Currently narrowed for sewer work/Joanna Morris

Residents of Randolph Rd and the side streets off Laird Drive are fighting a developer application to reduce Laird to two lanes for at least two years. Right now, the street is undergoing extended (since last summer) sewer cleaning and replacement. The construction of a retirement residence at the site of the heritage Durant building inspired the application to park vehicles and machinery in the west side of Laird. FB

Opposite heritage Durant building

Environment Camada has issued a heavy snow warning for Sunday night and into Monday. The Weather Network is showing predictions for as much as 20 cms.

Snow is forecast to arrive across southern Ontario Sunday night. Snow will spread rapidly northeastward through the day Monday. The snow will fall heavily at times with snowfall rates of a few centimetres per hour possible. Travel will likely be difficult due to the expected heavy snow. Total snowfall accumulations of 10 to 20 cm are expected, however, locally higher amounts cannot be ruled out. Some uncertainty remains in exact amounts, as this region lies on the western edge of the area expected to receive snow. In addition, northwesterly winds gusting up to 50 km/h will result in areas of poor visibility due to local blowing snow Monday afternoon. Conditions are forecast to improve by Monday evening as the snow comes to an end.

828 Shaw St at Leeds St — St Global News/Phil Fraboni

Toronto Fire Service personnel have battled an early morning fire on a bitterly cold Saturday. The four-alarm blaze in a neighbourhood apartment block at Shaw and Leeds Sts has left one occupant in critical condition. At around 6:15 a.m. fire crews responded to a fire at the three-storey building at 828 Shaw north of Bloor Street. The stubborn fire spread quickly and required all the manpower and equipment the service had at hand.

Shaw St apartment fire/City News Chris Langenzarde

Metrolinx has released a time-lapse video above showing the tunnel ride from Laird Station to the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility out near Black Creek Drive. The video is speeded up and the ride takes only about five minutes.

Friday’s talk on Omicron from Dr. John Campbell focuses in part on Ontario and Quebec. Campbell foresees a downturn in the current rampage of infection here by around the end of January. It is much easier for him to speak candidly of course because he is not a politician nor answerable to one. He says Omicron has peaked in the UK. Most interesting.

Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam doesn’t pull any punches in this 22-minute French and English update about Omicron. Her clear warning is that the worst is yet to come, especially for hospitals. But the broad nature of her message would seem to have been well reported for many weeks. On the critical issue (for most people) of when it all might subside, federal modelling does not say. It predicts “weeks” of Omicron spiral. Whether this includes the two weeks just past or hints at more of the same well into February or beyond is unstated.

Saturday will see bitter cold weather across Toronto and Monday holds the possibility — not yet confirmed — of a major snowfall. The storm that’ll affect Eastern Canada is rooted in what’s happening across the US this week. Two systems—one swooping in from the Pacific Northwest, and another rolling off the Prairies—will merge over the southern states and kick off this disruptive system. Weather Network

Weather Network

Yonge St CTC showing 1929 Grand Central Markets Building/Craig Patterson

Proposed plans for the redevelopment of the Canadian Tire site at 839 Yonge St at Church St. may or may not see a new CTC built at the site. As expected, this valuable downtown property will see towers raised above it. The existing store was recently renovated to reflect the more modern design seen in some Canadian Tire locations. A historic component known as the Grand Central Markets Building was built in 1929 and is heritage protected. It is notable for its Spanish Colonial Revival-style type architecture. It’s hoped the Central Market Building will be preserved and incorporated into the new proposal — Retail Insider

Video has emerged of a genuinely terrifying rescue of a pilot of a small plane that missed the runway and landed instead on busy railway tracks in Los Angeles.

Tony Staffieri has been made permanent CEO of Rogers Communications, the firm has announced. Staffieri replaces Joe Natale, who left the company in November amid a family squabble between Chairman Edward Rogers and his mother and two sisters, who are also board members.

Josée El-Kada

Molly Davis and mom

Eberhard Zeidler

Faces. All of Ottawa is trying to deal with the crushing reality of Josée El-Kada’s death in an Ottawa park where kids toboggan all the time even though it’s illegal. Then, Molly Davis is seen with her mom. Mrs Davis does not have long and she has managed to have Molly’s picture placed on a billboard in Times Square in search of a suitable husband. Finally, the creator of the Ontario Place landmark, Eberhard Zeidler, has died at age 95.