Latest news with #Pictou
CBC
18 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
Post-tropical storm Fiona shut down the Pictou Lodge in 2022. It's back in business
The Pictou Lodge Beach Resort is officially back in business after the nearly century-old business was severely damaged by post-tropical storm Fiona in September 2022. On Monday, Brad Hartlin, who owns the 99-year-old resort with his brother Mark, confirmed the news to CBC's Mainstreet Halifax. "It's been a long process, but we're very excited about the opportunity and I'm very thankful to be part of it," he said. In 2023, the previous owners concluded they couldn't continue to operate the business. The damage from Fiona included roofs being blown off cabins. Hartlin said he and his brother created a business plan to revive the lodge. The first step was talking to longtime staff with knowledge of the property to see what was possible. Some buildings were removed and some were sold by the previous owner. Hartlin noted Pictou Lodge will be a smaller operation. Previously, the lodge had 80 to 100 rooms, he said. This season, it will be operating with 41 rooms. "There's lots of room to grow in the future if we think that it can warrant it and we can pull it off. This year will be a learning curve for us," Hartlin said. "It's been three months now getting everything together and we're going to do it in baby steps. We're not going to reinvent the wheel or think that we can do anything much better than previous owners before, but smaller and then we'll grow into it." Some of the repairs have included redoing the roof on the main lodge, its chimney and the floors inside. Hartlin said the pool, which was completely redone, has reopened. There's also a beach, pond and trail on the property. "What we offer is nature. That's the No. 1 thing ... it's going to be a place that people can go and really relax and enjoy themselves," said Hartlin. Some former staff rehired Hartlin said people in the area have been very receptive to the lodge reopening. He said they were able to give some of the previous staff their jobs back. The kitchen will reopen next year, but Hartlin said it will operate as a taphouse this year. "The main lodge has been completely redone inside. It's got a very cool atmosphere and nostalgia that when people come in, they can sit and relax and have the memories of the Pictou Lodge — what it was and what it will be in the future," he said.
CBC
30-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Still no sign of Lilly and Jack Sullivan after 4 weeks
The sister and brother were reported missing from their home in Pictou County on May 2. Haley Ryan has the story.
CBC
07-05-2025
- CBC
RCMP provide update on search for missing N.S. children
Lily Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, went missing from their home in Pictou County on May 2.
CBC
06-05-2025
- Science
- CBC
How drones are being used to look for missing children
The RCMP have enlisted four drone operators to help with the search in Pictou drones use "forward-looking infrared technology" to spot differences in temperature. Cassidy Chisholm has the story.
CBC
06-05-2025
- CBC
What we know about the search for missing N.S. children
The search effort is ongoing for a sister and brother who were reported missing from their home in Nova Scotia's Pictou County on May 2. RCMP say they were called that day to find Lily Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4. The children are believed to have wandered away from their family home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, N.S., about 20 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow. When were they last seen? According to the children's stepfather, Daniel Martell, Lily and Jack were last seen on Friday morning. The children attend Salt Springs Elementary, but Martell said they were not at school on Friday because Lily had a cough, and they were also home sick from school on Thursday. Martell said that while he and their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, were in the bedroom with their one-year-old baby, Lily came in and out several times, and Jack could be heard in the kitchen. He thinks the children must have opened the sliding back door, which he said is nearly silent, and went outside. "When we noticed that the children were gone, I immediately jumped in the vehicle, surveyed all the areas, [as] many dirt roads, [as] many culverts as I could and waited for the police to get there," Martell told CBC News on Monday. How are authorities treating the investigation When the children were reported missing on Friday, the RCMP said there was no evidence they had been abducted. Since then, there's been no indication from police that this has changed. But Martell said Tuesday that he now believes the children were taken. He said investigators with the RCMP's major crimes unit spoke with him a few days ago and with members of his family on Monday. "[The RCMP were] taking statements from the very start. They just want to rule everything out before they switch … concerns from being, you know, search and rescue to abduction," he said in an interview Tuesday. When asked on Tuesday if the major crimes unit is involved, an RCMP spokesperson said a "variety of teams" are working on the investigation "in order to provide tools, skills and resources as necessary." Why wasn't an Amber Alert issued? In an interview with CTV News on Saturday, the children's mother said she appreciated the huge search effort, but she wished an Amber Alert had also been issued. "Not just that they could possibly be abducted — which it is a possibility that they could have been — but just an alert to let everyone know that they are missing," she said. Police have said there was no Amber Alert because there is no evidence the children were abducted. A vulnerable persons alert was issued for Pictou County when the children were first reported missing Friday, and an additional alert was issued Saturday evening to Pictou, Antigonish and Colchester counties. The search remains focused on the rural area surrounding the family home, which is heavily wooded, making it difficult for search and rescue teams to comb through. What were the children wearing? When last seen, Martell said, Jack was wearing a pull-up diaper and Lily was wearing a white backpack with red strawberries on it that should be highly visible. The RCMP say Lily has shoulder-length light brown hair and bangs, and may be wearing a pink sweater, pink pants and pink boots. Jack, meanwhile, has short "blondish" hair and blue dinosaur boots. Where are authorities searching? Since Friday, searchers have been scouring the area near the family home. The Nova Scotia Guard — a provincially organized volunteer group — has also been deployed. Overnight Monday, the RCMP said multiple drones equipped with "forward-looking infrared technology" to spot differences in temperature were used to search the area. Meanwhile, roughly 60 specially trained ground search and rescue members were combing the area below. Police dogs have also been assisting in the search. According to Amy Hansen, the search manager for day shifts with Colchester Ground Search and Rescue, 100 to 140 searchers have been used during the day, and 60 to 75 each night. The searchers are using pink ribbons to mark areas that have already been covered off by rescue teams. Thousands of these ribbons now dot tree branches in the area. Police said the search is also informed by statistical data, including insights into the behaviours of people in similar situations. Police and search and rescue teams are asking the public to stay away from the search area to allow trained searchers to do their work. How is the community coping? Five days into the search, an RCMP spokesperson said that search and rescue crews are still committed to bringing Lily and Jack home. "It has been a few days, but that has not dampened the hopes of the [search] teams and the police who are here trying to get these kids home," RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Carlie McCann told reporters on Monday afternoon. Robert Parker, the warden for the Municipality of Pictou County, said the mood in the rural region of roughly 43,000 people has been "tense" as the search continues. "Nobody is giving up yet," Parker told CBC's Information Morning Nova Scotia on Tuesday morning. "These children have almost become everybody's children in this county." He said that while it's human nature to jump to conclusions, the public should be careful about what they're posting on social media. "There's always people who want to say something that's hurtful," he said. "We have to remember kindness."
