Voting season CBRM council has cleared the way for online and telephone voting in October’s municipal elections, which the provincial government has declared will take place despite fears of a second wave of COVID-19 this fall. No particular concerns were raised during the council debate on the issue — havingRead More

Daily brief Dr. Robert Strang announced two additional COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing total deaths in the province to 12. Both occurred at the Northwood long-term-care facility in Halifax, the site of the province’s worst COVID-19 outbreak. That brings total deaths at the facility to eight. Strang said the majorityRead More

Exhibit A: “The fire department (both administration and frontline personnel), and the community should all have input and come to an agreement on where to place any new fire stations within the jurisdiction.” — IAFF report on location of new Sydney Central Fire Station.   Exhibit B: “For this particular…Read...

“Alarums and excursions” is an Elizabethan-era stage direction, which Merriam-Webster defines as either “martial sounds and the movement of soldiers across the stage” or “clamor, excitement, and feverish or disordered activity.” I thought of it this week as I was reading about the CBRM’s decision to locate the new SydneyRead More

The smiling faces on the sold-out crowd leaving the Highland Arts Theatre (HAT) last Friday night were proof positive they had been part of something truly wonderful. The HAT’s Tribute to The Rotary Show was an energetic and enthusiastic look back at the Rotary productions that were musical staples in SydneyRead More

Ask Marta Singh, the guest storyteller at this year’s Isle of Story Festival, how she became a storyteller and you get — what else? — a story. “The real story,” she says with a laugh, although it’s “not romantic, I’m telling you!” It had been three years that I hadRead More

Donkin Moncton-based Radio-Canada reporter Elissa Serret has done some great work tracking down and speaking to three of the miners fired from the Donkin Mine last fall. (Here’s the link to the original French television item, which features some rather over-dramatic effects and has French-speaking actors playing the miners, who did notRead More

As a matter of fact… I just heard the CBC Cape Breton Information Morning “issue panel” discuss the PC leadership race — more specifically, whether Mayor Cecil Clarke should resign to run for the leadership. I was a vocal participant in that discussion, although you may not have heard me, asRead More

Since its inception two years ago, The Highland Arts Theatre has featured topnotch dancing, acting and singing but a special joy for me has been the consistently delightful work of actor Hilary Scott. Her memorable recent performances include “a bewitching Robyn” in Wesley Crawford’s Dream and “a particularly excellent MarilynRead More