Residents of Badger have their eyes on the water as levels fluctuate on the Exploits River, which has already led to the evacuation of some families in the community.

Four items celebrating NunatuKavut’s Inuit cultural links have been added to a display at The Rooms.

The NCC says the expansion of the collection at The Rooms represents an “important step in recognizing Indigenous rights and preserving the voices of NunatuKavut Inuit” for future generations.

President Todd Russell outlines the items that have been donated.

The new items include two Inuttitut bibles, a traditional seal skin lashed Kamutik or sled, a historic dog sled whip, and specially-made atigik – a traditional Inuit coat that was sewed and embroidered for Russell when he became the MP for Labrador.

Russell hopes that when people see the exhibit, they take away that NunatuKavut has a “long, dynamic, and beautiful story” that sometimes has not been told, or told correctly.

He says the artifacts will help tell their story in a more fulsome way, and give people a greater appreciation for them as Inuit.

A retired pediatrician has written a new book highlighting the public health initiatives that dramatically reduced child mortality in Newfoundland and Labrador over the last century.

Before Confederation, child mortality rates in Newfoundland and Labrador were shockingly high with many children succumbing to infectious diseases like TB, cholera, typhus, gastroenteritis and whooping cough.

Dr. Rick Cooper, a former Janeway pediatrician and retired faculty member at MUN’s medical school, felt it was important to highlight the public health initiatives that had such a profound impact on reducing local childhood mortality rates.

He says the widespread emergence of antibiotics made a huge difference, but government’s public health initiatives are what really drove more positive outcomes.

He says you can do what they did during Commission of Government and build cottage hospitals and send medical boats to every harbour, “but if the people are poor, and they haven’t got enough to eat, all the medical care is not going to work. Everything came together in the latter part of the 20th century, and made a whole lot of improvements in children.”

‘Only a Baby Gone; A History of Child Health and Welfare in Newfoundland Before 1949’ is published by Boulder Books and is available online or at local book stores.

Snow plow operators went above and beyond to rescue two motorists who recently found themselves stuck on the Trans-Canada Highway in severe weather on Feb. 17.

On Monday morning, the Wreckhouse area, north of Port aux Basques, experienced extremely poor winter driving conditions with snow and high winds with gusts of up to 150 km/h. During this time, Channel-Port aux Basques RCMP received separate reports of two motorists who were stranded on the highway, due to these adverse weather conditions.

After becoming stuck, one motorist opened the door of the vehicle which blew off with the wind. The vehicle, with three occupants inside, was at risk of blowing over an embankment. Another motorist founds themselves stuck partially off of the highway in white-out conditions.

With severely poor road conditions, police and other first responders were unable to travel on the TCH.  Snow plow operators with the province, based out of Doyles and Port aux Basques, located the stranded motorists and brought them to safety.

Being exposed to distressing events in the news cycle can make people feel uncertain and hopeless. But Dr. Katy Kamkar says boundaries and mindfulness can help people manage. Here and Now’s Carolyn Stokes spoke with the clinical psychologist.

Telecommunications giant Bell is exploring surveillance options in the Gulf of St. Lawrence after one of its subsea fibre optic cables between Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland's west coast was recently severed for the second time.

Emergency responders remain on the scene of a collision in Mount Pearl that occurred over the lunch hour.

The RNC were first called to the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Park avenue just before 12:30.

Injuries have been reported, the number and extent of which are not yet known.

The MHA for Grand Falls-Buchans says it appears as though water levels on the Exploits at Badger have receded somewhat, but officials are continuing to watch the situation closely.

An ice jam about 25 km upstream from Badger caused water levels to spike well beyond the high water mark and forced the closure of a couple of roads in the town.

The memories of widespread flooding in Badger 22 years ago are still fresh in many people’s minds, particularly those who had to evacuate and permanently relocate when the river inundated parts of the town.

Area MHA Chris Tibbs paid a visit to Badger yesterday with PC Leader Tony Wakeham to have a look.

He says fortunately, the situation appears to have eased.

Tibbs says they met with Fire Chief Gordon White and Mayor Dennis Butt, and saw the situation first-hand. Luckily Tibbs says the situation appears to have stabilized. “We all know what happened 22 years ago, but you know what? The good people of Badger made it through that and they can make it through absolutely everything.”

A number of collaborators have come together to make an upcoming musical production accessible for those with vision and hearing impairments.

Tada! Events, Power Productions, the NL Association for the Deaf, and the Arts and Culture Centre are working together to make ASL and audio description available for the performance of Beautiful, The Carole King Musical on March 13th.

