Month: November 2020

The transition to a Joe Biden presidency in the US will begin, President Trump has said. But Trump continues to refuse to concede.

Homeless men pushing people onto Manhattan subway tracks

A horrifying series of apparently intentional attacks on subway riders by homeless people in New York City has alarmed the community. Two such attacks are recounted on video in this WCBS report.

Netflix says Queen’s Gambit breaking all records

Queen’s Gambit, the buzzy, female-led drama set in the 1960s chess world, has become Netflix Inc.’s most popular limited scripted series ever. BNN

Adam Skelly, owner of the highly successful upstart barbecue restaurant on Wicksteed Ave., has launched an Instagram rebellion against the Ontario government lockdown on indoor dining. Mr. Adamson now owns three such outlets and has announced that his Etobicoke location will defy the lockdown closure Tuesday. City bylaw officers are said to be ready to investigate the challenge. Listen to the full flavour of the Adamson announcement here. And this isn’t the first time Adamson has sounded off against C-19 restrictions.

A mobile crane used to move lighting for night work on the Eglinton LRT collapsed Monday evening when the ground under it was eroded by water, workers on the scene reported. One man closely involved in the incident said the crane operator was aware of the erosion and was making “one last move” of a light standard as the crane toppled over. This source, who identified himself as an apprentice crane operator, told The South Bayview Bulldog that he and the operator leaped clear of the crane as it fell over. He said no one had been injured in the incident although police reports spoke of one person with injuries.

The government’s lockdown on retail business is getting a skeptical review Monday as the Hudson’s Bay store in the downtown Sak’s building has remained open. The purported loophole? There’s Pusatieri’s food outlet somewhere in the department store. According to HBC, that makes it a grocery store. Meantime, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has denounced a decision to permit big box stores like Costco and Walmart to stay open when small retailers are forced to close. It seems like a tough call for the government. Both stores have large grocery businesses even though they sell almost everything else as well.

Loblaws has announced yet another variation on the many aspects of grocery home delivery. It was three years ago that the food giant announced the first organized form of delivery. Now it has partnered with a firm called Gatik Al. According to BNN, this arrangement will see five Ford Transit 350 box trucks outfitted with Gatik’s self-driving system, which will drive on five fixed routes across the Toronto area for seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Self-driving you say. BNN

Bill Gates thinks all vaccines will work

Hard-headed billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates believes “almost all” the Covid-19 vaccines will work and work well, he said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. Already, vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have shown to be effective in early company data, and Gates said he expects vaccines from AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson and Novavax to have similar success soon. Monday morning, AstraZeneca announced that its vaccine has been 90 percent effective in the final trial stages. “I’m optimistic that by February, it’s very likely they’ll all prove very efficacious and safe,” he said. Gates spoke with CNN on Friday, a day before more than 177,000 people tested positive for the virus and about 1,400 people died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Area scout troops continue to sell Christmas trees this season despite pandemic strictures. Leaside 132nd is limiting business to online sales only with pickup times open. A poster for the 58th Toronto Scouts suggests that sales will go on more or less as normal at the Church of the Transfiguration at 111 Manor Rd.

69th Toronto Scouts cancel Trace Manes tree sales this year

Hannah Holmes is 15. As a member of the Boy Scouts of America, she has won all 137 badges for skills at setting up tents, white water rafting, shooting a shotgun and building a robot. Go, Hannah.

The Ministry of Health reports another 1,534 cases of C-19 Sunday for the 24-hour period ending at midnight. The four digit-pattern of infections is driven by the populous GTA with 1,080 cases found in Toronto, Peel and York Region. The seven-day average of new cases stands at 1,415, down from 1,443 one week ago, as reported by CP24. Sunday’s count was determined as a result of some 46,000 tests Saturday.

The pandemic will end. It’s guaranteed

As is known, Toronto and Peel will enter a so-called lockdown Monday in an effort to beat back the virus. It requires the closure of non-essential stores and has seen Mayor Tory make an appeal to citizens not to mob malls on Sunday. It is good advice because, as any intelligent person understands, the pandemic is going to end. It’s guaranteed. So be sensible.

Nature photographer Colin Mcconnell has posted shots of American Pekin Ducks on an eastern beach where he believes they may have been abandoned by someone. But over a few weeks, the ducks are flourishing as their wings grow and they learn to fly. The Pekin was imported into North America more than a century ago.

A warning of significant snowfall warning has been issued regionally but the Weather Network forecast for Toronto is one of rain and snow. The precipitation is expected to begin Sunday morning with perhaps 5 to 10 cm of snow possible before the snow tapers heading into Monday. The areas near Lake Ontario will see wet snow or rain. The precipitation is the result of a Colorado Low that will track from Ohio towards the St. Lawrence River Sunday into Monday. There is still some uncertainty in model guidance as to the exact track of the low and the axis of heaviest snow. Environment Canada continues to continue to monitor data.