The Pictou County Integrated Street Crime Enforcement Unit seized weapons, including multiple firearms, while executing a search warrant at a home in Westville.  Officers also seized crossbows, swords and body armour. A 33-year-old Westville man was arrested and later released on conditions pending a court appearance scheduled for July 13.

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Canada’s inflation rate jumped to 2.4 per cent in March driven by oil shock from the war in Iran.  Statistics Canada says that’s a jump of more than a half a percentage point from the headline inflation rate of 1.8 per cent in February.

Economists had widely expected the March figures to come in a tad higher.

Iran’s move to close off the Strait of Hormuz in response to the U-S and Israeli attacks and ongoing uncertainty over ceasefire talks sent global fuel prices skyrocketing in recent weeks.   Nova Scotia’s annual rate of inflation in March was 3.0 percent, up from 1.7 percent in February..

 

Canada Post says its latest financials highlight the need to transform, modernize, and move away from cash injections.  The Crown corporation reported yesterday a record 1.57-billion-dollar loss before tax last year — 86 per cent worse than the year before.

It says that’s why sweeping changes are needed, including shifting four-million more addresses to community mailboxes over the next five years.  The company says declining parcel volumes, due in large part to labour uncertainty, have driven revenues down.  Fifty-five-thousand workers have until the end of May to vote on a five-year contract agreement, but union leadership is divided on whether to support it.

 

Three Nova Scotia startups have been selected to represent their regions at the International Network of Michelin Cities Conference in Italy this October, following a series of regional pitch competitions held across the province.  The INMC Nova Scotia International Startup Competition, delivered in partnership with Pictou County Partnership, the Municipality of the County of Kings, Town of Bridgewater, and IGNITE, brought together early-stage companies from across rural Nova Scotia to compete for a place on the international stage.  Each region hosted its own pitch event, selecting one startup to advance, including Micro Garden / Bramble Hill Farm (Cathy Munro) in Pictou County.    They will travel to Italy as part of the Conference that brings together communities with Michelin manufacturing facilities, where they will participate in an international pitch competition alongside companies from other member cities around the world.