Chalk River reactor's risk level was 1,000 times greater than normal. However, Stephen Harper is a certified nuclear engineer, so if he says it's safe, then shouldn't we trust him? Wait, what? He's not a certified nuclear engineer? Well, dang. John McCain wins crucial Florida primary. The old coot narrowly defeated the Mormon android and the world's angriest ex-mayor to maintain his momentum in the Republican candidates' race. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama in......

In the opening line from 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, author Stephanie Nolen illustrates a feeling many of us understand. "I looked at AIDS in Africa for a long time before I understood what I was seeing," she writes. Nolen is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past several years as our eyes and ears on the AIDS pandemic in Africa. As the Africa correspondent for the Globe and Mail, Nolen has written......

The referendum on Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) has become the latest victim of the costly and annoying "email hoax." This time, instead of telling you about HIV-infected needles hidden in movie theatre seats or a plan by the U.S. Congress to tax your email messages, the anonymous missive attempts to paint MMP as a mysterious government conspiracy to consolidate power. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so effective.......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. • Shortly after midnight on Sunday, a patron of Flirt Lounge on Adelaide West assaulted another patron, biting the victim's ear and separating a chunk of cartilage. A cell phone camera snapped an obscured image of the suspect during the altercation (pictured at right) and police say that most people in the......

Howard Moscoe to jerks: "Hey, stop abusing disabled parking permits!" Bill Gates and Stephen Harper have pledged millions of moolah to the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative. Polls suggest the Conservatives have taken the lead in public popularity, but Harper claims he's in no rush for an election. Today in City Hall: a $6.2 million renovation is rejected and nobody wants to sit nicely for the class photo. Fiddler extraordinaire and Toronto resident Ashley MacIsaac......

The atmosphere outside of the (Elgin and) Winter Garden Theatre last night was similar -- not quite the same, but similar -- to that of a rock concert. Various people stood in the cold, holding signs that said "Need One Ticket, PLEASE," while the large crowd jostled around three or four groups handing out flyers and pimping petitions. "Mary," yelled one woman, excitedly. "There's a petition to ban Styrofoam!" Inside, there was a much......

So, what did you think of that nine percent increase in water billing? How would you like a TWELVE percent increase? Because water staffers are suggesting it as an "alternative plan." I suppose technically it's an alternative, but it doesn't have the feel of what an "alternative plan" is supposed to be; usually there's a sort of tradeoff involved, as opposed to "well, in this plan we raise prices, and in this one we......

December 1st is World AIDS Day every year, but 2006 should stand out with particular significance. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the discovery of AIDS. And it was also the year that Stephen Harper decided to snub the International AIDS Conference. 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. An estimated 25 million have died from AIDS since 1981. There will have been another 2.9 million AIDS deaths by the end of 2006. One......

We know those nights are getting longer and colder and it's only natural that some of us will go out on Friday night looking for that special someone right now to warm up those frigid fall nights but we thought we'd point out these little health notes from the people at Toronto Public Health. Firstly, the Syphillis testing blitz is underway at all Toronto bathhouses. Apparently rates of syphillis have increased in all Canadian cities......

The Toronto-based harm reduction group TRIP! has been providing Toronto partygoers with straight up, no-nonsense information and services since 1995. From condoms to needle exchange, "safer snorting" straws to its threesomes guide, TRIP! has the "nightlife health" thing down. This October, the next round of training begins, and TRIP! wants you to volunteer. The weekly workshops cover diversity awareness, basic counseling, harm reduction, the safer side of "better living through chemistry" and HIV prevention.......

First some bad news. Southern Ontario and Quebec are going to be affected by the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto. The storm will be downgraded to a tropical depression but it'll make this long weekend wet and windy. On the bright side, climatologists and most of us would agree that this summer was pretty good. Fewer smog days, heat waves and rain. It was a bit of a goldilocks summer. The Star covers yesterday's four year......

The opening gala for the XVI International AIDS Conference was held Sunday night at the Rogers Centre. Along with the abundance of entertainment, many sobering speeches were made about just how serious this pandemic is (45 million infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide) and what needs to be done to fight this battle. Keynote speeches were given by Bill & Melinda Gates, whose message -- in simplified terms -- was that women need to be empowered......

