The South Bayview Bulldog

No winning ticket was sold for the $5 million jackpot in Saturday night’s Lotto 649 draw. The guaranteed $1 million prize was claimed by a ticket holder in British Columbia. The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Jan. 9 will be approximately $7 million.

Five girl die in “escape room” in Poland

Five teen girls, all 15, are dead after a fire started during an “escape room” birthday party event in Koszalin, Poland. The fire prevented a worker from opening the room. Escape rooms are described as “interactive games” in which kids search for clues to get themselves out of their locked-in dilemma. There are many in Toronto. It seems the rooms typically have no inside mechanism for emergency exit. The phenomenon will seem to come out of nowhere for some parents, particularly the morbid variant of the game which is obsessed with fear rather than skill. A recently-released movie in theatres now challenges the heroine to “try doing one thing that scares you.” Sure.

Shooting on Dane Avenue near Dufferin St & Lawrence Av in North York. Multiple shots fired on residential street, victim showed up at Humber River Hospital. Injuries are non-life threatening. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/6mflLDiw7g

— Jeremy Cohn (@JeremyCohnTV) January 5, 2019

Glass door on Laird smashed

Business as usual

Broken cash drawer

Thieves broke the glass side door on Laird Drive to enter the Starbucks at 878 Eglinton East overnight causing the store to open late Saturday. The cash drawer was forced open and an unknown amount of money taken. It would not be much. Who pays for coffee with cash anymore?

Mr .Justice Sean Dunphy

Mount Pleasant Funeral Centre

Ontario Superior Court Judge Sean Dunphy has found that the corporation known as the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries is a trust and charity under the auspices of the Public Guardian and Trustee of Ontario. His decision seems to mean that the decades-long transformation of the large burial ground into a privately-run commercial system both of cemeteries and funeral homes must now be undone. As per the governing statutes, Dunphy said, the land held by the trust is to be used “exclusively” for the burial of the dead. Therefore the visitation centres and funeral home business that MPGC has funded exceed the terms of the trust. Judge Dunphy declared that the Act of 1849 governing the succession of trustees is still valid. As none of the current “directors” have been appointed in compliance with this act, there are currently no validly appointed trustees. Judge Dunphy has ordered that the seven most senior directors of MPGC shall be appointed by the court as trustees, and that notice of their appointment will be placed in the Ontario Gazette. The public may then call a public meeting in accordance with the provisions of the 1849 Act and elect one or more “inhabitant householders of the City of Toronto” in replacement of one or more of the seven trustees. The decision raises questions about the future of the visitation centre built on cemetery property on Moore Avenue during the McGuinty-Wynne years and which gave rise to the neighbours’ movement which ultimately led to Judge Dunphy’s decision. Five premiers mere spectators to mutation of Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Changing #careers is exciting but also frightening – there is no right answer but @MeridianCU's @dilysdcruz has points for us to think about Sunday at Noon on @1059TheRegion: https://t.co/nCbBmOZl4A #BestOfWSS pic.twitter.com/vhsh4tOQHp

— What She Said! (@WhatSheSaidTalk) January 5, 2019

Christine Bentley and Kate Wheeler talk to Dilys D’Cruz of Meridian Credit Union about changing careers when you’re nudged out. They’re heard Sunday at noon on 105.9 The Region.

No winning ticket was sold for the $10 million jackpot in Friday night’s Lotto Max draw. The jackpot for the next Lotto Max draw on January 11 will be approximately $18 million

A break-in overnight closed the Starbucks at Eglinton East and Laird Drive for several hours Saturday. The store re-opened about 10.30 a.m. after police finished their investigation.

Specialty retailer J. Crew will close its CF Eaton Centre store, a move that follows other Canadian closings including Fairview Mall and Markville Mall. The Yorkdale store, selling only women’s wear, remains open. Some may read meaning into the ownership of the three malls in question. They are all part of the Cadillac Fairview chain. CF is known as a fair but fairly uncompromising landlord. Two stores have closed in Alberta, one at the CF Chinook Centre and one at the Triple Five owned West Edmonton Mall. J. Crew was created in 1947 selling women’s, men’s and children’s apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, lounge-wear, wedding, bags, sweaters, denim, dresses, suiting, jewelry, and shoes. How J. Crew, IBM And Other At-Risk Brands Can Regain Footing In 2019

Sun sets over Mud Creek by Moore Ave. Friday

Modest drama of sign installation on Bayview Ave.

Richard Byford with BIA award for Christmas window

Write Impressions was another winner

Hanna and Randolph

Hanna and Sutherland

Let’s shine some light on the improving length of days now that January is here. Mud Creek will remain its timeless self but by January 31 those of us who live nearby will have gained 45 minutes of daylight since December 21. Centre left, a modest drama unfolds Friday as workmen install the sign for Toronto Med Spa on Bayview Ave. Welcome all. At the right, owners accept their due for having decorated appealing Christmas windows as judged by the Bayview Leaside BIA. More on that at the BIA Facebook page. At the bottom, are homes nearing completion in south Leaside. Can you guess which one is built by Ivy Glen Homes? The one on the right is the Ivy Glen home.

Kayla Hounsell

Nick Troller

Canada, Canada, we stand guardedly with an eye on you. First up (at left) is Balfour Der, one of several Alberta lawyers, who objects to federal government plans to eliminate peremptory challenges at jury selection to ensure more Indigenous jurors. It is quite hard to recruit them. Der and colleagues say this will just mean the first 12 candidates to show up will form the jury. At centre is Kayla Hounsell of the CBC in the Maritimes. She takes a run with a local cop to see how new legislation permitting arbitrary breath tests will work. Finally, Nick Troller of Winnipeg is still trying to get the Manitoba highway authority to return his personalized license plates ASIMIL8 (assimilate). He says it’s just a play on a Star Trek series but the NDP Indigenous complainant says he’s expunging her culture.