CBC writer Jonathon Rumley has discovered a groundswell of interest in youth baseball apparently related to the competitive stance of the Toronto Blue Jays last year and, we hope, this year as well. Rumley speaks with two area baseball coaches, Leaside’s Howard Bernie and Jake Gallo, assistant baseball coach at Northern Secondary School. Nice read. CBC

A County Superior Court Judge in Georgia has seen her stern but inspiring lecture to some delinquent kids go viral. Judge Verda Colvin said she didn’t know a camera was rolling as she lectured the group of boys and girls on doing better. “Stop acting like you’re trash,” she lashes them. Colvin, the mother of a grown son, volunteers with the Bibb County Sheriff’s “Consider the Consequences” class, a program that bluntly shows youth where their early lives in crime are likely headed. On March 29, Judge Colvin was speaking to some wayward kids in the program who were brought into her courtroom. Her passionate lecture about the harsh realities of their futures if they didn’t change clearly touched many of them. Many were in tears Their choices, she said, jail, or “you can be in this body bag,” Colvin says in the video as she unfolded a white body bag. “And the only way somebody’s going to know you’re in here is because of this tag.”

In Downey, California the oldest McDonald’s anywhere is about to undergo a major change by getting a drive-through lane. The Downey Mac’s was rebuilt from a first version in 1957 and has been operating without the drive-through for more than 60 years. Fox News LA reports that McDonald’s has asked the Downey Planning Commission to approve a plan that would add a familiar order-and-pickup lane to the historic establishment. It was opened by Roger Williams and Bud Landon in 1953 and has always done things a little differently. Williams and Landon purchased franchise rights from the McDonald brothers (Richard and Maurice) themselves, prior to the brand being bought out by Ray Kroc in 1961. As such, the restaurant hasn’t always been subject to the uniform standards that govern most McDonald’s locations. The apple pie is still deep-fried there. And when the Big Mac was introduced in 1968, the Downey McDonald’s refused for years to add it to the menu. Kroc acquired the Downey location in 1990.

Toronto Staff has brought forward proposals for separate sets of rules for Uber vehicles and conventional taxis (like Beck) which will voted on by Council on April 14, 2016. Among the proposed rules are yearly inspections for Uber vehicles, criminal background checks for Uber drivers and the creation of a “vehicle-for-hire” license for Uber drivers. Uber would not be permitted to carry lights similar to a taxi or pick up passengers who hail them on the street. The City would also ease the burden on taxis by allowing taxi drivers to get their vehicles inspected at garages that meet the city’s requirements, instead of at city-run garages.

NO ENGLISH REQUIRED

One contentious recommendation is that drivers need not know English. Interesting. How does that work? Anyway, City Councillors think it is recipe for chaos and some hear the Uber Alles marching song of a rideshare Gestapo, in a manner of speaking.

The Women’s Network of St. Anselm’s Catholic Church Parish will hold its Spring Fling Craft Sale Sunday, May 1, 2016 with some 20 vendors in attendance. There will also be a bake sale and other items made by members of the parish. It runs from 9:30 to 1:30 at the church hall at McNaughton and Millwood Roads.

The Longest Yard at 535 Mt Pleasant will close at the end of April  A sister version of the Mt. Pleasant pub will continue to operate at 3313 Bloor Street West. The owners offered no particular reason for the closure but it is no secret that the struggle for dining and drinking business across South Bayview has sharpened in recent years. Places like Against the Grain and the Local on Laird Drive did not exist four years ago. These places a hugely busy. Regulars note that the Longest Yard has been on Mt. Pleasant for more than 30 years. Recollection of it in the early years of the Century as a crowded place are in keeping with the good times that rolled on before the economic collapse of 2008.  The pub will close on Sunday, May 1 2016 but will first hold a trademark lobster boil Monday, April 25 and a farewell party Saturday April 30..

The Premier has responded to questions about criticism by the police union that she suggested the TPS is afflicted with systemic racism. Mr. Wynne said her remarks with Black Lives Matter have been misunderstood. She was talking about systemic racism in a larger context. She cited examples of “groups that are not achieving at the same rate as other groups” and the over representation of some groups in the jail population. The concern that these matters are related to systemic racism may strain the definition of the word for many although racism is something of an etymological wildfire with additional meanings springing up all the time.

CBC

The South Bayview Bulldog is taking a moment to salute The Orange Street News in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. That’s where nine-year-old Hilde Kate Lysiak is editor, publisher, cleaner and quite possibly night watchman too. The enterprising girl got wind recently of a heavy police presence on Ninth Street so she legged it over there and soon had the story. There had been a homicide of all things. Hilde dashed home and posted a bulletin to the Orange Street News. Then she went to work with sister Isabel (the photo and video editor) and talked to police and neighbours to publish a five-star takeout on the crime. Apparently some fuddy duddies in Selinsgrove are upset. They think Hilde should be playing with dolls. Her Facebook page and YouTube channel were clogged with negative comments questioning her parents’ judgment in letting her do such work. Says Hilde: “It kind of gets me angry because just because I’m nine doesn’t mean I can’t do a great story,” she said. “It doesn’t mean I can’t be a reporter.” Hilde’s dad is Matthew Lysiak, a former reporter for the New York Daily News.

Kellie Leitch, the MP for Simcoe-Grey, will run for the leadership of the Conservative Party, according to The Canadian Press. Leitch, 45, is an orthopedic surgeon with a distinguished academic background.  Leitch has been assembling a team for weeks to support her bid and has already been holding fundraisers and speaking to party faithful to raise her own profile. Leitch won the Collingwood area riding in 2015 with more than 46 percent of the vote despite a losing tide against her party nationally.

Wednesday’s absurd snow is the last straw, more or less. It will be warmer Thursday with rain. With the exception of Saturday, the days are looking progressively warmer. Weather Network