🗞️ Wrong Johns

Hey Halifax,

If I’m being really honest with myself, I must admit that if I had been an adolescent in the late 1960s, there’s an excellent chance I would have been a part of the Manson Family. And no, not because of the murder (obviously, please don’t come for me) but because of the community, drugs, halter tops, long hair parted in the middle and, of course, the music.

Picture it: living on a school bus, cruising around, chaining cigs while Lynyrd Skynyrd “Free Bird” blasts from whatever they used for music… radios, I’m guessing. I’d probably just strum it on the guitar because I’d know how to do that. 

Ok, Manson and Skynyrd may not have overlapped time-wise “exactly,” but this is MY fan-fiction! And it’s also a very long-winded way to let you know that Lynyrd Skynyrd is coming to Halifax.

That’s right, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have announced a 10-show run in Canada, including one show at Scotiabank Centre on September 23. That will be one of three shows in Atlantic Canada, the others taking place in Moncton and St. John’s.

Everyone knows that any crimes committed during the “Free Bird” guitar solo are immediately forgiven, so do your worst Halifax! 🎸*

– Julie

*This is also a joke, crimes are still illegal during all parts of “Free Bird.”

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ -7°

Tomorrow: 🌨️ -12°

Next Day: ☀️ -4°

7-day forecast

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

NEWS + OPINION

Every woman killed since Brad Johns said domestic violence wasn’t an epidemic in Nova Scotia

In the nine months since former Nova Scotia justice minister Brad Johns told a pool of reporters that he didn’t consider domestic violence to be an epidemic, 10 women have been killed in the province. In nine of those deaths, the accused killers are the women’s husbands, boyfriends or sons.

Last week’s grisly discovery of a 22-year-old woman found dead in a burning home on the outskirts of Centreville marked the most recent death in Nova Scotia linked to intimate-partner violence, according to police investigators. And while the province officially declared domestic violence an epidemic last September, adopting Dartmouth South MLA Claudia Chender’s Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, advocates have consistently called on legislators to do more.

The Coast’s Martin Bauman looks back at Johns’ comments from last April and what we know about every woman killed in the province since then.

🤔 Need To Know

🥀 A public funeral service will be held Tuesday for three Halifax-area children who died after they were pulled from a burning home in Lower Sackville—the funeral is scheduled for 1pm at the Rock Church Halifax for five-year-old Cayson Jermaine Loppie, six-year-old Chloe Margaret Greenough-Steiger and nine-year-old Alauna Marie Loppie.

💜 Nearly two decades have passed since Paula Gallant, a 36-year-old mother, was murdered by her husband—her sister worries that the gender-based violence that claimed her sister's life has taken the lives of too many other Nova Scotian women.

🎭 TAG presents Murder Tonight, a new drama about three sisters. Secrets are revealed, a dangerous chain reaction begins. Can it be contained? Jan 23-Feb 8.*

🥮 The Canada Food Inspection Agency has recalled a brand of mini pastries amid a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 61 people in five provinces.

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY LIVE ART DANCE

Omote (面) by Shion Skye Carter & Miya Turnbull

Live Art Dance presents Omote (面)

This contemporary dance uses hand-crafted paper-mâché masks to explore the creator's mixed Japanese-Canadian heritage. The performance reflects on identity, contrasting honne (true feelings) and tatemae (public face), while challenging beauty ideals and revealing the layers of self through ritualistic gestures and symbolism.

Omote (面) translates to both “surface/face” and “mask,” and explores multitudes of layers of being and the self, manipulating what is revealed and what is hidden, honing in on the churning, transitory nature of identity.

Purchase Tickets
Bus Stop Theatre
February 28, 2025 - 8pm,
March 1, 2025 - 2pm & 8pm

EDUCATION

Author, poet, scholar Kenny Fries presents “Stumbling over History: Disability and the Holocaust” 

“We need to have these conversations more,” Michelle Mahoney, the first accessibility officer at the University of King’s College, tells The Coast. Mahoney is talking about a new lecture series that begins tonight—Tuesday, Jan 21—called “Representations of Disability in Historical, Scientific and Artistic Perspectives.” 

The series will examine how ideas of “disability” and “normality” are represented in the arts, science, philosophy and activism through lectures every other week from leading disability scholars, researchers, writers, activists and artists. It’s meant to “challenge stereotypes, highlight marginalized voices and rethink what it means to live, work and create with disabilities,” says Mahoney. Everyone is invited to attend. 

