🗞️ City staff go rogue, ignore council’s instructions

Good morning Halifax!

Have you heard that it’s super hot outside?

Aside from the normal stuff to be worried about in a heat wave—thirsty pets, thirstier people, the complete collapse of humanity as we know it—doctors are warning that extreme heat does not mix well with some medications.

It’s a serious problem because some medical conditions can really affect people’s ability to withstand extreme heat and then—to compound that—the medication they take for said condition can actually impede their body’s ability to regulate.

Blood pressure medications, for example, may cause dehydration, while antidepressants and antipsychotics can impair the hypothalamus—and interfere with the body’s ability to regulate heat.

So take care of yourself out there. Imma just go ahead and stay inside. But you do you—at your own risk💀.

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌦️ 33°

Tomorrow: 🌤️ 28°

Next Day: ☁️ 18°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

💨 Here is Halifax’s Air Quality Index and the smoke report.

CITY COUNCIL

City staff go rogue, ignore council’s instructions

There was an item added to Tuesday’s council meeting and it was a bit of a stinker. 

As reported by the CBC there’s nowhere for the poop in septic tanks to go anymore. The one place close to the HRM in Hants no longer has space to accept everyone’s feces so now septic companies will have to drive human waste out to Amherst. 

It’s a bit of a shit situation all around so councillors Pam Lovelace and Patty Cuttell have teamed up and asked the Chief Administrative Officer to figure out what can be done to make sure getting rid of number twos is a number one priority. Hopefully city staff come back with an expedited excrement plan as this motion was approved.

The flagship debate of Tuesday’s council meeting was on the Windsor Street Exchange and the most interesting parts of this debate were from staff. In short, council directed staff to prioritize bike and bus travel, and staff did not.

The Coast’s Matt Stickland has more on that story and everything else that happened at this week’s council meeting—including notable debates and things that passed.

🤔 Need To Know

🚨 Halifax Police are investigating a stabbing on Tuesday in Dartmouth after a group of youths approached two men who were walking in the area and one of the youths cut one of the men with a knife and then the group fled on foot.

🦖 Dinosaur Exploration goes extinct on June 23. Don't miss one last opportunity to see your favourite dinosaurs including T. rex.*

*Sponsored Listing

ARTS + CULTURE

Steel Cut Oats rocking and raging on ‘Top Autonomy’ EP

For a band that started on a whim two years ago and consists of members with little prior experience, Steel Cut Oats is going strong.

In their short time as a band, the indie rock five-piece have released two EPs. Their first was in 2022 titled At the Eleventh Hour, which was named Rock Record of the Year at the Nova Scotia Music Awards.

Just this month, they released their follow-up—Top Autonomy, an EP consisting of four tracks, each distinctive in their sound and purpose but tied tightly together by a feminist throughline with a healthy pinch of wit.

“Most of them are trying to make light of difficult or heavy topics that young women go through in their 20s,” said vocalist Sarah Roberts. “Typical things like relationships, bad jobs, bad relationships, and things like that.”

Take the intro track, “Waiting For You”. The speaker is visualized as drowning in their own insecurity, hoping someone can lift them from the depths—except, there’s no one there.

This culminates in a wailing chant of the song’s title, backed by a steady beat from drummer Edward Norris, simple yet powerful strumming from guitarists Sophie Janke and Johannes Koechling—also on synths—and all topped off with an intoxicating bass line from Emma Laffoley. The end product is a song that builds and builds until the loud and defiant chorus shouts out from beyond the depths of despair. 

“For me, what that song kind of meant was, you know, being in a relationship with someone or dealing with different relationships, whether that’s like friendship or romantic, where you’re waiting for someone to step up, and waiting and waiting and waiting, and it doesn’t seem like they ever will,” explains Roberts.

The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer speaks with Roberts about Steel Cut Oats’ anthemic new EP.

