Fully vaccinated Canada: animated national COVID vaccination tracker
To watch the race press the play button at the lower left of the chart. Click here for a larger version of the chart. Canada’s vaccine rollout started in mid-December 2020, and with the required couple weeks between jabs, it wasn’t until January 2021 that the first Canadians became fully vaccinated with two doses. To…
Houston’s quick health care shake-up
On the day after his swearing in, premier Tim Houston immediately disrupted Nova Scotia’s health care system by firing the health authority CEO and getting rid of the provincial health board. “I’ve said all along that transformational change was needed to improve health care and it starts today,” Houston said in a statement Wednesday. He…
Nova Scotia’s new cabinet has 2 health ministers, but is missing one for mental health
Progressive Conservative premier Tim Houston was sworn in Tuesday, alongside his team of 18 cabinet ministers. The new cabinet includes seven women, new roles and Nova Scotia’s third white MLA overseeing African Nova Scotian affairs. Together the 19 politicians make up Nova Scotia’s executive council; Houston is president of the council, as well as minister…
Housing and remorse dominate council’s first meeting since the shelter siege
Halifax Regional Council met today, August 31, for the first time since the shelter siege on August 18, when 24 people were arrested while trying to protect their neighbours living on the old library grounds from violent eviction by police and city staff. One of the first topics of discussion on today’s meeting agenda was…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Tuesday, Aug 31
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
6,000 cases in Nova Scotia, explained in 6 charts
Nova Scotia announced 31 new infections today, which is a below-average number on its own—the 31 are spread over Friday, Saturday and Sunday for about 10 infected per day. But with those cases the province has now reported a total of 6,030 COVID cases during the pandemic. In honour of passing the 6,000-infection milestone, The…
Nova Scotia’s new government is mostly made up of veteran politicians
This week, the 55 people who won the recent provincial election get sworn into office, and Progressive Conservative Party leader Tim Houston officially becomes premier Houston, leading a PC majority government. The swing from Liberal to PC might seem like a major message of change coming from the electorate—which turned out in pretty typical numbers…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Monday, Aug 30
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Conservative candidate Troy Myers drops out after sexual assault allegation
Following an allegation of sexual assault from a provincial NDP candidate, Troy Myers, CEO and librarian of the South Shore Public Libraries, has withdrawn from running in the federal election. Myers was representing the Conservatives in Dartmouth-Cole Harbour. Myers posted a statement on his Facebook page Monday morning denying the accusation, but says “for the…
Play review: Adventures makes you believe in magic, but you have to hurry to catch it
Walking along a path at Point Pleasant Park after dark—with bundles of fairy lights dotting the way—the crowd for the opening night of Adventures was silent, a buzzing anticipation mixed with reverence. It was the feeling of slipping out of your cabin at sleep-away camp on an oppressively hot night, looking for some mischief. Related…
Meet peninsula Halifax’s new MLAs Ali Duale, Suzy Hansen and Lisa Lachance
Meet the three first-time MLAs who get to have the word “Halifax” in their job title. Ali Duale is the incoming member of the legislative assembly for Halifax Armdale, Suzy Hansen represents Halifax Needham and Lisa Lachance is the MLA for Halifax Citadel-Sable Island. They officially start their new jobs with a swearing-in ceremony Monday…
If you can’t stand the heatwave…don’t even think about this kitchen
Every time Ewan Deveaux gets ready to head into a shift cooking at Salvatore’s Pizzaiolo Trattoria, he knows he’ll be spending a handful of hours sweltering in the back kitchen. A hot environment is second nature when you’re quickly assembling orders near a couple of blazing pizza ovens, four or five other speedy co-workers and…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Friday, Aug 27
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Your horoscope for the week August 26-September 1
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO Chrissy Clothier, Jessica Linzey, Laura Draeger, Colin Earl Brown, Erin Tilley, Ken Partridge, Fred Connors, Lindsay Gloade Raining Bird, Stephanie Domet, Alan MacLeod, Anne Ogilvie, Dan Berman and Heath Matheson. share the love by emailing your friend’s name and birth date to bday@thecoast.ca then click your sign to go to your horoscope aquarius aries cancer capricorn gemini leo libra …
