Ottawa has announced what many will think are lavish new emergency benefits for those who may be impacted by C-19. Meanwhile, Parliament is prorogued until September 23. When it returns, Opposition parties will have to get on board to ensure passage of the new benefits. Below that, Premier Ford has announced that Queen’s Park will fund the hiring of 200 more OPP officers. That comes as a bit of a surprise too. Lastly, good old Vladimir Putin is once again saying “don’t look at me” as one of his foremost political opponents falls ill, apparently from poison. Sound familiar?

The Toronto and District School Board has approved a plan that it hopes will keep class sizes small enough to avoid COVID-19 outbreaks among younger children in high-risk neighborhoods when school resumes in September. Under the plan, kindergarten class sizes will be capped at 15 students in schools located in so-called COVID-19 “hotspots” in the City while it will be 26 students in what the board calls non-impacted schools. For Grades 1 to 3, class sizes will be capped at 20 across the city while for Grades 4 to 8, it will be capped at 20 students in hotspot areas and 27 everywhere else. City News

Ward Eight Councilor Mike Colle has told the CBC that residents of the Roehampton neighborhood near Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Eglinton Ave. are being “vilified” unfairly because of their stand on so-called homeless shelters in the area. In the same story, Mary-Anne Bedard, Toronto’s general manager of shelter, says she is confident feelings will “settle down” over time. CBC

Another Lexus has been stolen from a Leaside driveway while the keys were inside the house. An interesting conversations about insurance is underway started by this post. FB

Sigh. Sorry to hear. What insurance company is willing to insure Lexus cars after all of this? The company really should fix the vulnerability at their expense if they want their brand to survive.

It’s a pretty sad story from a condo unit at Hurontario St. and Burnhamthorpe Rd. in Mississauga St. Three young men are dead and a fourth is in hospital. They’re all in their 20s. The place contained “laced, illicit substances.” The investigation goes on. This occurred Wednesday afternoon.

Toronto C-19 new cases have begun to soar as the province reports 33 such infections in the City in Wednesday’s report. Province-wide, cases have fallen slightly to 102. It’s evidence again of the insidious nature of the virus. No one wants to think of himself as “a carrier” but sadly each of us must do just that. Mask up and spread the mask and distancing protocols.

It’s a sunny day in mid-August and a timely moment to review Cows in the News. The tweet at left shows a surprise visit to a front lawn in the Village of Russell near Ottawa. Their owner came to get them. At right is the chopper lift of a Swiss farmer’s favorite cow. The final tweet shows a rather unusual repose by two cows. They seldom sit like Rover. Enjoy.

The City of Toronto virtual meeting on the Roehampton neighbourhood street-persons shelters is scheduled for Wednesday, August 19, between 6 and 8 p.m. on Cisco Webex. The South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association (SERRA) mailed a notice early Wednesday indicating that it is now part of a new community liaison committee (CLC). Toronto release

It’s cheeky we know but the operators of this garbage truck decided to dump the whole load of rubbish onto Simcoe St. Monday to save the vehicle and permit firefighters to extinguish a fire. There’s a reason they call it the Entertainment District.

Can you drop that rubbish again, Jack?

City Manager Chris Murray

Library classroom?

Toronto City Manager Chris Murray has sent a letter to the local school boards saying there are dozens of spare rooms in municipal facilities and public libraries that could be used by public schools this fall. As many as nine library branches might even be closed and temporarily converted to schools to meet the need for distancing space during the C-19 pandemic, he suggested. Both the public and Catholic boards are trying to reduce class sizes to prevent the spread of the virus. In a letter sent to the heads of the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board on Tuesday, Mr. Murray said that staff has identified 36 rooms in 24 City-owned facilities that can easily be made available to both boards without having to cancel programming.

This interesting video posted to I-am-a-Leslievillian Facebook account shows a larcenous young couple stealing porch furniture in the middle of the night. The light-footed woman boldly leads the way. Every now and then she takes a swig of an energizing drink. FB