Newsstand: April 20, 2009

Two 'maybe' candidates in search of a wedge issue (Globe and Mail): "With critics of Toronto Mayor David Miller in the hunt for the ABM (Anyone But Miller) candidate for the November, 2010, municipal election, the tryouts are getting under way at city hall."

City schools test poorly, report says (National Post): "High school students in Toronto are performing 'well below average' on math and literacy tests, according to the author of a new report card on academic performance released yesterday. The Fraser Insitute, a Vancouver based think-tank, uses the results from a math test given to Grade 9 students and a Grade 10 literacy test to assign grades and rankings to 718 schools across Ontario." [More coverage in the Sun; original Fraser Institute report here.]

Tech school closing ignites fury (Toronto Star): "The words ran hot and passions reached the boiling point—a taste of what's to come as Toronto public school trustees take up the thorny issue of closing dozens of neighbourhood schools due to declining enrolment."

Canada's oldest summer theatre destroyed by fire (Globe and Mail): "The Red Barn Theatre was a well known cultural fixture in the Lake Simcoe area, and with 59 years of staging performances, had the distinction of being Canada's longest-running summer theatre...Within the arts community, the Red Barn was seen as an incubator that helped actors, producers and directors build other theatres. Among the more prominent are Brian Doherty, a Toronto lawyer who founded the Shaw Festival, Marigold Charlesworth of National Arts Centre fame, and Bill Glassco, who established the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto." [More coverage in the Star.]

Potheads geared up for tokin' gesture (Toronto Sun): "Hundreds of marijuana advocates are expected to flood College Park between 2 and 4:20 p.m. to celebrate '4/20 Day'—a rally to 'publicly puff down' current marijuana laws."

Toronto police officers can now grow goatees (680 News): "Some Toronto police officers are putting away their razors for spring. After a year-long battle with the Toronto Police Service, the Toronto Police Association—the union that represents police officers—has won the right to grow goatees...The goatee must be worn with a moustache, must be neatly trimmed, and must be no longer than two centimetres from the skin."