Rogers Cable out across Greater Toronto

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There is a widespread outage of Rogers Cable service across the GTA and into Southwestern Ontario as seen in Twitter messages. The company itself is acknowledging in a  recorded message that service is out in a large area of the GTA and gives no time frame for its return. 

Margaret Wente on NDP middle-class dogma

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The estimable Margaret Wente spins an entertaining view of recent NDP politics. Among other things she says no New Democrat can get elected these days without emphatically repudiating most of what the NDP stood for 20 years ago. “That’s how much times have changed.” But, it is still true that the leaders on the left once in power are most especially the captives of their supporters. Teachers, civil servants, union executives and similar people do not go away between elections. Or do we anticipate a Tony Blair type of revolution from Thomas Mulcair? Not likely, we think.  Margaret Wente 

Got to wring dancing out of these Iranian kids

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Every now and then we like to check back to see how they’re doing at perfecting the human race in Iran. Not so good it seems. Here we have six young Iranians who had to be arrested and made to apologize for dancing on the rooftops in Tehran. Yep. They’ve got a huge problem there. Kids don’t want to hate music in the name of Allah and the girls it seems are ready to whip off those headscarves in a second. Hussies. It may take a hell of a long time to make Iranians properly pure at this rate. Hope they don’t start executing them by the dozens again like they did earlier this year.  New York Times   Previous post 


Jewellery, leather bags taken from Lytton home

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TPS report: A resident of Lytton Boulevard reports that between 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 17 and 10.30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20, 2014 the home entered by forcing a window. Removed was a quantity jewellery and leather purses.

TTC driver goes home as riders wait for another

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Not a flattering picture of the The Better Way as bus driver goes home presumably at the end of his shift and no one is scheduled  to take over.  Toronto Sun 

80 U.S. soldiers will try to rescue Nigerian girls

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Washington Post 

Woman using mayor’s car charged with impaired

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Strange one, She is 36-year-old LeeAnne McRobb, according to CP 24. She was toodling around up in Muskoka in the Escalade when cops stopped her. The vehicle has been impounded.   CP24

Woo hoo! We’re on another list of super cities

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Lists of cities are fun. We may sometimes wonder why we should care about them.  And what the creators have to gain by making them.  In the news today we have Toronto as the 4th most attractive city in the world. The thinkers at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) have created a list of ten (below). PwC is a “multinational professional services network”. It’s a description that seems to cover a lot of ground. (Do they cook?) In any case, as is usual with nice lists, all the places chosen are rich, sophisticated cities that any middle-class Torontonian would be happy to visit. A feel-good world for sure. We see it all the time. The Economist puts out a list of livable cities which usually includes Toronto. PwC concludes Toronto is tied with London in the transportation system category. They must mean the fantastic high-speed electric train to Pearson Airport similar to the one in London. (Oh wait. We haven’t done that yet). Taken as a whole however the “Wow, we’re on the list” phenomenon can be seen as a smooth PR venture for the creator of the list that is more enjoyable than many. The list: London New York Singapore Toronto San Francisco Paris Stockholm Hong Kong Sydney Chicago  Global News 

City offers good advice on lead in the water

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Homeowners are wise to stay calm in the presence of the current lead alarm in the media. The stories serve a useful purpose to review the amount of lead in the water and who is most likely to be affected.  If possible, old lead pipes should be replaced. As the City says, however, there is no way to escape completely the presence of lead. It’s in the environment.   No safe level of lead   Priority Lead Water Service Replacement Program

Court to hear NSS breath test rights challenge

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Jonathon Lisus

The “right” of high school students to go to the school prom without having to take a breath test will be heard in Ontario Superior Court. A Toronto lawyer, Jonathan Lisus, will be on the job to prosecute his view that the breathalyzer for high school kids is a “presumptively unreasonable search.” One of those Mr. Lisus will attempt to protect from the test will be Northern Secondary School Student Council President Brett Gorski.  Mr. Lisus told Post City Magazines that although he is aware of other schools in the city and the province that have similar policies, “the case is only in relation to Northern and Principal (Ron) Felsen in his capacity as principal.”  “I do expect this will set the precedent for the city and the rest of the province, though,” Mr. Lisus told the Post. Northern Secondary School announced early in May it would implement the breathalyzer test for kids to get through the door to the senior prom. The dance is set for Thursday, May 29, 2014. It is a policy used by a number of other Toronto and District School Board high schools, but not all. Those who fail the test are not allowed to enter the dance and parents are called to pick them up. The NSS decision was taken because the school has had problems with kids being intoxicated at the prom. “My first year here, I had to shut down a dance because students were drunk.” Mr. Felsen said.

Dog feces in neighbour’s garbage can in court

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A sorry tale of Forest Hill neighbors who took their squabbling to court and got slapped down by the judge is recorded in the National Post. It began, apparently, when a woman left her bagged dog feces in the neighbor’s garbage can. That would be annoying. National Post  (May require subscription) 

Opposition to moving Isabella house to Molson St.

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The Ward 27 meeting at City Hall yesterday to explore the possible moving of 119 Isabella Street to a newly-created lot on Molson St. (off Roxborough St. W.) took place with residents from the Roxborough area in total opposition. Some 25 or maybe more people were at the meeting where the developers showed their plans for a severance application and the moving the so-called Casey House coach house to Molson Street. Reaction from the residents is said to have been based on the under-sized nature of the lots that would be created by the  severance. Coming out of the  meeting is said to be not too clear where the idea will now go. Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam is said to remain attached to this project presumably for the purposes of “saving a piece of history.”  With Yonge and Roxborough News. Previous post