Simon Pearce glass furnace flooded

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The Ottauquechee River in Vermont surged through a corner of the old mill that houses the Simon Pearce shop, destroying the glassblowing furnace in the downstairs factory that drew thousands of tourists annually, many of them children, who had watched wide-eyed as candlesticks and glass bowls were fashioned before them by hand. Thousands of Canadian clients of Simon Pearce will know that Homefront is the largest independent distributor of his glass in Canada. Fortunately for Homefront, the current order has been shipped and we’re told that work is going ahead quickly to get the glassblowing furnace room up and running again.

Mystery of why Wade Belak took his life

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The death of Wade Belak has stunned the hockey world and raised questions about whether his career as an NHL tough guy put his life at risk. Belak was found hanged in a downtown Toronto hotel on Wednesday afternoon. He was 35. He was out of hockey but had solid prospects for a career in radio. “He was very excited that he was having an opportunity to maybe change his career and get into some commentating work,” an associate said. All the circumstances deepen the mystery of his death. Belak was recalled as a good-looking man who spoke well.

TD raises dividend as profits rise

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TD Bank raised its dividend for the second time this fiscal year as strong retail earnings in Canada and the U.S. helped push the lender’s third-quarter profit up a better-than-expected 23%. Strong personal and commercial banking results on both sides of the border were tempered somewhat by a 40% drop in earnings from wholesale banking, which posted lower fixed-income and currency trading revenue because of market uncertainty and volatility. Wall Stret Journal.

Persichilli to head PMO communications

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Multilingual veteran and Toronto insider Angelo Perischilli has been chosen as Stephen Harper’s communications director. Because of his past positions with Couriere Canadese and Omni TV its thought that Perichilli has a broad knowledge of ethnic politics in the City. Persichilli does not speak French. The possible backroom nature of Perichilli’s role is hinted at by news today that the Prime Minister’s assistant Andrew MacDougall, who does speak French, now becomes associate director of communications and chief spokesman. Mostly Media

Postal Station R property is sold

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The former Postal Station R has been sold, according to a notice posted on the CBRE sign at the corner of Millwood Rd. and Malcolm Rd. The station has been closed since January 14, 2011 and sits on prime property owned by Canada Post. The old station, which was beloved by many in the Leaside area, fell victim to email and reduced mail in general. Several attempts were made to stop the closure. One effort actually delayed the closing. But ultimately, the economics won out. The property has been discussed as suitable for housing, but there is no information as yet.

Target looking for employees, it says

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In this story from CTV Target Stores (Missiauga) says its getting ready to hire hundreds of employees. This is no doubt true, but possibly only in a technical sense. Most employees of Zellers are hoping to catch on with Target when it closes down the “Z” stores. These employees have no automatic entry into a Target job. They must re-apply. If they’re hired, the effect on the overall labour force will be neutral. If Target seeks new employees, the Zellers employess will be lookijng for new jobs elsewhere. The US retailer has not said what the net size of its workforce will be nor whether it will be paying more than present rates of pay at Zellers.

Doug Ford sees highly developed waterfront

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The CBC website has an informative story on the vision for Toronto’s waterfront now being put forward by the Ford administration at City Hall. The mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, discussed the plan. A staff report to be considered by Toronto’s executive committee will recommend that the city take control of the port lands from Ottawa and the province. The early sense of the plan is of a highly developed waterfront with, among other things, a capability to dock boats at a waterfront hotel. The picture above from Waterfront Toronto shows children playing in what appears to be a stylized fountain. Read the story.

City prunes trees slated for removal

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We waited a long time to have some of the trees on South Bayview pruned. And now it’s finally happening (left). Problem is, within a few days those trees will be ripped out by sidewalk re-construction. As published earlier, the work scheduled for South Bayview includes removing the old concrete containers which now hold the trees. This seems reasonable because planting Maples this way is simply stupid. But that was a long time ago. Work on the sidewalks has now begun (today) at Millwood and Bayview (right) with new sections of sidewalk. Within a day or two, it seems certain that those newly pruned Maples up the street will be removed.

Dolphins dine out on their intelligence

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Proof of just how clever are dolphins. Smart as most South Bayview dogs it seems. Researchers in Perth, Australia say the bottlenose dolphins found near Shark Bay have devised a method of trapping small fish in shells. They then take the shell to the surface and shake, causing the fish to fall into their mouths. The behaviour was spotted first in 2007 and there is hope that scientists may see the practice spread as other dolphins learn it.