Jurassic Park may move indoors to Scotiabank Arena

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MLSE says it will make a determination at 5 p.m. this afternoon whether or not to move Jurassic Park indoors to Scotiabank Arena due to weather conditions. 680 News’ Momin Qureshi is on the scene and has tweeted that “The lineup to Jurassic Park is now completely empty!” (4:47pm) CBC tweeted “Raptors fans had waited hours for a spot in Jurassic Park for Game 6. Now the lines have been shut down with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment suggesting the die-hard Raps fans may instead be allowed into Scotiabank Arena.”

UPDATE: MLSE is moving ahead with the Game 6 Raptors Tailgate viewing party at Jurassic Park. Gates open at 7 p.m. Staff will continue to monitor the weather situation and Scotiabank Arena will be used if there’s lightning.

Orca pod makes rare appearance in Vancouver’s False Creek

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People were treated to the wonderful sight of orcas on Wednesday afternoon in the city’s most inner waterway. The Vancouver Aquarium said this is the first reported sighting of killer whales in False Creek since it began collecting data in 2000. Jeff Wilson tweeted a fabulous photo documenting his “epic” day. More

This could be the night (again) as Raps face GSW at Oracle

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Fingers crossed and all that. Mayor Tory has released this photoshopped image of him mimicking Drake’s iconic 2016 Views album cover with the mayor himself on top of the CN Tower in his Raptors jacket. A map of Game 6 road closures is available at http://bit.ly/MLSEPlayoffs2019. MLSE says it will make a determination at 5 p.m. this afternoon whether or not to move Jurassic Park indoors to Scotiabank Arena due to weather conditions.

Mayor ever-optimistic (Twitter / @JohnTory)

The mayor also revealed he will need Achilles tendon surgery for an injury suffered about six weeks ago. The temptation to discuss this in context with basketball prevailed. “I just found out yesterday that I am going to have to have surgery on it so I was thinking that I am going to have to go down and talk to KD and see if I can get the same surgeon and just do a two for one deal. I figure any doctor that fixed his Achilles tendon would be the right doctor to go to and that is no offense to our doctors here,” Tory said.

This lost bank card, iPhone will surely have a happy ending

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Someone’s entire life
Who is this sweet little pudding?

We just know that this lost bank card and phone will soon be back in the hands of its owner with the help of good neighbours in Leslieville. The post went up late Thursday morning. What a sweet pudding is pictured among the life essentials in this phone. Postscript: For sure, the owner caught wind of the Good Samaritan fury on Facebook and is on her way to pick up the card and phone. Hooray!

Taste of Little Italy closes College for 3 days starting Friday

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250,000 expected
Taste of Little Italy

The annual Taste of Little Italy street festival begins Friday and runs to late Sunday this weekend. It is expected to draw as many as 250,000 people to College Street. College will be closed from Shaw Street to Bathurst St at 6 p.m. and will reopen on Monday at 3 a.m. Also, Palmerston Ave, Clinton St, Montrose Ave just North of College will also be closed. TTC will not be operating within these boundaries during the road closure times specified. Drivers are advised to plan alternate routes.

What’s happened since 2009 to cause more teen self-harm

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Authors of a study at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa say that 2009 was a turning point for increased self-harm among teens in Ontario. Since then, says Dr. William Gardner, the incidence of cuts and ingestion of drugs has increased 78 percent against previous years. The statistics represent visits to emergency departments. In a Canadian Press story Thursday, Dr. Gardner pondered the impact of such things as the cell phone, which arrived in 2007, and social media cyber-bullying. “Engagement with social media could lead to increased rates of self-harm, at least for vulnerable adolescents,” Gardner said. “This could happen in several ways: by normalizing self-harm, by triggering it, by getting teens to emulate self-harming peers, or by exposing youths to cyber-bullying.” However, he said, social media may also benefit some struggling teens by providing them with a way to “escape social isolation or find encouragement to seek treatment.” It could also be that efforts to destigmatize mental illness in the period studied have encouraged teens and their families to seek help when they need it, Gardner said. “We have to say that if kids who are in trouble are more likely to come to seek care, that’s good. It’s sad that there’s all those kids (who are struggling) but better to know about it than not,” he said.

Dolls, Chicks hit Leaside as roller girls play Millwood arena

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Derby rolls into Leaside this Saturday

The Toronto Roller Derby has found a new home at Leaside Memorial Community Arena and will kick off the season with a three-match round-robin tournament this Saturday, June 15 at 3 p.m. The TRD lost its long-standing home affectionately known as The Bunker last year. That was the auditorium at Downsview Park, for many years the scene of roller dramatics. It has now been leased out as a studio for film and move production. At the time, league president Mina Smart called it a significant setback. The six TRD teams will stage another tourney at the Millwood Rd. arena July 15.

Woman honked into making unsafe turn at Overlea/DM Rd.

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Traffic back to normal after early afternoon collision/680News

Traffic is back to normal at Overlea Blvd and Don Mills Rd. after an early afternoon collision that flipped one vehicle. All parties were said to be conscious and it appears injuries were sustainable.

WITNESS HAS HARROWING ACCOUNT

Pallavi Thampi tweeted a harrowing eyewitness account. “I’m so shaken,” she says of her experience as she stood at the intersection. “A woman was making a left turn, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear as she should. The car behind her honks, and she panics and attempts to make the turn. She is slammed by an oncoming car, traveling over 80 km per hour. I’m on the street corner. The car flips in the air, lands on the driver’s side, wheels spinning. I call 911.”

Stratford latest Ontario town prey to cyber ransom racket

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Midland, Wasaga Beach, Stratford. The pickings are good it seems for cyber racketeers who paralyze municipal computers and demand tens of thousands of dollars to turn them free again. Whether there’s a fool-proof fix remains murky but if there is it takes awareness, time and money.

Woman seriously hurt on 400 as lost wheel slams into car

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Woman seriously hurt in fearful damage done by lost tire/OPP Kerry Schmidt

A Barrie woman, 29, has been seriously hurt when a tire came off a car and smashed through the windshield of her car on Highway 400 near Innisfil on Wednesday. OPP say the accident occurred on Highway 400 southbound north of Highway 89. The call came in at 8:30 a.m. An air ambulance landed on the highway to pick up the woman and take her to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Flying lost wheels are a too-frequent occurrence on Ontario highway as described in this City News report.

Asking if you know the man below caught on security video

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Police are asking for public assistance to identify the man seen below after two break-ins at a plaza at Lawrence and Midland Aves. Early June 6 a man entered an auto body shop and stole items. Later the same day, during the late evening hours, the same man entered a mosque, which is located in the same plaza. There he took cash used to assist with the tuition of students enrolled there He is 20-25, with a thin build, thin beard, and shoulder-length hair. He was wearing a red baseball hat, black and grey camouflage-style jacket, and dark-coloured pants.

Police seek his identity

Proud Ojibway woman parades with fellow police graduates

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Officer sneaks a look at his newly received badge
PC Kelly Esquat is of Indigenous extraction

The graduation of 129 new Toronto police officers in a ceremony at the Enercare Centre Tuesday was especially historic. Officer Kelly Esquat, an Ojibway First Nation woman, was among the grads. As reported by Ron Fanfair at the TPS website, Ms. Esquat first made an impact with superiors as an administrative clerk and then as a graduate of the Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training program went on to enter police college.