Photo: "It Approaches" by Jen M32, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when a woman from New Brunswick claimed to have been forced to drive all the way to Toronto at gunpoint? It sounded like a really terrifying and traumatic experience. Police are now saying that it was nothing more than a fabricated story. Charges haven't been laid, but public mischief is what she'll likely face... and rightly so, in my opinion. What a waste of police resources and time!

Unexpected changes have come to the way airport taxis can operate, and have cabbies and politicians calling foul. An amendment to the rules was passed with little scrutiny, allowing airport taxis to pick up fares in the city (en route back to the airport). But city taxis taking passengers to the airport still aren't able to pick up fares at the airport without them being pre-booked or paying the airport a $10 fee. Sounds rather unfair to me. And all of this has a victim rarely discussed - the air quality in our city and suburbs.

A Milton Home Depot manager and a Sikh security guard are in a court battle that is seeing the guard's religious beliefs pitted against safety concerns, and calls into question the requirement for sensitivity to religious beliefs in the workplace. This is one of those cases that makes me wonder if there's opportunity for a business entrepreneur to capitalize on a situation... by manufacturing safety equipment (i.e. hard hats) that can accommodate religious head dressings like turbans. Has anyone done this, or is it not feasible?

An unmarked police car, driven by an on-duty police officer, hit a 13-year old boy who was skateboarding across the street on a red light at Keele and Glenlake yesterday afternoon. The SIU was called in to investigate, but I'm not sure that they'll confirm anything more than what it appears to be - a bad-timing accident. I'm sure that both the boy and the officer are wishing they could turn back time and have another chance to approach the intersection with more caution.

And apparently a mild winter last year is in part responsible for the surge in wasp population this summer. I haven't noticed more than usual (yet), nor to I have much of a problem with them (since I'm not allergic to their stings), but I am wondering what "more [is] to come" from the 680News report.