(NB-Saint-John-Transit)
The director of Saint John Transit says plans for new electric buses in the city are being changed in an effort to deal with an aging fleet of diesel buses.
Kevin Loughery says 36 of the city’s 54 buses will need to be replaced before 2030, and the transit service is opting to buy three diesel buses this year.
Saint John Transit had planned to add two 40-foot electric buses to its fleet this year but instead plans to buy a 20-foot electric bus.
Loughery says the new diesel buses produce less pollution than the aging buses. (CBC New Brunswick)
—
(NB-Bannister-Exhibit)
The works of a renowned Black New Brunswick artist are getting their own exhibit almost 200 years after his birth.
Edward Bannister’s paintings are almost unknown in his home province, despite being considered by experts to be some of the finest 19th century American art.
He was born in Saint Andrews in 1828 and was an outspoken advocate for the end of slavery.
The exhibition of his work is called Hidden Blackness and opens at the Owens Art Gallery in Sackville this weekend. (CBC New Brunswick)
—
(NB-Bat-Syndrome)
Nearly 14 years after New Brunswick’s bat population was devastated by a disease called white-nose syndrome, researchers say things are improving.
A conservation specialist says there are signs the fungus is receding and that bats are becoming resilient to the disease.
Karen Vanderwolf, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, says the disease is responsible for the loss of 99 per cent of hibernating bats in New Brunswick.
Vanderwolf says there’s far less of the fungus responsible for white nose syndrome in the province, and the population is expected to start to rebound.
(CBC News)
—
(NL-Dangerous-Driver)
A 38-year-old man was set to appear in a Newfoundland and Labrador court today on a number of dangerous driving counts.
The R-C-M-P say they were forced to use a spike belt Friday in order to stop a vehicle that fled during previous attempts to pull it over.
They say it happened in Shearstown as officers pursued a vehicle believed to have fled from police earlier in the week.
The driver is charged with flight from police and dangerous operation. (The Canadian Press)
—
(NS-Right-Whale-Funding)
A D-N-A database at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax for the critically endangered right whale is getting updated after receiving funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Principal investigator Timothy Frasier says the funding will allow researchers to analyze each individual whale’s genome in much more detail.
The funding contract starts in March with a total annual payment of up to almost 34-thousand-dollars, which can be extended annually until 2028.
Researchers have used D-N-A samples to track North Atlantic right whale populations since the late 1980s. (CBC Nova Scotia)
—
(NL-Caribou-Crossings)
Residents of Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula are being reminded to watch out for caribou on area roads.
The government says a large part of the St. Anthony herd is spending the winter in the area, with many of them spotted on roadways.
Caribou are attracted to road salt, leaving them vulnerable to vehicle collisions.
Drivers are urged to avoid driving at dusk and dawn, as that’s when caribou are most often seen near highways, and to reduce speeds at night. (The Canadian Press)
—
(NS-Public-Health)
Nova Scotia Public Health says it is expanding its Nurse-Family Partnership Program.
It’s now accepting referrals for expectant mothers in northern and western zones in Nova Scotia after launching in the east just under a year ago.
The Nurse-Family Partnership program is a free, voluntary home-visiting program that matches someone pregnant with their first child with a specially trained public health nurse.
It provides greater access to enhanced prenatal and postnatal support up to the child’s second birthday. (The Canadian Press)
—
—
(Atlantic Update by Lisa Laporte)
