Bayview Ave was closed briefly to traffic thuis week as the Toronto bomb squad was called in Tuesday and Wednesday to investigate two suspicious bags found in the ravine below the Bloor Viaduct. This matter, which remains unexplained, is being looked at in connection with suspicious packages found in High Park.
Jewellery stolen from car near Overlea-Thorncliffe
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Toronto Police Service report: A 62 year old male reports that on May 29, 2013, between the hours of 19:15 and 23:15 hours, a quantity of jewellery was stolen from his vehicle in the area of Thorncliffe Park Drive and Overlea Boulevard.
Canada’s economy has 2.5 percent Q1 growth
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Finance Minister Flaherty is talking like a minister who owns his portfolio. He says he intends to be the Minister of Finance now and later, even as expectation grows that the Prime Minister will shuffle the cabinet this summer. Flaherty has reason to brag as figures show Canada’s economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.5 per cent in the first quarter, the fastest in more than a year. That was better than already optimistic private-sector estimates and the fastest in six quarters, according to Statistics Canada. Flaherty has also sent a scorching letter to Ontario finance Minister Charles Sousa telling him to forget about adding a percentage point to the provincial portion of the HST. That would take the total to 14 percent, something Flahrety is dead set against. Christina Blizzard.
Microsoft brings back “Start” in Windows 8.1
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Microsoft is trying to fix what it got wrong with its radical makeover of Windows. It’s making the operating system easier to navigate and enabling users to set up the software so it starts in a more familiar format designed for personal computers. The revisions to Windows 8 will be released later this year. The free update, called Windows 8.1, represents Microsoft’s concessions to long-time customers taken aback by the dramatic changes to an operating system that had become a staple in households and offices around the world during the past 20 years. AP
Talbot tenants must fight in Winnipeg not Leaside
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A meeting of residents of the Talbot apartments on Bayview Ave. was held Wednesday night at St. Anselm’s Church. The meeting is said to have agreed that the landlord, through his various agents, is totally unreasonable to ask all tenants to just clear out by August 31, 2013. The tenants say there is every reason to do the renovations planned in a phased manner. No need for anyone to be thrown out. But will the Civil Service Superannuation Board of Manitoba see that what it is doing is in fact quite heartless? Elderly people expected to leave after as much as 40 years of their lives spent in this pleasant little enclave. One woman is 90. We said in an earlier post that the CSSB had taken care to put lots of distance, legal and geographic, between itself and the tenants of the Talbot apartments. But the power to change the CSSB’s high-handed approach lies solely with the members of the board’s investment committee. That’s why this battle should be fought in Winnipeg, not Leaside. The employees and pensioners of the Manitoba Government are, we daresay, decent people who know a heartless landlord when they see one. Do they wish to have this thing done in their name? We doubt it. Then there is the Manitoba Legislature. Knowing people, we feel sure there are members of the Manitoba Opposition who might wish to ask during Question Period about the unreasonable behaviour of the CSSB. The government party in Manitoba is the NDP. The deputy minister of finance sits on the CSSB investment committee. (Shame). The Opposition is the Progressive Conservatives. Oh yes, call the Winnipeg Free Press too.
Ford “blurted out” location of video says Star
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Robert Benzies and Kevin Donovan have written a brief story in the Toronto Star today (Thursday, May 30, 2013) saying that Mayor Ford told aides “not to worry about a video appearing to show him smoking crack cocaine because he knew where it was.” Mr. Ford is then said to have “blurted out the address of two 17th-floor units — 1701 and 1703 — at a Dixon Rd. apartment complex, to the shock of staffers at a city hall meeting almost two weeks ago.”
Search for body of man who tried to save dog
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| Police on Humber Thursday morning |
A tragically familiar tale is being played out on the Humber River this morning as police search for a young man who went into the swollen waters yesterday evening to try to resuce his dog. In the event, the animal, a Pug, rescued itself but the man has not been seen since. Today, search crews are on the Humber in inflatable Zodiac rescue boats poking around rocks and parts of the shoreline in a sad mission to find a body. The search by Toronto firefighters and police officers was suspended because of darkness Wednesday night, almost four hours after the man, who is in his 20s, disappeared in the river near Lawrence Avenue West and Weston Road.
Don’t let the big bad Gridlock get us Premier Kath
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Every premier is a happy majority of one who can win any argument, especially when the NDP is right there to help him/her avoid an election. So it is, as reported by the Star, that Premier Kathleen Wynne is not backing off on raising taxes or fees to fund improved transit for the GTA and Hamilton. Right you are, Premier Kath. We like ’em strong in Ontario. Those who may wonder about the validity of all the no-brainer public opinion polls in which the electorate seems to really want networks of LRTs to everywhere are just bystanders at this stage. It’s a little like asking if someone wants free money. Or, “Hey buddy, want an LRT running up to your front door?” But we suppose that the research about “gridlock” is better than that, and that it can be shown that “gridlock” is going to get us. Locking us forever in its grid. How terrible. Or is it still true that life’s worst fears are seldom realized?
Dr. Henry Morgantaler dead at age 90
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Dr. Henry Morgentaler, the man who helped overturn Canada’s abortion law 25 years ago, has died at his Toronto home. He was 90. Morgantaler’s long journey to legalize abortion may be seen on Wikipedia. But it may be said that his four court battles in Quebec and Ontario provided the foundation for legal abortion in Canada. In particular, these trials resulted in jury acquittals for Morgantaler in defiance of the criminal law of the day and the direction of the courts. The decisions effectively undercut any legislation that sought to restrict abortion by showing that the law could not be enforced.
Kim loves her summer job at Loblaws Moore Ave.
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Friends of Kim the cashier at Loblaws on Moore Ave. may have wondered where she has gone. The answer is — not far. Kim is just outside in the Garden Centre navigating her crowded portion of the parking lot. Skids of earth, fertilizer, plants and pots are in non-stop motion. “I love the job,” says Kim, as she wheels her Nissan lift-truck carefully around the lot. “But I have to be extra careful because of cars and people.” In fact, Kim takes refresher lessons every year at the Loblaws training centre for such things. When summer’s over and the garden centre gets packaged away for another year, Kim heads back inside to the check-out counter.
Ride for Heart to close DVP, Gardiner Sunday
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The Becel Ride For Heart will close downtown portions of the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway on Sunday June 2 from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. to accommodate the Ride for Heart event. As is normally the case, traffic will find its way onto north south streets like Bayview Ave. and Don Mills Road.
Don Valley Parkway now open in both directions
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The Don Valley Parkway has reopened in both directions after overnight rain that flooded many roads. Water is said to be gone or much receded from the lowland roads such as Bayview Ave. and Pottery Road on the west side of the valley. all other streets are open. The worst flooding was near the Don River which crested its banks Pictures show an extraordinary situation where the river had risen to the level of the parkway pavement and spilled across the artery (inset). A total of 60 millimetres of rain had fallen in Toronto by 2 a.m. ET, but by 6 a.m., the downpour began to ease off and a heavy rainfall warning for the area was lifted. GO Transit suspended train service at Oriole and Old Cummer stations on the Richmond Hill line due to a flooded track.