Toronto Raptor’s DeMar DeRozan has been selected for the second time to start the NBA all-star game on Thursday as a starter for the Eastern Conference. Selections are made by fan, media and player balloting. The game is being played in DeRozan’s hometown of Los Angeles. DeRozan’s father has been ill and he has been travelling back to Los Angeles whenever possible to be with him.  He is hopeful that both his parents will be able to attend. He now matches Kyle Lowry and Chris Bosh as a two-time starter representing the Raptors; Vince Carter was named a starter five times while with the Raptors. Other starting players for the Eastern Conference include Boston’s Kyrie Irving, Cleveland’s LeBron James, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid. Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant of Golden State, Houston’s James Harden and two New Orleans Pelicans, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, were voted in from the West. LeBron James and Stephen Curry, the top vote-getters, will be team captains in new draft format. NBA all-star votes include some ridiculous selections

Mayor Tory held a news conference Friday to announce that the City will launch a pothole blitz this weekend ahead of a freeze and thaw cycle. The work will likely put an added strain on local roads. Beginning Saturday, Toronto will double the number of pothole repair crews on the job from an average of 25 on a typical day to 55. The crews will be filling potholes across the City with a particular emphasis on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway. Sections of Mt. Pleasant have shown some severe damage. Drivers have to weave dangerously to avoid vehicle suspension damage. Exposed streetcar tracks and bricks can be seen in holes between St. Clair and Davisville. So far in 2018, city crews have filled a total of 6,041 potholes compared to 7,753 during the same time period last year

The family of a girl, 11, has made a gracious apology for what it calls the “pain and anger” caused by a story that the child had been attacked by a scissor-wielding man who cut her hijab. It said: “This has been a very painful experience for our family. We want to thank everyone who has shown us support at this difficult time. Again, we are deeply sorry for this and want to express our sincere apologies to every Canadian.”  The widely reported case was given a prominence which seemed improbable when the Toronto and District School Board either encouraged or permitted a news conference featuring the child. It occurred within a brief time after the incident was reported and seemed to many, even as it was happening, rather questionable. Thursday, columnist Rose Dimanno criticised the TDSB for this rush to publicity and also for its decision to end the Officer Resource Program even though a large majority of students said it seemed like a good idea. Carleton study finds cops and students a good fit in Peel

Bullet-riddled car on West Deane Drive

Two young men are dead and two gravely wounded in an ambush of sorts early Friday morning in Etobicoke. An unkown number of gunmen opened fire on a car in which the four were riding. It jumped a curb and stopped on the front lawn of a residence on West Deane Park Drive sometime after midnight. The matter continues to unfold.    .

Creeds opens Friday, January 19

Paige Cowan closing Wildbird

Simon Hanlon humour at McSorley’s

Guard back at Plains and Donlands

Hot lunch at DPS

Creed Coffee Bar (and dry cleaning) has tweeted that it will open for business at 1595 Bayview Ave. Friday, January 19 at 7 a.m. Welcome Creeds. Upper right, Paige Cowan has posted an emotional announcement that she will close her shop, Wildbird at 622 Mt. Pleasant Rd., after 25 years in business. The birders and gift shop is a favorite in the area and greatly loved by many customers. Below that, Joanna Lavoie of the Beach Mirror says the crossing guard recently removed from the corner of Plains Rd. and Donlands Ave. has been restored after a community protest. A survey suggested to police that there were not enough kids crossing there to justify the  guard but the community strongly disagreed. At bottom right, a tweet from Davisville Junior Public School about the new hot lunch program that started this week. One first grader declared to the principal “You gotta try the butter chicken with naan, Mrs. Farrelly.” Finally, as recorded by Rudy Limeback, it seems the self-effacing humour of Simon Hanlon, founder and former owner of McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon, is alive and well. Two boards outside the local favorite carry Hanlon chucklers this week, to wit: Many people have eaten here and gone on to live productive lives and The guy who parked your car doesn’t work here.