Tada! Events director Terri Andrews says ASL artists have been attending rehearsals and studying scripts to deliver passionate performances for who are hard of hearing.

Power Productions, a non-profit group, will be providing audio services to make the show accessible for the visually impaired.

A local financial advisor says inflation may have been much higher in Canada in January were it not for the GST holiday.

Inflation rose to 1.9 per cent in January, but Larry Short of Short Financial, a branch of IA Private Wealth says the tax break on certain items including groceries, kept that down.

He says what’s more concerning is a slight change in trend after a year of steady decline in inflation.

He says “if we didn’t have that tax holiday, there was a potential for this to show as high as 2.5 per cent.” What is of greater concern says Short, “it’s not the absolute number that we’re worried about, it’s the change in trend.”

The magic question, says Short, is whether or not that is a true change in trend, and they won’t know that for at least a couple of months.

A team is currently onboard the MSC Baltic III, assessing damage and formulating a plan to eventually remove the vessel from Cedar Cove. This comes after days of delays due to harsh weather conditions.

Bruce English is a Senior Response Officer with the Canadian Coast Guard, Marine Environment and Hazards Response. He says the team arrived in Lark Harbour early Sunday morning, and set up a command post.

English says the crew anticipates they will be onboard the ship all day completing their assessment, to see what conditions are like inside the vessel. English says the concern right now is the condition of the bottom of the vessel, as well as the quantity of different types of oils onboard.

The salvage team will complete their assessment inside the vessel, and there is the potential for a dive assessment as well, says English, to determine if there’s any further damage to the body of the vessel.

All of these assessments will need to be complete before there is any attempt to remove the MSC Baltic III from Cedar Cove, says English. Officials say they don’t want to make a bad situation worse, by further damaging the vessel or allowing any oils to leak into the environment.

Snow storms in central Canada and the plane crash at Toronto Pearson on Monday have resulted in thousands of flight cancellations over the last week.

Air Canada says approximately 1,290 of its scheduled flights were cancelled over a six-day period.

The carrier is restoring service and adding extra flights and capacity to try to make up for the backlog, however continued delays at Toronto Pearson as the crash investigation continues is slowing flight recovery efforts.

Air Canada says it could take several more days, depending on weather, to return to normal operations.

A new Angus Reid survey shows that as Liberal and NDP supporters rally around Mark Carney’s Liberal leadership bid, voter intentions are virtually neck-and-neck between the Liberal and Conservative parties.

The pollster says with Carney at the head of the party, voter intention has tightened to a three point gap between the Liberals (37 per cent) and Conservatives (40 per cent).

According to Angus Reid, the rise in Liberal support seems to be coming at the expense of the New Democrats who have lost half of their vote intention, from 21 per cent to just 10 per cent.

More Key Findings:

– With Carney as hypothetical Liberal leader, vote intention in Ontario is tied (45% CPC, 44% Liberal). In Quebec, the Liberals split evenly with the Bloc Québécois (31% Liberal, 30% BQ) and lead the CPC by nine points.

– Poilievre has seen his unfavourable views rise to their highest level since taking over the party leadership. He is viewed unfavourably by 56 per cent of Canadians and favourably by 37 per cent.

– NDP leader Jagmeet Singh fares worst among all federal party leaders and hopefuls in net favourability, facing a -25 score. His favourability is positive only among young women.

– The top issues facing Canadians are reported to be the cost of living (52%), health care (39%), and relations with the United States (34%).

One of the leaders of the team tasked with modernizing Newfoundland and Labrador's education system says she never would have joined if she thought privatization was on the table.

Marystown native Kaetlyn Osmond has been named to Skate Canada’s 2025 Hall of Fame.

The three-time Olympic medalist and two-time world championship medalist joins a list of notable Canadian skaters, most of whom are household names.

In 2018, Osmond landed on the podium at every event she competed in, including earning gold and silver medals at the winter Olympics. Her 2018 World Championships gold medal was the first for Canada since Karen Magnussen won the honour in 1973.

Osmond joins Patrick Chan, Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford, Lyndon Johnston, Dr. Jane Morgan, Cynthia and Jan Ullmark, and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in the class of 2025 Skate Canada Hall of Fame.

St. John’s city council has endorsed changes to the way residents will vote in municipal elections, one of which takes effect this fall.

The three changes were recommended in the city’s Municipal By-Elections Report, which reviewed the two most recent elections of councillors Greg Noseworthy and Tom Davis.

