This week we chat with Gridlock Festival main guy  about the creation of a brand new music fest in Halifax. We hope it's successful, but the lack of fiddle music and Keith's doesn't fill us with hope. Still, if , craft beer and food trucks appeal to you, you have one week to .    Plus, cops. And drugs. And money. We know where the former are (hauled in front of the Board of Commissioners). The other two? Good question.

In the 1990s, the Nova Scotia government entered into a public-private partnership in order to facilitate the construction of 39 schools across the province. Over the intervening years the total cost of those leases has been about a billion dollars. Over the next few years the 20-year leases are expiring and the province is faced with some tough choices: extend the leases another five years, walk away from the schools, or buy them outright for about $230 million. This week we speak with , Nova Scotia Director of the . The CCPA recently released an  of the P3 process for building schools and concluded it was a flawed process and that much of that billion dollars served to line the bank accounts of a handful of private developers with no real value to taxpayers. Also, a man died in police custody last week, but the HRP aren't disclosing his name or any of the circumstances surrounding his death. And the public consultation on the preservation of Blue Mountain/Birch Cove Lakes? .

This week we speak with , Vice Canada's Parliamentary Reporter. In the past month he's written a highlighting the RCMP's ability to intercept cellphone calls and messages, and how they're using the courts to try to continue taking advantage of this technology. Plus, the Halifax Examiner turns two this week, which means it's starting to stand on its own two feet, though it still occasionally craps its pants and cries out for its bottle. Finally, in answering Jennifer Watts's , hockey superstar announced his candidacy for District 4 at a press conference on the deck of the .

This week we speak with local arts writer  about the dearth of arts criticism in Nova Scotia and how fewer arts organizations are taking risks with their content for fear of alienating their corporate benefactors. Ron writes extensively about arts and culture at . Also, Russell reads an actual daily newspaper written by actual journalists and muses about how such a model could work in Halifax.

This week, in our ongoing series profiling the ever-more-crowded slate of candidates for the municipal election, we speak with District 8 contender . We also chat with Halifax Typographical Union veep Frank Campbell about the between the Chronicle Herald and the striking workers.  Plus, city council debates  to the transit system, a provincial election may be on the horizon, and Russell unveils plans to make Examineradio more listener-friendly.

This week we speak to restaurateur and mayoral candidate . As the person who almost singlehandedly brought the concept of local and sustainable to the Halifax food industry and made it profitable, she talks about transferring that ethos to a civic level. Plus, Scott Ferguson is finally exiled to the cultural backwater that is lower Manhattan, Reg Rankin begins his farewell tour, and  announces that she's prepared to challenge Waye Mason to take back her seat in District 7.

This week we speak with community activist  about the project. The Bridging Bus aims to help develop community projects throughout the city and to bring the organizers to Washington, DC, to experience grassroots organizing firsthand. Also, gets a reboot, Aidan Cromwell's is overturned and Linda Mosher grabs anything not nailed down. Seriously, have you lost a bike lately? It might be in her backyard.

This week, local humourist  learned that you shouldn't poke fun at businesses with . By posting a satirical story on his website, Brand raised the ire of the Steele Auto Group, prompting them to send a sharply-worded letter to the writer and stay-at-home father. They then threatened to demolish his home and replace it with a parking lot purely out of spite. (Okay, no they didn't. That's something that we in the industry call a 'joke.' Please don't sue us, but if you must send a 'cease-and-desist' letter, our email address is: ) Also, noted hater of history  suggested maybe kinda sorta having a discussion about Edward Cornwallis, Halifax's 'founder.' Fortunately, the majority of city council recognized that nothing good has ever come from talking and wisely defeated his motion. And just a few scant blocks away, the of Cornwallis cried real tears.

This week, we welcome Jane's Walk organizer and candidate for city council, Sam Austin. He talks the walk and discusses development, since that's all anybody's talking about as of late. Also, development! Lucky north end Haligonians are thrilled with the promise of a shiny new parking lot where their homes once stood. This is thanks to the benevolence of the Steele Auto Group, a company synonymous with progressive values. While a few naysayers have taken to the internet to voice their hatred of progress via satire, we at the Halifax Examiner rise above the chatter. We take no stock in the obviously fabricated stories of Steele Auto Group CEO Rob Steele drowning kittens in the Northwest Arm. Nor do we believe he singlehandedly masterminded 9/11. And he certainly don't believe he authorized the building of a secret genetic laboratory in the back room of Colonial Honda where they're creating clones of Gloria McCluskey to ensure she'll be on City Council for all eternity. Those stories are obviously untrue and we're sure of it because we know how satire works.

On Sunday April 24 Solidarity

Halifax organized a public meeting to discuss the strike

at the Halifax Chronicle Herald, currently dragging into its fourth

month. Striking Chronicle Herald news editor Pam Sword, Saint Mary's labour

professor Judy

Haiven and the Halifax Examiner's own

Tim Bousquet spoke to a standing room-only crowd.

Examineradio is happy to present the audio of this roundtable

discussion. 

Also, rich dude demands city council's full attention. Council

complies. Then demands a cruller. Coun. Steve Adams makes a run to

nearby Tim Horton's.