🗞️ The pickleball wars

Happy Monday,

People love spending time and money to get the perfect, studio-quality pictures of their skin babies, but what about those of us who want the same for our fur ones?

A couple in Dartmouth has started a new pet photo business called Twodogs Studios—inspired by their….two dogs—but also their love for all things marketing and branding. The result? Beautiful, bold, aesthetically pleasing pieces of art that showcase your pet’s true essence and personality!

To prove their skills, Ryan and Steph offered to take on their “hardest challenge yet” ….my cats Marley, Frank and Monty. That’s right. Three cats, four humans and one severely punctured thumb later (way to take one for the team, dad), they managed to pull off a true holiday miracle. Roll the video:

editorjulesl

View more on Instagram

Learn more about Twodogs and find out how to book a photo session for your pet here:

10/10—highly recommend.

Have a great day out there!

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: ☀️ 2°

Tomorrow: 🌧️ 9°

Next Day: 🌤️ 3°

7-day forecast

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

CITY

Committee says no to complete communities in pickleball bunfight

The Community Planning and Economic Development standing committee met Dec 12 and talked about lights in parks. This conversation dates back to 2021, when councillor Sam Austin put forward a motion asking for the city to come up with a plan to light municipal parks, because not having lights made people feel unsafe and not use HRM’s facilities. Since then, staff have spent the better part of two years getting community feedback and coming up with a lighting plan based on council’s priorities and community feedback. 

At last Thursday’s meeting, staff told the committee that in practice this means the city isn’t planning on throwing up lights for the sake of having lighting, but rather will take into account what light is needed. This should result in things like bright, functional lights being used for transportation, and softer, fun lights to make a place fun to hang out. But staff will also take into consideration things like light pollution.

Also at this meeting, the city talked about the pickleball courts at Castle Hill Park. The issue is that having the kinds of popular amenities required for complete communities means that people will use them and have fun. When people are having fun building their community, they occasionally make noise, and pickleball is also a bit of a noisy sport.

The Coast’s Matt Stickland has more on the pickleball noise debate.

🤔 Need To Know

🏛️ Nova Scotia premier Tim Houston named an expanded 21-member cabinet Thursday during a ceremony in downtown Halifax that excluded reporters in a departure from a long-standing tradition of open coverage.

🧑‍🏫 Interested in learning French this Winter? Check out our intensive courses at Université Sainte-Anne (online or in person)!*

💜 As advocate for people who have experienced sexual assault is pushing for a case review on violence against women—stating that Halifax police has failed to lay charges in 91% of sexual offences reported across the region.

🖼 The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s Gallery Shop has all of your last-minute gift needs. Shop in-person or online with pick up options available!*

📮 Canda’s labour minister has asked the Industrial Relations Board to end the national postal strike—Steven Mackinnon says he's not calling for binding arbitration, but says post service will resume, as the strike goes on "time out."

✨ It’s Christmas time in the city! Explore the stunning holiday lights around Downtown Halifax, all part of DHBC’s DELIGHTFUL DOWNTOWN winter lighting program.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY NORTH END BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

Make the holidays easy with the North End Holiday Checklist

Simplify your holiday season with the North End Halifax Holiday Checklist, your ultimate guide to experiencing the festive magic of this vibrant neighbourhood! This guide inspires festive connections, meaningful gifts and community support. By shopping local, you celebrate the neighbourhood's unique charm and support its vibrant businesses. Embrace the season's joy and enrich your holiday experience!

MUSIC

Marc McLaughlin has a voice—and a video—you need to see

If there’s one artist you need to listen to before this year’s end, it’s Marc McLaughlin.

Fredericton-based and Newfoundland-born, this former Halifax resident is hot off the release of his latest single—the title track of his soon-to-be-released EP—”All I Can Say,” accompanied by a new music video.

This single, coupled with his first EP, 2023’s I Don’t Want To Be Blue Anymore, make up the extent of McLaughlin’s discography as a solo artist. It’s a small catalogue, but it’s one well worth checking out for fans of boundary-pushing indie rock.

His first EP was guitar-focused with accompanying keys, creating soft psych riffs over interchanging rhythms and a smooth, airy depth in his voice, similar to that of Will Toledo from Car Seat Headrest.

His new single, and the upcoming All I Can Say EP, keeps the rhythms, vocals and reverberating guitar licks, but pushes the emotions forward with a frontward focus on keys. Piano is all listeners will hear for the first few bars of his new single, until the drum machine kicks in and McLaughlin’s signature voice and riffs take centre stage. However, the piano always lingers in the mix. And it’s not just set-dressing. The instrument has become crucial to his sound, whether McLaughlin knew it or not.

