News 1. You can have the right to strike; just don’t try to use it. Yesterday, the provincial government showed its continued labour relations finesse — this time in its negotiations with crown attorneys. The crowns want a 17% pay increase over four years. The province is offering 7%. Yesterday, while most of the prosecutors […]
Heartbreak and rage
Morning File, Wednesday, August 28, 2019
News 1. Man dies in custody at East Coast Forensic Hospital El Jones has the heartbreaking story of Gregory Hiles, who died by suicide on August 20 while in custody at the East Coast Forensic Hospital. On Tuesday, August 20th, Sheila Hiles spoke with her son Gregory for over an hour until around 10pm, when […]
Pandora’s Box
Morning File, Friday, July 5, 2019
News 1. “Conquered people” files to be released The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has ordered the provincial government to release the “conquered people” files. The case centres on an infamous brief written by Justice Department lawyer Alex Cameron in the Alton Gas case. Stephen Kimber recapped the story for the Examiner about six weeks […]
Treat your brain: get outdoors
News 1. Premier vs teachers, round 27 Premier Stephen McNeil returned from his latest trip to Europe and China yesterday, and pretty much immediately started in on the teachers’ union — this time, accusing them of spreading misinformation about cuts. A CP story in The Star Halifax says McNeil criticized the union Thursday for alleging […]
Journalmalism 101: This week, Halifax lost four very good Canadian Press reporters; in return we got… Christie Blatchford
Morning File, Friday, March 29, 2019
News 1. Street checks Yesterday, I wrote: This is how it goes. Every now and then something happens — a Black man with the resources and gumption to do something about it stands up to the harassment, the results of a CBC Freedom of Information request are published — that make it temporarily impossible for […]
The only thing that can save journalism: “Subscribe Somewhere”
Morning File, Monday, February 11, 2019
News 1. Canadian Press layoffs On Friday, the Canadian Press notified its staff that at the end of March it will be laying off six reporters nationwide, four of whom are in its Atlantic bureau in Halifax. The four Halifax reporters are Brett Bundale, Aly Thomson, Keith Doucette, and Alex Cooke. All are excellent reporters. […]
Can I have $15,000? Or maybe just $15 an hour?
Morning File, Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Hi, Erica Butler here filling in for Tim on this drizzly old Halifax day. News 1. On Treaty Day, Nova Scotia archbishop apologizes for Shubenacadie Residential School Monday was Treaty Day, and Nova Scotia’s catholic leaders marked it with an apology and request for forgiveness at a special mass in Halifax, reports Nic Meloney of […]
Great white sharks are killing people and they’re coming to Nova Scotia
Morning File, Wednesday, September 19, 2018
News 1. Deaths in custody Yesterday morning, I reported that an official at the Burnside jail had testified in court that “several” prisoners at the jail have died over the past week. I knew about the death of Joshua Evans, a man with a mental disability who took his own life, but no other deaths […]
The company behind the proposed Canso spaceport is lobbying the federal government for funding
Morning File, Tuesday, May 22, 2018
News 1. Nova Scotia’s looming oil-drilling disaster Canadian regulators have failed to reduce the likelihood of a Deepwater Horizon-like blowout at BP’s deep-sea well on the Scotian Slope, and the company plans to respond to a blowout with an oil dispersant that could compound the catastrophe, reports Linda Pannozzo. Click here to read “Nova Scotia’s looming oil-drilling […]
The Randy Riley trial: how news media are falling down on the job
Dropping coverage of a court trial mid-trial is a disservice both for readers and for justice.
Last Tuesday, there was dramatic moment in Supreme Court, worthy of its own Law & Order episode. In the course of its prosecution of Randy Riley for the 2010 murder of Chad Smith, the crown called its witness Nathan Johnson. Johnson took the stand and — bam! — said that he, and he alone, killed […]