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Newsstand: July 8, 2011
Friday, where is thy sting? Oh that’s right, there is none, because Friday is always awesome. In the news: police go after two-wheeled scofflaws, a clash between the TTC and passengers erupts at Bathurst station, and scientists discover the stem cell for human blood.
All you cyclists that chose not to heed Emma Woolley’s advice, beware: police will be “cracking down” (really, such a poor choice of words) on cyclists who don’t follow the rules of the road in the next few days. The decision comes after an errant cyclist crashed into a pedestrian earlier this week, cracking the woman’s skull. According to the Toronto Sun, police will be cracking down on riding on the sidewalk and not wearing a helmet, which should be a relief to cyclists over the age of 18.
Poverty activists are split on whether or not the City should get rid of the priority neighbourhood designation that is currently used on 13 low-income areas in Toronto. In one corner, former Ontario chief justice Roy McMurtry, who argues the designations help better allocate resources to communities that need the help. In the other, former Argonauts running back and philanthropist Mike “Pinball” Clemons, who argues council should examine other areas that do not have the designation, but that may still be in need of help. We’ll give you one guess as to who has the better shot of winning the mayor’s ear.
A brouhaha broke out at Bathurst station yesterday when a woman asked a streetcar driver why he was more than half an hour late, starting a chain of events that led to a standoff between passengers and TTC staff and police being called. And, through the magic of digital cameras, you at home can experience it first-hand. It’s like Do the Right Thing, except without the explicit racial themes. And the scuffed Jordans.
The call has come from the mayor to councillor Mark Grimes (Ward 6, Etobicoke-Lakeshore): assemble your team for the Pan Am Games. Grimes has been called upon to lead the secretariat in charge of Toronto’s involvement in the Games. Now all the councillor needs is a weapons and demolitions expert, a nerdy computer hacker, a smooth-talking charmer who knows kung fu, and a woman, to open up the possibility of a shower scene.
They’ve done it again. Almost 50 years after Toronto scientists first discovered the existence of stem cells, a team from the University Health Network has isolated the stem cell for human blood. The upshots are enormous for cancer patients, vampires, and others who currently depend on bone marrow transplants to replenish blood cells. So there you have it. We may have a buffoon for a mayor, and our sports teams may never win a championship, but at least Torontonians can be proud of something. Happy weekend.