Anti-austerity rally calls on N.L. government to keep tuition freeze

MUN's operating grant from province 30% higher than national average, according to government

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About 200 people gathered at the steps of the Colonial Building in St. John’s Saturday, protesting cuts to post-secondary education.

The anti-austerity rally was organized largely in response to the provincial government’s decision to phase out the annual $68.4 million subsidy that has sustained Memorial University’s long-standing tuition freeze.

“When we see cuts to funding, we see prices going up,” said Kat McLaughin, chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students’ St. John’s chapter, the group that planned the protest.

“Education is a larger barrier to marginalized folks as folks from low income backgrounds are marginalized, racialized folks,” she said. “They’re the folks who are going to struggle the most with higher education, higher tuition rates.”

That time the Avengers destroyed St. John's

Thirty years ago, Marvel Comics took some time to send Captain America and company to Newfoundland and Labrador to blow up the capital city.

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Strolling down Water Street doing some window shopping, enjoying the thriving live local music scene, dining out or just passing through. To the casual eye, St. John’s might seem like a city rich in history, ebbing and flowing with the economic tide, but continuing. Alive and growing.

One might never suspect that a mere 30 years ago, this bustling metropolis was reduced to a crater of smoke, mud, and irradiated ash.

How could a city once known for its jellybean houses and equally colourful local culture have fallen on such ruin? Well, blame America.

Captain America.

N.L. election delayed for nearly half the province due to COVID-19

Polling station staff dropping out as N.L. COVID-19 cases spike

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The chief electoral officer of Newfoundland and Labrador has postponed voting on Saturday for 18 of the 40 districts, as the province deals with a rapidly worsening outbreak in metro St. John’s.

The election cannot go ahead in the districts — all on the Avalon Peninsula — as COVID-19 cases have caused “considerable operational impacts,” said Bruce Chaulk in a release Thursday afternoon.

“Many election workers have resigned out of fear of interacting with the public on election day. We cannot hold traditional polls without the support of these people,” Chaulk said.

A former mayor got a free issue of the Epoch Times. Imagine his shock to see his name inside

Free copies of paper that spins alt-right conspiracy theories have turned up in mailboxes

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Curiosity about a free newspaper in his mailbox turned into surprise when former St. John’s mayor Dennis O'Keefe found his name printed inside — in a story that said he, along with the mayor of Calgary and other officials, was a target of interest for the Chinese Communist Party.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said O'Keefe outside his St. John’s home while holding a recent copy of the Epoch Times, which was distributed this month for free to households in the region.

“I mean, I’ve had a lot of surprises in my life, believe me. But this one really takes the cake.”

The article said O'Keefe’s name was found in a 2019 document that came from the Foreign Affairs Office in Daqing, a city in northeastern China. The paper said it obtained the document that included names “spanning a wide range of sectors and countries in which the Chinese regime seeks to cultivate talent.”

O'Keefe retired as mayor before the 2017 municipal election.

“It’s just inexplicable,” said O'Keefe who called the article “terribly misleading,” and said nobody from the Epoch Times contacted him for comment.