The South Bayview Bulldog

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke from a Broadway stage Wednesday to an audience of the Canadian musical Come From Away with much of the audience made up of Newfoundland politicians and family. The play recounts the hospitality extended to stranded travelers on 9-11 when aircraft were directed to land at Gander airport. Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump was also at the performance on Wednesday night, alongside Nikki Haley, the U.S. representative to the United Nations. When Trump arrived, she spoke with several Canadian and Newfoundland and Labrador politicians, including MP Judy Foote. The mayors of Gander and Appleton, N.L., both greeted Trump. The men inspired characters in Come From Away.

AMANDA TODD ACCUSED GETS 243 DAYS IN PRISON

Aydin Coban, a 38-year-old Dutch man, has been sentenced to 10 years and 243 days in prison for online fraud and blackmail in relation to the abuse of 34 young women and men. The sentence, handed down by a judge in the Netherlands, is the maximum that prosecutors were seeking. Coban also faces charges in relation to the cyberbullying of B.C. teenager Amanda Todd. In October 2012, Todd, who was 15 at the time, committed suicide after posting a video on YouTube saying she had been blackmailed by someone online.

Toronto Police are inviting people participate in the online #fraudchat discussion on Twitter. It starts at 8 p.m. March is Fraud Prevention Month for Canadians to Recognize, Reject and Report Fraud. Reduce fraud by increasing fraud awareness. Members of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre will answer questions regarding employment scams. Members of the public can follow Toronto Police Service Financial Crimes (@TPSFCU), Detective Gail Regan (@ReganFCU), Detective Constable Diane Kelly (@DKellyFCU) and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (@Canantifraud), on Twitter. To follow #fraudchat, members of the public simply need to log on to Twitter from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. EST and follow the #Fraudchat hashtag. An application such as Tweetdeck, which allows users to separately view tweets containing this hashtag, is also helpful in following the chat.

Gary Lawrence Miles

Life-long broadcaster

FORMER CEO OF ROGERS RADIO

Gary Lawrence Miles, the former CEO of Rogers Radio, has died at the age 78. The obituary at the website of the Humphrey Funeral Home notes that his wife, Taanta Gupta, was at his side as were his sons Gary Lee, Galen and Vikram. They had all arrived in Toronto from Hong Kong, Winnipeg and Washington, D.C. a few days before Mr. Miles died. The obit goes on to say that the former radio announcer and broadcast executive wanted friends to remember him with a party. “Yes, a party (his words). It definitely will NOT be a Celebration of his Life. He didn’t like that phrase. But now that he’s gone, we can say anything we like. To that end, please come to the Queen’s Park Ballroom at the Park Hyatt on Avenue Road, Toronto on Saturday, March 18, 2017, 3 to 6 p.m. and ask for the Miles-Gupta Party. You’ll be very welcome.”

GREW ROGERS RADIO TO 52 STATIONS

The family thanked Dr. Bernie Gosevitz for his “tireless efforts” in ensuring that Gary’s last days received the kind of attention and care to which he had become accustomed since his marriage to (Taanta) (Not just her words, Gary’s too!)”.  Gary Miles was born in Winnipeg and was a radio announcer there. He went on to become the general manager of stations in two markets, president of the Radio Bureau, vice-president of Selkirk Radio and president of Rogers Radio from 1994 to 2008, growing the company’s division from two to 52 stations. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research C/O Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospital Foundation.

WIRES DOWN
Rosedale Valley Road will be CLOSED from Park Rd to Bayview Ave, wires down across the road #466356 ^cb

— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) March 15, 2017

Wires down

Battery operated headphones

Headphones blow up

A frightening moment or two when a woman found her headphones on fire as she rested on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne recently. This is reported by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) which for reasons unknown did not identify the make of the earphones. The woman felt burning, threw off the headset and flight attendants used a fire extinguisher on the device. The fire was accompanied by a loud explosion. “As I went to turn around I felt burning on my face,” she said. “I just grabbed my face which caused the headphones to go around my neck,” the ATSB quoted the unidentified passenger as saying. “I continued to feel burning so I grabbed them off and threw them on the floor. They were sparking and had small amounts of fire.” In the statement, the ATSB said it “assessed that the batteries in the device likely caught on fire.”

Now CBC targets all five banks

The CBC Marketplace investigation which began with perhaps one or a few complaints from employees of the TD bank about up-selling has expanded to an apparent expose of all five chartered banks. The allegations seem to focus mostly on the efforts of managers to get employees to persuade customers to accept credit cards and borrow money in some form. The most recent online story attributes words like “dupe” and “false stories” (lies) to employees (or former employees) of the banks. It isn’t very clear whether the CBC has confirmed these things. It says there have been more than 1,000 pieces of mail. Estimates suggest that the five banks may have as many as 300,000 employees. The current story seems to contain more emotional expressions of grievance such as being “stressed out.” It is not apparent if the CBC has heard from customers about being duped. CBC

The Ontario Alert Ready System was back on television Wednesday morning reminding us that its screeching whine may well protect families from unknown perils in the weeks and years to come. Maybe it will. The underlying assumption of the screaming meemies has to be that the news media can’t do it and that many people don’t pay attention to the news.

Was a triangle of sort of people just being in the wrong place? York Regional Police need to find out and are appealing to witnesses to come forward after two people were shot in the City of Vaughan. On Tuesday, March 15, 2017, at approximately 4:12 p.m. a man started shooting at Caster Avenue in the area of Weston Road and Highway 7. A woman is dead, named as  Mila Barberi 28, of  Vaughan. A man, 40, apparently with her (or maybe not) received minor injuries. The shooter is described as 6’2, 250 lbs.wearing a dark jacket with his face was covered. He escaped in a dark coloured Jeep Cherokee.

Peter Duncan was rinkside to take these great photos of the Leaside Minor Bantam A Flames in GTHL playoff action against the Don Mills Mustangs

Andrew Smith, 36

Police are hunting an escaped man who slipped away from them at Mount Sinai Hospital early Wednesday. Andrew Smith, 36, was last seen on about 7 a.m. at the hospital at  600 University Avenue. He is described as approximately 5’11”, 130 lbs, brown receding hair, wears glasses. He was last seen wearing a navy-blue sweater, brown pants, dark shoes

Aamar Khwaja

Herbs grow under lights

Modgarden

A Toronto man, Aamar Khwaja, has invented a compact apartment or condo garden to grow herbs and edible weeds all year long. It is called the Modgarden and as reported by the CBC is being shown at the National Home Show this week. Mr. Khwaja says the idea came to him as he pondered how to have fresh greens handy all the time to help eat better. The little compartmentalized garden has grow-lights and is a creation of the Internet of things, sending its owner a text when it needs water. It is not cheap — $600 to $1100 — for something, which while innovative, uses known practices and technology.