A vaccination victory in COVID news for Nova Scotia on Thursday, Aug 26
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Dear mayor and council, you can’t blame the protesters because none of you were there
I am writing to denounce the municipality’s complicity in the eviction enforcement that gave rise to the police violence around the old library on Spring Garden Road on August 18, 2021. I am especially outraged after seeing some post-protest comments from municipal elected officials and HRP spokespeople, which ranged from weak to odious. None of…
FIN Atlantic International Film Festival launches 2021 lineup
If this past year-and-a-half has you missing the movies—realizing that maybe the best part of a horror film is the whole audience holding its breath, or that a comedy just hits different when someone in the back row has a gregarious laugh—you’re not alone. But you’ll also find buttered popcorn-tinged solace in the return of…
Brandon Michael tells us a joke
Halifax up-and-coming laugh-getter Brandon Michael’s foray into comedy was inevitable, really. “My parents liked Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live. I’ve always just grown up with a family that’s really into comedy,” he says of a childhood where he mainlined Seinfeld and stand-up the way the rest of us binged cartoons. At 15, he took…
Another COVID death in Nova Scotia on Wednesday, Aug 25
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Inside the first family of Nova Scotia’s pandemic
Eighteen months ago, Alexandra and Emma Strang’s father was just your average dad. “He loves dad jokes, and makes terrible crazy ones all the time,” says Emma, 17, who just graduated high school and is teaching at Neptune Theatre for the summer. An avid reader and former rugby player, he is famous in the family…
5 Q&A quickies
QI’m a woman who recently went out on a third date with a man. I invited him back to my place and we started making out, which led to him going down on me. Moments later he took off his pants and to my surprise he had a micro penis. I was shocked and turned…
Tim Houston (again) rejects rent control
Premier-designate Tim Houston agrees the lack of housing in Nova Scotia is a “crisis.” But in his first appearance with chief medical officer of health Robert Strang, the Progressive Conservative leader repeated his campaign message that rent control is not the fix. “I don’t believe that rent control is a solution to the housing crisis,…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Tuesday, Aug 24
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Phase 5 arrives Sept 15, but NB border restrictions return Wednesday
This story was updated August 29 to include a quote from Tim Houston making clear the province must reach 75 percent fully vaccinated to enter Phase 5. Phase 5 is scheduled to start Wednesday, September 15, Houstrang says. Monday afternoon, during their first provincial COVID briefing together, incoming premier-designate Tim Houston and chief medical officer…
Halifax’s airport is open to international flights—but none have landed yet
Correction: When first published, the story said 70 percent of airport concessions are open, but in fact 70 percent are still closed. The text was changed to reflect that on August 25. Two weeks ago today—on Monday, August 9—Halifax Stanfield International Airport reopened to receiving international flights, thanks to the federal government’s change in regulations…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Monday, Aug 23
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts New and active cases Vaccination rate Canada’s fourth wave Province, we have a Houstrang The incoming premier…
Step into art star Ursula Johnson’s Livingroom
It’s perhaps too easy to start off by calling the multidisciplinary artist Ursula Johnson a star, but the term fits. Not only because she was the first-ever Atlantic Canadian artist to win the Sobey Award (the biggest national prize for visual arts) or the first to translate contemporary art discourse into Mi’kmaq, as she did…
Fashion show “This Is Us” serves the community *and* serves looks
Solitha Shortte probably didn’t intend to be a dose of pure oxygen to the city’s fashion industry when she arrived in Halifax a decade ago, a model inspired by Naomi Campbell. But that’s exactly what she’s done, founding Soli Productions, a fashion and talent incubator that serves the community (thanks to its radical inclusivity) *and*…
Police make Friday evening visit to Meagher Park
At 8:01pm Friday evening, Halifax Mutual Aid spokesperson Sakura Saunders sent a text to a half dozen people on an “alert list”. There wasn’t any context given, but those three words got the message across: “Police are here.” For nearly 48 hours, Saunders had been on-site at Meagher Park at the corner of Chebucto and…
