Month: April 2017

Girl, 13, dies in New York subway trying to retrieve phone

A teenager was fatally struck by a subway train after she went on the tracks to retrieve her phone Sunday afternoon, police say. Deena Kadribasic, 13, was struck by a southbound R train at the 63rd Drive-Rego Park subway station on 63 Drive and Queens Boulevard. ABC

Driver taps gas at level crossing and, yes, hits passing train

In Streetsville, the driver of this SUV tapped the gas while waiting for a GO train to pass early Tuesday. It sent his vehicle through the barrier and into the side of the train. The driver had only minor injuries. City News

Singing may break out at East York Barbershoppers’ auction

The East York Barbershoppers 49th Annual Auction and Sale will take place Friday May 5, 2017, at Harmony Hall, 2 Gower Street, just west of Dawes Rd. between Danforth and Victoria Park Aves. All proceeds will benefit the not-for-profit EYBS Chapter, enabling it to continue its support of Harmonize 4 Speech and the Harmony Hall Centre for Seniors in East York. The auction features household goods, tools, theatre and sports tickets, golf foursomes, frozen meats, hanging baskets and plants and more. Renowned live auctioneer Matt Penstone will preside. The sale features fruits and vegetables generously donated by merchants of the Ontario Food Terminal, along with household goods all at unbeatable prices. Admission entitles the bearer to a hot dog, snacks and refreshments in a family atmosphere where some singing usually breaks out. Start time 7 p.m. EYBS

Making sure the new helmet fits at St. Francis Xavier School

Here’s a lovely picture from the distribution of free bike helmets at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Elementary School Monday. Each student received one thanks to the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association Helmets on Kids program and lessons from experts on how to stay safe. Police law firm to give away 525 helmets at school

Urban corner of Eglinton, Don Mills grows before our eyes

The open space of Don Mills Crossing — the corner of Eglinton and Don Mills — is in the process of a sweeping transformation. The intersection is morphing from wide highway-like roads and vacant land known to generations into a citified place where people will live, work and walk for pleasure and business. Plans to combine tracks and traffic of the Eglinton LRT and downtown relief line at the Don Mills LRT station will make Don Mills and Eglinton an equal to Yonge and Eglinton or Yonge and Bloor. Urban Toronto

Yahoo, AOL to vanish into “Oath” brand says consumer blog

The blog Consumerist says two vestiges of the early Internet will soon be lost to history. Verizon is about to submerge Yahoo and AOL under one, new brand name: Oath. It says Business Insider first reported that the name changes will take place once Verizon finishes its billion-dollar acquisition of Yahoo’s core internet businesses and merges those assets with fellow dotcom bronze ager AOL, which Verizon acquired in 2015. Consumerist 

Man in 80s gravely hurt by raging house fire in Etobicoke

A man in his 80s was pulled from a flaming home on Hatfield Crescent in northern Etobicoke Monday afternoon. He is in grave condition in hospital. The fire broke out at the modest bungalow near Islington Avenue and Highway 401 about 5 p.m.

Court rules in favour of TTC random drug testing plan

The Ontario Superior Court has approved random drug testing of drivers and motormen at the TTC. The decision was handed down by associate chief justice Frank Marrocco Monday. The proposal to do such testing was vigorously opposed by the Amalgamated Transit Union, which said it would cause irreparable psychological harm to employees. The TTC said it will begin the random tests within days. Judge Marrocco said he was persuaded the TTC has “demonstrated (a) workplace drug and alcohol problem at the TTC which is currently hard to detect and verify.” The transit union had called random testing to be “among the most intrusive forms of personal surveillance” and said it encroached on employee privacy.

Plan now to give blood at Wednesday’s Northlea clinic

The Leaside Community Blood Donor Clinic takes place on Wednesday, April 5 from 2 to 7 p.m. at Northlea Public School, 305 Rumsey Rd. This is the time to make your visit efficient by calling to book an appointment. 1-888-2 DONATE: 1-888-236-6283  or visit www.blood.ca.

Pilot gets eight months in jail for attempted drunk flying

Airline pilot Miroslav Gronych, the drunk captain of a Sunwing flight to Cancun, has been sentenced to eight months in jail in Calgary. He pleaded guilty last month to having care and control of an aircraft while he had a blood alcohol level that was three times the legal limit. Previous

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Self-indulgent mid-century “launch pad” or simply stupid?

NOW online has published a loving description of Davisville Junior Public School by Richard Longley in which he argues that it should be saved rather than demolished. Parents want it replaced with a modern school which would be safer, more comfortable, include a local community centre and easily accommodate more children. These are the reasons why the Toronto District School Board intends to tear down DPS. It is described by Mr. Longley as a striking example of mid-century modern style. The architect saw such buildings, says Longley, as “launch pads into a brave new world for children of the baby boom.” Well that was then. Today people like Davisville principal Shona Farrelly are more concerned that primary kids will launch themselves through the gaps between the open stairs  Parents and educators in 2017 think of Davisville School as a woefully self-indulgent expression of the Hall-Dennis era. That’s the feel-good movement which created a generation of Ontario children who couldn’t spell. The embarrassingly named “playful windows” are tiny bits of fun which permit almost no ventilation.  They’re simply stupid. Nothing personal to our playful architects.

 

Heavy rain this week may require flood planning, caution

People may wish to take what caution they can to protect known areas of flooding in the period from Tuesday to Friday. The forecast rainfall is published by the Weather Network