The recommendations include mandatory voter pre-registration, pursuing legislative changes to allow electronic and vote-by-phone options, and cutting the number of satellite drop-off centres in each ward to one, or pre-pandemic levels.

The latter is the only change for this fall, but could be tweaked in the more rural Ward 5, with concerns raised over the distance to travel. The other two, including online and phone voting and mandatory registration, have been accepted but were deferred until the province signs off.

Mayor Danny Breen says the changes are long overdue.

“I think that electronic and telephone voting, the time has come, and probably past the time actually when it should’ve been implemented,” he said. “I think it’s the next step in our voter engagement and hopefully the province will see fit to give us the opportunity to develop those systems.”

Ontario and Nova Scotia permit municipal internet voting, upon approval by individual city councils.

The Paradise Town Hall and Depot remain closed due to the fire on February 9.

The Town announced on Tuesday that the facility will be closed for several months.

The Town can access its heavy equipment that was stored in the Depot yard and crews can do road snow clearing and garbage collection. The equipment needed for sidewalk clearing and trail grooming was stored inside the Depot and is therefore not accessible at this time.

The Town has borrowed two sidewalk blowers from neighbouring municipalities. Trail grooming is currently not possible as the equipment cannot be accessed.

Most Town services are ongoing. Garbage collection, road snow-clearing operations, and water testing are ongoing. Tax payments can be made through financial institutions, pre-authorized payments, or online. Public Council Meetings are proceeding on the regular schedules via webcasting.

Work is ongoing to relocate Town Hall staff to the Paradise Double Ice Complex so that in-person service can resume. In the meantime, the general email [email protected] and the main phone line 709.782.1400 are being monitored and staff are responding to all inquiries.

The threat of tariffs from the United states has created a push for more people to buy local, and now there is an app to help people do just that.

Tech blogger Kevin Andrews says a couple of entrepreneurs from Edmonton have created an app known as Shop Canadian, which allows people to scan the barcode of a product and it will say whether or not the product is Canadian.

Andrews says the app pulls information from a database that includes over 10,000 companies in Canada.

He states that a recent update to the app will give products a rating based on “how Canadian it is.”

He says that rating seems to be app-generated and not user-generated. He says it factors in things like where it was manufactured and where the materials came from.

Significant artifacts from Inuit Heritage have been added to the Rooms in St. John’s.

The items include two Inuttitut Bibles, a traditional seal skin lashed Kamutik or sled, a historic dog sled whip and a specially-made atigik. 

This expansion of The Rooms’ collection represents an important step in recognizing Indigenous rights and preserving the voices of NunatuKavut Inuit for generations to come. 

These artifacts, which are available for public viewing, will allow visitors to gain a deeper understanding of their connection to the land and waters of their homeland.

Experts from T&T Salvage are on the scene of what’s expected to be a major operation in Lark Harbour to free a cargo ship perched on the rocks in the area.

The 207 metre vessel Baltic III ran aground in heavy seas on the weekend. All 20 crew members on board were safely airlifted from the vessel by members of the 103 Search and Rescue Squadron.

Bruce English with the Canadian Coast Guard’s Environmental Response division says the vessel’s owners called in U.S.-based T&T Salvage, considered to be one of the best in business, to come up with a plan of attack.

Photo via Canadian Coast Guard

Efforts by the company to do a full assessment of the ship’s hull and any potential damage have been hampered by continued high winds and waves in the area.

English says while the vessel isn’t currently leaking, that could change.

“Definitely that’s a concern” says English. That’s why the salvage company was brought in to assess how much lube oil, hydraulic oil and marine diesel is on board.

Photo via Canadian Coast Guard

He says weather is continuing to hamper efforts to do a full assessment and remove the ship from the rocks.

“This could take a while, or things could speed up. If we get things to co-operate, and the vessel doesn’t have any large amount of damage on the bottom where it’s sitting, maybe it can go fast, but it could very well be there a while.”

The Provincial Government will be hosting a series of community webinars to help inform individuals on how to access support and information about the Newfoundland and Labrador Disability Benefit and Disability Tax Credit.

Three community webinars will be held between February 26 and March 26. Each session will include presentations from the Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development, the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development of Canada.

Webinars will take place on Wednesday, February 26 from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m., Thursday, March 13, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., and Wednesday, March 26, from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.

There will be a moderated question and answer session following each presentation.

Spaces are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Five new dialysis machines are being added to the Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook.

Government has set aside $103,000 for the initiative.

Dialysis is a life-saving treatment for people suffering from kidney disease and kidney failure. The machines essentially replaces the work of the kidneys in clearing waste and fluid from the body.

