Morning Brew: June 25th, 2008

Photo: "A Dog with Many Talents" by ulove2explore, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Wednesday June 25th, 2008:

Dead raccoons and squirrels (some oddly and intentionally posed with flowers), along with poisoned bread, have been found in High Park. These discoveries come after a number of dogs fell ill and died and police traced the source back to intentional poisoning of water fountains for dogs. What could possess someone to do all of this remains a mystery.

Residents of south Etobicoke want two swingers clubs shut down in the Lakeshore & Kipling area. Their locations on a main street, where kids pass to and from school and daycare, is problematic for residents (who also live on main streets and get freaky kinky in their homes at night without posing a problem for passing kids).

Taxi fares are going up in just a few weeks. Come mid-July, the starting fare will be $4 (up from $3) and travel cost will jump to $0.25 per 155m (up from $0.25 per 170m). In related news, bananas will soon cost $4 each (up from $0.25) after environmental, fuel, and social injustice costs are figured in.

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The province is giving Toronto a $5-million injection to help fight gun and gang-related crime in troubled neighbourhoods. 26 new officers will join the beat, and they won't be wasting time harassing gun club enthusiasts.

Jays fans had reason to smile last night. Cito was welcomed home by the enthusiastic crowd, in what was his first game as coach back at SkyDome in over a decade. And the team came out and ripped the Cardinal's tail feathers Reds' stockings off in a 14-1 romp.

The city will be studying the wind near the Scarborough Bluffs, now that a moratorium on offshore wind farms has been lifted. Researchers will install an anemometer on the lake, which will assess the wind patterns and eventually the feasibility of introducing energy-generating wind turbines in the area.