Newsstand: November 10, 2015

In the news: Ontario to invest $498M in school renovations, virtual reality tours coming to a school near you, and police investigate syringe scare at Nathan Phillips Square.

By Sarah Duong • Illustration by Matthew Daley

Ontario has announced $498 million in funding to build new schools across the province. Taking to Davisville Junior Public School yesterday morning, Minister of Education Liz Sandals announced that 30 new schools will be built across Ontario, and that six schools in Toronto – Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School, St. Clement Catholic Secondary School, St. Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Secondary School, Norseman junior middle School and Terry Fox Public Middle School – will undergo major renovations. The funding will also go towards creating 2,135 child care centres.

Google’s new virtual reality tool will be hitting Toronto schools this winter, allowing students across the TDSB to take virtual trips into the unknown. Local teachers are among the first in the country to test out the new virtual reality tool, Google Expedition, which currently contains more than 120 virtual trips to sites such as Antarctica, the Acropolis, Mars, and the Bornean rainforest. Canada is one of three countries (alongside Denmark and Singapore) that have been added to the latest round of the pilot program.

Toronto police are investigating after syringes were found attached to the doors of Nathan Phillips Square yesterday evening. In a tweet sent out shortly before 8 p.m., police announced that security had twice found syringes attached to the doors of the downtown plaza, and that it was unclear of when the incidents might have occurred. No injuries have been reported.