--Atlantic Update--

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(NB-Lobster-Closure)

The federal fisheries minister says her department has adjusted the closure requirements for a lobster fishing area off northeastern New Brunswick.

Diane Lebouthillier met with fishing industry representatives yesterday and says fishers can now set their traps up to the 10 fathom shallow water protocol management line for the remainder of the 15-day period.

Lebouthillier says she has also asked the department to convene a meeting of a technical advisory committee that includes industry representatives and whale experts to review the existing protocol.

The closure, which runs until May 31st, was instituted last Friday after an endangered North Atlantic right whale was spotted east of Miscou Island.

(The Canadian Press)

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(NS-SaltWire-Sale)

Today at 5 p-m marks the deadline for bidders hoping to buy or invest in Atlantic Canada's insolvent SaltWire newspaper chain.

Last month, the monitor overseeing the potential restructuring of Saltwire Network Inc. and The Halifax Herald Ltd. told a Nova Scotia judge that progress was being made toward securing some sort of deal that would keep the business alive.

If everything goes according to plan, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge could approve a transaction before June 28th, and a deal could be closed by July 31st.

On March 13th, SaltWire at its related companies were granted protection from creditors owed about 90 million dollars.

(The Canadian Press)

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(NS-Break-Enter-Fire)

R-C-M-P in southwestern Nova Scotia say a 27-year-old man faces charges in connection with a break and enter and fire at a business in Meteghan.

Police and local fire services responded to a report concerning the business on Tuesday and upon arrival were alerted to broken windows at the front of the building and found a table inside that was on fire.

Officers discovered a lit torch that was left under the table.

The Mounties say they later arrested a suspect at a home in Grosse Cosques, and he faces mischief and arson charges.

(The Canadian Press)

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(NL-Off-Road-Training)

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is offering a new online course for those who operate off-road vehicles.

The free safety program is being offered as the province prepares to make training mandatory for some operators later this year.

Under the province's new Off-Road Vehicles Act, training will be required for any driver under 16 years of age or anyone who is about to register an off-road vehicle for the first time.

As well, training will be required for those convicted of an offence under the act and has had their registration suspended or cancelled -- as well as anyone who is supervising a person under the age of 16 who is operating an off-road vehicle.

(The Canadian Press)

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(PEI-Tree-Program)

P-E-I is ramping up its tree growing over the next six years, following in the footsteps of a federal program called 2 Billion Trees.

Provincially there are four programs that will plant 300-thousand additional trees per year on top of the one million trees that were already being planted annually.

The P-E-I program is run by the provincial Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action.

Program coordinator Hailey Blacquiere tells C-B-C News the program was in planning before the damage from Fiona in September 2022, but will help replace some of the trees destroyed by the powerful post-tropical storm.

(CBC PEI)

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(NS-Boyd-Clinic)

The QE-II Foundation has officially opened the Jordan Boyd Inherited Heart Disease Clinic at the hospital complex in Halifax.

The clinic is named in tribute to the late Jordan Boyd – a 16-year-old hockey player from Bedford who died in 2013 as the result of an undiagnosed inherited heart condition.

Members of his family gathered for the naming and ribbon cutting yesterday on what would have been Jordan’s 27th birthday.

To date, the family, in partnership with the foundation, has raised 1.2 million dollars for heart disease research at the clinic now named in Jordan’s honour.

(The Canadian Press)

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(Atlantic Update by The Canadian Press)

The Canadian Press