King Square aims to be the largest Asian mall in North America and, pending approval, construction will begin at Woodbine Avenue & Markland Street in Markham early in 2011. The plan calls for over 1000 retail outlets, along with a convention centre, banquet hall, offices, and possibly a rooftop garden. If all of this goes ahead, it'll make Pacific Mall look pretty small.

Unpaid traffic tickets issued in Ontario amount to a whopping $1billion -- a figure that has ballooned to the point of embarrassment. Part of the problem is that the onus to collect is put on individual municipalities, and additional issues stem from drivers from outside the province or country, who are difficult to pursue for non-payment. The Province is acknowledging that there's a need to collect, but will need to come up with real plans to make it happen. One suggestion would be to do what they do in many US jurisdictions: make you pay on the spot if you're not from said jurisdiction.

We're learning more about the city's 16th homicide victim. Although his identity hasn't been released by police, we know that he was just 15-years old, his name was Devonte (aka Bug-zee), that he was being sought by police, and that when he answered a knock on his girlfriend's door at 2am yesterday, he was shot in the face and killed (see video below). It's also being reported that a raid on a suspect's home may have failed when the suspect was able to slip out the back door.

Should the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) auction off an estimated $7-million worth of art it's had in storage, to help mitigate a part of its $42-million budget deficit? This decision has not yet been made, but apparently a strategy has been devised to allow public access to these once secret works. Will the school board open a special gallery? Lend the pieces to existing galleries or museum? We'll learn on Thursday.

Rallying calls from hard-line "militant" activists, about the upcoming G20 meetings, have begun to surface. And while predictions of violent protest are also beginning to surface, I have a prediction of my own: there will be security threats, and they will be dealt with effectively. And Harper and his friends in the federal government will laud their own efforts and convince the majority that they're the best party to have in power and ensure our national security. Why else would they be insisting on hosting this meeting in the downtown core, beefing up security to levels previously unseen, flying fighter jet training missions overhead, etc.? It's a recipe for success.

Photo: "quiet morning" by gardinergirl, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.