The Bulldog

STANDING TALL: Wheelchair lets patients work upright

Remarkable invention that permits paralysis patients to stand up is changing the lives of otherwise capable people struck by down by accident.

Carolling tonight for the Trace Manes playground project

Jillian Walsh has posted a Facebook reminder that Emilie Chodat & the Leaside Carollers may be seen tonight singing in support the Trace Manes Playground Rejuvenation project in honour of Georgia Walsh. The times are: 5:45 – Against The Grain, 6:30 – The Leaside Pub and 7:15 – The Local Eatery

Man, 95, sound safe and returned home in East York

Toshio Kitagawa, 95, has been found

COVER UP: Dalton McGuinty aides face criminal charges

david laura
Criminal charges were laid Thursday against two top aides to former premier Dalton McGuinty, the ultimate fallout of the decision to cancel gas-fired power plants hours before the 2011 general election. In the aftermath of this expensive political act, it was revealed that computer hard-drives in the Premier’s office had been wiped clean, apparently to cover up whatever they might have shown about who was responsible. Now the OPP says David Livingston, 63 (left) McGuinty’s last chief of staff, and Laura Miller, 36 (right) the deputy chief of staff, are facing charges of breach of trust, mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system. They will appear in court Jan. 27. CBC Torstar

REWARDS: Kids feel the sun on South Bayview Thursday

cody kids Maurice Cody kids assembled outside Starbucks on Bayview Ave. Thursday morning for a reward after giving the second last morning concert of carols to coffee drinkers this Christmas season. The reward appears to have been a beverage of choice and a Madeleine cookie. These students, teachers and parents were among the lucky South Bayviewites who caught the sun as it moved in and out at mid-morning.
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Shoppers at Loblaws, where the carts accumulated in the soft sunshine, said they hadn’t felt the sun on their faces in days. We are at midnight on the daylight clock. This day will be less than nine hours long (7.46 a.m. to 4.41 p.m.) December 21, 2015, will see the pattern reverse. By January 1, 2016, it will be easy to see the days getting longer.
cgs christmas

At Childrens Garden School on Eglinton Ave.E. in Leaside there were enough smiles to brighten any day as the staff held their annual Christmas Party. That’s principal Marie Bates in the centre.

Stolen wreath recovered in back of window washer’s truck

The Christmas wreath stolen a week ago off the door of a Summerhill area home has been found and returned to its owner on  Macpherson Ave. The simple theft was given extraordinary interest when the homeowners video system recorded the brazen thief, a woman of perhaps 40, taking the wreath at 3 a.m. She has not been found. But the wreath was discovered by a window washer in a bag in the rear of his truck when he was working in the Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Inglewood Drive area. The Facebook video of the crime was viewed nearly 320,000 times.

The Force Awakens much curiosity, hits the screen Friday

CBC’s Eli Glasner has an informative take on the most recent Star Wars sequel which opens Friday in Toronto. He gives it four out of five Death Stars.

Cyclist, 60, in grave condtion after hitting car on Leslie St.

A man in his 60s who was riding a bicycle on Leslie Street near Bannantyne Drive is in hospital in grave condition Wednesday. The noon-hour accident happened  outside the Keg restaurant on Leslie when the cyclist collided with the front of a vehicle and was thrown into the windshield. Shortly after 4 p.m. TPS Ops tweeted that Leslie was open both north and southbound after reconstruction work.

Panicked viewers call 911 over Alert Ready warnings

The Alert Ready warning folks were at it again Wednesday morning, interrupting television with examples of what we can expect if there is ever a catastrophe so great it requires this body to give us direction. Hey, it could happen. But it was also more or less pre-ordained that sooner or later people would be panicked by the funny buzzing and urgent voice. Now Toronto Police Operations (TPS Ops) has tweeted a plea for panicked TV watchers to NOT call 911. It’s only a test. Below is what the test looked like on CP24 in June. More at:  Martians? No, just your friendly Alert Ready System
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Ontario managers get increases despite salary freeze: Star

Some 8,400 managers in the Ontario civil service will get hefty wage increases despite the reputed salary freeze in effect. The reason, according to the government, is that managers are falling behind their unionized employees who get raises regardless of the freeze. On average, the increases come to $6,905 each for 8,400 civil service managers. The reason there is a wage freeze is because Ontario is groaning under a debt that has won it the prize for the non-sovereign jurisdiction with the largest per capita debt in the world.  You know, cancelling electric plants and such. Rob Ferguson, Toronto Star 

Starbucks wine at three stores but not South Bayview

Starbucks has applied for permission to serve wine in the evening at locations at 3079 Bloor West in The Kingsway, 446 Spadina in Forest Hill  and 1740 Avenue Rd. near Lawrence Ave. It is part of the plan to bring the so-called Evenings concept to Canada. This is a program of wine and snack food like nuts and olives to be served after 4 p.m.  “Just as each customer is unique, so are our stores and we consider a broad range of products and experiences for each neighbourhood,” said Starbucks spokesperson Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick in an email to CBC News. Starbucks has many locations nearby including Bayview Ave., Eglinton Ave E and Laird Dr., Mt Pleasant and Soudan, Laird and Kenrae Rd. and in both the Smart Centre and Leaside Village (Longo’s).

“See something, text something” new anti-terror watchword

The insidious nature of people who are able to commit hurtful acts against the public has prompted U.S. law enforcement to ask the public to text suspicious things they see on social media — Facebook or Twitter mostly.