The food bank is hungry.   Feed Nova Scotia’s stocks are dwindling and the agency is asking the public for help. “They’re lower than is comfortable,” executive director Dianne Swinemar says. “People tend not to think about food bank and hunger relief organizations in the summertime, but our need is constant.” Feed Nova Scotia usually experiences a drop in donations in the summer, but ...

Police are still seeking a man who robbed the Scotiabank on Spring Garden Road yesterday. Police say a man walked up to a teller and demanded cash while showing what’s believed to be a handgun at 2:20 p.m. He fled after receiving money. Police cordoned off part of Dresden Row because they believed the suspect entered a home, but he wasn’t there. The suspect is described as a 20-something ...

Last Saturday, at the end of the Jazz Festival, Spring Garden Road was shut down for car traffic and opened up to walkers. It’s something we could be seeing a lot more of. News of construction on Spring Garden Road to make it more pedestrian-friendly has brought up questions of whether Halifax should do what many other cities do — ban vehicles from some central urban streets. Many cities, ...

It’s apple technology invented and manufactured here — and sold around the world — but local apple growers won’t go near it.   Robert Prange with the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, invented a system to store apples up to eight months instead of the traditional two or three without chemicals. “What we want to do is find that lowest possible oxygen, allowing us to store fruits and ...

Douglas James Roy Schrader yesterday pleaded guilty to charges of fondling women’s breasts on four different occasions and masturbating in public.   He was arrested Jun. 25 and charged with four counts of sexual assault and two counts of committing an indecent act. During the months of May and June, the 22-year-old Dartmouth resident reportedly approached four different women at different ...

The Halifax Rainmen are on the hunt for star power.   Co-owner Andre Levingston and head coach Rick Lewis will be in Chicago this weekend to scout prospects at the first of several Premier Basketball League tryout combines. “I’m lookin’ for a star, that’s for sure,” Levingston said. “If you can get a big stud and then surround him with some other good players, you’ve got an opportunity to ...

There’s just one problem with a cleaner harbour: you can see through the water to the garbage.   HRM hired out a dive team on Monday to remove some of the junk lying underwater along the Halifax boardwalk from the NSP Electropolis building to Casino Nova Scotia.   “Since the water clarity has so much improved now with the (Harbour Solutions) project, they were just picking up a lot of the ...

The sealing industry in the Atlantic Region could face some troubling times ahead.   The European Union yesterday proposed regulations to ban seal products. “Seal products coming from countries which practise cruel hunting methods must not be allowed to enter the EU,” said European Environment commissioner Stavros Dimas. This includes products that travel through Europe to other countries ...

To move forward from Africville, it’s necessary to understand Africville.   The curator of Africville House, an exhibition of art inspired by the Africville experience, said yesterday at the opening of the exhibit, the memories can’t be erased like the name and location of the community once were. “Africville’s name was deliberately erased from our records,” David Woods told a small crowd ...

Two Nova Scotia men, who escaped from a federal minimum-security prison in New Brunswick last weekend, were just the latest in a long list of escapees from the facility.   Inmates Ronald Mack Makokis, 20, and William Randall McAllister, 19, were the third and fourth prisoners to escape from Westmoreland Institution in the past two months. They were the 16th and 17th to escape in the past ...

Cristobal hit Nova Scotia hard then moved out to sea yesterday.   “We did get 160 millimetres down in the southwestern part of Nova Scotia and they were right on the edge of a heavy band that went through (yesterday) morning,” said Bob Robichaud, a meteorologist with Environment Canada. But generally the province was soaked with between 50 to 100 millimetres of rain. Because of water ...

A new citizens’ group that wants to reverse amalgamation held it’s first annual meeting last night.   After about a year of planning, the Citizens for Halifax met at Saint Mary’s University to go over their principles and elect board members. “We see a promising future for our city, but it must be a city, not a municipality,” said Don Mills, a founding member of the society. Dividing the ...

Cancer patients wanting to get Avastin free-of-charge don’t have much longer to wait.   The province agreed to cover the life-extending drug when they unveiled the budget three months ago. Yesterday NDP and Opposition Leader Darrell Dexter said compassion demands the government move faster in delivering on their promise. “What people are now asking themselves is how much longer is it going ...

Despite fears of high gas prices devastating the tourism industry, Nova Scotia has so far received one per cent more visitors than last year.   Between January and May of this year, 627,400 people came into the province, about 5,200 more than the same period last year, according to numbers released yesterday by the Department of Tourism. The amount coming by road did dip slightly, but still ...

Capital Health’s new psychology-based boot camp is aimed at helping the numerous Nova Scotians facing obesity analyze their lifestyle, eating habits and behaviour. The camp, which kicks off today for 100 hospital and Dalhousie University employees, is aimed at helping people to avoid and further manage weight complications like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. “A lot of ...

Nova Scotia is getting $10.2 million over five years from the federal government to provide better community services to First Nations communities.   The hope is to solve domestic problems before they reach the point where children need to be removed from the family home. “This funding will help to identify children at risk and provide support to their family before they reach a crisis,” ...

The city hopes data from a monitoring device will reveal whether the Harbour Solutions pumping station is to blame for three floods in the Peninsula Place garage.   “That way, (engineers) can either eliminate the pumping station as the source of the problem or perhaps it is part of the problem,” city spokesman James Campbell said. “It’s good information to be able to start acquiring.” For ...

Rick Howe will ride again, but on a new frequency. The popular former talk show host of AM920-CJCH will now be heading to News 95.7 to take over as an afternoon news anchor, editor and reporter. “I’m anxious to get back to work. I love radio, I love being involved in the news. I’m getting antsy. It’s been nice having the summer off so far but I’m getting antsy to get back,” said Howe. ...

High-risk prisoners in Nova Scotia will soon be sporting shiny new handcuffs to go along with their escape-proof leg shackles. The Justice Department posted a tender this week for 200 Model 710HS and Model 7030HS handcuffs which do not operate with a standard handcuff key, as well as 200 Peerless brand hinged handcuffs. Carla Grant, spokeswoman with the Justice Department, said both brands ...

After a string of recent robberies on Cole Harbour paths a 17-year-old boy has now been arrested. The teen is charged with two counts of robbery after he and a friend robbed the same person twice a week apart in early July. “The kid was walking towards the tunnel near Cole Harbour Place. He was approached by two males who asked him what was in his pockets. Each time he had a different type ...