Workshop to teach Farming Business

Here's your chance to learn more about starting a farm business. The province is hosting a one day workshop dedicated to teaching people about farming or helping current farmers sharpen their business skills. The workshop will also cover tips and strategies on marketing, as well as trends and technical practices by local farmers and agricultural experts. The local event goes Saturday at the Best Western Plus and Convention Centre in Bridgewater. To register, get more information, see the agenda or look at speaker biographies go to www.gov.ns.ca/agri/thinkfarm/fromthegroundup.shtml  .

Head to Head for Health hits the ice in Bridgewater

It won't be your typical hockey game. The Health Services Foundation of the South Shore and Park View are teaming up to play the Head to Head for Health Hockey Game Friday night at 7pm. The Health Care Hustlers will take on the Park View Lady Panthers. Bernadette Jordan with the Foundation says the event is a fundraiser for the echo system, but goes a little further.

"It's achieving a goal by helping us get youth more involved at the hospital foundation, but also its a great spirit thing for the team here because all of the departments work together and put players in, so they sometimes might not work together in the hospital, but on the ice they'll work together and it's great, it's a lot of fun."

Jordan says the game is expected to include props, special guests and a few more things out of the ordinary. Players hit the ice at 7pm at the Bridgewater Arena.

Local NDP MLA's Attend Federal Convention

New Democrats are in Toronto for today's opening of their leadership convention, where a successor to the late Jack Layton will be chosen.  Tonight there will be a tribute to the former leader. Local MLA's Pam Birdsall, Vicki Conrad and Gary Ramey are attending.  Birdsall tells us, Layton was very familiar with the South Shore and its politics.  She says "he was connected to small communities right across the country.  He was at one point the president of the Canadian Union of Municipalities so he really understood how it all worked and how municipal government plays into provincial government and into federal government. I think thats something a lot of people don't understand."  The perceived front-runner in the race to succeed Layton is Montreal M-P Thomas Mulcair, a former Quebec Liberal who has the most support from the party's caucus.  Critics say though, Mulcair is too abrasive, and wants to move the party from the left to the centre.  About 130-thousand party members are eligible to vote for the new leader, in person, by mail, or by email.

Bridgewater Vikings off to Division-3 provincial hockey championships

The Bridgewater Vikings are off to Yarmouth hoping to bring a provincial banner back home. The Vikings' boys hockey team is competing in the Division-3 championships against five other teams including Inverness, Par-en-Bas and Dalbrae. The Vikings play their first game at 4pm Friday afternoon against Richmond Academy. The tournament goes all weekend in Yarmouth. Full tournament details can be found at http://www.wix.com/jboudrea3/division-3-hockey .

Higher Gas Prices Fuel Inflation

Gasoline prices are up again at South Shore pumps. If you pull into a station today, you will end up paying 2.5 cents more for a litre than you did yesterday. The price today is $1.39.8 .  This just adds fuel to Stats Canada's report out this morning claiming higher gasoline prices right across the country last month drove up the inflation rate.  The annual inflation rate in February rose to 2.6 per cent -- up a-10th of-a-percentage point from January.  Pump prices last month were 2.6 per cent higher than they were in January, and 8.9 per cent higher than they were in February of last year.  In the past 12 months, food prices jumped 4.1 per cent.  StatsCan says core inflation rose two notches to 2.3 per cent, which is higher than the Bank of Canada's target line of two per cent.

Future unknown for Gorham facility in Liverpool

The mayor of Queens says the region may not want the Gorham facility back. The regional school board revealed Wednesday night it is returning the property back to the municipality. John Leefe says it's not that simple. He says the board can offer the building to the municipality, but they are not obliged to take it. He says he wants to understand the costs before council can make a decision.

"Ultimately, the region's taxpayers are the ones that have to bear any costs that may be associated with receiving ownership. So, their are a lot of T's to be crossed and a lot of I's dotted prior to a final decision being taken."

The school board is revamping its mid-level transition, senior high alternate and adult education programming for 2012-13. All programs are currently held at the Gorham facility, but would be transferred to South Queens Junior High and Liverpool Regional High next year. Leefe says council can't make a decision on the matter until they receive a letter of offer from the school board.

Martin competing at Disney meet in Florida

Its expected to be a good test for South Shore runner Jenna Martin. The Olympic hopeful will compete this weekend in the Walt Disney World Invitational in Florida. She is using the event to help prepare herself for the London Olympics in August. Martin is the defending 400 metre Canadian Champion. She has been in Florida training for the past six weeks.

Bridgewater curler off to Canadian Masters

A Bridgewater curler is representing Nova Scotia at the 2012 Canadian Masters Curling Championships in Montreal. Glenn Josephson will play lead with Alan Darragh, Reid Romkey and John Darragh out of the Mayflower and Dartmouth curling clubs. Josephson is playing in his eighth Canadian championship but first Masters. He says he can draw on experience to help him play well.

"First of all you learn how to win and secondly, you know, when the important shots have to be made and what to do when it's really close at the end of the game and those are the things that just come with experience more than anything else."

 Josephson says this event completes his career...after winning provincial championships at every other age group. The Masters gets underway Monday in Montreal. The club will open up competition against Alberta Tuesday.