By André Bovee-Begun

The unnamed police officer who pulled over a doctor speeding to perform emergency surgery was right to make the physician stop and wait while he wrote a three-hundred-dollar traffic ticket, according to a police spokesperson. Mark Pugash, speaking for Toronto Police Services, said that the doctor’s vehicle posed enough of a threat to public safety to justify the officer’s decision. Dr. Michael Kutryk was rushing to the hospital at almost double the forty-kilometre-per-hour speed limit. The patient survived.
Ever wanted to see a whole house get moved down the street? That’s what City staff are recommending for a historic building at 104 John Street (where you might know it by its day job as a Fox & Fiddle). The 140-year-old rowhouse is standing in the way of a proposed 443-unit condo tower and a hotel, mall, and large underground parking lot. The heritage structure would be transported fifty-seven metres south, with a “publicly accessible and landscaped area” to be built beside it. We’ll let you know if things develop, or if a crochety old man, Pixar, or fifty thousand lifelike balloons get involved.
Federal stimulus funds are paying half of the costs for the ROM’s revamped, extra-batty batcave? Expect it to be painted blue, and renamed after the Conservative Party of Canada. Also, Stephen Harper will get to hide out there whenever he prorogues Parliament. Just kidding. We’re a little sore at the government right now—go figure.
Since we’re already biting the hand that feeds us, let’s look at the latest development to come from the case of the Southwold, Ontario, man killed on Sunday by his own tiger. We told you yesterday how the sixty-six-year-old man was mauled to death by his exotic pet (whose fate remains to be decided). Now Boss McGuinty may decide not to let anyone keep a tiger in the backyard.
The family of a slain toddler in Oshawa may not have realized that their grieving Facebook page, created for their friends and family, violated a court-ordered publication ban on the names of the victim and the accused killer. Now, though, that ban has been lifted. Publication bans, which are generally temporary measures, are routinely used to protect the identities of those involved in pretrial cases.
But the biggest news right now is of the enormous earthquake that struck Haiti yesterday afternoon, and, thankfully, doesn’t involve Toronto directly. Judging by the accounts and photos making their way out of the disaster area, the damage there is extensive and sometimes horrifying. Imagine losing City Hall, the Royal York, Sick Kids, much of our urban infrastructure, and our lines of communication all at once, and with them the homes and lives of thousands. Massive efforts are already underway to aid recovery and provide information. If you want to follow the latest news and personal reports, you could do worse than to check here every so often.