The CBC has identified a mother and her two children as the victms in an overnight fire that ripped through two homes on Niagara Street. They are Victoria Maire, her son Robert and daughter Abigail.  CBC says their deaths prompted an outpouring of grief on social media Saturday. The fire north end of Hamilton was on Niagara Street near the City’s waterfront. Five people including two children were hurt. The house had 11 occupants at the time of the blaze.

Just how extreme hot weather plays into water main breaks is not to clear but Toronto had two dandies Friday. The sizeable sinkhole on Sheppard Avenue at Weston Road was the result of a break shortly after midnight. At 4 a.m., a break on Bloor Street West at Westmoreland Avenue closed things down for a while.

Jana Pokorna, owner of M & J Jewellery at 419 Sutherland Drive has sent pictures of 53 Division Community Response Unit painting sidewalls and garage doors in the laneway behind Eglinton Ave E. As Jana says in her mail, this great idea is bringing colourful walls and designs that make “tagging” practically impossible. Graffiti is a problem, and not easily fixed she adds but “the bright bright colours and the pictures, will be now be bringing smiles to faces of people passing by. I am really excited about this project — what a amazing idea.” We agree.

An application has been made for a variance which would permit construction of six townhouses on the north side of Evergreen Gardens in Bennington Heights on the land that sits between the park and busy Bayview Ave. One of the two homes is No. 32 (below) which is on the northwest corner of Evergreen and Bayview. This short length of Evergreen has long been the less loved end of the street. The park seems to buffer the homes to the west of the park with its walkway out to Moore Ave. through Evergreen Gardens Park.

The opening of the Taste of the Danforth and related events like the East General Hospital Bed Races have played in scorching weather. Can you imagine what it was like inside those mascot outfits?

Participating in the Danforth Bed Races with @TPAnews . First team was the mascots. Hilarious. #mghdanforthdash pic.twitter.com/trm5tvwSrH

— Emergency Monologues (@emergemonos) August 5, 2016

#MGHDanforthDash with @AnthonyFarnell and @justinvandette in support of @EastGeneral cc: @ArdaZakCP24 pic.twitter.com/6rOC4OiwwD

— Cristina Tenaglia (@cristinaCTVnews) August 5, 2016

Councillor @mfragedakis with team TPA at #mghdanforthdash @TorontoMedics pic.twitter.com/tAyhAPNg83

— Toronto Paramedic (@TPAnews) August 5, 2016

For nearly 35 years jocks watched hockey and football on television at the Sports Centre Cafe at 49 St. Clair West. Now that will be replaced by an e-sports auditorium where other younger jocks will watch electronic game tournaments from who know where on 30 HD televisions. There will also be lots of gaming PCs and, we suppose, beer. What fun. This millennial coliseum is called Raiders E-Sports Centre and appears to have Australian roots. It’s Twitter and Facebook accounts are loaded with the mug of a gladiator so who knows the level of e-sportsmanship to be revealed. Why simply win when you can annihilate?

The Canadian economy unexpectedly shed a net 31,200 jobs last month, driven by a decline in full-time positions that sent the unemployment rate up to 6.9 percent, data from Statistics Canada showed on Friday. Ontario was the worst performer with a loss of 36,000 jobs.  The decline in jobs in July came well short of economists’ expectations nationally for a gain of 10,000. The increase in the unemployment rate, the highest since May, came even as the participation rate edged down to 65.4 percent. The drop in jobs was led by a 24,200 decline in employment in the public administration industry, helping the service sector shed 26,900 positions overall. But the goods-producing industries fared poorly as well, with natural resources losing 3,900 jobs, while employment in construction dropped by 9,000. Canada’s “gruesome twosome” paint bleak picture of the economy  MInister says “overall trends” are not bad

There’s no way of knowing if we will ever see this thing in service but it is an imaginative way to carry a lot of people and permit traffic to flow freely at the same time. Cars go underneath it. The first real-life test of the “bus on stilts” took place this week in China. It is powered by electricity and carries 300 people.Straddle bus concept

A 24-year-old Georgia father has been charged with manslaughter and reckless conduct after his 15-month old twin daughters children died Thursday after they were left in an SUV outside their home in the town of Carrollton on a day when the temperature reached 92 Fahrenheit there. There was desperate attempt to revive the children by placing them in a backyard swimming pool. The mother was reported to be in Atlanta 50 miles away after a car accident. Numbers are said to show that more than 550 children in the U.S. have died since 1998 from being left in hot cars with 26 cases this year.

https://twitter.com/tpscalls/status/761407897314156544