An Italian court was beating up on Facebook this week in the case of a woman who committed suicide apparently because she was embarrassed by a sex tape she made willingly, but which of course, deeply distressed her when an ex-boyfriend posted it. Quite sad all around. Elsewhere in Your World, there is a lot of concern in Hollywood and Washington at the purchase by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda of Dick Clark Productions. Wanda already owns many U.S. entertainment companies including the AMC theatre chain. Critics say the huge firm may be a doorway into the U.S for Chinese propaganda. And there are mixed feelings about the ratification — if that’s what it was — of the COP21 agreement on the environment.

There was no winning ticket sold for the $44 million jackpot in Friday night’s Lotto Max draw. The jackpot for next Friday’s draw on Nov. 11 will be $50 million.

Leaside Junior Wildcats are in Ottawa Saturday and Sunday (November 5-6) for games against the Ottawa Lady Sens at the Carleton University Ice House and the Nepean junior women’s hockey team, also known as the Wildcats. That game is at Nepean Sportsplex. Nepean in particular is the squad to beat with their 10-4-1 record so far this year in Provincial Women’s Hockey League play. Good luck Leaside Cats.

Staff, students and friends at Deer Park Public School have been dealing this fall with the sudden death of Jeffery E. Mann. Jeff Mann died unexpectedly early in September at the age of 41. He is being remembered at the school where he taught physical education with the Jeff Mann Scholarship  Two students, a boy and a girl, will receive a $2,500 scholarship each year under the program. Obit

Thinking about Jeff Mann. He was a kind & deeply beloved teacher who made a difference at Deer Park PS. He died this year at the age of 41.

— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) November 3, 2016

All it takes is money to run this great City and several bureaucrats were talking hard numbers on Friday at City Hall. Overall, they say taxpayers should pony up 5 percent more for tap water and nearly 4 percent for garbage pickup in 2017. These are  suggested rate increases from City staff and they were put before the Budget Committee as part of a rate-supported budget. This cash is separate from property taxes which used to pay for everything but these days get used up before costs are covered. .If approved by council, these costs it continue a trend at City Hall of balancing the budget through higher user fees while keeping property taxes low.  Staff also proposed that council approve an $8-per-household a year charge to cover the cost of hauling away large items like old sinks, sofas, drum sets and so forth. The crunch numbers are these: single-family garbage-collection fees would increase by $12.73 for small bins; $15.45 for medium; $20.98 for large; and $24.34 for extra-large. Proposed water-rate increases would bump the average residential bill from $914 a year in 2016 to $960 in 2017.

Rolling Stone magazine has been found liable (guilty) in a defamation lawsuit which claims nearly eight million dollars in damages. A jury will decide Monday just how much of that money the publisher will have to pay. The plaintiff is an administrator at the University of Virginia who sued over the magazine’s infamous “A Rape on Campus” story. Nicole Eramo was portrayed as a cover-up agent for the university in a largely unchecked story written by Sabrina Erdely. In it, a woman named “Jackie” tells a story which could not be substantiated and, it was found, could not have happened. The court found that writer Erdely bore malice toward Ms. Eramo. This is an essential finding for success in a libel action against the media in the U.S. American journalists must be shown to know that what they are writing is not true. In Canada, libel law requires merely that the writer be wrong, even if he/she believed what was written or broadcast was true.  Reuters

The publishers are pleased to announce that readership records have been set at The South Bayview Bulldog. More than 60,000 page views were counted in October 2016 and in the same month, the independent firm StatCounter, also counted 46,978 unique users, another record high. Bulldog readership has been trending up since the first measurements were taken in 2013, four years after the news service began in 2009. This acceptance is reflected among visitors to The Bulldog overall in 2016 as well. Projections show Bulldog readership will exceed half a million page views by the end of the year.

