A review of retail applications at City Hall has revealed a business that wishes to open an optometry shop at 1661 Bayview Ave. in the north block. The space was previously occupied by a furniture store and sits south of the recently vacated Brick location. The application is for interior renovations only so it is reasonable to think that this application, which was received March 16, should be quickly approved.

Former Mayor Rob Ford is said to be with his family at Mt. Sinai Hospital as he continues to receive treatment for cancer, his office says. Thursday evening an additional brief statement said the 46-year-old Councillor for Etobicoke Ward 2 was alive, and had not died as reported in social media. Mr. Ford is fighting a rare form of soft tissue cancer and in November was diagnosed with additional tumours. Toronto Star 

A motorist has posted this dash cam video of a woman on a motorscooter on Queen St. near Woodbine Ave. trying to sneak past a bus that is signalling a move into the right lane to stop. For reasons unknown she just keeps on going and is finally driven off the road and onto the sidewalk where she falls..Not nice but a liucky escape from falling under the bus. .

CTV News tells a story Thursday about a man who had to explain to the police that he really was the father of his young son. It happened Tuesday when someone called police because they thought Jason Thompson bore no likeness to 4-year-old Xavier. Thompson had taken the lad to the movies and they were heading home on the bus Police called the TTC and had the bus stopped. The  father was called outside and required to explain to police that the lad was indeed his own. After that, police were eager to make up for the inconvenience and embarrassment. They drove Mr. Thompson and his son home and even gave the cruiser’s siren a whirl to entertain Xavier. Life in 21st Century Toronto.

From New York City, where St. Patrick’s Day was invented and is celebrated in all its greenness, comes this story from the NY Post newspaper. We do not argue with the New York Irish.

The email letter that arrives Monday to Friday shortly after the clock strikes its name — 12:36 — has asked important questions about the French’s ketchup furore. All scribblers know that ketchup is a readership builder. The daily burst of gossip says:  “Nothing about the ketchup kerfuffle made any sense whatsoever. Why was Premier Kathleen Wynne touting Leamington as the place French’s ketchup is made when it’s bottled in Ohio? Why does Loblaws get to call President’s Choice ketchup “Canadian” when its tomatoes come from California? Who wrote the “leaked” memo that claimed French’s needed to be dumped from Loblaws supermarket shelves because it was taking sales from the PC brand? Why was Eglinton-Lawrence MPP Mike Colle threatening a boycott? It’s time to lay off the condiments.”  So say we all except that as a story ketchup is so appealing.  12:36 is published by St. Joseph Media.

Stories Thursday morning report declining ridership and a significant likely shortfall in cash in 2016 at the TTC. So far this year, the TTC has seen about four million fewer rides than expected. The total might be down 13 million from the 553 million projected.

WHO ENJOYS TRANSIT?

While public transit is a necessary service, it is hard to imagine most riders saying they prefer it to a ride that is faster, more reliable, more comfortable, more direct and probably more pleasant. Transit advocates and green warriors may howl, but too many Torontonians are, on average, too affluent and too focused on the use of their personal time to prefer transit over the use of a vehicle. That calculus will not apply to every trip, but is an enormous factor in the lives of many.

Video showing the helicopter escape of two inmates in 2013 from the detention centre in St-Jérôme, Que. was released Tuesday during the trial of Hells Angels sympathizer Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau. He is being tried on other charges but is seen here with fellow inmate Danny Provençal in a the successful and seemingly dangerous escape three years ago. The two were captured a couple of days later. .

Bryan Gaensler

The William Lea Room is often called Leaside’s Town Hall and next week it will really change things up with a lecture by Professor Bryan Gaensler on The World Records of the Universe.  As Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Dr. Gaensler knows his stuff.  He notes that the records which come and go here on earth are puny compared to those set out there in our vast cosmos. What’s the coldest place in space? What’s the fastest object in the Universe? What’s the biggest object we’ve ever seen in space, and the smallest? How weak and how strong does gravity get?  Dr. Gaensler has the answers (we’re sure) and it should be an interesting evening. It is free and it happens Tuesday, March 22, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. with Registration and Refreshments followed at 6.50 p.m. by the Presentation and Q&A.  For information write to Lorraine Gillis dua.events@utoronto.ca

This fine gang of people from the Leaside Flames Select Red Atom team bounced into Sport Chek in the SmartCentre today and left a cheque behind in support of the Canadian Tire Jump Start charity. Well  done team.