By Meg Campbell

Every weekday’s end, Extra, Extra collects just about everything you ought to care about or ought not miss.

Proposed InfoToGo design modification illustrations from the Street Furniture Program – InfoToGo Pillar Design Modification background file. Council approved the design on the left yesterday.

• City council approved a modified design for Astral Media’s InfoToGo pillars yesterday, and the Toronto Public Space Initiative issued a release today criticizing the new configuration, calling the pillars “sidewalk billboards.” TPSI says that the new design gives more space to advertising and less to community information, thereby “detracting from their original purpose.” The City has said the new pillars could increase ad-based revenue under the Coordinated Street Furniture Agreement by $1.2 million per year. [PDF]
• The Toronto International Film Festival is to many Torontonians the most important cultural event of each year. But sometimes actually getting into a screening is an arduous process involving lineups, online purchases, and choosing between the different ticketing options. TIFF’s caught on to this problem, it seems, and they’ve made a sort of choose-your-own-adventure, YouTube-based Interactive Festival Ticket Guide for TIFF 2011.
• More than 3,500 shutterbugs entered The Walrus Travel Photography Contest, and on July 1 the contest’s first-round judges, photographer Edward Burtynsky and the Walrus Foundation art director Brian Morgan, announced the shortlist. From today until August 26, the Walrus Foundation and the contest’s sponsor, Aeroplan, are inviting members of the public to vote for their favourite of the 10 finalists here. The winning photo will appear in the January/February 2012 issue of The Walrus, and the winner receives a plane-load of Aeroplan miles and an invite to the fancy-schmancy Walrus Foundation gala next year.
• Wuh-oh. Toronto Public Health received a report today that mosquitoes in Toronto have tested positive for West Nile Virus for the first time this year, according to a release from the City. The good news? In recent years, fewer people have contracted West Nile. In 2002, a year after the virus was first discovered in Toronto, there were 163 cases and 11 deaths. However, since 2005, no one in Toronto has died from it, and there’s been only one human case since 2010. If you have questions about West Nile Virus or want to know how to keep the skeeters away, visit the City’s West Nile information page.

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