🗞 Should drive-thrus in Halifax be banned?

Happy hump day Halifax!

Here’s some news to get you feeling extra prideful about the city you live in: Halifax was recently featured in Forbes Travel Guide’s 24 Top Destinations For 2024.

The publication commends the city for being a “marvellous snapshot of maritime life on the Atlantic side of the map” and touches on the charm of the bustling waterfront. Other destinations recommended by Forbes include Tokyo, Cairo, Paris and Maui. Halifax is the only Canadian location to be featured on the list!

– Alyssa

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: ☀️ -5°

Tomorrow: 🌧️ 4°

Next Day: 🌧️ 2°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

EDUCATION

The missing Grade 9 problem

French-language students on the peninsula don’t know where they’ll go for Grade 9 in 2025. Neither do their families. Nova Scotia’s French school board, the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial or CSAP, manages all 23 CSAP schools province-wide. Currently, the only peninsula school serving CSAP families is one that supports students in pre-Primary up to Grade 9.

But, with the CSAP’s new pre-Primary to Grade 8 school opening at the corner of Bayers Road and Oxford Street in September 2025, it looks like Grade 9 on the peninsula will disappear.

Read the full story at The Coast.

🤔 Need to know

🎉 Nova Scotia has officially marked the start of African Heritage Month. This year’s theme is "Our Smiles, Our Joy, Our Resilience as African Nova Scotians.”

✏️ Support4Culture is a proud supporter of arts, culture and heritage in Nova Scotia, highlighting great NS artists and their work, like poet Rita Joe. See the impact Support4Culture makes here.*

💃 Live Art Dance presents Rock Bottom Movement on January 27th at the Spatz Theatre. This Toronto dance company performs their exciting new show An Immortal Kinda Love!*

🔎 Police are asking for public help in locating 68-year-old Robert James Tennant, who was last known to be in Halifax in December.

🍷 Last chance! Grab your tickets for a shell-abration of local seafood and craft beverages at Sip n' Shuck tomorrow night at Hotel Halifax.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY NEPTUNE THEATRE

The Last Show On Earth™

This post-apocalyptic dark comedy delivers sharp social commentary and oodles of sci-fi quirk. The story follows Eli, a beleaguered fruit roll-up factory worker trying to earn enough for a Fleedom Ticket off the planet with 201 days left until the end of the world.

The Last Show On Earth is a timely new play infused with film from the exciting multi-disciplinary artist, poet & playwright Breton Lalama and directed by Annie Valentina. Neptune audiences will remember Breton's on stage performances in Fully Committed, Pleasureville, In Lieu of Flowers and as Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show.

On stage at Neptune Theatre for a limited run from February 6 - 18.

Tickets start at $25 fees & taxes incl.

THE GRAND PARADE

It’s time for Halifax to ban drive-thrus for real

In this week’s episode of The Grand Parade podcast, Coast reporter Matt Stickland argues that now is the time to bring the drive-thru ban back to the table. He and fellow reporter Martin Bauman also look into the proposed changes to the Macdonald Bridge bike flyover—not great!—and why the car-free Spring Garden Road pilot project failed.

Read more and listen to this week’s podcast at The Coast.

🗞️ In Other News

🚨 A 16-year-old and 19-year-old Rimon Bereket Habteselassie have been charged following a group assault on January 4 that left one individual with serious injuries. 

🎵 See all the nominees for the 2024 East Coast Music Awards.

🎨 Here’s a heartwarming story: Windsor, NS artist David Johnson uses the profits he makes from his work, to transport animals from places like kill shelters to foster homes across the country. 

🥌 Halifax curling champion Colleen Jones is returning to the rink as Team Nova Scotia’s coach at next month's Scotties Tournament of Hearts. 

🎥 Here’s how the Halifax-based video and audio studio, Village Works Content Co., is working to bring major productions to the Maritimes.

🏠 It’s been months since the Halifax Regional Municipality requested the province put together a buyout program for Bedford property owners who had their homes destroyed by the July floods, and Nova Scotia has yet to respond. 

🎓 Atlantic universities are raising concerns about the recently announced international student cap.

SPONSORED BY THE ART SPACE

Kids learn about history's greatest artists through making

Join us in a creative journey! Kids 5-11 explore a variety of materials to recreate techniques used by famous artists. Develop new skills, refine techniques and discover new mediums. Several finished masterpieces will return after the 8-week session. All supplies included. Class starts Saturday March 23rd: register here.

💼 Now Hiring

• Housing support worker at Pheonix Youth Programs

• Teachers at Oxford Learning

• Part-time baker at Ramblers

• Line cook at Cineplex Playdium Dartmouth

• Hotel maintenance supervisor at the Lord Nelson Hotel

• Manager of people and culture at CAA Atlantic

• Mobile release specialist at Ubisoft

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Printmaking Night: Everyone Everyday Halifax is hosting a weekly printmaking night starting this Wednesday at its Neighbourhood Shop. Stop by and learn how to carve wood and print on different materials | Jan. 24 | 5-7pm | Free

🗓 African Heritage Month Opening Night Celebration: Stop by the Halifax Central Library and kick off the start of African Heritage Month in Halifax with special programming including a live musical performance, refreshments and an overview of this year’s theme | Jan. 25 | 7pm-9pm | Free

🗓 The Music of Queen: Symphony Nova Scotia along with Jeans ‘n Classics and Sountrax will be performing a show dedicated to the top hits of legendary band Queen | Jan. 26-28 | 2:30pm & 7:30pm | $40-$80

Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

Try it while you can: There are only a few days left—it’s only available until Sunday—to try Real Fake Meats’ vegan club sandwich.

New menu item alert: Dilly Dally Cafe has added blueberry white chocolate ganache pancakes to its menu.

🛍️ Shop Talk

Shop ‘till you drop: To make room for some new inventory, Meyvyn Halifax has added an entire new clearance rack that is 40% off.

👀 In Case You Missed It

• A solar farm in PEI will soon be the source of electricity for thousands of homes in the province. 

• New Brunswick man Mark MacKinnon is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for breaking the conditions of his release. 

• The nominations for this year’s Academy Awards (aka the Oscars) were announced yesterday. Check out the full list here.

• Take the laid-back, bassline-riding funk of Tom Misch and sprinkle in a little psychedelic dreamwave for good measure: That’s the feeling you’ll get from Mat Elliott’s new single, “Two Years.” It’s a precursor to the Halifax-based singer-songwriter’s debut EP, South Endings, set for release in April.

That’s it!

Thanks for reading The Coast Daily today ❤️ 

If you found something useful, consider forwarding this newsletter to another Haligonian.

And before you go, let us know: