Photo: "Urban Framing" by blogTO Flickr pooler stumblintrucker.

Your (woke up on the wrong side of the bed) Toronto morning news roundup for Wednesday April 16th, 2008:

If sewage starts backing up onto your street, don't call the city. Call CityNews - they have more clout than you and, unlike yours, the city will return their calls eventually. But this could all change come autumn, when a city watchdog/ombudsperson position is created, with promises that this new middleperson will ensure better attention and service. Hopefully this works, and doesn't result in one more annoying step in the process, or one more person to blame for a lack of response.

With the release of four more suspects yesterday, the count is now up to 7 (of 18) of the accused in the local terror trials that have had charges stayed. Is the crown's case crumbling because there was never a case, and this whole terror plot bust was a fabrication to flex Canada's war on terror muscle?

What the f*ck of the week:
Rural landowners are threatening to clear-cut massive treed areas in Eastern Ontario and render an endangered species homeless. The threat comes because provincial laws aiming to protect those species hurt the landowners financially and they're not being compensated.

TTC strike watch:
Talks have reached a "boiling point." Watch the Union's press conference tomorrow morning. This could be the 48h advanced notice of a strike that we've all been eagerly awaiting (because we really need a reason to be displeased with our transit system).

In other transit news... could a much needed TTC subway Downtown Relief Line (proposal) be in the cards within 10 years? Check out the excellent debate in Spacing's recent post on the subject.