The South Bayview Bulldog

A fire has engulfed a home on Glencoyne Crescent near the main intersection of Pharmacy and Steeles Aves. Friday night. Early reports to Toronto Police Operations called it a backyard fire.

Premier Ford was visibly angry Friday as he chastised “the bigwigs” at the Ontario Lottery Corporation for authorizing bonuses during the layoffs and hardship caused by the C-19 pandemic. Underlying the appearance of such largess is the monstrous Ontario debt. It stands at a groaning $348 billion. There may be tough days ahead. In a first-quarter financial report released Wednesday, the provincial government revealed the expected revenue from the OLG has declined to $600 million from an expected $809 million.

• Province will work with school boards who need ‘a tad more time’ for safe restart, says Lecce
• Gyms can increase capacity up to 50 people with physical distancing limits in place: Ford

This is a tremendously inspiring rescue story from California.

The Ministry of Health has counted 92 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the 24-hour period ending at midnight. Three public health units reported 54 (or 59%) of those cases. Toronto cases leaped to 30, Peel had 17 and Ottawa 7. Testing was again at near-record levels with more than 30,000 tests performed.

Tammy and Bella

On the job

Tammie Sutherland, a well-known reporter and host on Citytv has given birth to a baby girl, Bella. As befits this happy event, the staff and producers of Breakfast Television are in a distant orbit. Joyous fun.

Baseball at Howard Talbot Park / Instagram @marionalbaum

Batter up! at Howard Talbot Park / Instagram @marionalbaum

Life during a once in a century pandemic is a challenge. Having lived through months of lock-down, phased in openings and social distancing, small things can bring happiness. Seeing the baseball fields in the neighbourhood alive again with players and spectators enjoying a team activity warms the heart. Never knew we’d appreciate a game of little league quite so much.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDh7_-IAtyC/

Leaside’s favourite chippy has come up with a fun and creative way to deliver your takeout order to you. The concept has gone viral on social media, bringing smiles to people as far away as Europe — and of course to Leasiders as well. “It’s a thrill for everyone. The staff get a giggle how happy the customers are, and for the customers it gives them something to smile about,” owner Olivia Feather told Global News.

Watch the video here:
https://globalnews.ca/news/7267708/coronavirus-toronto-businesses-customers-safety/

The City of Toronto will perform annual maintenance and improvement activities on the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) this weekend from Friday, August 14 at 11 p.m. until Monday, August 17 at 5 a.m. The closure will extend the entire expressway from Highway 401 to the F.G. Gardiner Expressway. The rain date is planned for Friday, August 21 to Monday, August 24. This year’s annual closure, typically planned for the spring or fall, has been moved to August to take advantage of warmer summer weather as well as lower than normal traffic volumes the city continues to experience. City staff estimate that it would take approximately 30 separate days with lane closures to complete the same amount of highly coordinated work performed in just 54 hours over a single weekend. Motorists can use Kingston Road, Victoria Park Avenue, Leslie Street, Bayview Avenue and Avenue Road as alternative routes into the city during the weekend closure.

As well, there will be one ActiveTO major weekend road closure this weekend, along Lake Shore Boulevard West from Stadium Road to Windemere Avenue. ActiveTO weekend closures that would typically be in place on Lake Shore Boulevard East and Bayview Avenue will not be available this weekend in order to provide alternative routes for drivers. All three weekend closures are expected to return the weekend following the DVP maintenance closure. Learn more about ActiveTO at http://www.toronto.ca/activeto.

Here are some specific activities that the City is expected to undertake during the closure, all numbers are approximate:

• 10 lane kilometres of roadway milling and paving
• 3,600 tonnes of asphalt will be used
• Inspection and controlled chipping on bridges
• Construction and repair of roadside ditches
• Cleaning of bridge joints and catch basins
• Debris removal and sweeping
• Graffiti removal
• Guiderail repairs and replacement
• Inspection and repair of ‘crash’ barriers
• Roadside and overhead sign maintenance
• Inspection of maintenance of RESCU cameras and equipment cabinets
• Repair of traffic detection equipment
• Pothole repairs
• Other work related to expressway lights and utilities may be done by Toronto Hydro.

This weekend’s DVP maintenance closure has been coordinated with important overnight work related to the renewal of the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis and Cherry Streets. To facilitate this work and minimize disruption to the travelling public, the westbound lanes of the Gardiner Expressway, from the DVP to the Yonge-Bay-York ramp and the on-ramp to westbound Gardiner Expressway from Lake Shore Boulevard East at Logan Avenue will be fully closed. The first opportunity for motorists to enter westbound Gardiner Expressway is the on-ramp at Jarvis Street. These closures will take place on:
• Saturday, August 15 at 10 p.m. to Saturday, August 16 at 8 a.m., and;
• Sunday, August 16 at 10 p.m. until Monday, August 17 at 5 a.m.

A map is available to residents and visitors to help make their travel plans, available at http://www.toronto.ca/roadrestrictions. In addition, the City’s T.O. INview map shows planned capital construction work taking place across the city: http://www.toronto.ca/inview. Details about this closure are available at http://www.toronto.ca/dvp

Air Canada is revamping the Aeroplan program including changing miles to points based on the cost of your ticket. The relaunch on Nov. 8 will allow all members to book seats on any Air Canada flight using Aeroplan points, a change from the current model where seat inventory is limited. Members will also be able to share points with up to eight friends and family members, combining them in a pool anyone in the group may put toward a trip. More on CTV, Aeroplan

Jays win Buffalo opener, topping the Miami Marlins in 10 innings. Bo Bichette hit a three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who took a 4-1 lead into the ninth. Travis Shaw singled with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-4 win over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night.