Free the information CBRM Municipal Clerk Deborah Campbell Ryan got back to me Tuesday night about another FOIPOP I submitted back in April looking for information about a matter before council. Her original estimate of the fee I would be required to pay for this (public) information was $215 andRead More

Reporters are constantly deciding which stories they will chase and which they won’t. They are always sizing people up and determining whether or not they are credible; doing background research to ensure what they’re being told is true; talking to people who might have another view of an issue orRead More

Clarification: On May 8th, 2019, the Cape Breton Spectator published a column entitled “No Port News Dept: Where’s Barry? that referred to Mr. Barry Sheehy’s role as a consultant to the Sydney Harbour Investment Partners.  The article expressed  a  concern about the lack of information from the Sydney Development CorpRead More

Celtic Serenade Donnie Campbell — or “Sydney River musician,” as the online edition of the Cape Breton Post identified him — has been awarded a 2019 Stompin’ Tom Award by the East Coast Music Association (ECMA). (Full disclosure: Donnie is my first cousin once removed on my mother’s side. FullerRead More

Before I tell you about Mary Ellen MacIntyre’s blog, Innis Bheag (Little Island), you should read a bit of it. Here’s a snippet from a story called “Cow Bay Road Mud and Fire“:   Some people shouldn’t retire. If they do, they must then do other things, or they willRead More

When I saw the headline “Life in lockup“on the front page of Tuesday’s Cape Breton Post I was impressed — a full, front page story (and two additional pages inside) exploring life in the Cape Breton Correctional Facility? SaltWire actually doing a valuable “deep dive?” Excellent. And then I readRead More

Emera The Cape Breton Post is reporting changes to Nova Scotia legislation that will lift restrictions preventing foreign investors from holding more than 25% of voting shares in Emera, the parent company of Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI). The other change “reinforces Emera’s existing commitment to maintain its head officeRead More

New Liberry I went to that Open House session on the new central library last night and I will have more to say next week but I just had to note that I heard no good explanation for why the public library has been stuffed, like a pimento, in theRead More

As of Saturday, the Great Ice Wall of Irish Vale (and the Lesser Ice Wall of Irish Cove) were still attracting visitors (although no one has yet had the sense to start selling hot chocolate and popcorn, a great entrepreneurial opportunity lost in my opinion). I had thought the mediaRead More

Note: This is the first of two articles about the recent firing of three Cape Breton Regional Police Service officers and I’m going to begin by saying there is much I do not know about this case — and I’m using the term “this case” to encompass both former ConstableRead More