The time-honoured practice of panhandling has changed. Now it takes place from home. Jovan Hill says he makes $200 a day begging on Twitter. That’s better than Humphrey Bogart in this amusing clip from the film The Treasure of Sierra Madre

Karen Stintz and Jaye Robinson

Cosburn Wolves on the prowl

58th Scouts

Changing of guard

Nancy sees East York sunrise

Patrick Rocca’s skating event

East York skating

From out of the past comes a former TTC Chair, Karen Stintz, with advice for the incoming transit supremo Jaye Robinson. Speaking of a supremo, Stintz thinks the idea of a transit Czar won’t work. No kidding. All this unfolds in the North York Post as Doug Ford looms in the background with plans to take over the subways.. Below that is a great shot of Cosburn Middle School kids celebrating a goal at the 5th Annual EYCI Winter Classic between Cosburn and Glen Ames Senior Public School. “Great moments frozen in time” sayeth the Cosburn Athletics chief. Then, a changing of the guard at Humphrey Funeral Home A.W. Miles-Newbigging Chapel as Bruce Humphrey hands over the reins to long-time friend and associate Kim Hunter. Mr. Humphrey remembers growing up on the second level of the Bayview and St. Cuthbert’s Drive building when his grandma was in charge. Lorna Krawchuk has written about it here. Also notable is the winter sunrise observed by East York horticulturist Nancy Lewis and various family skating chances over the holidays. Take a look.

Tractor block heater may be the cause

Most horses rescued

Five horses have died following a barn fire in Milton early Friday morning. The fire broke out at the First Line Training Centre, located at 13730 First Line, at around 1:40 a.m. Halton Regional Police along with firefighters from Milton and Halton Hills responded to the incident. Approximately 40 horses were inside. Milton Fire Chief Dave Pratt speculated that the fire started in a tractor on the outside of the building with a block heater that was plugged in.

Barn fire at the First Line Training Centre on Arkel Rd in Milton. Over 35 horses were rescued, 2 died. @HaltonPolice & Milton Fire assisted w the evacuation, @HaltonMedics207 performed first aid on the animals. Many of the Woodbine & Mohawk horses are from here. @Dave_Pratt_FD pic.twitter.com/GDI3aQ1SfO

— Jeremy Cohn (@JeremyCohnTV) December 21, 2018

Claas Relotius

Zhu Hua

Zhang Shilong

Faces, faces as German ace reporter Claas Relotius (left) won’t showing his in public any time soon. He was fired this week from Der Spiegel (the Mirror) for fabricating dozens of stories. Names, places, plots — you name it. With an imagination this fertile Relotius became CNN’s 2016 Reporter of the Year. Then, US authorities have accused two Chinese government hackers, Zhu Hua (centre) and Zhang Shilong (right) of concerted cyber-attacks on US and Canadian firms to steal their secrets. That’s how we do things in president-for-life Xi Jinping’s paradise.

Framing beehive Thursday

Depiction from 2014

Plan from 2014

Years of planning and just plain waiting has suddenly brought furious activity at the northeast corner of McRae and Sutherland Drives. The framework for what was (and apparently is) planned as six townhouses with rooftop patios has leaped skyward in about ten days. The development is on the former site of Bill and Vito’s Shell station, a well-remembered neighborhood haunt run for more than 60 years by two WW II veterans. Resistance to the rooftop patios was considerable when the matter was before North York Community Council. Townhouse okay for Bill and Vito site at McRae, Sutherland.

The Leaside Garden Society meeting will be held on Thursday February 14, 2019 at the Leaside Public Library, 165 McRae Dr. at 7:30 p.m.  Mark Stewart will speak on “Seed Saving and Seed Libraries”.  All are welcome.

Halton Region is dealing with a single case of measles and as is usual in such cases, it names locations where others may have been exposed to someone with the disease. In this case, anyone visiting the Amsterdam Brewhouse, 245 Queen’s Quay, on Sunday between 2.30 and 6 p.m is advised to contact public health.

Markets punish stocks

Jerome Powell

MarketWatch magazine is calling the Christmas sell-off in stocks the worst December since 1931. Markets are all down again and hitting new lows in New York and Toronto Thursday. Some disagree with the depression analagy but the pugnacious attitude of US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell seemed to make him an intentional Christmas spoiler. Having raised interest rates in opposition to nearly everyone, Mr. Powell then told reporters there will be more to come in the New Year. Get used to it. What fun as investors see their assets shrinking  smaller and smaller. MarketWatch

OTHER NEWS:

• Developer who tore down historic San Francisco house ordered to rebuild it ‘exactly like it was’
• Pride Toronto decision to allow police back into parade related to troubled finances?

The Toronto Parking Enforcement Unit will not be enforcing certain on-street parking bylaws on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Exempted places are:

• Pay-and-Display/Metered Areas
• Rush-Hour Routes
• Posted signs indicating Monday to Friday regulations

Thousands of passengers were delayed, diverted or stuck on planes Thursday as the only runway at Britain’s Gatwick Airport remained closed into a second day after drones were spotted over the airfield. Police said the drone flights were a “deliberate act to disrupt the airport,” but that there were “absolutely no indications to suggest this is terror-related.” Danger written in the sky as drones imperil civil aviation

Danielle Cummer and partner Stephen/Go Fund Me

A Go Fund Me page has been established to assist a young teacher, Danielle Cummer, after she was diagnosed December 7 with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She has already started her treatment to fight this terrible disease and the costs associated with her illness are staggering. Danielle and her partner Stephen are well-known in Leaside. Wilmar Kortleever posted word of this difficult time to Leaside Chit Chat. The Go Fund Me site notes “Danielle and Stephen have impacted so many students, parents and faculty at Lawrence Park School, Rolph Road and Leaside and he at Trinity College School and Crescent School (current).”