The South Bayview Bulldog

One person is reported dead and others are injured following an explosion at a factory at the corner of Wicksteed Ave and Beth Nealson Drive in Leaside. Toronto Police suggested that firefighters are facing a dangerous challenge in extinguishing a chemical spill. They said they arrived on scene at 225 Wicksteed Avenue, the address of Siltech Corporation, and found at least one injured person.  Siltech makes a wide variety of silicone products ranging from personal care to the auto industry. The call was received shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday. Two men treated after blast at Siltech plant on Wicksteed –-2016

Scattered power outages, blinking stoplights and downed trees greeted residents in and near Leaside Wednesday after a night of thunderous rain and lightning. The Toronto Hydro Outage Map is showing a widespread blackout Leaside Wednesday morning. Map Leaside Community

Montreal’s Leylah Fernandez has defeated Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal of the 2021 US Open. She is just 19. Go Leylah. Highlights

Pat Davies helped sink the Bismark

Ever so slowly the heroism and skill of so many World War II women is finally emerging. Here, 98-year-old former WREN Pat Davies recalls that the punishment for telling anyone what she did for the allies was the firing squad.

Same old Taliban bad actors are back

The new Taliban government in Afghanistan is chock-full of well-known terrorist names, some of whom are high on FBI wanted lists. Sadly, we will not be able to ignore these guys. History has shown us in technicolor that they and their agents will probably be coming after us.

Hydro crew across southwestern Ontario are labouring in the rain Tuesday night to restore power to more than 20,000 customers after heavy weather rolled into the province off Lake Huron. The widespread blackouts are caused by downed trees, lightning and flooding. Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for most of southern Ontario ahead of an intense band of weather that had the potential to bring 100 km/h winds, large hail and lightning.

Hydro map showed outage in Moore Park

Toronto is getting plenty of rain but seems to have escaped large scale outages. One blackout is shown in Moore Park north of St. Clair Ave E.

The wreckage of the five adjoined garages at Sutherland Rd end of the laneway north of Eglinton has been fenced off as the owners decide how to clear up the mess. Flames tore through the garages Monday afternoon. A sixth garage to the east was also gutted.

Annie Billy has posted this shot of her signature Oreo Cookie Cake to Leaside Community in hope of creating some interest in her new baking business. Good luck Annie. At upper right we see former Blue Jay Rob Butler with Leaside ball legend Howard Birnie (centre). That’s announcer Dana McKiel at right. Centre right is a promotional shot for Baskin Robbins Into the Sea Ceature Creations. They’re giving 31 cents to the Boys and Girls Club of Canada for every one sold. Lower left is a reminder about this Sunday’s clean up of the Don Valley. All able-bodied friends of the Don should be there. At lower right is a reminder from that friend of Leaside Susan Scandiffio in support of the Thorncliffe Food Bank

A Leslieville resident is asking Tuesday if anyone knows the man who sneaked onto his porch in the middle of the night and then took a sniff of his daughter’s sneakers before making off with the thoroughly used shoes.

Famous names among obituaries as the week begins are Jean-Paul Belmondo, 88, “Wire” star Michael K. Williams, 54, and Patricia Hitchcock, daughter of the famous director at 93. Other obits are here.

Toronto Fire extinguished a two-alarm blaze in a garage in the lane that runs behind the stores on the north side of Eglinton Ave Monday afternoon. The raging fire was seen by G Coleman from Sutherland Drive before the TFS arrived. His Twitter post is here. Below is video from 2016 when a police-sponsored graffiti paintathon took place in the lane. It was called Go Big or Go Home

Leslieville residents and others are commenting at length on the Canadian International Airshow underway this weekend. Saturday saw a jet fly past Rob Stewart’s balcony at Park Lawn Rd and Lake Shore Blvd West. Is that okay? FB

The OPP Highway Safety Division has posted pictures of an overturned car in a river off of the QEW east of Skyway bridge. A woman driver is said to have been rescued from this scary incident. Below is a picture from a distraction accident on Highway 401 eastbound near Dixie Road. A trucker apparently ran into a guardrail. This information has prompted twitter readers to complain that truck drivers are occupied with everything from cooking dinner to watching movies while they are at the wheel.