The province says adding the new machines will give NL Health Services greater flexibility in scheduling appointments and meeting patient needs.

Across the Island, roads are partly snow-covered. There is drifting snow on the Burin Peninsula Highway, from Gambo to New Wes Valley, from Carmanville to New Wes Valley, and from Holyrood to Roaches Line.

Roads in Labrador are partly snow-covered from Wabush to Kenamu River and snow-covered elsewhere. There is some drifting snow from Pinware to Lodge Bay.

The MV Beaumont Hamel is out of service due to ramp damage and the vessel is expected to be out of service for at least a week. Other ferries are operational across the province.

At the St. John’s International Airport, Air Canada Flight 689 is delayed and in Deer Lake, Provincial Airlines Flight 902 is delayed. Flights are on time in Gander.

A lecturer on aviation management at McGill University in Montreal is crediting the cabin crew of a Delta Air Lines jet that crashed and flipped over at Pearson Airport in Toronto this week for helping to save the lives of all 80 people on board.

John Gradek says the flight attendants are to be commended for ensuring that everyone on board had their seatbelts fastened as the flight was landing. Without that, the outcome might have been very different.

He says the flight attendants manage the cabin and make sure everyone is buckled in, and stay buckled in.

“To me, that was a key action that saved a lot of lives on that airplane.”

Warning: Video contains coarse language

The Transportation Safety Board has since recovered the aircraft’s black box and flight data recorder, which has been sent to a lab for analysis.

Airport CEO Deborah Flint

In an update provided yesterday, Pearson Airport CEO Deborah Flint said two people remained in hospital with critical, but non-life threatening injuries. The remaining 19 people taken to hospital after the crash have since been released.

Operations at the airport are back up and running, though delays may continue to be an issue over the coming days as investigators continue their work.

Post 1 – 6:28 AM NST (5:58 AM AST)

The weather across the Province is generally much calmer than the last few days. Sure we are seeing some showers and flurries, but that’s the extent of it. Temperatures are also warmer than the last few days with readings Province-wide sitting a couple of degrees on either side of 0ºC.

Road conditions are generally ok, however there are a few spots being reported as snow-covered and one parts of TLH in southern Labrador is marked as ‘Travel not advised.’ The images below were captured around 6:30 AM NST.

Check back throughout the day for updates!

On Tuesday afternoon, the RNC responded to a business in Mount Pearl regarding a complaint of possible impaired driving and a vehicle that had hit a building.

Officers determined the 40-year-old female driver was operating the vehicle without an insurance policy and had left the scene of the accident.

The vehicle was impounded and the driver was ticketed for operating a vehicle without an insurance policy and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Association is recognizing the “perseverance and professionalism” of its members in the face of increased violence towards officers.

The RNCA cites multiple examples over the last week where officers were met with violent acts while responding to incidents.

One such situation happened late last week during which officers were attacked with a “ranged weapon.” They say officers were able to take cover and safely make the arrest.

During another incident on the weekend, the RNC responded to a break and enter at a business and the suspect threw a weapon at an officer before being arrested—resulting in minor injuries.

The Association says it is dedicated to advocating for the safety and wellbeing of members, and highlighting their “consistent professionalism” while facing increased violence in the workplace.

Last month inflation increased blights to 1.9 percent, it was 1.8 percent in December.

In January, Canadians paid more for energy and in the cost of vehicles increased. These price increases were partly offset by continued downward pressure on prices for products affected by the goods and services tax break introduced in December. 

Prices for the food component fell 0.6 percent, the first yearly decrease since May 2017. It was driven by a record decline in prices for food purchased from restaurants.

A Memorial University medical student is gaining recognition for his work researching and advocating for people diagnosed with vitiligo.

The auto-immune disease causes the body to attack melanin in the skin, resulting in patches of discolouration.

While it affects patients of all skin tones, it’s most noticeable in those with darker skin and affects about 1.5 to 2 per cent of the worldwide population.

Because vitiligo is an auto-immune disease, patients can also be affected by other auto-immune disorders, like rheumatoid arthritis.

Parsa Abdi, a third-year med student at Memorial, was born in Iran but has lived in St. John’s most of his life. He became interested in dermatology, and vitiligo in particular when his sister was diagnosed.

While not life-threatening, the disease can have a very dramatic psychological impact on a person’s self-confidence, and his aim is to raise awareness through Vitiligo Voices Canada which he co-founded.

