Newsstand: May 20, 2015

Congratulations, team, it's already hump day! In the news, Toronto Public Health is on the lookout for Lyme disease on the Islands, city councillors muse about road tolls to pay for the Gardiner, and a look at a pioneering police officer.

By David Hains • Illustration by Jeremy Kai

The weather is much nicer lately, but it means that ticks are back. This time the pesky buggers are on Algonquin Island, and Toronto Public Health is testing the insects for Lyme disease. The disease can cause fever, weakness, rashes, and joint pain if a Lyme disease–carrying tick isn’t removed within 36 hours. In cases that go untreated, the disease can also cause neurological problems.

Some city councillors who support the so-called hybrid option to maintain the Gardiner east of Jarvis want to explore road tolls to help pay for the costly project. The hybrid option, which would mostly keep the status quo and move some off-ramps, costs $919 million—that’s about twice as much as the removal option, which would create a boulevard along the route. Councillor James Pasternak (Ward 10, York Centre), who is on the budget committee, has been working with City staff to get a report on road tolls, and other councillors express openness to the idea too. The push for road tolls shows there’s serious concern on council over how the project would be financed, and it could prove a stumbling block when council votes on the issue in early June.

Police Chief Mark Saunders gets sworn in this morning, where he’ll become the first black chief to lead the city’s police force. Toronto didn’t see its first black police officer until 1960, and the Sun profiles Edward Reid, who in 1963 became the second black officer to join the Toronto Police Service.