Tuesday’s 8 things you need to know

1
It’s official—Halifax has a brand-new Guinness World Record holder. The Guinness organization has confirmed that 12-year-old Olivia Rybika-Oliver can spin on figure skates faster than anyone on the planet. Her 342 revolutions per minute obliterates the old record, a sedate 308 RPM that now seems like the speed records are played at. Rybika-Oliver set the mark in January, when she was 11, at a charity event in Poland. You can watch the video below. She joins such Haligonian record-setters as meteorolgist Peter Coade, whose 50+ years on the job is the world’s longest career as a weather forecaster, and oyster shucking champion Janet Hardy Callaghan.

2
Halifax Water and its unionized workers are back at the bargaining table. CBC reports negotiations began again over the weekend. Over 300 workers of CUPE locals 227 and 1431 have been off the job since May 19. Union members and supporters gathered last week in front of City Hall demanding council open negotiations back up. Looks like that may have helped.

3
The province’s dairy industry might start dumping surplus milk after an “unprecedented” demand for butter and cream. Butter fat and cream leave behind skim milk, which is so far being dried and sold for animal feed says CBC. If there’s more skim milk than demand, dairy farmers say they’ll just start dumping the leftovers.

4
Despite “repeated assurances” that the proposed Never Forgotten monstrosity in Cape Breton would be privately funded, the opposition group Friends of Green Cove recently learned Parks Canada gave the memorial folks a $100,000 grant for their project.

5
Economic development in Nova Scotia continues its painful march backward. While the new and improved gutted Film and Television Production Incentive Fund is predicted to be the end of the local movie industry when it starts July 1, the government is talking about a once-abandoned coal mine as an “important economic generator.” In a Mining.com story about the US-based Cline Group’s ongoing efforts to get the Donkin mine back into production, natural resources minister Zach Churchill says “It’s been a priority of our government to get that mine into production.” The story doesn’t talk about financial incentives or rule-bending the government is bringing to the table as part of this “priority” commitment, but it credits Churchill with saying environmental issues are important, so we’re sure everything is totally, totally fine.

6
Because these dreary not-so-summer days are more common than we like to think, we made sure to include some dry, but not dry, indoor activities in this year’s Hot Summer Guide. Check out Laura Kenins’ round-up of this season’s best visual arts exhibits and plan accordingly.

+2 Sure Things tonight
Enjoy the country twang of sassy Ginger St. James at The Carleton, 8pm, $10.

Marvel as the magicians of The Conjurer’s Court put on their end-of-season spectacular at The Bus Stop, 8pm, by donation.

Here’s Olivia Rybicka-Oliver’s world record-setting skating spin.

This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2015.