Real royalty visits those who merely play the part on TV

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Kate, the expectant Duchess of Cambridge, has visited the set of Downton Abbey and had her picture taken with the production staff and stars of the popular drama. According to reports,  the program’s creator Julian Fellowes told Kate that she is partly responsible for its global success. The duchess visited the set of the award-winning costume drama at London’s Ealing Studios and met such well known cast members as Jim Carter, who plays butler Mr. Carson. She visited hair and makeup departments, toured scenery construction and watched a scene being filmed. Mr. Fellowes described how a 2011 visit to the U.S. by Kate and her husband, Prince William, came as producers tried to raise the profile of the show. Fellowes said when the duchess mentioned she was a fan “this went into the media like an Exocet missile. And soon all of America and most of the world knew it.”

 

Proposed replacement for Stollery’s would soar 80 floors

 

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A proposed new tower at the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets has 80 floors — on paper at least — and is ready to become the City’s second highest building after the CN Tower. It will be pricey too and one price to be paid will be the view from St. Clair and Mt. Pleasant. The developer of the former Stollerys site showed off renderings at a community meeting on Wednesday with a 318-metre tower. The plan calls for 72 levels of apartments on top of an eight-level luxury shopping mall, and 10 stories underground, at a total cost of $1 billion. Developer Sam Mizrahi has called his new monument The One. (Oh my. He’s The One). The design is by Foster Partners and Toronto’s Core Architects. Some have noted that external steel skeleton. Keep in mind it would run all the way up to the clouds. It is reminiscent of the first so called exoskeletons built in Hong Kong during the 1980s.years.

TDSB cuts 250 jobs, including 50 special ed positions

Globe and Mail 

Council votes 38-6 to approve needy Toronto’s 2015 budget

The “average” property tax increase for a home in Toronto will be some $83 but you aren’t living in an average home. Sigh. Wait for the bill to see what the total property. garbage and water increases do to your budget. Toronto Star  City release 

This Hour Has 22 Minutes makes fun of sex education furor

Skier dies at Sunnybrook of injuries suffered at Collingwood

Erika Lamb, the 16-year-old skier from Burlington, has succumbed to injuries which occurred during a collision with a tree at Blue Mountain Ski Resort Tuesday. OPP  at Collingwood confirmed that Erika had died at Sunnybrook Hospital where she had been transferred by helicopter shortly after the accident. She had been wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. She was a member of the Milton Heights Racing Club and was attending an event the Collingwood-area ski resort for the Gooch Cup, hosted by the Toronto Ski Club. Alpine Ontario said the athlete was free skiing, not racing, at the time of the accident. There are many condolences posted to Twitter at Erika Lamb

 

New stores hint of coming grocery showdown on Bayview

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The hoardings are now down at the work site where The Beer Store and Tim Hortons wills stand on the southwest corner of Roehampton Ave and Bayview Ave. The Beer Store was torn down last year and the replacement added an extra element of interest, the coffee shop. Metro will be in hammer and tongs competition with Whole Foods Market as that store opens later this year in the 1860 Bayview at Broadway Ave. complex.

Titillating tidbits the jury did not hear at terror trial

Rosie DiManno in the Hamilton Spectator 

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Cops warn of “send-money” scam that duped East York man

Police at 54 Division warn of a scam that involves unsuspecting people sending money to help a friend or relative who has an emergency in another City. An  area man was contacted by an unknown person who identified himself as his grandson and claimed to have been in an accident in Montreal  The caller said he had been arrested and was in a courthouse and required money to pay for bail  The victim of this fraud did send funds by Western Union and was also contacted by someone posing as his grandson’s lawyer in Montreal to obtain the confirmation number for the Western Union money transfer  Of course none of this was legitimate. The real grandson knew nothing about it and did not require money. Police urge members of the public to exercise caution and to speak with other family members before transferring funds to a family member who is reported to be in distress.

Shad new host, but CBC sticks with Gomeshi-tainted “Q”

Shad, a congenial, award-winning hippity-hopper type of musician, will become the new host of CBC’s cultural affairs radio show Q, which will retain its name as it relaunches in mid-April. It seems odd the CBC will stick with a program name so associated with the discredited Jian Gomeshi but right or wrong, there it is. CBC says the 32-year-old is a multiple Juno-nominated artist who has drawn praise in Canada and the U.S. for his humour, passion and originality, winning in 2011 for Rap Recording of the Year. Born in Kenya to Rwandan parents, Shadrach Kabango was raised in London, Ont., going on to earn a business degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and a master’s degree in liberal studies from Simon Fraser University.

Distracted driving the number one killer on our roads

OPP say distracted driving deaths will likely surpass those of impaired driving for the seventh consecutive year. Police figures show that driver inattention has been the reason for 12 of 51 fatal collisions so far in 2015. It’s no secret most of it comes from the cell phone suite of activities ranging from reading the mail to calling your pals. The news comes as Ontario police launches their annual distracted driving campaign this weekend. “Distracted driving is a danger to all road users. Fortunately, these same road users are in a position to help put a stop to it,” said Chief Superintendent Chuck Cox, Commander of the OPP Highway Safety Division, in a media release.