McLaughlin spoke with The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer about how “All I Can Say” fell out of him after he moved to Fredericton in 2021, and his pivot towards piano despite being a guitarist at heart.

🗞️ In Other News

⛪ The Roman Catholic Church in southwestern Nova Scotia has filed a lawsuit against two non-profit groups trying to save a historic deconsecrated Acadian church—claiming the groups have fallen behind in their mortgage payments and owe the corporation $200K for their purchase of it.

🎖️ Former Halifax mayor Mike Savage was sworn in Friday as Nova Scotia’s 34th lieutenant-governor during a ceremony at the provincial legislature.

🐕 The RCMP’s police dog training centre has been plagued by staffing shortages, low morale and rundown facilities that pose health risks to officers and canines—according to an internal review.

🎅🏻 A volunteer group called Santa for Seniors gathered in Lower Sackville on Saturday to create some holiday cheer for seniors who are low income or alone.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓Trio KLM—Rockin' Classics & Classic Rock: Trio KLM (2 cellos and 1 double bass) returns to The Pink Piano for an evening of music that really cooks! The bar will be open, with snacks and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks available for purchase. | Dec 17 | 7pm | $20

🗓Choir! Choir! Choir!—Un-silent night: Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman started Choir! Choir! Choir! In Toronto as a weekly drop-in singing event in February 2011. Equal parts singing, comedy and community-building, the duo now travel around the world bringing friends, foes and strangers together to sing the greatest songs of all time. All you have to do is show up and they’ll teach you your parts! | Dec 19 | 8pm | From $45

🗓Handel's Messiah: A highlight of the holiday season, Handel’s Messiah is the consummate masterpiece, eliciting joy, triumph and majesty. This year’s concert will be conducted by Vicki St. Pierre, a contralto and specialist in early music with a doctorate in vocal performance from the University of Toronto, who has performed internationally and directed choirs across Canada and the UK. | Dec 20-21 | 7:30pm | From $31

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The CMA CGM Laperhouse container ship leaves Halifax for New York at 3am.

➡️ The MSC Sigatta III container ship leaves Halifax for Montreal at 4:30am.

🛳️ The One Cygnus container ship arrives in Halifax from Singapore at 5:15am.

🛳️➡️ The Zim Pacific container ship arrives in Halifax from Valncia at 5:20am and leaves for New York at 4:30pm.

🛳️ The One Minato container ship arrives in Halifax from Charleston at 5:45am.

🛳️➡️ The Tropic Lissette container ship arrives in Halifax from Philipsburg at 6:15am and leaves for West Palm Beach at 6:30pm.

➡️ The East Coast oil tanker leaves Halifax for Charlottetown at 10am.

🛳️ The Traviata vehicle carrier arrives in Halifax from Southampton at 10:55am.

➡️ The Algoscotia oil tanker leaves Halifax for Sarnia at 6pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🍠 Cozy up with the Winter Root Salad at Black Sheep: roasted root veggies, brown butter chilli glaze, winter greens, butternut squash puree, radish, potato crisp, chickpeas.

🍕 You asked, they answered! Morris East has Donair Pizza on the menu for the month of December:donair meat, cherry tomatoes, diced onions, mozzarella, arugula, house-made donair sauce.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🏛️ It’s been a whirlwind week down at Halifax’s City Hall as budget season kicked off at Tuesday, December 10th’s meeting of council. Budget season started, as it usually does, with the advance tenders debate: city staff seeking pre-approval for capital projects to ensure the city can make the most out of the summer construction season. This lead to pretty serious discussions about how the city buys infrastructure, and what the infrastructure we buy says about our priorities. All that and more in Coast City Hall reporter Matt Stickland’s report from Tuesday’s council meeting.

🎙️ As ever, Halifax’s music scene keeps punching above its weight. From new rap records by Halifax hip hop stalwarts Quake Matthews and Classified, to punk rock from Customer Service and Steel Cut Oats, to synth-pop, reggae and everything in between, 2024 has offered a little something for everyone. This year, we’ve seen bright debuts—hello, Eliza Rhinelander and Mat Elliott—and stellar offerings from some of Halifax’s most established artists. The Coast’s Martin Bauman counts down 10 of the best local offerings of the year, from Jah’Mila to Joel Plaskett.

That’s it!

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