August 19, 2015 at 4:00 pm

Extra, Extra: Olympic Bids Are Expensive, Appeals Court Upholds Toronto 18 Conviction, and a Series of Unfortunate Events

Every weekday’s end, we collect just about everything you ought to care about or ought not to miss.

Agenda 2020, the International Olympic Committee’s new plan to make hosting and bidding the Games more accessible and financially sustainable, is (surprise, surprise) being met with a little bit of skepticism. International Centre for Olympic Studies director Janice Forsyth says a bid alone would cost more than $50 million (on top of the $150,000 application fee), much of it from public funds. Forsyth said, “There’s a few concessions about how some of the visits might be paid for but the city and the region still have to do their due diligence in terms of weighing the opportunity costs and bidding and hosting, and those haven’t changed.” The deadline for cities to register their interest to bid for the 2024 Olympic Games is September 15.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction of a man who played a minor part in the so-called Toronto 18 terror plot. Asad Ansari, who was found guilty by a jury in 2010 of participating in a terrorist group and subsequently sentenced to three years of probation, was one of 18 people charged with terrorism offences when a plot to attack Parliament, electrical grids, and nuclear stations was intercepted.
A local web cartoonist got stuck in a skatepark bowl for nearly 40 minutes, but found solace in Twitter users who aided his escape. Dinosaur Comics cartoonist Ryan North climbed into the bowl near Lakeshore and Coxwell Avenue with his dog Chompsky to take photos of the graffiti, but quickly realized he was unable to climb out of the bowl with his furry companion. Logically, he sent out a distress signal on Twitter: “If I climbed into this in the rain to get this picture and now couldn’t get out, what should I do? Hypothetically.” Several users responded with both helpful and sarcastic advice (@AlaskaRobotics: “If it’s any consolation, your very tall skeleton may help the next person escape”), and more than 30 minutes later, a tweet by Nicole Hoye suggesting he climb out of the hole and use his umbrella to hoist the dog up was met with success. If only it were always this easy.