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Newsstand: March 19, 2010
Illustration by Roxanne Ignatius/Torontoist.
Forty-five minutes before her death, two men entered the hospital room of an elderly woman at Toronto East General Hospital and stole seven thousand dollars worth of her jewellery. It happened near the end of visiting hours on Tuesday evening in the fifteen minutes the woman’s family left her side to get a coffee. Last night, police arrested twenty-nine-year-old Isaac Lewkowicz for the theft, but the search continues for his suspected partner, Marcos Marinoni. Their images were caught on the hospital’s 235 security cameras, and the two are believed to be responsible for at least five similar thefts.
The revelation that TTC Chair Adam Giambrone charged $2,400 worth of cab rides to the City last year drew both ire and apathy from Torontonians and fellow councillors alike. He’s defending the expenses, insisting that public transit is his main method of transportation, and all of the cab rides fit within the city council’s policy. Well, maybe not all of them. Boy, is that night ever coming back to haunt him.
That oh-so-fateful rendezvous, as we all know, would eventually dash Giambrone’s hopes to be Toronto’s next mayor—and put an end to David Miller’s best bet for a leftist replacement. Now many of his successful campaign team members are turning their support to the next best thing, Joe Pantalone (currently councillor, Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina). Maybe with the extra help, his so-far whisper-quiet campaign will match the roar of his right-wing competitors.
Even with the TTC in its current state of disrepair, Toronto is considering tackling another extensive transportation project—boats! For the Pan Am Games at least. Actually, the Games may have a bigger impact on Toronto’s transportation systems, setting deadlines for some LRT lines and the long-awaited link from the Pearson airport to Union Station.
Ryerson University rocked the Facebook boat two years ago when it almost expelled a student for participating in an online study group. Now that student, Chris Avenir, is calling in the naval fleet. He’s leading a class-action lawsuit that could cost the school ten million dollars. Avenir, and potentially thousands of other students who have gone through misconduct tribunals in the past seven years, are accusing Ryerson of not allowing them to have proper representation for less-serious offences. These include hearings regarding failing grades, or in Avenir’s case, recommendations for expulsion.
When the AGO recently received millions of funding dollars from Ottawa, the gallery promised an increase in staff. This week, it announced it is instead laying off thirty-seven part-time workers. Most of the jobs, as well as the Gallery School’s programs, will end on April 1, as construction on the AGO’s new learning centre begins. Plans are to hopefully re-hire the workers when the Weston Family Learning Centre opens in 2011.
Finally, a stunner in the Vancouver Paralympic Games. Gold-medal favourites, the Canadian men’s sledge hockey team lost their chance to reach the top of the podium last night. Who could dare upset our streak, you ask? Our rivals, the United States? Pshh, as if. Germany? Nein. Norway? No way! Uhhhh…Japan? Why, yes! The team outscored competitors twenty-to-one up until last night’s match when they lost to the underdog team 3–1. Canada will face Norway in the bronze-medal game tonight, and Japan takes on the United States for the top prize on Sunday.