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. 

Rogers kills City News Channel, 62 jobs lost

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It’s a stunning media story in what seems to be a world where any news channel is a good news channel. Rogers Communications Inc. is killing off City News Channel after 20 months of operation. Scott Moore, president of broadcast at the Rogers Media division, announced the decision to immediately shut down the channel on Thursday. City News Channel was thought by media watchers to be the signal that would challenge CTV’s CP24. For whatever reason, Rogers has no stomach for that competition.  In fact, Rogers handling of City News Channel has been odd from the start. It seemed an easy thing for Rogers to bundle the City signal into its package of news sources for which some customers pay good money, and thus deliver a more consistent audience to the service. But they did not. Instead, City News channel seemed to travel all over the dial almost as if Rogers wasn’t in control of where it landed. Short term, it is easy to see how Rogers will cut some costs.  Longer term, BTV and Citypulse at Six are going to have to watch their local flanks carefully.

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.

Second spray of Moore Park on Friday, May 31

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You loved the Gypsy Moth Chopper this morning (Tuesday, May 28, 2013) so the city is bringing it back. Yes. The twin-engined whirlybird will return to Moore Park early Friday, May 31, 2013. It is equipped with an ultra-low-volume spray system and flies about 15 to 30 metres above the tree tops during the application of the pesticide spray Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki (or btk). The city release says: The gypsy moth is a defoliating insect that is considered a major pest in North America. The caterpillar, or larvae stage of the insect, eats the leaves of trees, making the trees more susceptible to disease and damage from other insects or weather related factors. Btk does not affect adult moths and butterflies, other insects, honeybees, fish, birds or mammals. It kills young caterpillars that are present at the time of spray. Through aerial spraying, Btk will be applied to the foliage of the trees and the caterpillars must feed on the treated leaves for it to be effective. .

My Town Crier ceases publication immediately

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The Town Crier newspaper, known recently as My Town Crier, is ceasing publication indefinitely because of money issues. My Town Crier is part of a chain of local newspapers, including Toronto Today, published by Multimedia Nova serving several Toronto neighbourhoods. Publication ends right away and all its employees have been laid off.  Gordon Cameron, Managing Editor issued this statement today.  

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the passing of Toronto Today. For the last 34 years Toronto Today and the Town Criers have proudly served our communities providing you with the local news, information and features that you couldn’t find anywhere else. Unfortunately, due to financial problems, including the non-payment of a multi-million dollar grant from the Government of Italy to support our now defunct Italian language daily Corriere Canadese, our parent company Multimedia Nova has been placed into receivership and publication of the Town Criers, Toronto Today and Vaughan Today have been suspended indefinitely. This is a difficult time, both for those of us who have worked over the years to make Toronto Today and the Town Crier the award-winning must-reads they are, and for the readers who have relied on us not only to find out what’s going on in their neighbourhoods, but also to see themselves and their lives reflected back to them in a way that no other news source does. While it is perhaps a little selfish, I would like to think that you will miss us as much as we’ll miss you. Our communities are filled with wonderful people and amazing stories and we sincerely hope that they continue to be told, even if we’re no longer the ones who have the privilege of doing it. Gordon Cameron, Managing Editor, Town Crier Newspapers and Toronto Today