The South Bayview Bulldog

CBC online publishes two stories about the questionable use of money, one of which alleges Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7) and several executives from the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA) pushed hard for a deal that would have seen the public overpay by about $2.6 million for a piece of land in the councillor’s ward. This information is said to come from a so far secret 38-page report by law firm Torys LLP. The second story chronicles the spending and debt accumulation of Yorkville celebrity couple Rosemary and Wayne Umetsu.

Pranksters are now said to be responsible for the  car found hanging off the side of the Leaside Bridge Wednesday. Just who, when and especially how remain a question. For a while, police thought it was a movie shoot. Fire personnel cut the thing down. It fell safely to earth as seen below. The plot thickens!  (Sorry, we couldn’t resist that one.)

City News/Twitter

Sorry, it’s not nice to laugh but we just don’t get it. Patios but no cars. Huh. Let’s move on to that great new pick up club called Facebook. Do you come here often? Below that a sombre look at codeine addiction caused by cough syrup in Nigeria. Finally, Hamilton cook and sauce maker Brodie Dawson is basking in the glow — and moving product — after Charlize Theron ate some of his sizzling product on television and liked it. Go you scorching Hammer man.

Shop on fire Albion and #hwy27 #Etobicoke #firefighters #TorontoFire pic.twitter.com/4nxrihoNpg

— Sonny Subra (@SonnySubra) May 1, 2018

Police and fire officers report no injuries in a classic, smoky auto body shop fire on Albion Rd. near Highway 27. in Etobicoke. Three alarms were rung. The fire was put down in about 90 minutes after TFS arrived. Motorist Sonny Subra drove by early in the blaze.

.@MGHToronto begins redevelopment construction ~ https://t.co/Vt3MUxWSC0 #eastyork #eastTO pic.twitter.com/NNelF9UXup

— East York Mirror (@EastYorkMirror) May 1, 2018

Dignitaries flexed their muscles last week at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Michael Garron Hospital rebuild and addition program. This took place Wednesday — a day in the history of the former East General Hospital that president and CEO Sarah Downey called absolutely thrilling. The expanded hospital will contain 215 acute care in-patient beds with 80 per cent allocated to single-patient rooms with private washroom. There will be diagnostic clinics of all kinds community space, gardens and a children’s playground.

Mayor Tory held an alfresco news conference at University and Adelaide this lovely warm day to talk about what City staff has been cooking up. It includes traffic wardens to direct traffic at major intersections, the installation of photo radar to reduce speed violations and new school safety zones. CBC

Attack of the Pepperdine pelicans

Sorry, sorry

Megan wins world speaking championship

Here we go again with Faces in the News, including two chippy pelicans who broke up convocation at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Funny. Then, the British supermarket chain Sainsbury has bought Walmart’s British sub called Asda. It makes Sainsbury bigger than the traditional grocery leader Tesco. See why Sainsbury CEO Mike Coupe apologized for feeling good about this. Silly. And last, Toronto’s own Megan Campbell is profiled on her remarkable victory at the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship in South Africa. She beat 100 other competitors. Hat’s off to you Megan.

Was it you who took these boxes?

City News interviews a man who they found looking at the loading dock of a Richmond St. condo where a young couple lost $5,000 worth of personal belongings when they left their things unattended during a move. They say he looked like a man seen in security video. City asks the man if he was the one who took the boxed possessions.  He says he doesn;t speak English but is able to assert that in his view the boxes were garbage. All very interesting. Video story here.

Alexander (left) and Timothy Vavilov/family photo

Timothy Vavilov, 23, a Toronto-born son of Russian spies, has won a court victory that effectively affirms his Canadian citizenship, four years after the government rebuffed an attempt to renew his passport. But he and his brother, Alexander, have another hurdle to leap in the form of a Supreme Court challenge by federal government. Ottawa wishes to expel the two. Timothy’s interim win at the Federal Court of Canada follows a similar decision in the case of his younger brother, Alexander, 27. They are the sons of the now exposed and deported sleeper spies who lived in Toronto awaiting orders from the Kremlin. Their aliases were Donald Heathfield and Tracey Ann Foley. Heathfield and Foley later admitted to being Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova. Feds in last-minute bid to deport brothers born to spies

Early speculation suggests that someone crawling through a vent or duct fell from above and got stuck behind a wall in a washroom in Calgary. It was fatal. The body was discovered Monday by a plumber fixing a toilet in a washroom of the Core Shopping Centre at Seventh Avenue and Third Street S.W., police said. But this explanation is not final. CBC

GOVERNMENT ELECTION RULES

The federal government intends to limit the length of election campaigns, restrict the amount of spending allowed in the period immediately preceding a campaign and introduce new rules to regulate third-party spending as part of a set of major reforms to Canada’s elections laws. Political parties also would face new privacy requirements regulating how they collect and use information from Canadians.

CROSS CANADA EDUCATION REPORT

Provincial education ministers have released a report on the performance of students in reading and mathematics between 2010 and 2016. The ministers form a body known as the Council of Ministers of Education. The report, which is called the Pan-Canadian Assessment, may be read here

MAN AWARDED $10,000

A Chinese restaurant has been fined $10,000 because it asked a black man and his three friends to pay for their meal in advance in 2014. The server at the Hong Shing restaurant at 195 Dundas West took the order from Emile Wickham and three friends and then came back and told them the policy of the restaurant was for customers to pre-pay. Wickham asked other customers if they had paid in advance and they all said they had not  The Human Rights Commission awarded the sum because of injury to Mr. Wickham’s feelings, self-respect and dignity.

Mt. Pleasant store

Yonge and Shaftesbury

Toys in capitals

The ambitious expansion announced by Mastermind Toys has brought with it refined signage. Original stores, like the one on Mt. Pleasant (left) show the corporate name most prominently. New stores, like the one opened in November at Yonge St. and Shaftesbury Ave. (centre) reverse the capitalization and make a bigger noise about the word Toys. Mastermind has said it will grow to as many as 90 stores by 2020 with further expansion in Quebec after that.  Analysts suggest Mastermind has carved out a niche with stores closer to home offering personalized service in toys that are exclusive to the firm.

Regular fuel at self-serve stations in Vancouver has hit 1.62 a litre, the highest price ever paid in North America for gasoline. The price was posted at stations across the lower mainland Sunday. “The 1.619 represents the single largest price point ever paid at any gas station, or any regional gas station across North America in the history of fuel,” said Dan McTeague of Gasbuddy.com. McTeague said with no end to the high prices in sight, a lot of people are changing their plans — and the impact will be felt all over the economy. “I would not be surprised to see this summer to be one in which people will withhold their discretionary spending. And that does have an effect on pretty much everything else.”