EARL HURLING TOWARDS EAST COAST
A severe weather watch has been issued for this part of the province in anticipation of Hurricane Early.
The lower part of New Brunswick is under a severe weather warning.
Hurricane Earl has the potential to bring strong winds and heavy rain to Atlantic Canada tomorrow.
The Emergency Measures Organization advises residents to prepare to be self-sufficient for up to 72 hours. Residents should stock up on food, water, medications, batteries and other necessities.

NORTHERN POLICE AGENCIES TEAM UP FOR DRUG BUST
Northern New Brunswick police and RCMP raided a home and say they had to take a suspect to hospital because he was so strung out on prescription pills.
The joint unit found 600 prescription pills at a home in Eel Ground First Nation.
They arrested three men between the ages of 23 and 30.
The youngest was allegedly in danger after consuming the drugs.
Police also found syringes and cash during the raid.

FORMER HOCKEY STAR RECEIVES ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S HIGHEST HONOURS
Mario Lemieux is being inducted into a different type of hall today.
The retired hockey star is among 53 people getting the Order of Canada, along with the likes of former prime minister Kim Campbell.
Campbell will become a companion of the order, its highest grade. Lemieux is being invested as an officer, the second-highest grade.

PREMIER WANTS TO GROW THE POPULATION BY THOUSANDS
Premier Shawn Graham says he'll introduce a number of programs in the hopes of boosting New Brunswick's population by 12,000 people over the next four years.
During an election campaign stop in Saint John today, Graham said the population has grown by 6,000 over the last four years, but he needs to attract more people to the province and keep young people from leaving in order to grow the economy.
Graham is promising to implement a number of measures in an effort to increase the immigrant retention rate to 80 per cent.
They include new mentorship programs for immigrants, and partnerships with colleges and universities to encourage foreign students to settle in New Brunswick after graduation.
Graham says he would also create an agency to consolidate settlement resources in order to assist immigrants.
He did not say how much it would cost to implement the programs.

ELECTION PROMISES KEEP ON A ROLLIN'
The promises keep coming in the New Brunswick election campaign, but not from the fledgling People's Alliance.
Leader Kris Austin says his party won't try to compete with the splashy promises being made by the Liberals and Tories.
He says his party would rather make commitments that can be kept rather than the reckless, irresponsible promises of his opponents.
While Austin was promising not to make promises yesterday, Liberal Premier Shawn Graham was pledging to create 27-hundred jobs in northern New Brunswick.
For his part, Tory Leader David Alward promised to boost funding for amateur sports if his party is elected.
He says a Tory government would increase amateur sports funding every year for the next four years, including a 25 per cent increase in his first budget.
The N-D-P say they'll appoint an efficiency officer in hopes of slashing government spending by 75 million dollars a year.

ACCUSED ARSONISTS STATEMENTS ARE 'IN'
A New Brunswick judge has ruled that statements given to police by an accused arsonist are admissible.
Judge Julian Dickson made the ruling in provincial court Thursday following a voir dire.
The defence had challenged the legality of statements given by Carmen Drake Augustine to police after he was arrested April 8.
The 20-year-old was arrested after Fredericton's police and fire departments received 911 calls reporting a series of deliberately set fires at five homes.
Dickson said Augustine gave his statements voluntarily to police and finds no charter breach.
Augustine has pleaded not guilty to five counts of arson and two unrelated charges of theft and possession of stolen property.

PILL BUST
About 600 prescription pills have been seized during a raid on a home on New Brunswick's Eel Ground First Nation.
Three men were arrested during the joint operation Wednesday by Miramichi police and the R-C-M-P.
The Mounties say a 23-year-old man was taken to hospital and kept for observation because he was highly intoxicated.
The other two men have been released and will appear in court at a later date to face charges.

SOLDIER RETURNS HOME
The body of a Newfoundland soldier killed in Afghanistan has arrived back in Canada.
Corporal Brian Pinksen of Corner Brook died in a German hospital on Monday after being wounded by a roadside bomb near Kandahar last month.
Pinksen's remains arrived in Trenton, Ontario, yesterday, then was taken along the Highway of Heroes to the coroner's office in Toronto.
The 21-year-old was a member of Second Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

EARL EYES THE MARITIMES
Environment Canada has extended its weather warnings and watches as hurricane Earl storms toward Atlantic Canada.
Hurricane watches remain in place in Nova Scotia's Queens, Shelburne, Yartmouth and Digby counties.
Other areas of Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton, parts of southeast New Brunswick and P-E-I are either under tropical storm warnings or watches.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre says Earl a category 2 storm is expected to make landfall in the vicinity of western Nova Scotia or New Brunswick's Fundy coast tomorrow.
The strongest winds are expected in southeast New Brunswick, southwestern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
The heaviest rain could fall to the west of Earl's track in New Brunswick