EAST AND WEST OF BAYVIEW

The Bulldog’s editorial mix of highly local happenings and important events from elsewhere have found ready acceptance and helped it to build name recognition throughout focus neighborhoods. The Bulldog covers news both east and west of Bayview Avenue, and it extends north to Lawrence Park and south down into the Don Valley too. The publication has come to rely on friends who pepper the publishers with news by email, tweets, facebook messages and whispered through the door. Thank you so much.

ADVERTISING

In this context of public awareness, loyal readers and inexpensive flexible rates, The South Bayview Bulldog is an advertising venue that is worth considering. Smaller businesses can gain critical name  recognition in the pages of The Bulldog with a prepaid ad costing less than 85 cents a day for six months. Take a look at the options here or write to us with your ideas at news@ bayview-news.com.

Police say a man who was waving knives about and apparently threatening people was tasered by an officer Friday in the west end Stockyards-area of the City. The jolt from the taser, also known as a conducted energy weapon, sent the man into medical distress and he subsequently died. There is little other information except that the Special Investigation Unit has taken over the matter.

The death of a 69-year-old woman following her attempt to cross College Street east of Palmerston Blvd is a cautionary tale for pedestrians young or old. It was 7:48 p.m. Wednesday, wet and dark of course. College is four lanes wide with streetcar tracks, plus bike lanes, plus parking. There is no marked crossing available with or without lights between the long stretch from Bathurst St. on the east to Euclid Ave. on the west. The woman was crossing with a man, 62, who was also hit but will survive.

STRUCK BY TWO CARS

The woman was struck by not one but two cars. The first was an eastbound Mazda which hurled her body into the path of a westbound Honda. Both drivers stopped and tried to help the woman. She died in hospital. Police have said nothing about speed but they are appealing for witnesses.  Some angry traffic advocates demand the  authorities “stop blaming the victims” of traffic accidents. That’s fine.  But who will dare to say that this was a safe time and place to cross College Street?.

The recently installed 514 Cherry Street line is noisy nuisance to at least one resident of the area who took his grievance to the CBC’s Shannon Martin. “It’s become a form a torture for us,” gripes Jason Mednick. He recorded the cars turning at King Street East and Sumach Street (above) to animate his complaint. He calls it an equivalent to waterboarding. Yikes. Ms Martin reports that the  514 went into service in June. Ordinary people ask why it was necessary to build another street car line (for Heaven’s sake) but that may be another matter. Listen to the video and see if this screeching is more or less what one might expect, if you live next to a streetcar line.

Statistics Canada says the economy gained 44,000 net new jobs in October but the increase was entirely due to part-time employment.  The gross increase was 67,000 part-time jobs for the month as full-time jobs fell by 23,000. Many part-time jobs come from large firms, like Dollarama, and other major retailers. It costs less to employ part time staff because government-enforced benefits are lower.

MORE LOOKING FOR WORK

Unemployment stayed the same at 7 cent because more people were looking for work. This is a seasonal phenomenon. Many Canadians have working patterns which suggest they don’t mind being unemployed in the summer. They will seek a job, as necessary, during the fall and winter.  Forecasts had predicted a loss of 10,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.. The increase in October follows a gain of some 67,000 jobs in September that saw additions in both part-time and full-time employment.

With the Eglinton/Crosstown LRT test car more than two years overdue, Bombardier today was insisting that the company is not in default of the contract. Marc Laforge of Bombardier made the comment to BNN Friday morning, denying any default.  “As we’ve stated since July and strongly restate today, in no way Bombardier is in default of its contractual obligations in the Metrolinx project,” Laforge said. “We are currently working on the pilot car, the first of the 182 vehicles to produce. This vehicle is intended for testing. We don’t understand where Metrolinx is going at when talking about performance on a vehicle that has yet to run its first kilometres on track and production has not started yet.”

NOTICE GIVEN

Nonetheless, Ontario filed notice Thursday to cancel the contract with Bombardier for the subway trains. Knowing just what this means probably starts with noting that notice to terminate is not termination itself. But it is a fact that Metrolinx has long stretches of the LRT close to a point where testing of cars could begin. The tunnels however are empty. As stated, the pilot car for Crosstown is now two years overdue.  CBC