A back-to-work to-do list for the new Nova Scotia legislature
Nova Scotia is the “home of responsible government in Canada,” the place that launched parliamentary democracy in Canada on October 2, 1758. This auspicious beginning lead to a minute 250 years later, back in the early aughts, when all these folks were singing our praises, and many Nova Scotians were walking around wearing D250 swag and…
What new premier Tim Houston promises to do in Nova Scotia
Houston, we have a majority. Premier Tim Houston (does that still sound weird? He’s technically premier-designate now) was elected on Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday morning his Progressive Conservative Party had a clear majority government with 31 of the 55 seats in Nova Scotia’s legislature. Houston wasted no time selecting a transition staff team to…
Halifax’s 2SLGBTQ+ community is calling new spots home
It’s been more than a year since Halifax’s last bar dedicated to the 2SLGBTQ+ community, Menz & Mollyz, announced its doors were closing for good. The north end gem took to its Facebook page last April to publicize its shuttering, and Halifax has been lacking in queer-centered spaces ever since. For 15 years, Menz &…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Friday, Aug 20
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Halifax police chief Kinsella defends use of force at the Memorial Library shelter protest
Halifax Regional Police chief Dan Kinsella, who was not present at yesterday’s chaotic arrests and protest, says officers “responded appropriately” when using pepper spray which hurt at least one child. In a media availability Thursday afternoon, following 24 arrests made August 18 as police forcibly removed shelters and tents inhabited by unhoused Haligonians, the police…
Celebrate Onam with an Indian feast at Masala Delight
Indians from Kerala and the Malayalee community will be celebrating the final few days of Onam this weekend, and Masala Delight wants people in Halifax to try a traditional meal called sadhya. Sadhya—which means feast—originates from Kerala, a state on India’s southwest coast. Traditionally, it consists of 26 dishes that are prepared with more than…
How the city created a crisis Wednesday with a shelter siege
In mid-July, when eviction notices were posted on several Halifax Mutual Aid-built shelters across Halifax, HRM councillor Shawn Cleary assured Haligonians that the removal of unhoused residents’ tents, wooden shelters and belongings would happen without violence. “If someone is dragged out of one of these shelters by a police officer I’ll be down there with…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Thursday, Aug 19
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Your horoscope for the week August 19-25
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO Lianne Lessard, Liz Roper, Loukas Crowther, Mike Landry, Sue Carter, Janet MacMillan, Stephanie Graham, Steve Vernon, Cia Tweel, Eamonn Martin, Maddy Carter, Jason Eisener, Phlis McGregor, Marnie Gillis, Paige Sawler and Stephen Kimber. share the love by emailing your friend’s name and birth date to bday@thecoast.ca then click your sign to go to your horoscope aquarius aries cancer capricorn gemini leo …
A poem that’s a place for you to rest after you watched shelter be taken away
The police have come to a boil and are burning us. Everything is a weapon because everything is a crime. Even the graceful design of the bicycle, held aloft and pushed, becomes a cop; This poem is defunding their violence and is instead turning to your care. It is a steady stream of cool water…
Updated: How to help Halifax’s housing insecure after the shelter siege
It went quiet, just for a split second, outside the old Spring Garden Road Memorial Library site today. It felt like a collective inhale, a pause in the din of protestors, police, city employees and bystanders. As a city worker lifted a chainsaw to one of the temporary shelters on site, chewing it up with…
“Queer Gardens: pleasures in 4 bases” centres queer liberation at Pride.
Arjun Lal’s garden of earthly delights is the sort of place that’s haunted your best daydreams, lighting up your brain’s pleasure centre and leaving a trailing perfume of pomegranate in its wake. But this Friday, August 20, from 6-9pm you can stop dreaming: Lal is bringing this paradise to roaring life as an art show…
Matt Mays announces surprise string of summer Shore Club shows
It ain’t August until Matt Mays sings “On The Hood” from The Shore Club stage, a perfect coalescence of sound and space so peak Nova Scotian summertime it moves your feet from under you, here in the real, to the hyperreal—toes tapping all the way. And while usually the duke of Dartmouth’s stint of shows…
9 new COVID cases for Nova Scotia on Wednesday, Aug 18
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Can I stop the MMF threesomes with my husband?
