Will we soon see the return of the local TV antenna, but this time in the form of a signal over the Internet? In the U.S., millions of people are tuning out cable providers and signing up for Internet television. The rise of start ups like Aereo is giving consumers more viewing choices. Broadcasters are gearing up for a prime time fight. In Canada, that would be Bell, Shaw and friends. Now before the CRTC second attempt by Bell to buy Astral with one of their reasons being that guys like Aereo are going to eat Bell’s lunch. And a nice lunch it is.
Dalton McGuinty’s staff erased gas plant e-mails
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•Was it a coverup or were they just freeing up space on their hard drives? Conservative and NDP MPPs are saying it was the former as the provincial information commissioner reveals that McGuinty aides deliberately erased e-mails. Senior political staff are said to have broken the law when they deleted e-mails that could have shed light on why the government cancelled two gas plants at a cost to taxpayers of $585 million. Sun News
6 dead as building collapses on S. A. Thrift store
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Crushed Salvation Army Thrift store |
Six people, one male and five females, were confirmed dead in the collapse of a building in downtown Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter reported Wednesday night at a press conference. Video footage taken at the scene Wednesday night showed authorities removing two body bags and loading them into ambulances. Fire officials say 13 people were injured in the accident. The four-story building collapsed Wednesday morning. Witnesses said they had been casting a wary eye on the demolition site and questioned how the workers were tackling the job. They say they heard a loud rumbling sound immediately before the collapse. The building once housed a first-floor sandwich shop and apartments above. Its collapse sent debris onto a Salvation Army corner thrift store next door. The two properties are adjacent to an adult bookstore and theater that had been taken down earlier. The accident happened at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday at 22nd and Market streets, the western edge of downtown, between the city’s business district and the main train station at 30th and Market. ABC13 Phildelphia
Homes sales down but prices up 3.4 per cent
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•The Toronto Real Estate Board says home sales were down 3.4 per cent this year in May but the average selling price headed higher. The board says there were 10,182 sales through the Multiple Listing Service last month, up 3.4 per cent from 10,544 in the same month last year. However, the board says the average selling price last month was $542,174, up by 5.4 per cent compared with $514,567 in May 2012. The board attributed the higher average price to a tight market for single-detached and semi-detached home sales in Toronto. Average condominium apartment prices were also up slightly.
El Paso implodes City Hall, builds baseball park
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Your heritage is baseball |
Matlow seeks heritage status for 1894 building
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•Bree Rody-Mantha writes this month in the Post Magazine about the motion by Josh Matlow to have the 1894 brick building on the northeast corner of Yonge St. and Davisville Ave. made part of the city’s inventory of heritage locations. Mr Matlow opined at the meeting of East York Council that there may well be a lot of development proposed for the east side of Yonge north from Davisville and he was trying to be “proactive.” The building is now a Starbucks but there is much else to distinguish it except its age.
Downsizing council may require a Biblical miracle
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Will Stintz and Colle face off in Eglinton-Lawrence? |
If ever Toronto city councillors agree to downsize their numbers to 22 (rather than the present 44) it may well be seen as a miracle equalling the loaves and the fishes. But Mayor Ford is still working at his 2010 election promise to reduce the size of council by conforming Toronto wards to the same boundaries as provincial and federal constituencies. At present each federal riding (like Don Valley West) contains two city wards (26 and 27). Devilish commentators have taken relish in noting that if it were one big ward, John Parker would have to run against Jaye Robinson. In Wards 21 and 22 (St. Paul’s) Joe Mihavc would slug it out with Josh Matlow. In Wards 15 and 16 (Eglinton-Lawrence) Josh Colle would face Karen Stintz. (Josh might be out of work unless Her Ladyship from Lawrence Park runs for mayor). It’s all too delicious. But let’s not get excited. Executive Committee has pushed the question onto City Council’s agenda for June. Nionetheless it is hard to imagine councillors voting to implement it, or risking a referendum. After all, if there were only 22 councillors and 18 went to the Federation of Mayors and Municipalities meeting as they did last week, there would be no one to answer the phone. Ford and his allies in this noble effort have anticipated the first line of defense against a downsize. “I don’t want to hear the argument that we work harder than MPs. I have no problem with increasing our salaries in line with an MP or an MPP. You might have to sit on two committees instead of one. But this is what people want. They don’t want more politicians in the city. They want less.” Members of executive voted for the recommendation, but some worried. “You can make hay in some parts of Toronto by running down the idea of having a good number of members of council,” said Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks. “The actual evidence is that if you jump on that bandwagon you’re going to wind up wasting money. We should do this right, be thoughtful about it, and have a traceable public participation program that ensures the people who are actually in charge have a strong, clear voice.” Did you follow that? The matter will go to the June meeting of Toronto Council. Quotations given to Inside.Toronto.com
Canadian building permits up more than 10%
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•Widespread plans to build apartment buildings and condominiums lifted the value of Canadian building permits in April by 10.5 percent from March, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday, defying market expectations of a 4 percent drop in permits. Thomson Reuters
NHL makes visors mandatory for new players
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•The National Hockey League’s competition committee has decided to make visors mandatory for all new players in the league. The rule will be effective with the beginning of next year’s season. Those already in the league who do not use visors will be permitted to play without them until they finish their NHL careers. The videos above contain recent comment revealing the growing view that visors should be mandatory.
Bring this elevator strike to an immediate end
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•If Premier Wynne feels the need to intervene somewhere in Toronto, we suggest she start with the elevator strike rather than at city hall. Repair personnel of the four big elevator companies have been off work for nearly a month. We are hearing a story a day now from apartments and condominiums of elderly cliff-dwellers who cannot get into or out of their homes. The stress must be enormous on these people. It will only take one of them to have a heart attack carrying groceries up the stairs to set off a cynical thunder of indignation at the Legislature. The government should get busy immediately knocking heads together. For a strike that is causing so much grief, the issue seems silly. One union official says it’s all about “workloads and staffing levels”. Good grief. For this kind of mumbo jumbo we’re risking the lives of hundreds of seniors?
Adam Nobody vs Toronto cops in court this week
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•Wireless Code is online for smart phone users
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•CRTC Wireless Code. Here what it lets you do.
- Terminate your wireless contracts after two years without cancellation fees, even if they have signed on for a longer term.
- Cap extra data charges at $50 a month and international data roaming charges at $100 a month to prevent bill shock.
- Have their cellphones unlocked after 90 days, or immediately if you paid for the device in full.
- Return your cellphone, within 15 days and specific usage limits, if you are unhappy with the service.
- Accept or decline changes to the key terms of a fixed-term contract (i.e., two-year), and receive a contract that is easy to read and understand.