CTV News tonight is reporting that Highway 407, the privately held and operated bypass north of Toronto, is frequently charging tractor trailer operators twice for the same trip across the roadway. This occurs because 407 detectors are counting the truck once by the sensor in the windshield and a second time by photographing  its rear license plate. It isn’t clear why this happens but Highway 407 has acknowledged it privately to truckers. Such trucking firms say they have to carefully go through all charges to separate out the second billing. It amounts to tens of thousands of dollars a month. One company was sworn to secrecy about the problem when it received a rebate. Another firm has been notified by the Transportation Department that its plates will be de-registered with the government if it doesn’t pays its bills, legal or otherwise. More

Reporters were allowed to get close to the AC624 wreck today and it was ugly. It is clear everyone on board was very lucky to get out alive. The plane came out of cloud much lower to the ground than planned and hit an antenna, losing wheels and an engine.

Torstar News Service has the frankly juicy story of three people, formerly-wedded couple, Sarah Purslove and husband Robert Oesterlund — and Toronto interior designer (above with Oesterlund). Ms.Purslove is suing Oesterlund for part of or possession of the penthouse and many other aspects their life together. Metro 

21 Evergreen Gardens in Bennington Heights will house two homes

The drawn out re-development of the 95 by 95 foot lot at 21 Evergreen Gardens in Bennington Heights is moving ahead with two large square homes under way by builder Howard Tencer. He has built other such homes in Bennington. The exceptional little street sits in two parts, east and west of Orchard Green. Number 21 is on the east leg of the street heading to Bayview Heights Drive. The home on the east side of the lot will overlook Evergreen Gardens Park. Very nice.

Each morning the firefighters at Station 321 on McRae Drive near Sutherland check out both the ladder and pumper trucks for such things as brake and washer fluids and functioning horn and siren. “We don’t check the siren too early or very long,” firefighter Chris Etzell laughed. We see Chris here with his head under the cab of the ladder trick.

Carolyn Jarvis

South Bayview’s Carolyn Jarvis is a seasoned reporter and anchor for Global News. Most people might say she has already seen enough excitement for one lifetime.  But as Chief Correspondent for Global’s public affair program 16×9, (seen Saturdays at 7 p.m.) the 34-year-old Carolyn knows the phone could ring at any time directing her to cover a story in some distant corner of the world. Maybe that’s why she values her home turf, the  “warm and friendly” shops and businesses of South Bayview. She knows it well. Among frequent stops is the handy and well-stocked Valu mart at Bayview and Davisville. A typical day stolen from the office will see Carolyn in and out of Bestway Cleaners, Write Impressions, de la mer, Kim’s Nail Salon and Alex Cheese, to name a few. A favourite shopping spot for Carolyn is Your Clothes Friend. “I just can’t say enough about the service,” she said, recounting special favours and smart retail relations on the part of owner Wendy Goldman. Ten years into a career reporting for Global News, Carolyn Jarvis is at the top of her game professionally. Like all successful television personalities she has worked hard to achieve her success and finds the hard work just keeps on coming. With it all, Carolyn is at home on Merton Street with her partner Bill Vlaad and his two children, boys aged 8 and 10. Like all kids they find the allure of Hollywood Gelato irresistible, she finds. A stop at Alex Cheese to pick out a favourite or two is also sometimes on the trip up to Manor Road and back. Carolyn’s time at home in South Bayview often includes a meal at Riz. Mr. Vlaad’s firm, Vlaad and Company, specializes in the recruitment of personnel in the investment banking industry. Add to Carolyn’s accomplishments a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. She broke into television with this considerable talent before deciding her forte would be news. And yet her training as a lyric soprano and love of light opera sometimes make her long for an opportunity to sing publicly, even in a local ensemble. No doubt many would be eager to have her. But the demanding and unpredictable schedule of Carolyn Jarvis would spell disappointment she fears. The Global profile of Carolyn reminds us of how she really spends her time: “Her work, ranging from investigative to feature reporting, has won numerous awards – including a national RTDNA award for her profile of Cirque du Soleil’s casting department.”  First published March 2014. 