QIs it ever OK to stop being GGG? I’ve been with my husband for 26 years. Shortly after we got together, my husband disclosed a major kink: MMF threesomes. I was young and a virgin and up for anything then, but we didn’t start hooking up with other men until around year six of our…
Halifax results and ridings in the 2021 Nova Scotia election
Happy post-election, Nova Scotia. After an interesting 31-day campaign dominated by talk of health care, rent control and sexism—not to mention a federal election call arriving at the tail end of the provincial campaign—the province elected a Progressive Conservative government. Tim Houston will be Nova Scotia’s next premier. For the best look at election results…
1 new COVID case on election Tuesday, Aug 17
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
Halifax decides time’s up for crisis shelter residents
Early Tuesday morning, several shelter residents in downtown Halifax awoke to learn that this provincial election day may also double as their eviction date. Thirty-four days after the city’s original July 13 deadline for shelter removal, police and bylaw officers have begun to serve eviction notices to several people living in crisis shelters and tents…
The Halifax paradox of Nova Scotia politics
S ometime this summer, Halifax became, maybe, the best city in the world. Earlier this year, Halifax came in at the top of Maclean’s annual ranking of the best communities in the country, up from 131st place in 2020. The editors at Maclean’s haven’t fallen in love with donairs, watery Keith’s and “Barrett’s Privateers” singalongs.…
Sipekne’katik chief arrested after opening treaty fishery
On Monday, Sipekne’katik First Nation chief Michael Sack held a planned press conference to announce the opening of its new treaty fishery season. What wasn’t planned was Sack’s arrest following the press conference. Ku’ku’kwes News was on scene in Saulnierville, reporting that a handful of boats headed into the St. Mary’s Bay after the announcement.…
9 new COVID cases in Nova Scotia on Monday, Aug 16
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate …
No ballots taken at Clayton Park West returning office break-in
With provincial election day looming, a break-in at the Clayton Park West returning office resulted in stolen ballot boxes and IT equipment, but no ballots were taken, Elections Nova Scotia said. The returning office for District 10 at 137 Chain Lake Drive was broken into in the evening of Sunday, August 15, according to a…
The week’s must-see art show: Secrets Are Reparations For Microaggressions
The Khyber’s latest window installation, titled Secrets Are Reparations For Microaggressions, is the sort of radical softness this world needs more of: Artists Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet and Sanaa Humayun created the exhibit’s central work—a multi-coloured, embroidered quilt made of raw whispers—as a place to develop the secret-sharing their friendship’s based on. (Swapping stories of past…
FIN Atlantic’s 2021 festival will be in-person and full of must-see movies
Last year, in the heart of the pandemic and just when we all felt exhausted with Netflix’s catalogue of content, FIN AIFF—the region’s biggest film festival—saved us from re-watching hell as it launched an online version of its storied event. Now, as hopeful eyes are cast towards a fully-vaxxed fall, the event has announced it’ll…
Queer connection triumphs in pandemic times
Being stuck in quarantine amidst a global pandemic forced a lot of people to grow introspective. Weeks of confinement meant, for many, contemplating their relationships with themselves and others was inevitable. Those thoughts (and private transformations) are what many people in the 2SLGBTQ+ community share in a new, must-see short documentary called Lovers. It’s an…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Friday, Aug 13
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
Three local albums to bump this Acadian Day
The annual celebration of Acadian culture, Festival Quinzou (AKA National Acadian Day) has been keeping the fun going since 1881—even if the Canadian government only recognized it as an official holiday in 2003. Tip your hat to the area’s rich francophone community by hitting up the annual, free concert held on Aug 13 from 5-7pm…
Festival of Dance Annapolis Royal returns Aug 16-21
Every August at the Valley’s edge, as the fertile region’s tree branches begin to feel the weight of fragrant fruit, another transformation happens: Annapolis Royal becomes overrun with rhythm. Dancers and performance artists—striking, sparkling talent from across the region and the country—descend on the idyllic town, ready to make moves. It’s the sort of embracing…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Thursday, Aug 12
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
Encouraging student vote
With the summertime election call, student organizations have been hard at work encouraging the nearly 60,000 people studying in Nova Scotia to get out and vote under stranger-than-normal circumstances. The Canadian Federation of Students is highlighting election issues like tuition costs, climate change and tackling racism in a non-partisan campaign to encourage student votes. Related…
Shubenacadie residential school search hasn’t found anything yet
