news
Newsstand: April 21, 2010
lllustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
The woman who achieved internet fame following release of a security video of her parking her SUV on top of two other vehicles was sentenced yesterday in a Newmarket court. Sixty-two-year-old Tripta Kaushal was fined five hundred dollars and ordered to compensate the owners of the crushed vehicles. She also received six months of probation and was banned from driving between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., presumably on the premise that if she could do this kind of damage in the daytime, her after-dark driving must be truly alarming. In a sentencing statement, the judge noted that while the crime could not be condoned, the video was totally awesome.
Pretty soon bike-sharing won’t just be for Igor Kenk anymore. The push to make Toronto more bike-friendly continues to creep in its petty pace, with the city’s public works committee yesterday approving implementation of a bike-sharing program to start in May 2011. The committee also approved a pilot project that would see physically separated bike lanes set up along University Avenue just in time for the summer protest season in front of the US consulate. Both initiatives remain to be approved by City Council, so you’ll probably have to read about this at least once more.
A group of cannabis enthusiasts had their mellow harshed yesterday when shots were fired at a Yonge-Dundas Square rally to legalize marijuana. No one was shot, but a man was reportedly taken to hospital after being pistol-whipped. Cellphone video of people milling about in confusion is here.
City Council is paying a consulting group fifty thousand dollars to determine if councillors should be getting a raise. The study will apparently take the form of an anonymous survey querying councillors on their pay and whether they deserve more money. Pick us; we know this one!
Ontario is under fire from conservative groups following the revelation that sex ed curriculums in the province will be revised to be more “explicit.” The new program will use more specific language to teach children about sexuality and the human body, replacing current terminology such as “thingie,” “she-thingie,” and “making whoopee.”