Photo: "Eye Wide Shut..." by chewie2008~, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA:

Police in Brampton have no right to pull you over and ask you to pay for your crime in cash, on the spot. Real cops tried this on me once in Manila, but if this happens in the GTA, you've gotta ask yourself if the guy asking for money is actually a police officer. Chances are, he isn't.

The tanning industry (I'm talking about people paying to get fake-sunned, not animal hides being prepped in Acton) is an odd one to begin with. Now it's coming under government scrutiny because so many salons aren't playing by the rules designed to keep it safe.

The Daily Bread Food Bank's fall food drive is not going very well, and drastic shortages of donations are a cause for concern. Perhaps with the looming economic meltdown, people are starting to worry more and more about themselves than those in far more dire need?

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A leisurely weekend jaunt from the tee dot to the windy city will soon be as easy as 1, 2, 3. Packing a bag, heading to YTZ, and flying Porter to Chicago will soon be an option. Boston, Washington DC, and Philly are also on the radar for the near future. The screams of the anti-island-airport contingent just might drown out the sound of the Bombardier Q400s taking off.

Condo dwellers are waiting in anticipation for the opening of the new walking/vehicle tunnel that will connect the waterfront condocluster to the downtown core on the other side of the railway tracks. Maybe this same strategy should be considered at the foot of Bathurst, connecting pedestrians to the island airport. Then we could avoid winter weather almost entirely.

And it looks like another property tax hike may be in the cards for Toronto homeowners. Miller is hinting at it, and McGuinty is cautioning against it.