Photo: "Meet Mayor David Miller" by chewie2008~, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

Mayor David Miller is aiming to run a half-marathon soon, but whether or not he'll be running for a 3rd term as mayor of Toronto in 2010 is the more pressing question. He'll be making an announcement about his political future today at 10am. Will he be reinforcing his commitment to running for mayor again, or announcing that he won't be running in 2010?

Miller's press conference comes on the heels of quite the doozy of a City Hall scandal. The sick bank pay calculation error is the topic of heated debate and has Torontonians breathing residual fire over this summer's municipal worker strike.

The investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Health into the death of James Hearst, which occurred during the civic worker strike this summer and involved a 35 minute EMS response time, is complete and being reviewed. But is it complete? Shouldn't contact with key witnesses have been part of the process?

Some people have zero shame and will do anything to get ahead financially. Bronze urns and plates on graves in cemeteries across the GTA are allegedly being pried off and stolen for their salvage value. If there was a Hell, they'd be going there, but since there isn't they may end up eating slop in jail instead.

William Thorsell, head of the ROM, will be resigning next summer after a 10-year run as CEO. Whether you love or loathe the building's altered crystal structure, I think it's fair to say that Thorsell has done great things for the Royal Ontario Museum.

And there may be a shortage of pumpkins this fall. Oodles of rain through the summer months may result in lower than anticipated yields. If we can't get your hands on a pumpkin this Halloween season, what alternatives do we have? I can see it already... watermelons shipped in from far away lands are the new jack-o-lantern.