Award-winning author Kenny Fries opens the series with a talk tonight at 7pm, in Alumni Hall in the New Academic Building at King’s, 6350 Coburg Road. Fries will be presenting his lecture, “Stumbling over History: Disability and the Holocaust,” to introduce his current writing project about the Nazi program Aktion T4—a program of mass murder of people with disabilities. “This is my way to bridge the silence, to keep alive something that is too often forgotten,” writes Fries in a description of his work. 

For more about tonight’s talk, Lauren Phillips has the full story at The Coast.

🗞️ In Other News

🇺🇸 Donald Trump was sworn in as America’s 47th president Monday—promising a “revolution of common sense” and taking charge as Republicans assume unified control of Washington and set out to reshape their country’s institutions. In response…

🐟 …Seafood industry representatives in Atlantic Canada are urging harvesters and exporters to diversify their markets to be ready to deal with tariffs or other trade threats Trump might engage in over the next four years.

🎤 Whitecap Entertainment announced yesterday that Alanis Morisette will headline the Sommo Festival in PEI—playing Saturday night at the two-day festival happening in Cavendish in September.

✖️ Thanks to a Facebook post and a group of former students, St. Francis Xavier University graduate Becky Savoie has been reunited with her X-ring after seven years—the ring was discovered at a Value Village location in Dartmouth.

SPONSORED BY BLUENOSE HEALTH PRIMARY CARE

New Minor Surgeries and Joint Injections Clinic

Now offering Minor Surgery, joint injection and cryotherapy to subscribed and non-subscribed patients. Services also include Nexplanon and IUD insertion/removal, soft tissue injections, endometrial biopsy, skin biopsy, PAP, phlebotomy and suturing. Appointments available in January and February. Please call 902 707 5404 or email [email protected] for more information and booking.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Controlled Damage Presented by Neptune Theatre: Controlled Damage explores the life of Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond. Her courageous act in a Nova Scotia movie theatre in 1946 sparked a ripple effect that still resonates today. Viola Desmond was an ordinary woman thrust into extraordinary circumstances by an unyielding and racist world. Despite the personal cost to herself and her loved ones, she never gave up. | Jan 14-Feb 12 | From $33

🗓 Halifax RV Show: This event is a must-attend for RV enthusiasts across the region, drawing passionate travellers and adventurers from far and wide to the Halifax Exhibition Centre. Whether you're seeking a spacious motorhome or a cozy camper, this show has it all, offering an extensive selection to suit every preference and budget. | Jan 23-26 | $12

🗓 The Music of The Who with Symphony Nova Scotia: The Who is one of the most iconic bands of the 20th century, with their distinctive blend of punk, rock, mod and pop music. Now, the Symphony pays homage to The Who’s greatest hits of all time. Don’t miss this thrilling symphonic salute with perennial favourites Jeans ‘n Classics and Symphony Nova Scotia. | Jan 24-26 | From $48

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🚢➡️ The MSC Tamara container ship arrives in Halifax from Montreal at 7:15am and leaves for Gioia Tauro, Italy at 5pm.

🚢 The H Mercury container ship arrives in Halifax from Kingston at 4:20pm.

🚢 The Acadian oil tanker arrives in Halifax from Charlottetown at 4:40pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🍔 Burger? Good! Mac and cheese? Good! Dive into true comfort with the Mac Daddy at Peppercorn’s Eatery: local Angus beef patty, creamy mac ‘n’ cheese, smokey bbq pulled pork, caramelized onions, brioche bun.

🍰 Indulge in a treat that hits all the right notes with the Opera Cake at Pane E Circo: velvety chocolate, tangy blackberry, delicate pastry layers.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🚙 Halifax’s Transportation Standing Committee is meeting Thursday, Jan 23. On the agenda is a staff report that recommends the committee not implement a policy to charge big vehicles more for parking. At issue: How do you measure big? Councillor Shawn Cleary initially proposed using vehicle weight—heavier cars pay more than lighter cars. However, councillor Patty Cuttell pointed out that electric vehicles tend to be heavier, and we don’t want to punish people for making a good environmental choice. Makes sense, right? But The Coast’s Matt Stickland explains how a well-meaning Cuttell plus unimaginative city staff equals a big problem for the big-vehicle parking plan.

🇺🇸 To mark the Trump inauguration with a certain Coast je ne sais quoi, we are revisiting a subject that lately got us in a lot of trouble with readers like you. But please bear with us! This time around we’re sharing the counter-argument to the Trumpian notion of Nova Scotia becoming the 51st state.

That’s it!

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