The South Bayview Bulldog

Billie Eilish

Mitch Marner and mom Bonnie

Blaine Ruppenthal

Up first on Faces is alternate singer Billie Eilish, 18  We’ve caught her smiling even though she usually twists her pleasant features into sinister stares for her young audience. But now Billie is on contract to write and sing the theme song of the next James Bond movie, No Time To Die. Billie says she is honoured. At centre, Bonnie Marner, Mitch’s mom, who confesses to City News she never thought about her son, now 22, being a huge star. She just wanted him to have fun. Bless you, Bonnie. At right, shocking news that a young Winnipeg high school student and air cadet, Blaine Ruppenthal, 17, has died in hospital from the this year’s intense strain of Influenza A.

Casey is the new name given to the dog found in a suitcase by joggers earlier this month. Audra Brown updates the story.

The world’s second Starbucks pickup-only store will open in downtown Toronto in February to offer services solely for people ordering on their mobile phones. New York City was the first city to get the new, smaller Starbucks, which offers no seating, and only caters to customers who order ahead with the Starbucks app. The second pick-up location will open on Feb. 4 at 25 King Street West in Commerce Court. CTV

Crazy truck rage?

With the dawn Wednesday comes the story of a gravel truck driver who claims he didn’t even see the car that he hit and drove off the road on the 401 near Bayview Ave. Monday. Happily, no one was seriously hurt in the crash. It came to the attention of police because of dashcam video posted to Twitter. It shows the huge truck whacking the Honda Civic and driving it off the road. On the right shoulder, the truck sideswipes the car with a terrific force that seems intentional. As noted, the women driver of the Honda escaped serious injury. Her side of the story is not yet published. There many questions hanging over this one.

Georgia Pirovolakis and son Michael/Toronto.com

Reporter Joanna Lavoie updates the hard battle fought by the Pirovolakis family as they raise funds for an experimental therapy to stop, or cure, their toddler son’s rare disease. It is spastic paraplegia type 50 known to observant Leaside and East York residents as SPG50. Lawn signs urging people to help cure the affliction are seen everywhere. Some $3 million is needed with about one million already raised.

Reporter Tina Yazdani talks about three separate fatal fires in the region over the past 24 hours.

The Queen has agreed that Harry and Meghan will step back from royal duties and split their time between the UK and Canada. “Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family,” she said in a statement.

The Quack is Back! In honour of #NationalRubberDuckyDay and the 10th anniversary of our festival, we are happy to announce the return of the World's Largest Rubber Duck! Visit the #TOwaterfront June 19-21 to see the 61ft tall, 30,000lb Duck! Visit https://t.co/9JoUXrZr4H 🐥 pic.twitter.com/KuGdfguzdZ

— Toronto Waterfront Festival (@TOwaterfest) January 13, 2020

The Redpath Waterfront Festival, presented by Billy Bishop Airport, today announced the return of the World’s Largest Rubber Duck to Toronto’s Waterfront. The festival is bringing back Mama Duck, who is six stories tall and weighs 30,000 pounds, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the festival, which this year is taking place June 19-21, 2020.

In 2017, the World’s Largest Rubber Duck made a splash in Toronto when it floated in to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary at the waterfront festival. Drawn to the Duck, more than 750,000 people attended the three-day celebration and the festival generated an estimated $7.6 million in economic impact for the city of Toronto. Press Release. towaterfrontfest.com. 2017 appearance in Toronto.

A stolen tractor-trailer sped into the intersection of Eglinton Ave. and Mavis Rd. in Mississauga early Monday hitting a sedan and an SUV. The truck driver is now dead and the other drivers are said to be in serious condition. Police say the tractor-trailer was heading east on Eglinton through the intersection at high speed when it slammed into the sedan, which was pushed into the path of an SUV. The truck rolled into the gas station on the corner and demolished the large Esso sign. Other photos of the scene are on Twitter