Nestlé has lost its appeal against a decision to deny it a patent on the shape of the KitKat bar. That would be the four-fingered confection known to millions around the world. The attempt to patent the shape of the bar was part of the on-going battle with Europe’s other chocolate titan Cadbury. Nestlé owns the KitKat name but wanted to be sure that you-know-who would not come out with something that looked similarly four-fingered.
A senior mental health care worker in Hamilton has condemned the Netflix series which follows a teen girl flirting with romanticized suicide. Gord Davies, an employee of St. Joseph’s Healthcare suggests the soap opera-like series Thirteen Reasons Why has coincided with a tripling of calls about kids in jeopardy in recent weeks. He says the series romanticizes suicide and suggests nothing good can come out of it. Davies told the CBC’s Duncan McCue the series does not instill any hope in those who are hopeless. “It’s actually giving them an idea that maybe there is no hope. Maybe the things they were thinking, about trying to talk to somebody, that wouldn’t go anywhere good. That reaching out to a mental health worker, a guidance counselor, that wouldn’t actually be beneficial. And it actually seals the case in their mind that there is no hope. And that’s just a very sad thing.” Davies said “It also dramatizes suicide, saying there is something good that comes out of it, because after they’re dead people will talk about them more, they’ll think about them more. It romanticizes suicide in a way that just is not healthy.”
There will be a black-legged tick media event Thursday at Morningside Park to share information about the City’s tick surveillance program and offer tips on how to prevent Lyme disease. What can we say. Be there. As part of the event, media will be provided with a demonstration on how ticks are collected from the environment through a process known as tick dragging. It starts at 10 a.m. at 390 Morningside.
Working fire going defensive on Marmion in the Bathurst 401 Area. No injuries reported. @Toronto_Fire working #toronto @ChiefPeggTFS pic.twitter.com/oI0WIZthpY
— Andrew Collins (@ACollinsPhoto) May 17, 2017
Fire has destroyed a home on Marmion Ave. northeast of Lawrence Ave. and Bathurst Street between Melrose and St. Germain Aves. The spectacular blaze was recorded by neighbours and many overnight news photographers. No one was hurt. The fire is believed to have started in the garage and then spread to the home. Damage is estimated a $2 million.
.@Toronto_Fire on scene working fire response in a residential home on Marmion. Heavy fire conditions on arrival. No injuries reported pic.twitter.com/2hShOOmzNh
— Andrew Collins (@ACollinsPhoto) May 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/TPSVicentino/status/864684990885507073
There was a triumph of hard work and dedication Tuesday night as volunteers and players saw the new playing lights officially turned on at the Go Green Cricket Park on Overlea Blvd. The evening was illuminated by the presence of Pakistani Cricket legend Shahid (Boom Boom) Afridi. Many dignitaries including Premier Wynne, MP Rob Oliphant and Councillor Jon Burnside were present. Expressions of affection for Afridi fill Twitter at @GoGreenCricket
Part of Bay Street was blocked off Wednesday beside the Four Seasons Hotel after glass has again fallen from a window in the north tower of the building. No one was hurt. Two years ago two people were injured after a window fell from the penthouse level of the Four Seasons. The hotel said it is taking the incident very seriously and is “working diligently to take all necessary precautions to resolve this matter as quickly as possible in cooperation with the local authorities.”
The federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau took a stab Tuesday at making things better when it comes to people getting kicked off Air Canada flights because of overcrowding. In the end, however, he seems to have hung his hat on the airline offering more money to get unwanted passengers to go away quietly. In the process he made some stern remarks about no one ever being forced off a flight against his or her will again. Maybe. But he may know better about the reality of too many people trying to board the same plane. No doubt his heart was in the right place. Garneau’s strongest promise was that he will make sure “travellers are treated like people and not numbers.” He did not talk about the wonky economics of the airline business. It horrifies airline executives that a plane might take off with an empty seat. We will see.
Cathy Hawkins of the Amsterdam Brewery at 45 Esandar Drive is the contact person for what promises to be an interesting evening Tuesday. It’s a screening of the film Forgotten, the story of 100,000 children who came to Canada as indentured labourers and domestics. This is a presentation of the British Home Child Group International. For tickets write Cathy at chawkins@amsterdambeer.com
Police frankly suspect arson at the scene of a tarpaulin fire Monday afternoon at Central Tech Stadium, 725 Bathurst Street. This is one location where the Toronto District School Board has leased its high-school sports fields to Razor Management which built a track and field all-weather dome. The TDSB gets a covered field in winter and Razor gets to lease it on off-hours. Some people didn’t like this. Cops find all that a possible motive for arson. In this case a large stored tarp was engulfed in flames, seemingly set on fire. Police are requesting assistance from anyone who may have been at this location and witnessed the fire, or anyone who may have recorded the fire on a cell phone or any other video recording device, to contact police.
This is the well-known On-the-Run convenience store at Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Merton Street. But of course it isn’t. Like all properties of the Montreal mammoth depanneur and gas bar chain, On-the-Run is being tortured into a new life as Circle K. The Mac’s store chain will soon fall before this Texas stampede as well. As reported earlier, Alimentation Couche-Tard (Night Owl) is very touchy about retaining its owlish name and logo in Quebec, but in Ontario– hey, it’s only Mac’s. One by one across Toronto, Mac’s signs are going black
The province is about to effectively get rid of the Ontario Municipal Board. This is said to be coming in a news conference Tuesday. Whether the change will be as great as is suggested in reports, remains to be seen. The OMB is a supposed appeal body which has exercised enormous authority in the actual creation of planning policy for communities. The origins of this power, often seen as pro-developer, seem to be related to fears in the early years of the 20th Century that municipalities would be anti-development.
BOOM TOWN TORONTO
Boom towns like Toronto have long since been overwhelmed by builders many of whom have no regard for planning. The OMB has been seen as their friend. The enormous amounts of money to be made in high-rise development were unknown to those who conceived the OMB. Jennifer Pagliaro in the Star, says the OMB name and, more importantly, the existing process that has been called “seriously flawed” by residents groups will cease to exist if new legislation to be tabled this month is approved.
LET CITIES PLAN
The two biggest changes would include making good on a decade-old promise to cities to let them plan their own futures and helping citizens who have said they are “woefully unprepared” to participate on equal ground against developer interests. The CBC says it has been told OMB will be replaced by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, which will have less power. The tribunal will only make decisions on whether or not a municipality has followed its planning process and land use plans. If it hasn’t, the issue will be sent back to the municipality for reconsideration. News release
The credit card and debit payment system for Starbucks in the Toronto area was back up and running by about 11.30 a.m. But for most of the morning, coffee was free. (Tells you something about the margins).
