in the backseat, the soundtrack to Shrek on the CD player. My wife, a pediatrician, was on call for the weekend and stayed behind. She […]
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Part 2: City of the dead
“I can’t go back there,” says my wife, Tami, talking on the cell phone. We’re driving from Carencro into Lafayette to find an insurance office and check out the food stamp line. She listens to the caller, a friend of mine from high school. “That would be great,” Tami says. They’re talking about Minneapolis. Every […]
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Part 3: Just a little while to stay here
Lafayette, Louisiana She just stares at me, the Iowan volunteer. Silver and green Mardi Gras beads drape around her neck. She pushes a blank form across the table. “It’s been a long day,” she says. Sitting next to her, another volunteer quickly smiles. “Welcome,” she says. “You came to the right place.” I tell them […]
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Part 4: The new New Orleans
“Why is this our problem?” I say this to Cindy. My family and I have been in her home in Carencro, Louisiana, about 150 miles west of New Orleans, for a month now. I say this to her when she brings up the matter of the various children in our evacuee household, trying to plan […]
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A real mixed bag
To the editor, Just went to your website for the first time once I saw the banner headline on the front page of this week’s edition, which I get at Dave Doolittle’s. Read Stephanie Domet’s very moving column. Two points: For those of us who aren’t very computer savvy, what are blogs and how do […]
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Rock out with your lockout
Dear HRM and Canadians everywhere, I don’t even know where to begin. My understanding of the CBC lockout was that the union was threatening a walk-out. In a pre-emptive strike, CBC management locked them out just ahead of the walk-out deadline. Just because someone beat you to the punch doesn’t give you the right to […]
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Is that a park in your pocket?
To the editor, I feel compelled to write to you on behalf of the merchants, property owners and residents of Quinpool Road and the surrounding area. The “Neighbourhood watch” article that was written in your September 1 Back to School issue has ruffled many feathers and created disappointment and frustration on the street. We very […]
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Sign of the times
To the editor, Your recent Back to School edition (September 1) includes a fascinating photograph of some students gathered at the gates of a concentration camp, grinning at the camera like a gaggle of tourists at Disneyworld. It appears to be advertising some kind of a cultural literacy course for Saint Mary’s. I’m not sure […]
