Photo: "High Park - Duck Family " by 04deveni, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

For what reasons could someone possibly be willing to fire three bullets and take the life of a 14-year old boy [City]? Whether drugs were involved or not, it just doesn't make sense to me. This isn't the kind of thing that tougher sentences will remedy.

With tall silhouettes of cranes being a prominent visual on Toronto's skyline, during what's turning out to be a significant recession, does this mean that the sun has finally gone down and the condo boom has gone bust [NP]?

Toronto-based charity The Children's Emergency Foundation (CEF) has had its license revoked after it was determined by auditors that they participated in tax shelter schemes and paid significantly more money to professional fundraisers than they did to the charitable causes themselves [Star]. It's sometimes really difficult to tell a good charity from a bad one.

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"Impatient gardener" sounds like an oxymoron to me (someone who generally prefers the immediacy of buying plants and produce rather than cultivating my own). But it being early in the growing season, and with an abnormally late spring frost warning in effect, those who planted early were scrambling to protect their green babies [Star].

Much like response from the general public, response from politicians to Sunday night's overtaking of the Gardiner by Tamil protesters has been emotional and varied [Sun]. Mayor Miller spoke tough and highlighted lawfulness and safety as the number one concerns, councillor Rob Ford claimed that if he were mayor he'd have removed them immediately and hinted at having kids taken into the care of Children's Aid, and Dalton McGuinty invited protesters to set up camp on the front lawn of Queen's Park.

And although it's rare (one in half a million), an albinio raccoon was discovered at a construction site near Yonge & Eg [City]. I can see it now... a dozen burly construction workers drop their shovels and jackhammers to huddle around in a circle to ooh and ahh over the little guy/gal's undeniable cuteness.