The South Bayview Bulldog

MT @City18Jeff: Crews have been battling the fire on Jarvis, near Carlton, for over two hours. pic.twitter.com/PluRRerRqx

— CityNews 680 (Inactive) (@680NEWS) January 4, 2016

Jarvis Street is closed at Carlton Street by a two-alarm fire in an old mansion which for many decades was a rooming house.  Firefighters say it appears the fire started shortly after 5 a.m. on the second floor of a home on Jarvis Street, near Carlton Street and was bumped to three alarms before 7 a.m. Reports say the mansion is now vacant. The CBC says it was at one time by Dr. Charles Sheard, the city’s first chief medical officer. A 2012 city staff report described the house as “a good example of Beaux Arts classicism” and a rare survivor from a time when Jarvis Street was home to many mansions owned by the city’s elite families.  The property is the subject of a re-zoning application that calls for a 43-storey condo building on the property.

Canada has seen a rash of fatal and near-fatal snowmobile accidents over New Year’s. The mishaps occurred in suburban Toronto, Halifax and at Blackcomb Mountain, British Colmbia. They have seen two people die and one admitted to Sunnybrook Hospital in grave condition. Locally, a man died in King Township when the snow machine slammed into a parked boat at what appears to have been a party in the early hours of Sunday, January 3, 2015. York Regional Police say they were called to a home on Keele St. east of Hwy. 400 just after 5 a.m. to find a 34-year-old man in the backyard suffering serious head and other injuries. Insp. Duncan MacIntyre said a “social event” had been going on at the home and that police were speaking with people who witnessed the incident. Police are treating it as a criminal investigation, he added, noting investigators are looking into the possibility of drugs or alcohol being involved.

NOVA SCOTIA

In Nova Scotia police say a 29-year-old Halifax woman is dead after her snowmobile hit a tree in Armstrong Lake in King’s County. A preliminary investigation indicates the woman, who was wearing a helmet, was operating the snow machine on a groomed trail when she crashed into a tree. She was pronounced dead at the scene, while a male passenger received minor injuries.

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The Leaside Jr. Wildcats fought back to a 2-2 tie with the Brampton Canadettes at Leaside Arena Sunday afternoon. The home team fell behind the feisty Canadettes who scored in both the first and second periods to lead the game 2-0 at the end of two. But the Wildcats came alive in the third launching two textbook passing attacks in the Brampton end that resulted in the tying markers. The overtime period yielded no goals. Kristin Della Rovere scored at 5.48 of the third assisted by Mariah Hinds and Megan Pardy. This line was full value as it hammered away to finally put the puck past Brampton’s capable net minder Allison Small even as the teams were five on five.  At 18.48 of the third, Olivia Reid scored on  a power play with the assistance of Della Rovere and Hinds. Brampton goals were scored by Kaitlyn Perichak  at 3.22 of the first assisted by Jamie Bulleid and Sydney Pierce, and by Nicole Augello at 13.28 of the second assisted by Kaitlyn Perichak. Allison Small stopped 36 shots on goal for Brampton and Danielle Toland 25 for Leaside. The tie leaves Leaside standing at 7th spot in the 20-team Provincial Women’s Hockey League after 23 games. In the game recap, the PWHL online narrator notes that Leaside stayed out of the box better than usual, totalling one minor for two minutes in penalty time, well below its average of nine. Boxscore 

Newly elected Liberal MP and former broadcast journalist Seamus O’Regan says he has entered a wellness program to adopt “an alcohol free lifestyle.” CP24

CNN report tells of what seems like a rather doubtful activity for teens. Where are their parents?

The City has issued an extreme cold weather alert of the season as Toronto braces for a blast of wintry weather. Temperatures are expected to plunge as low as –15 C overnight — the threshold for such alerts — and will rise no higher than –11 on Monday it is forecast.

From the 15-km ride costing $630 from Montreal to suburban Laval to the flat fare of $25 a mile in New York City, the Uber horror stories are hitting home like a hangover from New Year. According to CTV, some people say Uber wanted a $1,000 to deliver them home. Is it any wonder that many people just don’t like this view of our taxi future. “$600 dollars for a taxi,” lamented Veronica Iafrancesco to CTV. “We might as well have just rented a room at that point.”

Buffalo Evening News 

One of the convicts who plotted to blow up the TSE and other downtown locations has been given as much as six months parole to go to school. There are a number of restrictions on Saad Gaya, now 28. He was 21 when he prepared to detonate three tonnes of what he thought was ammonia nitrate fertilizer as part of the infamous Toronto 18 terror plot. His lawyer says he is very remorseful and rehabilitated and we can only hope that this is true. Sadly, the world is full of “reformed” terrorists who faked it just long enough to go out and kill people. Sorry Saad, hope you put it together and stay straight. CBC 

They say that age doesn’t matter that much in young women’s hockey but it must have been something that gave the Ryerson Rams that big sister edge they used to whip the Leaside Wildcats 5 to 1 in exhibition play at Mattamy Arena Saturday night. The Ryerson girls, cellar-dwellers in the Ontario University Athletic League, average a year or two older than the Grade 12 teammates of the Wildcats squad. Siobhan Birch potted the lone Leaside goal unassisted on Rams netminder Ally Sarna in the second. Shots on goal told a true story with Leaside’s Danielle Tolland facing 37 and Ryerson’s Sarna merely 20. Sunday afternoon it’s back to regular season play with an afternoon match at Leaside Arena against the Brampton Canadettes.