Amtrak driver was train geek who advocated for safety
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Canada-U.S. link is The Gordie Howe International Bridge
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The new international bridge between Windsor and Detroit will be known as The Gordie Howe International Bridge. Prime Minister Harper and Governor Rick Snyder made the announcement in Windsor Thursday afternoon alongside three of Howe’s children.
The bridge is estimated to cost $2.1 billion and will be the second bridge in the area linking Canada to the U.S. and is expected to be operational in 2020. The privately-owned Ambassador Bridge was finished in 1929. Howe himself was not present.
He has been undergoing treatment after suffering a serious stroke. “Back in 2011, Gordie’s son, Marty Howe, told the Windsor Star that he wanted the bridge named after his father.“It would be a nice honour to have the new bridge named after Gordie as he was born in Canada,”
Marty wrote in an e-mail to the newspaper.“He crossed the bridge on his way to Detroit to start his long lasting hockey career.” According to the Detroit Free Press, the idea to name the bridge after Howe, now 87, came from an Ontario Trucking Association official, who suggested it at a hearing in Lansing, Mich., in the summer of 2010.
Mulcair’s NDP running second to Conservatives says Ekos
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There’s just a whisker of difference in support for the NDP as it sits behind the federal government party led by Mr. Harper. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has slipped down a couple of points and now is placed third in popularity. The election is barely five months away. Reuters
Pocket full of change still safest way to get a Starbucks
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It isn’t nice to laugh at other people’s distress but the hapless owners of the Starbucks app must really wonder what they were doing when they got it. As told here, hackers can scarf hundreds of dollars from your bank account when you re-load your card. It remains a mystery to many why people want to load money up to fat-cat Starbucks for stuff its going to give them in a couple of weeks. Oh yes, Starbucks best advice to those still using the app is to create a stronger password. We love that. Let’s see, the closer to forgettable the better, right? Or, you could just throw down a couple of loonies and get your coffee.
Harry Shearer quits The Simpsons over outside work
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The sun will no doubt come up tomorrow but Simpson’s fans are crying bitter tears. Fox says it will find other voices to animate all those characters. Verge
Ticket, towing skirmishes a way life on South Bayview
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Ticketing and towing — it is a way of life on South Bayview. Main picture sees a woman who “just went in and out to get some baby food” arguing with PKE27. Inset, a towing dispute settles in on Hillsdale Ave the other night. It required the parking enforcement officer, a police officer, a supervisor and a tow truck. And the motorist and her children. What fun.
Shauna Hunt: Can an offer from CBS News be far off?
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Halifax Chronicle Herald
The Bulldog said she was owed a debt of gratitude from all civilized people but her own grit has done Shauna Hunt a world of good as her confrontation with the filthy language jackasses goes around the world with loving regard from fellow scribes everywhere. Can an offer from CBS be far behind? We hope for the best. Really. If one searches the name of Ms Hunt this Thursday (May 14, 2015) on Google News it yields no fewer than 25 pages of stories about this incident. That would beat the pants off just about any other story you can think of.
Cops say man is using credit card stolen from a car
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Police have an excellent picture of a man they think is connected to break-ins on cars in Scarborough. With any luck, they will know who he is quite soon. The security camera pictures shows a man using a credit card that was stolen from a vehicle on Friday, May 8, 2015. Oh oh. That’s a clue.
Bombardier to lay off 1750 worldwide, nearly 550 here
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He robs banks and then slips away on a subway train
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Whoever he is, he is now worth $10,000 to any co-worker, relative or friend who knows the Tunnel Rat Bank Robber. Cops say the man has hit eight banks between Tuesday, January 6, 2015 and Wednesday, March 11, 2015. That’s one every eleven or twelve days. But wait, it seems the rat is taking a vacation or “gone straight” as they used to say. Well, it doesn’t matter because today (Wednesday, May 13, 2015) the Canadian Bankers Association and Toronto Police Service Hold-up announced the fat reward. And as police said, the case and the reward won’t go away. “Relationships fray,” one policeman said. Someone may be ready to talk, and mark a big payday. In each of the holdups he wore the baseball cap guise seen above and passed a typed note to the teller. He indicated he was armed. Then he fled into the subway. The man is described as white, 5’9″ – 6′, 30s, narrow nose, and dark hair.
Video shows Amtrak train whiz by, lights as it crashes
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A fixed camera shows the sheerest glimpse of the ill-fated Amtrak train flashing towards the sharp curve where it crashed. Arcing lights reveal the violent end of the train’s trip in a catastrophic accident. Evidence shows it was travelling twice the set speed for this curve which can be seen quite well in the daytime video later in the above video. Reuters