Mother Of Missing Maine Toddler Releasing Case Information

The mother of a missing toddler in Maine says she will tell the world what police have told her.

Trista Reynolds -- mother of Ayla Reynolds -- says she will release information on her daughter's investigation that has not been made public by police, through her website and a news conference in an effort to charge the child's father.

Trista told WCSH-TV, in addition to Ayla's blood being found in Justin DiPietro's basement, blood was also found in his truck, bedroom, and on his shoe.

Ayla was reported missing from her father's home in Waterville, Maine,  in December 2011.

Trista says she will release more information on Sept. 24th to the website www.aylareynolds.com .

Higgs Think We Should Jump On The LNG Opportunity

Finance Minister Blaine Higgs was in the crowd at the UNB Energy talk with Frank McKenna.
 
He says the LNG was built when the shale gas potential didn't exist and he says now we are in strategic position having the only plant of its kind in Canada.

Higgs says when McKenna mentions that 25 other LNG export facilities are being considered in the US that means our time is now to convert that and get to market first.

Higgs is calling for more political cooperation in other areas like we saw with the pipeline project.

McKenna Talks Energy With UNB Class

Frank McKenna draws a crowd and an energy chat put on by UNB was no exception.
 
Participants in the Energy Fundamentals for Leaders course at Saint John College asking questions of the former premier about the shale gas industry, the Energy East pipeline and more.
 
McKenna tells Tide News the pipeline received unanimous support because the benefits can be seen in terms of jobs and the potential for the Refinery.

He thinks the fact that we have had tanker movement for over 40 years and a refinery made it a much easier sell for us.

McKenna says we don't need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to shale gas extraction since it's been happening for more than 40 years and we can learn from what other locations have done. 

Saint John High Tech Company Expanding

A Saint John I-T company, based in the Red Rose Tea Building, is expanding. 60 new jobs are being created and Premier David Alward says the province is going to help Mariner Partners out with a payroll rebate of 750 thousand dollars which will be paid only when all the jobs are filled. 

Alward says 27 of the jobs have already been filled and rejects criticism of the rebate program based on what happened at Radian 6.

As for what the future holds, the President of Innovations at Mariner, Peter Storey says the sky's the limit when it comes to growth.

Mariner also announcing a deal to provide one of the world's largest TV operators with video quality monitoring for more than 10 million devices by the end of this year. Plans call for that to go up to 20 million devices within 5 years.

Work On Maxwell Crossing Covered Bridge Should Begin Soon

It's been an 8 month wait before news struck yesterday on the future of the Maxwell Crossing Covered Bridge.
 
The bridge will be repaired back to it's original state, but many residents are wondering why it took so long to decide?
 
Charlotte-Campobello MLA Curtis Malloch says the Minister of Transportation was negotiating with the insurance company to get taxpayers "the best bang for their buck".

Malloch tells Tide News they are wrapping up the final paperwork adding they are waiting for the engineering report from DOT to compare it to one from the insurance company.

Malloch says when that report comes in they will be able to set exact dates for construction adding it should begin this fall.
 
The bridge was damaged back in January after a driver lost control of his car and crashed inside it.

The Refinery Is A Tobacco-Free Workplace

The Irving Oil Refinery is a tobacco-free workplace.   For that accomplishment, the company received an award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
 
In January 2012, the company let its workers know that all tobacco products would be banned as of July.

Millright Gary Crowell says never considered quitting before and it was easier than he expected.

He tells us he does a lot of climbing in his job and he finds its easier to breathe now and he definitely feels better.

Crowell says he always thought you needed to 100 per cent to successfully quit smoking but he did it with a desire and some will power.

Dan Connolly of the Heart & Stroke Foundation would like to see other companies follow suit.
He says many workplaces restrict or reduce smoking and like Irving are offering incentives to reduce their smoking rates.

He says New Brunswick has some of the highest smoking rates in the country and its a huge risk factor for cardiovascular disease and we need to do something about that.

Connolly says when you consider the Refinery is a workplace of 1400 people, he's amazed they were able to get this done.

New Murals To Go Up In Saint John

The view on Canterbury Street is going to be getting a lot more colorful this weekend.

Jacqueline Collomb of Thirdspace Gallery tells Tide News the murals of Walter Pidgeon, Stompin’ Tom, Miller Brittain, Donald Sutherland and Louis B. Mayer have been totally redone by local Grand Manan artist Sarah Griffin--and will be unveiled on Saturday at a black-tie fundraiser called GALA-VANT. Griffin has also created two new portraits of visual artist Fred Ross and female pilot Daphne Paterson.

Fred Ross will be the guest of honor at the fundraiser and it will be catered by Thandi.

GALA-VANT happens Saturday in the restaurant and under a large tent beside Thandi Restaurant, 33 Canterbury Street, from 7-11 pm. Tickets are available at TUCK Studio, Thandi Restaurant, and Backstreet Records. Tickets are $100 apiece and include a one-year membership to Third Space Gallery. Existing members are $75.

Unofficial Numbers Show Fewer Students

The Anglophone South School School District will be spending a bit less money than last year because of fewer students.  The District Education Council has approved a budget of more than 212 million dollars. 

Unofficial numbers show another 2 and a half per cent decline which translates into as many as 500 students. School District Superintendent Zoe Watson says this is not positive because it means less money from the budget, fewer opportunities for teachers and unused space in schools which always raises the possibility of buildings being closed.

The District Education Council has been told there are more than 90 fewer students in the St. Stephen area and over 300 less in Saint John. Student numbers in the Valley are not growing.

NB Power Releases Point Lepreau Update

NB Power releasing an update on Point Lepreau saying the net capacity factor for August was 93 per cent.

The capacity factor is the megawatt output of a generating station compared to the maximum that could be produced.

During a regular plant inspection on August 30, one of the hangers supporting piping on the main steam supply on the non-nuclear side of the plant was found to be damaged.

The Point Lepreau team decided to reduce reactor power from 95 per cent to its current level of 90 per cent, which reduced vibration levels.
Site VP Sean Granville says adjusting power levels is part of the day-to-day operation of a nuclear power plant.

Everything is on track for a two week outage beginning October 18th to repair a steam valve.
Sean Granville says this  short outage will allow Point Lepreau to return to 100 per cent power.

Granville says they budgeted and planned for this type of equipment challenge when forecasting the first year of operation after refurbishment, so the outage will not have an impact on rates to NB Power customers.

Over the next few weeks, work will be done on lines connecting our province and the US as part of upgrades south of the border.

When interconnections like this are temporarily removed, there is a higher possibility that the New Brunswick System Operator may request that Point Lepreau reduce its power level to support the  stability of the NB electrical grid.

Two new turbine rotors will be transported from Saint John Harbour to the Point Lepreau Generating Station this fall.   The manufacturer Siemens has the lead role in transporting them to Point Lepreau and is working with NB Power and others to ensure an event-free delivery.