Ruptured at Parkhurst-Sutherland

Residents near Rumsey Rd. and Donlea Drive are complaining about the gravel aftermath of emergency watermain work in January and February. It is a common problem where the community’s 80-year-old pipes are simply no match for their age and our brutal winter. One woman, Andrea Cookson, has written to the Toronto  Star’s Fixer, Jack Lakey, to complain about the time it is taking to replace the pavement on the southwest corner where emergency work was done. But if this location is like the crisis point at Parkhurst Blvd and Sutherland Drive, things are  more complicated than that. On March 1, 2015, a crew restored water to homes in the vicinity of a totally ruptured main at this corner. But a long length of Sutherland needs a replacement and the likelihood is the sidewalk will wait until the watermain is finished.  As Lakey says. Toronto Water is engaged in ongoing water primary upgrades that will continue for a long time. But it is a lot like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. The job is never finished.

A Global TV weather woman who is pregnant is talking about the nasty mail she is receiving from some viewers about her appearance. It seems incredible that people have a need to write to a pregnant woman about her appearance but we live in an age of social media inspired say-anything-no-matter-how-despicable. Maybe such rude and obscene sentiment has always been out there and it took the YouTube comment column and Twitter to provide a forum. The low level of the comments directed at B.C. weatherperson Kristi Gordon has prompted a colleague to tell the writers to stop watching Global. Kristi read some of the letters.  “Nowhere on North America TV have we seen a weather reader so gross as you,” one letter stated, while another read, “Your front end looks like the Hindenburg and your rear end looks like a brick s—house.” Gordon said she wasn’t surprised by the hate mail because the same thing had happened the last time she was pregnant. When she announced this pregnancy on the air, she pleaded with people to be nice to her, but that appeal apparently fell on deaf ears.

A very rocky landing at Halifax airport has sent 23 passengers to hospital in Halifax after an Air Canada A320 from Toronto skidded off a runway as it landed early Sunday. The injuries are said to be non-life threatening and mostly minor. Air Canada says in statements there were 133 passengers and five crew members aboard flight AC624, which left Toronto just before 9 p.m. Saturday for a scheduled midnight landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. There was a blizzard underway as the plane came in so there is probably an explanation there and maybe a lesson too. Airport officials said the airbus landed heavily and went out of control immediately into grassland beside the runway.

Daylight reveals just how this landing badly damaged the airbus

Once again well-intentioned people in mostly first world countries have observed Earth Hour. It may be a bit churlish to wonder how many homes with the lights off in Leaside also had the television sets and computers running. The point is that neither Earth Hour nor so many of the things that are done in the name of conservation will not save us from a lack of electricity or even global warming. Our great challenge is to make more power rather than try to live with less. There are many ideas about power generation and some of them seem frankly foolish. Wind turbines fall into that category. Solar power on the other hand has real potential. It would be nice if the Ontario government stopped spending money on windmills and focused more on solar, and on the proven technology Energy from Waste.  This last technology has shown that it can dispose of garbage safely and produce power at the same time. As a social event and commercial promotion, Earth Hour was no doubt a success in Leaside. Against the Grain Tavern invited people to come and drink by candle light. Well why not.  “Joanna” tweeted a picture of what looks like the darkened halls of Leaside High /school and pondered how Earth Hour made her neighborhood look like a Horror Movie. Hey, come on Joanna. CP24’s Stephanie Smyth was at Leaside arena for hockey regretting that lights are necessary to play the greatest game.

Liberal candidate Rob Oliphant was out canvassing on Eglinton Ave. E. near Laird Drive this sunny Saturday. Mr. Oliphant, who is president and CEO of the Asthma Society of Canada, had a full team with him. It is not yet clear whether the riding of Don Valley West, which he contested in 2011 will be in existence at the next election. It is now held by CP member John Carmichael.