Listen to Tantramar Report for the following stories:

Sackville rallies today in support of CUPE

Mount Allison politics professor Dave Thomas has put out a call for Sackvillians to rally today in support of Sackville’s striking CUPE workers. The Mount Allison Faculty Association and Mount Allison Students’ Union have agreed to help publicize the event, which calls for people to gather between noon and 1 p.m. at the corner of York and Main.

Football Mounties semi-finals in Sackville Saturday

The football Mounties finished their regular season in second place last week, and tomorrow will take on the Bishop’s Gaiters in a semi-final match for the AUS championship. If they win, they will go on to play the championship Loney Bowl on Nov. 20. Tomorrow’s game is slated for 2 p.m. at Alumni Field, and tickets are available for pre-purchase online. Mount Allison students don’t need a ticket, but must show ID. All attendees must show proof of vaccination.

COVID-19 update: active cases climb, Russell admonishes Greater Moncton for flouting rules

New Brunswick Public Health reported 70 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, forcing active case counts to climb to 580. There were 21 new cases in Zone 1, with 18 cases under investigation and three cases connected to previously confirmed cases.

In a statement Thursday, Chief Medical Officer of Health Jennifer Russell said there’s evidence people in Greater Moncton have not been following the one household rule that’s been in place for five weeks. She said more than half of the new cases in the area are coming from transmission in households.

“It is critical that everyone follows the rules and not have gatherings in homes as we have seen transmission in households from people who shouldn’t be in the home in the first place,” said Russell.

Sackville and the Tantramar region will come out of circuit breaker measures today at 6 p.m., meaning the single household rule is lifted. But the region is still under the rules of the mandatory order, which asks that each household limit contacts to an exclusive list of 20 people.

Public Health said it would be increasing enforcement of circuit breaker rules in Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview, and encouraged people to report when they saw others breaking the rules.

Zone 2 (Saint John) will also come out of circuit breaker measures on Friday, and most of Zone 7 (Mirimachi) will start a circuit breaker.

Donald the cat, Sackville’s newest celebrity

He’s friendly, charming, and roams through town inviting himself in to houses and university residences, seeking out snacks and head scratches. Donald the cat has fast become a household name in Sackville, having grown a local Facebook fan club clocking in at 685 members, and now inspiring Bagtown Brewery to concoct a dedicated brew for the friendly feline.

There are of course ups and downs to Donald’s social mobility. He spreads a lot of joy, as evidenced by those who post about their chance encounters with him on social media. There’s also those who worry for Donald’s welfare, or are perturbed by his roaming habit.

Listen to Tantramar Report to hear from Tobias Paul, Donald’s caretaker, who has felt both the love and the hate in messages online in relation to Donald.

Magnetic fields and solar storms: the science behind the beauty of the Northern Lights

Northern Lights above the Tantramar Marsh on the morning of Nov. 4, 2021. Image by photographer Shawn Chapman.

Listen to Tantramar Report to get an astronomy lesson from Dr. Catherine Lovekin, astronomer and Mount Allion’s head of physics. Inspired by the beautiful images of the Northern Lights over the Tantramar Marsh captured last week by photographer Shawn Chapman, we invited Lovekin in to help explain a bit more about what’s happening in the phenomenon of the aurora borealis.  For more from Chapman and Lovekin, check the web story here.

CHMA Talks: Sackville’s online (and offline) culture

Jeska Grue, Julia Feltham and Matt Betti are three of the moderators for a Facebook group dedicated to sharing local information about Sackville and discussing local issues. With over 1600 members, Sackville Locals and Community Info is the place to go for lost and found pets, recommendations for local businesses, and discussion of town issues.

But moderating an active local chat group is no easy task. The trio of moderators gathered at CHMA studios on Wednesday to discuss the trials and tribulations of moderating online, and also the public discourse culture in Sackville. You can listen in here.