Woman gravely hurt in Scarborough by hit-run SUV driver

A woman, 67, is in critical condition after a hit-and-run accident at Danforth Rd. and Patterson Ave. in Scarborough on Thursday evening. She was crossing at Patterson when she was struck by a dark coloured SUV which had turned off Danforth Road. Police say the driver failed to remain at the scene and was last seen travelling northeast towards Warden Avenue. They add the vehicle will likely have damage to the front left side. The woman’s injuries as life-threatening.

Chinese ambassador tells Canada to do as its told — or else

China’s ambassador to Canada warned the Canadian government Thursday to stop recruiting international support in its feud with China and threatened retaliation if Canada bans Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for security reasons. Ambassador Lu Shaye said last month’s arrest of a top Huawei Technologies executive was an act of “backstabbing” by a friend and he warned of repercussions if Canada bars the firm from its new 5G network. He said it would be a bad idea for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to use next week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to press for support against China.

Rehab Dughmosh case shouts to heaven for an explanation

The sad, frightening and entirely unexplained drama of Rehab Dughmosh has ended in a Toronto court with a conviction for attacking Canadian Tire employees with a golf club and other implements. The case is well known. It seems little can be done to help Ms. Dughmosh free herself from the deep hatred she feels for western society. Among her outbursts was this:  “I would like to revoke my Canadian citizenship that I received. I don’t want to have any allegiance to you.” The status of Dughmosh’s Canadian citizenship is apparently unclear, according to file material. She has status in Canada but it’s not clear if she has Canadian citizenship or has the belief that permanent resident status is one and the same. Flabbergasted Canadians are surely asking how the immigration and citizenship process missed this coming. Strange case of Rehab Dughmosh haunts citizenship process

PC government ends free tuition for low-income students

Ontario has eliminated free tuition for low-income students as it attempts to trim a multibillion-dollar deficit. The previous Liberal government increased the number of grants and made it possible for low-income students to attend college or university free of cost. But the auditor general found last month that costs for that program jumped by 25 per cent and warned it could grow to $2 billion annually by 2020-21. Ontario’s debt was estimated last year to be nearly $350 billion dollars.

ALSO THURSDAY




Mike Barry was co-founder of Mariposa Bicycle Specialties

Cycling activists and friends are mourning the death late last year of Mike Barry Sr. Mr. Barry died December 29 at age 80. He was the co-founder, with friend John Palmer, of what has become Mariposa Bicycle Specialties on Cranfield Rd.near Bermondsey Rd. and O’Connor Drive. The men created the first Mariposa bicycle in 1969 from tubing they acquired from the Canada Cycle and Motor (CCM) racing division, which had just closed. In 1972, Mike opened Bicyclesport, a downtown shop where the bikes were made. Mariposa  Remembering Mike Barry

Picture-time as Forest Hill nips Bessborough 2-1 Thursday

The Leaside Cup senior division for Grades 7 and 8 was won 2-1 Thursday by Forest Hill Junior and Senior Public School in a well-fought match against Bessborough Drive Elementary and Middle School. The co-ed tournament welcomes a varying selection of local school teams. Leaside Cup 2019 was its third year at Leaside Arena.

Ice fishermen save late granddad’s picture from sunken cell

First up Thursday is an engrossing tale of how a Saskatchewan ice fisherman and his friend retrieved a sunken cell phone so that pictures of his late grandfather would not be lost forever. Don’t miss it. Then, a bit of a flutter in five-year mortgage rates at the Royal Bank of Canada. RBC is easing up and others are likely to follow. Below that, a CBC report on the unsinkable Theresa May. Why isn’t she gone? It takes the Corp. a while to name the real reason. Yes, she’s tough, but it’s because no one else wants to deal with the impossible Brexit mess. Lastly, another must-see in the form of a 300-foot-wide whirling circle of ice in the Presumpscot River in Maine. Wild.






Demolition at 43 Millwood makes way for new Davisville PS

Canadian man dead at hands of African al-Qaida kidnappers

Kirk Woodman, a Canadian man who was kidnapped from a mining company site in Burkina Faso Wednesday, has been found dead. West Africa’s Sahel region has seen a number of abductions of foreigners in recent years by extremists linked to al-Qaida or the Islamic State organization. Burkina Faso recently declared a state of emergency in the region as attacks by Islamic extremists increased, especially along the border with Niger and Mali.

Drivers badly hurt in two-car collision on Allen at Hwy 401

A 49-year-old man from Barrie and a woman, 60, were drivers of cars that collided on the Allen Road northbound ramp to Highway 401 westbound Wednesday night. The man is gravely injured say OPP. The woman has what are said to be serious injuries.

Polling shows Ontario NDP defeated itself in June election

Cynthia Mulligan of City News has snared PC polling information from the days counting down to the June election that put the Doug Ford Tories in power. It cites NDP miscalculation and radical promises for incinerating Andrea Horwath’s soaring poll numbers. As one source says: “The voters looked.” But not in Toronto. Big Smoke voters painted the town Orange. How different is “NDP Toronto” from the rest of Ontario? Plenty.

Midtown Yonge BIA returns Iron Horses to Beltline bridge

The Midtown Yonge BIA has undertaken to return the memorable Robert Sprachman sculpture known as Iron Horse to the Beltline overpass above Yonge St. south of Davisville Ave. At a meeting Wednesday the sculptor recalled the first incarnation of this work in 1994. It depicts 12 stallions at full gallop and evokes the 19th century culture of the steam engine as an iron horse. The work was intended to be permanent but when the City asked Sprachman for $50,000 to maintain the work the artist decided in 1996 to sell the horses individually. The new work, Iron Horse 2019, will be manufactured locally of recycled plastic to recreate the original. This time around, Midtown Yonge and the Toronto BIA Office will share responsiblity for the Iron Horse. It is hoped to have it in place by June