Editor’s Note: If you’re struggling with this story or the recent news, the National Indian Residential School Crisis line at 1-866-925-4419 is available 24/7. The IRSSS (Indian Residential Schools Survivors Society) can also be contacted toll-free at 1-800-721-0066. Last Wednesday, the search for unmarked graves at Shubenacadie Residential School ended with no indication that children…
Your horoscope for the week August 12-18
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO Nikita Fraser, Amanda Smith, Sherry Jollymore, Julie d’Entremont, Daphne Docker, Lil MacPherson, Lee Anne Gillan, Beans and Benn Ross. share the love by emailing your friend’s name and birth date to bday@thecoast.ca then click your sign to go to your horoscope aquarius aries cancer capricorn gemini leo libra pisces sagittarius …
Dr. Strang pens letter to NS families to encourage student vaccine uptake
Nova Scotia’s top doctor wrote to families of students about the importance of getting a vaccine ahead of the school year—and urged those eligible but still unvaccinated to get their shot as soon as possible. The province has not, however, released its back to school plan. In a letter sent to families of students from…
9 drag extravaganzas to fill your Pride celebrations
It’s that time of year again: Pride festivities are taking over the city. After several months of no live shows and pandemic restrictions, the 2021 Halifax Pride Festival is ready to bring back in-person celebrations for 10 days of festivities—and numerous performers are ready to get back on stage. “I think seeing people and having…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Wednesday, Aug 11
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
The COVID vaccine side effects Nova Scotia doesn’t acknowledge
Across the world, hundreds of millions of people who menstruate have gotten COVID-19 vaccines. In Nova Scotia, considering that more than half the population identifies as female, it’s possible that most of the 1.3 million vaccinations injected so far have gone to people with uteruses. And yet the effects of COVID vaccines on menstrual health…
Reunion blues
QI fell in love with my second cousin about four years ago at a family reunion. (I hadn’t laid eyes on him since I was a kid!) I was 15 when we met, he was two years older and we were in a long-distance relationship for three years. We ended things a year ago, and…
8 fun things to do at Halifax Pride
“Last year, we pulled a festival together in about six weeks, and it was a bit disheartening to hear people say they didn’t know Pride had even happened. With months of prep this time around, I hope we do the (COVID reimagined) festival justice,” says Fiona Kerr, Halifax Pride’s operations and communications manager, in a…
How Facebook is interfering to prevent interference in the NS election
Nova Scotia’s election season is ramping up. On social media, political advertisements and donation pleas from parties have been filling newsfeeds for the past few weeks, all leading up to election day, Tuesday, August 17. But it’s not just social media managers who are keeping track of what gets posted to Facebook—the social media giant…
1 new COVID case, 17 active cases in Nova Scotia on Tuesday, Aug 10
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
Halifax Regional Councillors share their biggest concerns for the provincial election
Wondering where your would-be, could-be, provincial elected official of choice falls on the big issues? How their potential win could affect you? Since Nova Scotia’s political structure means many changes at a city level require a provincial sign-off, the impact of an MLA can be significant. As the August 17 election day approaches, we asked…
Garry Neill Kennedy, the artist who put NSCAD on the map, dies at 86
Garry Neill Kennedy, the conceptual artist and educator who revolutionized the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, passed away Sunday morning in Vancouver at the age of 86. Kennedy spent the last seven years of his life in British Columbia, where he moved to teach at UBC with his partner, artist Cathy Busby, after…
Where the parties stand on Owls Head Provincial Park
Judging by the lawn signs during this election, the most popular cause in some neighbourhoods around the province isn’t a political party, but “Save Owls Head.” That’s the slogan on those bright-red signs protesting the Liberal government’s willingness to sell off Owls Head Provincial Park for golf-course development. Between the strong public support and the…
Rankin announces vaccine passports
On Monday morning, Iain Rankin made an announcement in Halifax where he introduced a vaccination passport for Nova Scotia called “ScotiaPass.” Rankin didn’t announce this as the premier of the province, however, but as a campaign promise coming from the leader of the Liberal Party seeking to win the August 17 election. “One of our…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Monday, Aug 9
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
Weddings and waiting in Nova Scotia’s marriage biz
For months, fiances Ian Macleod and Matt Packman were at a standstill. Their wedding was planned for September 25, 2021. A large portion of their 120 guests, Packman’s family, would be coming from PEI, but travel was still restricted. They didn’t even know if that many people would be allowed to gather at the Halifax…
Why don’t we have access to our lake in North Preston?