🗞️ In Other News

🏫 With extreme heat days overheating schools more often, parents, educators and experts are calling for more attention and investment to ensure Canadian students have cool, clean-air environments to learn in.

🛹 Construction on a bike lane in north end Halifax is ramping up leaving some community members searching for a new space to skateboard.

🏗️ The Land for Housing Program is supposed to create affordable housing quickly by offering up provincial lands to non-profits or developers for a low fee—critics say it’s not going far enough to remove red tape, or ensure units will be affordable in the long term.

⚖️ Good Robot improperly brewed 59,000 cans of beer for a New Brunswick beverage company according to a lawsuit filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court claims.

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Trivia and Tunes on Tap - A Fundraiser for Mental Health: This promises to be a fun-filled evening with a round of trivia followed by music by Al O’Neil. There will be prizes, raffles, a silent auction, and 50/50 draw. Greeting cards from the Mosaic for Mental Health will also be available for sale. All proceeds support the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Halifax-Dartmouth Branch. | June 20 | 7:30 | $22.63

🗓 Rainbow Vision Makers Queerapolooza: Different Folks presents a two-day event to celebrate Pride month that will feature over 70 queer vendors selling art, jewelry, ceramics, plants, food and more, along with featured performances. | June 22-23 | $2

🗓 Dartmouth Festival Series - A Matinee with Joel Plaskett, Family & Friends: As part of Dartmouth Open Street Sunday, Portland Street from Alderney Drive to Prince Albert Road will be car free and open for folks to enjoy. The streets will be activated with live entertainment, music and lots more excitement! | June 23 | Noon | Free

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The Algoma Verity bulk carrier leaves Halifax for Tampa at 4am.

🛳️➡️ The Bakkafoss container ship arrives in Halifax from Portland at 12:15 and leaves for Argentina at 4pm.

🛳️➡️ The Volendam cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 8am and leaves for Canadian seas at 4pm.

🛳️➡️ The Viking Mars cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 8am and leaves for Canadian seas at 5pm.

🛳️➡️ The Contship Leo container ship arrives in Halifax from New York at 6:20am and leaves for Kingston at 10pm.

🛳️➡️ The NYK Romulus container ship arrives in Halifax from Antwerp at 5:20am and leaves for Port Everglades at 11:30pm.

🛳️ The Silver Arctic cargo ship arrives in Halifax from St. Pierre at 7:15am.

🛳️ The Nolhan Ava ro-ro cargo ship arrives in Halifax from Argentina at 10:15am.

🛳️ The CSL Tacoma arrives in Halifax from Baltimore at 12:15pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🌭 Hotdogs! On Saturday, Lola’s Hotdogs and Handhelds will be popping up at Jellies Bar on Quinpool for a day of curated hotdogs that pair perfectly with a PBR.

🍹 Beat the heat at Au Liban Lebanese Cuisine with one of their signature spritz: spicy mango, lavender pomegranate, melon mint, orange blossom aperol.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🏛️ In very general terms the role of a committee or board is to read a piece of proposed legislation, think about it, and then recommend changes to the proposed legislation. Sometimes, like in the Regional Watershed Advisory Board, the people who are thinking about legislation are experts who volunteered their expertise to the city and to try and make their city a better place. However, the HRM is cutting these independent experts from policy making. The Coast’s Matt Stickland has more on what happened at HRM's executive committee meeting on Monday.

🗳️ HFX VOTES 2024: In January, electoral boundaries in HRM shifted around after the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB) signed off on the changes regarding the municipality’s 16 districts and their voting populations. With the municipal election coming up on Oct. 19, The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer has what you need to know about the new electoral boundaries.

📹 Body worn cameras are coming to Halifax with the RCMP and thanks to the direction given to police from the Board of Police Commissioners, the Halifax Regional Police are also planning to get some.

🚲 Several active transportation groups are voicing frustrations regarding a new redevelopment design for the Windsor Street exchange, saying “failure is guaranteed” if council adopts the new design.

That’s it!

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