The Central Newfoundland Morning Show from CBC Radio Nfld. and Labrador (Highlights)

The NHL lockout is almost a month old now, and it looks as though it could drag on for a while more. Talks broke off this week as an NHL spokesman said nothing would change unless players are willing to compromise. In the meantime, some of the NHL's biggest stars are heading overseas to play for teams in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League. And now, North American TV networks, like ESPN in the United States and an unnamed one in Canada, are planning to carry KHL games. Dmitry Chesnokov is a hockey analyst and follows the KHL closely.

This week, the largest recall of beef in Canadian history expanded to include many stores in this province. More than 1500 different products from a slaughterhouse in Brooks, Alberta are at risk of e-coli contamination. The recall is shaking consumer confidence and raising questions about how unsafe the beef might be. Herb Schellhorn is a biologist specializing in e-coli research at McMaster University in Hamilton.

Last week on our show, we told you about a cost-saving move by health boards across the province, including Central Health. They're cutting the money they used to pay employees to attend conferences and training courses. Central Health CEO, Karen McGrath, says medical staff will still receive in-house training to maintain skills. But a national body representing medical lab technologists says it's hearing complaints from workers, and patient health might be at risk. Christine Nielsen is the executive director of the Canadian Society of Medical Laboratory Sciences.

Yesterday we heard from Meletta Harvey of Sandringham. She says the bear situation on the Eastport Peninsula hasn't gotten better, it's gotten worse. And said communities like hers have waited long enough for a more effective solition to the problem. For more on what the department of wildlife is doing to address this ongoing issue in that area, reporter Jessica Doria-Brown reached Tim Andrews. He's the District Manager for Gambo office for the Department of Natural Resources.

Many communities in Newfoundland have had moose roam into town. They usually have a lunch in a few backyard gardens and disappear into the woods again. But in Port Union over the past few weeks, a young calf has taken a shine to the locals. It's been hanging around pretty much every day, and has even been nice enough to pose for photos. To find out more, I reached Valerie Blackmore. She lives in Port Union.

Yesterday on our show, we heard from Marilyn Clark. She's a member of the Save our Seas and Shores Action Committee, which represents fishermen, environmentalists and native groups in five provinces. The group is expressing concern about the Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board's strategic environmental assessment process. That's the study of the possibility of oil development in the Gulf of St.Lawrence. The process is supposed to include public consultation, but Marilyn Clark says it's not working out that way. Max Ruelokke is the chair of the CNLOPB.

Yesterday, a notice from the office of the province's information and privacy commissioner caught our attention. The commissioner, Ed Ring, announced he had asked the town of La Scie to change the way in which it communicates with residents. That's because an employee involved Facebook in passing on information about town business. I reached Ed Ring in St.John's.

The list of recalled beef products originating from a plant in Brooks, Alberta now contains more than 500 different items. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says there's a possibility the beef is tainted with e-coli. Yesterday, the expanded recall named products sold all across this province, in Save Easy, Dominion and Co-op stores. That's got a lot of people worried about how safe the meat sold in our supermarkets really is. Kristie Jameson is with the province's Food Security Network.

This past summer, we heard a lot about bears in and around Glovertown and the Eastport Peninsula. Many people blamed the closure of the area dump on the increase of bear activity in communities. A couple of residents got so fed up with the bears that they took matters into their own hands, shooting bears in the name of protection. Over a month ago, a meeting was held in the area to address the issue. But according to Meletta Harvey of Sandringham....the problem has only gotten worse.

The Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board is now preparing its strategic environmental assessment. That will determine whether the board will allow oil development in the Gulf of St.Lawrence. As part of the assessment, the board says it is holding a round of public consultations, to allow concerned citizens and groups to voice their opinions. Well, one woman who attended the latest hearing in Port aux Basque says it wasn't much of a hearing at all, and the CNLOPB is only paying lip service to dissenting voices. Marilyn Clark is a member of the Save our Seas and Shores Action Committee, which includes fishermen, environmentalists and native groups from five provinces.

Last year, historian Dan Conlin took on an interesting project in Terra Nova National Park. Usually you find Dan at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, where he's an expert on the Titanic, among other things. He came to Newfoundland to do something a bit different...he wanted to find out about the abandoned community of Minchin's Cove. He was looking for people who used to live there, or who knew stories about the place. Well, he found more than he expected in the area, and now he's coming back to present his findings. I reached him in St.John's, as he prepared to head out to Eastport.

We've been hearing in the news recently about a looming bacon shortage. Farmers in Canada and the US are finding it increasingly difficult to feed their pigs with the rising cost of grain. And this means bacon and other pork products will soon be harder to come by, and in some cases, you'll be paying through the snout for it! For more on how this is playing out in Newfoundland, our Jessica Doria-Brown sat down with Roosevelt Thompson. He's a pork producer from Point Leamington, and has been a pig farmer since 1979.

It's a fish story that beats any others you might have heard, hands down. Gerard McDonald of Grand Falls-Windsor caught his quota of cod in the food fishery on Saturday - almost. He returned from his trip with nine and a half fish, and a story he'll never forget. The CBC's David Newell caught up with McDonald to find out about the half-a-fish that got away.

For a lot of women out there, many of us have memories of being a brownie or a girl guide years ago. But for Sharron Callaghan of Grand Falls-Windsor, those days as a brownie years ago turned into a lifelong passion. And now, after years of service with the Girl Guides of Canada, the organization has named her Chief Commissioner. Which makes her the most senior spokesperson and ambassador of the Girl Guides of Canada.

The province's municipal assessment agency has released its new property valuations, and they're going up, in some cases very significantly. That gives town councils the right to collect more in property taxes. To find out more about why property values are shooting up again, I called Sean Martin. He's the executive director of the municipal assessment agency.