It was quite the headline at SaltWire.com: ‘Exhilarating and slightly discombobulating’: Removal of COVID-19 restrictions gets mixed reaction As The Chronicle Herald's Stephen Cooke wrote, "After Premier Tim Houston declared that “COVID zero is not a reality” and mapped out Nova Scotia’s long journey down “the road to normalcy” opinions voiced online ranged from “too much, too soon” to “it’s about time.” And for infectious disease expert and Dalhousie University scientist Dr. Lisa Barrett, there's concern that people will think this means the pandemic has ended and will abandon the protections that have served us so well in the last two years. She says that's definitely a concern and she answers some of the questions that people have about "living with COVID".

Canada's Prime Minister issued a statement early on Thursday morning condemning "Russia's egregious attack on Ukraine" and calling on them to "immediately cease all hostile and provocative actions." The United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have taken steps to address the military actions that are underway. Dr. Ruben Zaiotti is an associate professor in Dalhousie Universities Political Science Department. He is also an expert in European Union politics and in public diplomacy. He offers his thoughts on how the citizens and governments of the world should react and whether or not economic sanctions alone will make a difference to Russia's plans and actions.

He was 26 years old when he first ran in a bye-election in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 2010. He's been in opposition and then in government and has served as both Education and Health Minister. And now Zach Churchill is looking to become the next leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party. He discusses his decision to enter this race and not the one a year ago that saw the candidate he supported, Iain Rankin win. He also discusses the challenges of rebuilding the party with a goal of winning the next general election in 2025. He also comments on the criticsm that comes with being labelled a career politician.

Since January, a group of Dartmouth residents have been amping up efforts to bring attention to an area of wetland near a proposed housing development. Bill Zebedee says the Protect Eisner Cove Wetland Society is reacting to a private sale of the 15 hectares of forested wetland earlier this year. The developer has proposed a walking trail through the wetland, but the group says that's not the best thing for the habitat or the animals and plants that live they. He says their goal is to have The Eisner Cove Wetland and its protective forest belt returned to public ownership, and preserved as a wild area for recreational and educational use only. They've set up a website and have launched a petition to try and make that happen.

Nova Scotia Health is hosting an event later this month called the Health Innovation Showcase. It will happen on Feb. 22 (from Halifax) and Feb. 25 (from New Glasgow) to officially launch the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub. And they say it's to deliver high-impact solutions for patients and providers by using technology like the Virtual Care program that connects orphaned patients with medical services virtually. Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy is the Vice President of Research, Innovation and Discovery for Nova Scotia Health. And she describes what this initiative is all about, and how it can be helpful to some of the other systemic challenges that have been amplified by the global pandemic.

For the past few years, the Union representing Nova Scotia paramedics has been sounding the alarm over the shortage of available ambulances. It's something they call Code Critical and it's becoming even more acute says the business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Kevin MacMullin told the Legislature's Public Accounts Committee this week that paramedicine is a system in failure right now. MacMullin says burnout and stress are a huge issue that is creating a cycle of stress leaves and then additional pressure because members are off. He adds there are a few things that would help with recruitment and retention and remuneration is a big part of that.

Vicky Levack is with the Disability Rights Coalition. They are the among sixty groups and individuals who have written an open letter asking the Premier to end discrimination against persons with disabilities. It is also calling for him to implement the Court of Appeal October 6 ruling as well as abandoning an application to the Supreme Court of Canada to dismiss the ruling. They want the government to negotiate a systemic human rights remedy to the problem of discrimination against people with disabilities in accessing social assistance, and end the funding cap which singles out the disabled and creates barriers to their inclusion in our communities. Levack says it feels like they are fighting the government, when they want to work with them to help people like her survive and thrive.

Dr. Lori Turnbull is an associate professor of political science at Dalhousie University and the director of the School of Public Administration. She also spends a great deal of time in Ottawa where she lectures remotely. And she's being very clear about what she's been seeing since the trucks rolled in a few weeks ago. This is not a protest -- it's an occupation. And with the announcement that Justin Trudeau is enacting the Emergency Act has some people accusing the government of going too far. Dr. Turnbull says this is the first time this legislation has been used and there are legislative checks and balances in place. And sometimes extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures.

There's a renewed interest in talking about affordability with Nova Scotia Power's proposed ten percent rate hike over the next three years. And the Affordable Energy Coalition is offering up three solutions to help low-income households afford their monthly bills. Brian Gifford is the group's chair and he has submitted that plan so that SaltWire readers could see what they are proposing. We discuss that plan and the inherent conflict when the company making millions of dollars selling electricity is also involved in efforts to help people use less electricity.

What started out as a break from the pandemic has turned into a social enterprise with an environmental agenda. Angel Riley started visiting the beaches around her home in Eastern Passage and noticed all of the debris along the coast. So she started picking it up. That has evolved into the Scotian Shores Clean Up group and more than 100-thousand pounds of debris being removed from the coastline of Canada's Ocean Playground. The group also repurposes some of the material they find to create art and other items they sell to help offset their cleaning costs. This year, Angela decided to create a Valentine out of that debris and present it to Nova Scotia's Minister of Environment and Climate Change. That happened on Friday, ahead of another planned beach sweep before February 14th.