news
Newsstand: November 3, 2010
Illustration by Matt Daley/Torontoist.
It’s November 3, so happy birthday to Dolph Lundgren and Adam Ant, wherever you are. In other news, Nunziata says she’s not mean, Liberals get confused, and a panda visit is causing mock controversy on slow news day.
In a story that makes everyone involved look bad, city councillor Frances Nunziata (Ward 11, York South-Weston) is being accused of harassment and discrimination by a former staffer. Her one-time executive assistant George Berger told a human rights tribunal that she verbally and psychologically abused him back in 2005, and he’s looking for $170,000 and an apology to help ease the pain. Berger went on sick leave in October of 2005, but was paid by the city through the end of 2006. Nunziata is denying the charges.
Hundreds of students at an Etobicoke school have been out of class after picking up a stomach bug. In a scenario that must have played out unpleasantly in the ivy-covered washrooms of St. Gregory Catholic School, at least 250 students and a number of teachers were sick this week with symptoms that included nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. However, CP24 advises that the school has “been thoroughly cleaned, and remains open.”
Store operators having problems with shoplifters should put the handcuffs back in the drawer and the bloodhounds back in the kennel—for now. Following the exoneration of so-called vigilante grocer David Chen, a private member’s bill that would have made it easier for shopkeepers to make citizen’s arrests has been defeated in Parliament. However, the Harper government says they will consider amending the criminal code to achieve the same goal, which is essentially to permit more time to elapse between crime and citizen’s arrest. If this goes through, that kid who took our lunch money in 1985 is in big trouble.
The provincial Liberals are trying to put a good face on the revelation that they actually do accept political donations from utility companies even though their own website says the party doesn’t permit it. In their defense, acting premier Brad Duguid said, “I didn’t put that on the website.”
If you’ve ever rented a panda, you know it’s not cheap. In the latest giant panda news, both the Star and the Sun have published stern editorials noting that while we all love the little bamboo-eating rascals, we should ensure it makes economic sense to have them come visit. The price tag for the proposed multi-year loan from China could be as much as twenty million dollars, and cost-reduction options being considered by Giorgio Mammoliti and the panda task force include corporate sponsorship (“Coors Light presents the Big-Ass Party Pandas!”) and an additional fee charged to panda fans on top of regular zoo admission. City officials are also considering a straight-up swap, with Mammoliti going on display in China for ten years.