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Newsstand: June 22, 2012
Some days have it, while other days don't. Friday? Friday's got it, so let's celebrate all things Friday. First order of Friday business, the news: An arrest has been made in connection to the Little Italy shooting; yet another dog left in a hot car (though this one really wanted to stand out from the pack); a TTC driver freshens up while operating a streetcar; Toronto's first Africentric high school to launch this fall; and things that are hot: Toronto's condo market, the weather.
Toronto police have made an arrest in connection to this week’s shooting in Little Italy. Dean Wiwchar, 26, of British Columbia, was arrested Thursday at Parliament Street and Gerrard Street East in connection with the death of 35-year-old John Raposo. Wiwchar will appear in court this morning to face a first-degree murder charge.
Another sweltering day, another dog trapped in a hot car. Toronto police have reported more than 150 calls about animals locked in cars during June’s heatwave, the most recent of which involved a dog having to be freed from a hot car in a Loblaws parking lot at Jarvis Street and Queens Quay, only to escape, stopping traffic on the Gardiner Expressway before being re-rescued. We get it Parker, you’re not a victim, you have agency. The owners, who came back to their car hours later, are expected to face charges when they pick up their dog from Animal Rescue. They are also expected to face some pretty nasty judgmental glares.
Of the nearly 40,000 complaints made to the TTC in 2011, more than 300 were about distracted driving. It seems that drivers have not learned from their mistakes. The Toronto Sun is reporting that a TTC operator was applying “various cosmetics” while driving her streetcar Wednesday, something that the TTC is now investigating. Can you blame her? Those driver uniforms are so unflattering, what’s a girl to do? She was probably totally washed out.
The Toronto District School Board will launch its first Africentric program this September in Scarborough’s Winston Churchill Collegiate. The plan is to start a class of Grade 9 students this fall, and add a grade each year. The program will be open to students from across the city, including the first wave of graduates from the board’s Africentric alternative elementary school who will be ready for high school in September 2013.
How hot is Toronto’s real estate market? Hot enough to trouble Jim Flaherty, Canada’s finance minister. Toronto’s overheated condo market is one of the main reasons for new, tighter rules for insured mortgages aimed at keeping people from taking on too much debt, introduced by Ottawa this week.
How hot was it yesterday? Hot enough the the 401 buckled under the heat. Yeah, that’s right.
