Morning Brew: Dufferin Jog no longer, York high school kids friend teachers, Toronto police farce, 5000 light bulbs, more bed bug woes
Bye bye, Dufferin Jog. As we reported on the weekend, the new 70-metre tunnel connecting Dufferin Street beneath the rail bridge at Queen Street officially opens today at 3 p.m. Eliminating the Dufferin Jog is Toronto's largest infrastructure project in the past few years and one that the city of Toronto has been waiting for since, well, ever. David Miller went beyond erasing it, opting to build an amphitheatre, new light standards, and decorative fencing. Gord Perks, the councilor for Ward 13 High Park-Parkdale admits, "Some may call it gravy. I say not." Hmm. Now who would that be?
York high school kids are freaking out that they may soon be friended by their teachers on Facebook. "There are some things that a teacher just shouldn't see," Student Nicole Daniels, an executive member of the York Catholic District School Board School Senate, told a workshop on social networking held by the advocacy group People for Education York University. Yet she admitted there were students who liked the idea, including some who found it a convenient way to get messages from a teacher on projects and assignments or to get help in a difficult subject. Those are the kids we call nerds and they were definitely unfriended yesterday.
Fifteen years ago, journalist Derek Finkle began working on a stranger-than-fiction story about the most confidential, covert mafia operations in Canadian history, stemming here in Toronto. But a detective alleges the case imploded to prevent its suspicious origins going public. Finkle calls it "Toronto Police Farce Part 1." And I think Steve Guttenberg would make an excellent Fantino.
And just when you thought all was lost with the Toronto Police Department--soft, what yonder breaks: "Light the Night", a program encouraging replacing front porch lights with energy efficient bulbs to keep neighbourhoods safe, is nearing its 5000th light bulb goal with the help of police as part of their Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy. Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel.
A report to the Toronto Board of Health on the Toronto Bed Bug Project (yes, scarily enough there is such a thing) says that public health inspectors and nurses have been seconded to the project, meaning a major outbreak of salmonella or other food-borne outbreak would squash the bed bug program. The city remains hopeful the province will okay a request to fund an ambitious five-year program to beat these bed bugs. Infestations of bugs, then snakes. What's next for Toronto? The locusts?
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