The fires are still burning here in Oregon. There are eight confirmed dead with almost 5.000 structures lost. Whole towns were substantially destroyed (look up Detroit, Gates, Blue River, Phoenix, Talent). Forty-thousand people were evacuated. This was not an ordinary year and although there was a terrible nexus of conditionsRead More

District 3 includes Eskasoni First Nation as well as all or parts of Balls Creek, Barrachois, Beaver Cove, Beechmont, Benacadie, Blackett’s Lake, Boisdale, Castle Bay, Christmas Island, Coxheath, East Bay, Edwardsville, Georges River, Gillis Lake, Grand Narrows, Ironville, Islandview, Leitches Creek, Long Island, MacAdam’s Lake, North West Arm, Northside EastRead More

District 6 is located almost entirely within the former city of Sydney — including the neighborhoods of Ashby and the Southend —  but also encompasses a section of Grand Lake Road. It’s shaped sort of like a single-cup coffee filter. (I’ve just realized that I’m probably telling you more aboutRead More

District 12 covers part of Sydney (chiefly the Whitney Pier area) and all or part of South Bar, Lingan Road, Grand Lake Road and Victoria Mines. It is totally shaped like a bat: Since time immemorial, by which I mean, since amalgamation, the district has been represented chiefly by JimRead More

Editor’s Note: We’re reaching into Michelle’s Smith’s archives for posts as useful now as when they were first published.   What to do this week From the chill in the air it seems that this week is a good week to talk about fall activities in the garden. Between nowRead More

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Campaign Trail Mix, the Cape Breton Spectator’s weekly round-up of municipal election-related news and views with the odd non-campaign item thrown in to keep things interesting. We still have a few bugs to work out — like the logo, which I made yesterday morning in GIMPRead More

Sea to Sky Did you see the story about the cable of the Sea to Sky Gondola in Squamish, British Columbia, being cut a second time? Just as in August 2019, the cable was cut during the night, sending dozens of cars crashing to the ground. Fortunately, no one wasRead...

It’s taken over a year — I first requested a copy of the Ekistics Plan+Design report on the relocation of the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Marconi Campus to downtown Sydney in April 2019 — and it ultimately required a FOIPOP to dislodge it and the censors have had aRead More

Since it was announced the NSCC Marconi Campus would move from its location next to Cape Breton University to the Sydney waterfront, I have been curious as to how the site was chosen — and what other sites were considered. Last week, I got the answer to the second partRead More

Here are some bits and bobs I gleaned from the Ekistics report on relocating the NSCC Marconi Campus to Sydney’s downtown but could not work into Parts I or II (I know, there has to be a more elegant way to introduce this but I am lazy, so have optedRead More