The South Bayview Bulldog

A public ceremony is set for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the renovated grounds at East York Civic Centre beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, October 29. That’s at 850 Coxwell Ave. at Mortimer Ave.. The event will feature remarks from Councillor Mary Fragedakis (Ward 29) music by DJ Elegance, face painting and refreshments. People are asked to bring a non-perishable food item as a donation to a local food bank.

Twitter is pulling the plug on its six-second video platform Vine. Hours after announcing layoffs of nine percent of its staff, aimed at cutting costs and getting the company closer to profitability. Twitter said Vine video service would be shut down in the coming months.

The memorable green-eyed “Afghan girl” whose picture touched a generation in 1984 has appeared in court in Peshawar, accused of having a fake Pakistani identity card.  Sharbat Gulla shot to international fame when a photo of her, as a refugee girl, made the cover of National Geographic. Elsewhere in Your World, ripples of laughter rolled over delegates at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Slovenia as Japan voted “no” to a proposal for a whale sanctuary. The Japanese are enormous whale eaters. Other IWC news. And advance voting has begun in the U.S. general election.

TTC bosses think that many adults are using  student Metropasses instead of buying adult passes. It saves such a trickster $28.50 over the 30-day life of the pass. That’s $342 a year. Not as good as getting on the streetcar for free by the back door, but pretty good. The suspicion arises as an increase in the sale of student Metropasses matches a drop in the sale of adult passes. The issue must be faced and dealt with elsewhere. London’s tube system sells thousands of so-called Oyster passes every day and presumably has a handle on student use.

Police have recovered a body from a car that was driven through the guardrail of the bridge on Cherry Street at the ship canal Thursday evening. CBC

Author Peter Robinson will pop by the Sleuth of Baker Street today (Friday, October 28) about 5 p.m. to sign copies of his latest Inspector Banks novel  When The Music’s Over ($29.95). Sleuth is at 907 Millwood Rd and Sutherland Drive. Previously on Peter Robinson 

The intersection of Bayview Avenue and Finch Avenue in Toronto will be affected by a series of lane closures to accommodate road resurfacing work. The closures will extend from this evening (October 28) at 7 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 29, and will occur again on Saturday, November 5 from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. During the closure period this weekend, two eastbound lanes of traffic and one westbound lane will be open at the intersection of Bayview and Finch when grinding takes place in the westbound lanes. The opposite will occur when work is done in the eastbound lanes.During the November 5 closure, only one lane of traffic in each direction will be able to access the intersection. Regular work hours, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., will be in effect other days during the work period. Release

Leaside Junior Wildcats defeated Etobicoke Dolphins 5-2 Thursday night at MasterCard Centre in Provincial Women’s Hockey League play. The win will be a welcome boost for 13th-placed Leaside to outscore the 10th-ranked Dolphins.  Goals came from Captain Kristin Della Rovere in the first period unassisted, Emma Pye, Myah Bowa and Quinn Johnston in the second and Madison Heeney in the third. Assists came from Olivia Kariunas, Kasumi Kobo, Kristin Della Rovere (twice) Myah Bowal, Samantha Jones and Megan Pardy. Leaside peppered Dolphin goalie Tristyn Elford with 34 shots while Shanna Dolighan in the Leaside net faced 18. Boxscore.

Official red ribbon cutting ceremony for our grand opening! #CelebrateBHSWC #ribboncutting #Tdot #Bellwood #WaterstoneClinic #Leaside pic.twitter.com/YJZtWrWXi1

— Waterstone Clinic (@WaterstoneTO) October 27, 2016

Police say they have been told that a woman drove her car through the railing of the Cherry Street bridge and plunged the vehicle into a shipping channel on Toronto’s lakeshore. This information comes from a cyclist who dove into the lake in an attempt to rescue the driver. He was unable to find anything and was taken to hospital to be treated for hypothermia. Fire officials and the fire boat are at the scene with divers.  At dinner hours, police announced they will have to wait until morning to confirm whether a motorist was in fact inside the car. Brett Moore of the TPS told CP24 that divers had located the car but nightfall was forcing them to suspend their recovery efforts for the evening.

Moore said he was unable to confirm if any passengers were located.

UPDATE: Police say it is now a recovery mission after car crashed into Toronto harbour at Cherry St & Polson St with one person in car pic.twitter.com/WAYtBzShK0

— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) October 27, 2016

https://twitter.com/nickjboisvert/status/791760870015664129

There was a bit of drama on the Boston subway last evening when a motor started to smoke. Fumes filled the cars but the doors didn’t open. Passengers took matters into their own hands. Three went to hospital for minor injuries

Passengers on a #Boston subway train are forced to break windows to escape after the carriages fill with smoke: https://t.co/lfqGOlzUAS

— On Demand News (@ODN) October 27, 2016

A few of the satisfyingly scary close-ups from 186 Hanna Rd.

Karen Fraser, of Mallory Crescent, is set to go with her fourth annual Halloween Lawn Decorating Contest. The website is here setting out the categories and some useful reminders for zealous Halloween competitors. Decorations must be “PG13” and safe. The judges’ decision will of course be final and judging of the finalists will be based only on what is visible from the sidewalk. Speaking of visible, the freaky folks across the top of this post and those below are from the always entertaining front lawn of 186 Hanna Road and were shot (so to speak) two days ago.