A scaled-back plan for the Scarborough subway that will do less and cost less is Mayor John Tory’s answer to east end transit. The scaled down Scarborough subway would have two fewer stops — eliminating “two of the three originally planned stops.” It would end at Scarborough Town Centre is instead of Sheppard Ave.   But it would also include a 17-stop LRT through five of the city’s most underserved, east end neighbourhoods, says The Star’s Kate Kalinowski.  And Scarborough Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker who defended the costly subway scheme finds the changes just fine. Mr. Tory is scheduled to speak about his plan Thursday and it might be reasonable that those who opposed the subway as too costly will be heard from as well.

Thick black smoke spiralled into the downtown sky during a fire at a construction site at the parking garage the Backstage On The Esplanade building on Front Street East and The Esplanade just before noon. The building is across from the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.

Huge condo fire at Front & Yonge @toronto_fire @tofire @CBCToronto @globaltv #toronto #fire pic.twitter.com/URcqTUxBXQ

— Alex M. Chong (@alexmchong) January 20, 2016

The jury is deliberating in the trial of PC James Forcillo and the court has released information which was not heard by the jury. Among these things were Forcillo’s lawyers to show that Sammy Yatim committed “suicide by cop” on the night he died. Lawyer Peter Brauti hoped to argue that Yatim was depressed, using drugs and cared very little about his life when he pulled a knife on a streetcar, sparking a panicked exodus. Brauti was denied this opportunity. He was also unable to introduce Yatim’s cell phone searches looking for easy way to commit suicide. Also not heard by the jury: Evidence that Sammy Yatim was on bad terms with his father, having been “kicked out:” of the family home. Among other things, Brauti asked the court to permit him to tell the jury that Yatim didn’t comply with police orders to drop his knife because he didn’t care about his own life and was prepared to act in a way that could cause police to take actions resulting in his death.

The COSTI Immigrant Services agency in Toronto has found itself swamped with Syrian refugees sponsored by the government and has asked for a five-day moratorium on arrivals. Mario J. Calla, the executive director of COSTI, told the CBC she has requested a five-day stoppage from the government of federally sponsored newcomers. “In the past few weeks, we’ve been received about 300 refugees a week,” Calla said. “We’re talking about a five-day pause, we’re not talking about stopping. We’re talking about we can do this better is what we’re saying,” Calla continued.

The Bank of Canada has kept its key interest rate at 0.5 per cent as Toronto and New York markets again plunged Wednesday morning on the falling price of oil. .BoC Governor Stephen Poloz seemed to have nowhere else to go as the global petroleum glut threatened to devalue almost everything. Poloz dropped the rate twice last year to help absorb the impact of sliding oil prices, but crude has since fallen even further, hovering below US$30 a barrel in recent days.

The layered concerns related to cost and most useful service has led the Mayor to propose an  extension of the SmartTrack commuter scheme to the west with a portion of it as a light rapid transit line. The rail line portion bringing riders from both ends of Toronto is said to be sound and is projected, as Tory has always maintained, to carry the most people in the most efficient way.  Current estimates for SmartTack, which could be seven years away, is that it will carry  more riders each day than GO Transit.. CP24 uses the figure of 300,000 per day. CBC

Postmedia, the national newspaper chain will merge newsrooms in Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary as it lays off some 90 personnel across the country. But here is Toronto the flagship papers National Post and Toronto Sun will continue to  operate in separate newsrooms.  CBC

The outage effected Toronto Police Operations service which communicates with the public solely by Twitter.  CBC