New house that replaced the Dutch Colonial style building at 243 Rose Park Drive begins to take shape. A much more formal and larger structure will grace this space in the years to come. 
It’s shaping up as the Battle of the Breakfast Babble. This flash is written in the sky as Rogers Media applies to start its own 24-hour TV news service, CityNews Channel. It will, of course, go head-to-head with CP 24, the CTV local cable yapper. We say this will be a major breakfast title bout because Rogers is no doubt going to return its once supreme Breakfast Television (BT) to 24 hour news. CTV, for its part, is not going to let Rogers muscle in on CP Breakfast turf without a fight. This channel, if approved, will also permit Rogers to place its 6 p.m. news program, CityPulse with Gord Martineau, up against Ken and Christine at CTV Toronto. What remains? Only whether the new CityNews Channel will eat 680 News alive. That’s what happened when CP 24 swallowed CHUM-AM, putting all those DJs out of work.
Laura Newcombe, the local spelling whiz is at it again. She and two other Canadian kids, will be competing this week in Washington at the well-known Scripps National Spelling Bee. Laura, 12, will be in a contest with 272 other spellers from all over the world. The other Canadian bee keepers are Veronica Penny from Rockland and Graham Abraham, from Kamloops. The first round of the Scripps bee will begin Tuesday with a 25-word written test. On Wednesday, all the spellers will compete onstage in rounds two and three. Only a maximum of 50 young students will be declared semifinalists and move on to the championship rounds scheduled Sunday. This will be the third time Newcombe is representing Canada at the Washington bee. She has also won the Postmedia Canspell competition three years in a row. Laura says this visit has been bittersweet because it will be her last chance to be crowned top bee at the competition. Newcombe is going to high school next year and will no longer be eligible for both bees. “I think I’m a bit more nervous this year,” she said. Laura is in Washington with her mom and dad. Good luck Laura! 
Loyal devotees of an uptown landmark, Caffe Doria, are having to do without that European ambiance of the place for one day. It’s closed for some fix up work. As our picture (right) shows, Caffe Doria always attracts a crowd. Caffe Doria is a constant focus of our sister uptown blog, Yonge and Roxborough. 
Zeus is a 10-month old cross between a Great Dane and Mastiff. He’s a pretty big boy but he’s still got some growing to do. On South Bayview Sunday his moods were (left) “I am a serious dog” (centre) “How about this profile? and (right) “Hey. Where’s the party?” 
They’re building the inside wall of the underground parking levels at the Scenic on Eglinton. At right, two workmen balance somewhat perilously to position a huge bucket of wet cement so they can open the sluice and send the cement into the form. 
Rolph Road School will host its annual Hawaiian Luau Fun Fair on Wednesday, June 1, 2011. Organizers say that as many as 1,500 will attend. Those who wish to participate, donate or help in any way may contract Deborah Baxter at deborahabaxter@rogers.com
