Men in shirt sleeves, joggers in shorts, an open-jacketed stroll with Fido and an inviting opportunity to let the sun shine on your face. That was our favorite high street on a February 3 like no other it has seen. Thanks to a Texas low pressure system we received a funneling of warm air that made this the warmest post groundhog day in history. Forecasters predicted that previous record highs would be shattered when the temperature passed 9 C Wednesday morning. At 2 p.m., the mercury hit 15.5 C at Pearson International Airport. The previous record set at the airport was 9.3 C in 1991.

This is a useful reminder of the Leafs long history. That’s the new leaf on the video thumbnail reflective of the 1930s.

Mark Corrigan was shocked to see this motorist whiz by in front of him through a red light at Major Mackenzie Drive and Bayview Ave.  He spoke with the CBC about it and said he had to pull over and compose himself. As is clear from the dash cam video seen below, Corrigan has the green. A close up and adjustment of the picture by The South Bayview Bulldog seems to show the driver holding something (a phone?) in his/her right hand. From captures of the video it looks like the tail lights of this car identify a 2012 (or close) Toyota RAV

 

As some 1,800 kids roll into eight hockey rinks this weekend much of the fuel that will sustain the Leaside Select Hockey Tournament will come from wonderfully dressed hot dogs and glazed peameal bacon sandwiches (No cracks about the hot dogs on the ice please, everyone is a team player). These great walk-away delights are two favorites at Andy Elder’s Grilltime meat shop on Laird Drive. Andy is catering things at Leaside Gardens where he will dish up more than 1,200 meals on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Andy will also be serving delectable smoked brisket and chili and roast beef sandwiches with peppers, horseradish aioli, caramelized onion and arugula. (When’s lunch?)

GAMES AT EIGHT ARENAS

This is the 26th invitational tourney and it will see 116 teams on the ice with  29 of them from Leaside alone. Games will be played at eight rinks (Leaside, Angela James, Canlan Victoria Park, De La Salle, Don Mills, Oriole, Victoria Village and York Mills). The hard-working chair is Grant Worden and his equally industrious co-chairs are Valerie Cooke, Masja Stark and Line Livingstone. Grant notes that the tournament’s Platinum Sponsor is Scotiabank, without which it would be hard to mount this great sporting and family event. .

CBC Weather Network  

U.S- based Lowe’s has scooped up the Quebec home repair and hardware giant Rona by paying double the stock price — $24 — that was being paid at the close of business last night. The whole deal is worth $3.2 billion Cdn. The deal has been cosy with both boards taking votes to approve the deal and Lowes agreeing to place its headquarters in Boucherville, Quebec. That location is a kind of sop to Quebec nationalist feeling about the home-grown Rona.  A previous attempt by Lowe’s to purchase Rona in 2012 collapsed after resistance from Rona’s management and outright hostility from the Quebec provincial government and pension fund. Time will tell what  opposition still exists. Lowe’s has also committed “to continue to employ the vast majority of its current employees and maintain key executives from Rona’s strong leadership team.”

The annual Agnes Macphail Public Speaking Contest for elementary school students will take place Wednesday, February 17, 2016 in the True Davidson Council Chambers of the East York Civic Centre, 850 Coxwell Ave. The best speeches will be heard in the final round of this event from students in grades 6, 7, 8 of East York and nearby schools.  The event will begin at 7 p.m. There are students from schools in the Toronto District School Board as well as the Toronto Catholic District School Board participating.  St. Anselm’s will be participating. For information contact Lorna Krawchuk.at (416) 425-4431 or LTKrawchuk8@aol.com

 

 

Yahoo is laying off about 1,700 employees and slashing a slew of products such as Yahoo Games, Yahoo TV, digital magazines, real estate and patents. Many of these are things that embattled CEO Marissa Mayer started when she arrived at Yahoo in 2012. But today the long-feared purge began and for Mayer it is a case of make money or get out.   The cost-cutting is designed to save about $400 million annually against a steep decline in net revenue this fiscal year. Even that may not be enough. The Internet service will pull back internationally and ponder the sale of all the company’s Internet operations (including Yahoo mail). Analysts have speculated that Verizon, AT&T and Comcast might be interested in buying Yahoo’s main business, despite years of deterioration.

An Atlantic storm pounding Scotland has driven waterfalls backwards on the Isle of Mull and caused authorities to warn against travel of any kind. Roads, bridges and rail routes have been battered by heavy rain and gale force winds. Trucks have been overturned and trees uprooted. The Forth Road Bridge was also closed earlier on Monday. This brief video reveals a genuine rarity in weather phenomena

A raccoon brightened the rush hour for commuters Tuesday when it made a quick tour of the platform and a train car before disappearing down onto the tracks. As far as news goes, it is a nice distraction from groundhogs.

The 26th Leaside Select Hockey Tournament will roll into Leaside Gardens (and several other local arenas) for the great family event scheduled from Thursday to Sunday, February 4 to 7, 2016. This year Grant Worden, vice president of the Leaside Hockey Association’s Select Tournament, will be in charge.  In recent years as many 1,800 youngsters from across Ontario and elsewhere have competed in 12 age groups. The kids, 6 to 18 years old, are on 100 teams and as many as 6,500 family members will trek their way through local ice palaces. Here is a PDF of the schedule. It is an amazing organizational job.

Jon Burnside (Ward 22) has written to the Police Services Board asking that it direct the chief, Mark Saunders, to stand down on a move to begin the process of senior promotions. Letter PDF