The city defends its bike ring and posts after the Star wrote a piece yesterday saying that a two-by-four can be used to break apart the popular bike lockup posts. City staff will investigate whether vandalizing the posts with a two-by-four is possible. British law enforcement break up a suspected terrorist scheme to blow up planes heading into the US. As a result airports, including Pearson, are implementing new security procedures. If you're flying......

We’re terribly lazy here at Torontoist so we often receive press releases in our inbox which we look at briefly, think “Gosh, we should really post about that” before promptly forgetting about it completely and moving on to do something else, like pick our toenails. But even last week having this, Dignitas International’s AIDS awareness/fund raiser Race for Dignity, posted as a tip in our sidebar didn’t shame us enough. But as you can only......

For all time we spend slagging councillor Howard Moscoe even on the worst of days he doesn't come close to the Mouth of Etobicoke, Rob Ford. Many of us have been loud and boorish at a sporting event but only Rob would hand out his City Hall business card to the couple whose evening he ruined. Many councillors don't like the poor but only Rob goes out of his way to attack community grants of......

Last night the Pride Toronto Gala and Awards benefit went down at the Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District. At $250 a plate, this was a major event and fund-raising effort that attempted to honour "community members who have demonstrated extraordinary achievement to queer life." Here, the word 'community' is not limited to Toronto, despite this being a Pride Toronto event. In fact, only half of the awards went to Toronto-ish people: HIV researcher Sharon......

Things get worse for the TTC. In light of GM Rick Ducharme's resignation the TTC have decided to tell him to leave right away instead of waiting around till November. Ducharme is fighting this and threatening to call his lawyers. He also pins the blame for his resignation on interference by TTC Chair Howard Moscoe and even Mayor Miller . Many councillors are now calling for Moscoe to step down. Ducharme is the third TTC......

Not that any of you would care, but Stephen Lewis is the key note speaker at University of Toronto's Natural City Symposium tonight. Okay, maybe you do care, but you can't go because it's almost definitely sold out. Stephen Lewis, of course, is the U.N.'s departing Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He'll be teaching at Mac sometime soon, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the man was a Special Envoy ("I......

Thus far, rock photographer Andrew MacNaughtan has had a gorgeous and enviable career in photographing Canada’s hottest musicians. Torontoist is sure you are all familiar with his photographic work as he’s captured the likes of K-OS, The Tragically Hip, Avril Lavigne, Sam Roberts (pictured here) and Chantal Kreviazuk over the years. For his latest show "Art Gives Hope: A Decade of Music Portraits" he’s compiled and donated his favourites of the past ten years and......

Canada's hardest working diplomat doesn't work for Foreign Affairs and he's never been thought of as a possible Liberal leadership candidate. Torontoist argues that that man is Stephen Lewis, former Ontario NDP leader and current UN envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. And lucky for you he's speaking for free at Ryerson (Jorgenson Hall, POD 250) tonight 6:00pm. Lewis has been in Canada a lot over the last year due to his delivering the Massey Lecture,......

Documentary maker Peter Friedman has tackled some big subjects: aging, genetics, the HIV epidemic and with Mana, his latest film, the very notion of spiritual belief. A belief in the otherworldly powers of certain objects is a thread that runs through all societies. And not even the 'death' of religion in modern western society has translated into a lack of spirituality. Instead of making pilgrimages to the Vatican or Mecca (which still happen), the faithful......

Silicon wristbands: The Beanie Babies of activist fashion? Activist fashion: Beanie Babies for the socially aware? Beanie Babies: Do you see what happens? Following cyclist Lance Armstrong's beyond popular 'LiveStrong' wristband campaign, some kid had the idea to protest the NHL lock-out with Bring Back NHL Hockey wristbands. Should look good along side the pink breast cancer awareness bands, the red anti-tobacco/HIV/heart-disease/vote Bush bands, or the blue anti-bullying/Anti-Bush/tsunami relief/autism/prostate cancer bands.......

Toronto hip-hop hunk K-Os plays a blockbuster concert for UrbanAIDS tonight at the famed Ricoh Stadium. The event is in preparation for World AIDS Day on December 1, 2004. K-Os will be joined by Alicia Keys, Keshia Chanté, Swollen Members and Nelly Furtado. The charity show is expected to draw upwards of 10,000 fans, though less than 10 ticket holders admit to liking the Swollen Members. All proceeds go to HIV/AIDS charities such as The......