Canadian recipe

Tracey Crouch is the Minister of Loneliness

Nico Mallozi died of flu

Barenaked Ladies to Music Hall of Fame

Okapi named after Meghan

A New York Times article, as noted by City News, celebrates the creation of the butter tart in Ontario. They attribute the first butter tart to Mrs. Malcom MacLeod. Well thank you Mrs. MacLeod. Other news? The UK government has appointed Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, to be the country’s first Minister of Loneliness. It is a serious undertaking directed at dealing with this human affliction, said to affect nine million Britons at any given time. Below that, there is frenzy in much of New England and elsewhere in the US as parents hasten to get their children a flu shot. This follows the death over a period of about two days of 10-year-old Nico Mallozi. Lower left, those Scarborough kids who formed the Barenaked Ladies will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Their sophomoric name was both scandalous and, well, sophomoric when they burst onto the scene in 1988. Finally, a newly-born Okapi or zebra giraffe has been named after Meghan Markle.  Although the Okapi bears striped markings reminiscent of zebras, it is most closely related to the giraffe.

Reuters is reporting that Amazon has short-listed 20 metropolitan areas, including Toronto, to build its second headquarters. It reviewed 238 proposals. Amazon said it would work with each of the candidate locations to gather more information and evaluate the potential of a partnership in the future. In September Amazon announced it would build a $5-billion second address in North America. It is estimated that the headquarters could bring as many as 50,000 new jobs. Unexpected Amazon selections included Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; Nashville; and Miami. Other cities that made the list include Atlanta, Austin, Chicago and New York. Los Angeles was the only city from the West Coast selected. List is here.

W. Edmund Clark

New age of legal toking and pot tarts

Former bank chief to oversee LCBO

Premier Wynne was battening down the hatches Wednesday in preparation for the 2018 general election. She said goodbye from the cabinet room to Deb Matthews, Liz Sandals and Brad Duguid as she elevated three rookies to cabinet. They are Nathalie Des Rosiers, Daiene Vernile and Harinder Malhi. It was a broadly-based shuffle and the portfolios are here.  At the same time, the CBC says a durable friend of the Liberal government, W. Edmund (Ed) Clark, has been tapped to oversee the future of wine, liquor, beer and marijuana sales in Ontario. Mr. Clark, a former CEO of the TD Bank,  accessed the bank’s top job from the Canada Trust side after the merger of 2000.

• Ed Clark to be named new LCBO chair ahead of marijuana sales launch
• Kathleen Wynne shuffles cabinet to replace veterans before election

Property owner Mitch Abrahams speaks to meeting at Best Western on Mt. Pleasant

About 150 people were present at a City information meeting Wednesday night at the Best Western Hotel on Mt. Pleasant Rd. to hear details of a revised plan for tower developments known as 18 Brownlow. The new proposal is for a single 24-storey rental apartment building on half of the original property at the corner of Soudan Ave and Redpath Ave. It was a full court press in many ways for both SERRA, the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association and for the property owner, Mitch Abrahams. In fact, there is a critical round to come before the Ontario Municipal Board later this year.  Mr. Abrahams made his case in response to questions. He said he was passionate about rental accommodation and that in the context of the already highly developed neighborhood, his newly-proposed tower was appropriate. The mood of the meeting was correct but deeply hostile both to the size of the proposal and the killing precedent process that has led to the transformation of single family streets into canyons.

PALPABLE HELPLESSNESS

Josh Matlow (Ward 22) seemed to express the dissatisfaction of ratepayers with the process that brought Soudan Ave and others to their present state. “I will say to the developer, and any other developer who believes that pointing to wrongs of the past is the precedent that we should do wrong today, that no longer should the narrative be set by the development industry.” Matlow said residents had been let down by both the City and province. His condemnation seemed tangible as City Planner Andrew Taivara explained to bewildered residents that while 14 storeys was a recommended maximum height in the neighborhood, it wasn’t the law. The City would have to consider 24 storeys and ultimately live with what the OMB decided. Such palpable helplessness infuriated many at the meeting, as it has before.

The Bank of Canada has raised its rate a quarter percent to 1.25 percent. It said the unexpectedly good economy justified this but it warned of the great unknown called NAFTA negotiations. This being addressed, Canadian pundits continue to think there is a hefty political downside for Donald Trump if he cancels the treaty. The firestorm that would flow from northern states which sell billions to Canada cannot be dismissed. In a nutshell.

Impromptu delay

Readers report a nightmarish surprise on Eglinton Ave E eastbound towards Don Mills Rd. at mid-morning Wednesday as police first stopped all traffic and then began diverting it left and right as crews did impromptu roadwork (apparently) related to the LRT. Cars were stalled at least 20 minutes. Traffic heading east to the Don Valley Parkway to go north was forced to go south on Don Mills instead.