news
Newsstand: June 2, 2010
lllustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
The ringleader in the largest token heist in Canadian history was ordered to pay up more than six hundred thousand dollars and serve a conditional twenty-month sentence yesterday. Armed with brawn (and brains?), Alex “The Beast” Beason, a former Ryerson Ram, and his teammate Ainsworth Slowly cost the TTC an estimated ten million dollars in counterfeit tokens. International efforts went into cracking the case in 2006. Many are now wondering when the movie’s coming out.
The CBC released a first peak at a report on its news content yesterday. Areas of focus include tone of reporting and coverage of the government, which according to the executive summary [PDF], was actually quite similar to that of competitor CTV and not-really-a-threat Global. Often stapled as too left wing, it turns out the CBC gives the Conservatives more interview time on The National than the other two networks do on their respective national news programs. The full report will be released in the fall; meanwhile you can check out the interim one here [PDF].
After her cat died, Vada Kolish left her house to buy a lottery ticket to cheer herself up, but when she came back, the massive tree on her lawn had crushed her home. Now the question is who will pay for damages caused by the city’s Norway Maple, which was rotting on the inside. The city’s director of urban forestry said this type of thing happens “very infrequently”—ya think? Turning to fate for a second: is it bad luck that her cat died and house got demolished by a tree; or good luck that her cat died, prompting her to leave her house to buy a lottery ticket, and saving her from also being crushed by said tree? Those crazy gods—what will they come up with next?
As if the G20 wasn’t racking up enough of its own bills, it’s also jacking up the costs of everything it touches. The Toronto Jazz Festival’s price tag has risen to eighty thousand dollars more than usual thanks to the summit. Artists performing at the festival normally stay at the Sheraton Centre Hotel at a preferred rate, but G20 attendees have taken over, forcing organizers to book other hotel spots at premium prices. Not only that, but the festival is launching on the same weekend as the summit and sits right near the security zone. This has the festival’s producer worried about ticket sales, as music lovers might not want their jazz with a side of traffic diversions, protesters, and general madness.
The Royal Ontario Museum launched two new programs encouraging accessibility yesterday. Tactile tours for the blind and sign-language tours for the deaf are now available once a month with the price of admission. The ROM has been developing the tours for the last two years, after receiving a $1.5 million gift from an anonymous donor. Some though, with all senses intact, have found the new additions confusing. Said Shelagh O’Donnell, the museum’s head of communication: “When I immediately saw someone touching the artifact, I wanted to say ‘Oh no! no!’ But then I realized ‘Oh right, it’s okay.'”
And lastly, speaking of art, designer Tobias Wong died on Sunday morning at the age of thirty-five. Born in Vancouver, Wong studied in Toronto before moving to New York in 1997. Wong’s work was exhibited at famed art destinations like the Museum of Modern Art and Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. He created projects for names like Prada and Swarovski, and was also well known for the perpetually closed Wrong Store in NYC. Have a look at some of his work or his website.