Photo: "Eastward on Jameson Ave" by Jim U, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Friday August 1st, 2008:

The largest fines ever handed out in Canadian courts are to be paid by Canadian tobacco giants Imperial and Rothmans. For years, both companies were manufacturing cigarettes, knowingly shipping them to smugglers in the US who would then bring them back into Canada for sale without required taxes and duty. If you ask me, this is a textbook case of white-collar crime that proves that if you have enough of it, money can buy your way out of the most serious of trouble. And allow you to keep running a business that puts serious strain on our troubled health care system.

A major drug raid operation has netted millions of dollars of narcotics, and resulted in 26 arrests. Unlike tobacco giants, these criminals won't be able to buy their way out and continue their illegal activity because the government doesn't collect taxes on cocaine, heroin, and GHB.

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A Toronto woman who is a collector (or, arguably, a fanatic) of relics of Queen Victoria purchased a pair of the 19th century monarch's underwear for $9000. With genuine excitement, she talks about how this latest addition to her collection humanizes the woman because "...she also wore underwear, just like the rest of us."

A series of metal drain covers were stolen along a stretch of highway 427 recently, creating a very dangerous situation on the road (gaping holes in the emergency lane). Past thefts of metal objects in Toronto for scrap value has included publicly erected statues, catalytic converters from parked cars, and more.

Headline of the day goes to the Toronto Sun, who were cute enough to incorporate a Star Wars reference in their article about worries of vendetta attacks and heightened police presence at this weekend's Caribana parade.