“Here in Newfoundland, especially in rural parts of Newfoundland, there may be kids, there may be adults that grow up that don’t get the support that they need, and they may get misinformation online, or from others. It’s so important for people to get connected and to learn the resources, and have a supportive group where they can talk about this.”

Abdi was recently recognized with a Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Award for his work and advocacy.

A woman is without her vehicle after crashing into the side of a business in Mount Pearl yesterday afternoon.

RNC were called shortly after 3 p.m. after a car hit the side of the building and left the scene.

Officers caught up with the vehicle and found the 40-year-old was behind the wheel without any insurance.

She was ticketed for driving without insurance and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.

The vehicle was impounded.

Newfoundland and Labrador's NDP leader says the province's decision to back away from a plan to make arts and other junior high school courses optional shows they didn't do the proper consultation in the first place.

Corner Brook Mayor Jim Parsons says Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro isn't providing a handout by buying the newsprint mill's electricity from its generating station in Deer Lake, and is confident the mill will stay on the west coast for generations to come.

Five-month old Seamus was recently adopted by a family in Pound Cove. With a little training, Dana Blackmore hopes her donkey’s sweet and docile demeanor will make him the perfect visitor for those in long-term care.

The weather across the Province will be much calmer on Wednesday compared to the weekend and the start of this week. That calm weather lingers into Thursday before our next weather-maker arrives Friday. This system looks to bring another round of significant snowfall to eastern Newfoundland during the second half of the day. I break down all the details in the video above.

Pope Francis, 88, has developed bilateral pneumonia in both lungs while he remains hospitalized in Rome. The Vatican reported that he remains in good spirits, spending his time reading, resting, and praying. (UPI)

The White House clarified that Elon Musk is not an employee of the Department of Government Efficiency and lacks the official authority to make government decisions -- raising raises questions about Musk's role. (CBS)

President Trump signed an executive order to assess expanding and reducing costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF). The White House says its ultimate goal is to make IVF more affordable and increase coverage. (AP)

Baltimore Ravens player Ben Cleveland faces drunk driving charges in Georgia after being pulled over last Wednesday after a deputy saw him weaving outside his lane and registering a BAC over the legal limit. (ABC)

A federal hiring freeze imposed by President Trump has raised concerns about the ability of U.S. firefighting agencies to respond to wildfires, as thousands of federal firefighter positions remain unfilled. (NBC)

How a provincial growing program helps vegetable farmers.

Badger has been on river watch for the past two weeks as water levels have been rising. This morning was a scary time for residents who faced the worst two decades ago. NTV’s Colleen Lewis has the story.

The province has decided to hold off on implementing proposed changes to the junior high curriculum at 14 schools across the province; changes that would have allowed students to partially opt out of classes like French, social studies, art and music. NTV’s Ben Cleary has more. 

With so many businesses closing their doors recently, those that are left say they’re struggling to keep up with rising costs, which in turn are making it harder to get customers in the door. NTV’s Becky Daley has more. 

Skate Canada announced an elite class of 2025 to its Hall of Fame on Tuesday led by two-time Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and three-time men's world champion Patrick Chan.

Team Newfoundland and Labrador is still chasing their first win at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ontario, but the St. John’s-based says it’s a thrill to represent the province and compete against the nation’s best curlers. Here’s NTV’s Mark Dwyer.

Memorial University is looking for students interested in their study abroad program. A semester of “Theatre, Film, and Social Justice” will be offered this fall at MUN’s campus in Harlow, England.

An ice jam on the Exploits about 25 km upstream from the town of Badger has residents on tenterhooks 22 years after a similar situation caused widespread flood damage.

Water levels on the Exploits River below Noel Paul’s Brook are well above the high water mark, and are encroaching on Badger.

Photo via Gov NL

Town officials are monitoring the situation very closely, 22 years after rising water levels forced the evacuation of 1,000 residents and inundated homes, businesses and infrastructure.

The disaster at that time forced some residents to abandon their properties altogether, and new homes were built well away from the existing flood plain.

VOCM News is following the story and will have details as they become available.

Canadian Coast Guard officials have established a staging area near Lark Harbour as the private salvage effort to recover the Baltic III gets underway.

The container ship ran aground near Lark Harbour on the weekend after losing power. All 20 crew members on board were safely airlifted from the vessel by members of the 103 Search and Rescue Squadron.

A 2 nautical mile emergency zone has been established around the vessel to help facilitate salvage operations.

NordBaltic owns the Baltic III, which has been operating for the MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and has called in a private salvage company to assess the situation and conduct the recovery effort.