Photo: "Here's to you" by Artisan Hill, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

The Sun has some counting and figured out that in the first 10 days of June 20 Toronto councilors will be out of town at conferences. The tally includes 8 TTC commissioners headed to Vienna for a transit conference and 12 councilors (including the Mayor) headed to a posh Whistler resort for the Canadian Federation of Municipalities conference. In question is the value of sending so many people - on the tax-payer's dime - to these gatherings, which some claim are simply junkets. Kevin Gaudett of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says it's "self gratification" over "service," but I'm thinking it's both.

Shootings in this town make the news but the coverage intensifies when the media hears a 5 year old girl has been shot by a stray bullet. This morning, fortunately, we're hearing news that the girl is expected to survive. Still on life support is Weston/Lawrence area resident's faith in their neighbourhood has a safe place to live.

I'm sure Friday afternoon commuters will be pleased to know another Tamil protest is expected this afternoon. Thousands are expected to come out to Queen's Park for a candlelight vigil in honour of the tens of thousands killed in recent months of fighting in Sri Lanka. No word yet if the protest will take the streets, but nobody is betting against the crowd marching.

Apparently the base of my front porch is a great place for love - bug love. The city has been inundated with midges, enticed by the warm weather into big swarms of copulation. Bad news for cyclists (unless you like the taste of breeding midges), but the good news is that these little buggers only live for a couple weeks.

Planning to use the Gardiner on Sunday? Think again, as the westbound lanes will be closed from Carlaw to Jameson for scheduled maintenance from midnight to noon. No word if the work will make the road "protest ready."

Bad news for the Blue Jays: you aren't invincible. After sweeping the White Sox the Jays got swept by the Red Sox, managing just 5 runs in the series. With their division lead down to half a game, Cito & Co. head to Atlanta for their first inter-league matchup of the year, hoping to turn things around. I'd say it's best to leave the World Series floats in storage a while longer.