Recently, my brothers and I bought some Jet Skis and kayaks. Mostly as an entrepreneurial investment, but also for our own enjoyment. Over the past month, we have been to about six different lakes and bodies of water across the HRM, enjoying the water ourselves or renting our boats out to folks. We reflected and…
Local robotics team snags gold at world’s largest AI soccer competition
For the past eight years, CYRUS has dreamt about winning first place at the international RoboCup. It’s the world’s largest artificial intelligence soccer competition, and thousands of participants from dozens of countries vie for gold medals each year. But for the past few competitions, the artificial intelligence robotics team based at Dalhousie University had fallen…
1 new COVID case in Nova Scotia on Friday, Aug 6
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
Humani-T Cafe’s last day is Saturday
In July, Halifax’s Humani-T Cafe announced it would be closing its north end location, at 5755 Young Street, in early August. Originally planning to shut down Friday, August 6, owner Nemat Sobhani has extended cafe services until Saturday, August 7 so everyone has a chance to say goodbye. “The last day is Saturday because it…
Eyelevel Gallery opens in its latest, maybe last, new home
For Eyelevel Gallery, it’s now all about the destination—screw the journey. Officially opening this week in its new, hopefully permanent space at 2482 Maynard Street, the gallery ends a seven-year run of constantly scratching out and re-writing its postal code, trying to find its place in the north end’s booming real estate market. That journey…
Strang ready to “take action” if New Brunswick cases keep rising
Nova Scotia top doc Robert Strang says he’s watching New Brunswick closely and is ready to take action if needed, following a spike in COVID cases over the week. NB has reported 44 new cases since last Saturday, and Friday it shifted to phase green—meaning no more masks, physical distancing or capacity caps. Given that…
Who’s missing from the tally of vaccinated Nova Scotians?
some Nova Scotians left the province to be vaccinated, back when our rollout was barely rolling at all. Some Nova Scotians were out of the province when we had the best vax rate in Canada, and got vaccinated to catch up before coming home. Some Nova Scotians spend their working hours away, so it made…
Why Nova Scotia voting districts changed for the 2021 election
If you voted in the last general election, don’t be surprised if you cast your ballot in a different riding this time around. Since 2017, Nova Scotia’s electoral map has changed significantly: the province went from having 51 electoral districts to 55, and the borders for many pre-existing ridings have shifted. If you’re curious about…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Thursday, Aug 5
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
Viola Desmond and Alexander Keith’s graveyard clears heritage hurdle
Halifax’s Camp Hill Cemetery got almost perfect marks in its evaluation at a special meeting of the HRM heritage advisory committee. Among the thousands of marked and unmarked graves at the 177-year-old burial ground are the final resting place of both civil rights activist Viola Desmond and brewer-politician Alexander Keith. In a virtual meeting last…
New mapping effort pinpoints housing opportunities
The next time you’re wandering Halifax and come across an abandoned building or empty piece of land, put a pin in that thought: With your help that property could become an affordable place for people to live. This should be housing is a brand-new collaborative mapping project that invites residents of the HRM to create…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Wednesday, Aug 4
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
Mom and dad and their threesome with my boyfriend
Q I’m a 24-year-old gay man with a 31-year-old bi boyfriend. I’ve known since we got together that he’s a lot more sexually experienced than I am, but it’s never been a big deal before now. This weekend, he met my parents for what we thought would be the first time. But it turns out…
COVID cases and news for Nova Scotia on Tuesday, Aug 3
NOTE: This day is now over. Click for the latest on COVID-19 from The Coast. Or for an informative look back at Nova Scotia’s evolving pandemic response, keep on reading. Jump to The Coast’s COVID charts Map of NS community health networks Table of community networks New and active cases Vaccination rate…
Halifax Jazz Festival’s live shows are just the summer fun we need
Editor’s note: due to this week’s weather, some of these shows have been postponed. New rain dates are below. Don’t listen to that feeling in your gut or the fallish chill in the air: Summer isn’t over yet. Want proof? Look no further than Halifax Jazz Festival’s recent revival of live, in-person performances. After an…
Hoping to do a COVID Pride justice
Editor’s note: Hosting an arts event these days is no joke. It’s more like a dance with a million unknown, ever-changing steps, making event planners need back up plans for their back up plans. They pivot and contort to COVID’s inconsistent rhythm while keeping the beat at all feels like a feat. Juggling public expectations…
Enjoying the feeling of queer life returning to normal
Editor’s note: Hosting an arts event these days is no joke. It’s more like a dance with a million unknown, ever-changing steps, making event planners need back up plans for their back up plans. They pivot and contort to COVID’s inconsistent rhythm while keeping the beat at all feels like a feat. Juggling public expectations…