Toronto's board of health voted on Monday to keep fluoride in our tap water, after a flood of medical and dental officials worried that Toronto would follow suit with other Canadian cities and ban the element. The city started adding 0.6 mg of fluoride per litre--the target set by the Ministry of Environment-- to its drinkable water in 1963 as a way to prevent tooth decay by 20-40 per cent. Now if we can all agree to floss, I think our dentists would be very happy.

For those who are still too young to read the Morning Brew or other news blogs, two Toronto teachers, Jonathan Ophek, and his wife, Kathleen Tilly, launched their Teaching Kids the News--a website that explains world events in kid-friendly language. In only three months, Teaching Kids the News has attracted readers from around the globe, including parts of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The stories are tied to curriculum in the classroom, including grammar lessons and topics for discussions. I wonder how well the commenters get along.

The turnout for voters hit a historical low in the 2008 federal election with nearly 59 per cent of registered voters casting ballot--the lowest rate amongst age groups was youth aged 18-24 at 37 per cent. And don't expect things to get any better with this year's forthcoming election. Some students believe by abstaining their vote will cause change in how politicians woo their voters. Other students believe their vote doesn't count, so they'd rather refrain from voting altogether. And then there are the students who aren't even aware there's an election.

Uncle Jesse can still make the ladies swoon. After declaring her dismay that she couldn't attend the latest Beach Boys concert, Natalie Leger, a second-year Ryerson student, was given a Tweet of a lifetime after John Stamos, a frequent Beach Boys bongo player, offered her tickets to the show as his guest. LĂŠger says this never could have happened without social media. "Without me following him, or him having Twitter, I don't know how this would be possible," she deeply wondered.

Here's a new video tribute to Toronto. Fans of the video "Inspired by Iceland", some enthusiastic Torontonians got out there and made one of their own. The work of Connie Tsang, Naseem Hrab and Willa Bradshaw, here's how they describe their vid. "Armed with nothing more than a Flip video camera, a tiny set of speakers and our fabulous, enthusiastic, mitten-clad friends, we shimmied, twirled and shook our way around our city. Our soundtrack? 'Oh No, It's Love' by Toronto's own The Bicycles. What could be more perfect? We live in an amazing place. This is our love letter to you, Toronto."

dancedanceTO from dancedanceTO on Vimeo.

IN BRIEF:

• Leafs need a miracle to survive
• Case of TB confirmed at east end school
• Canadians among those targeted by secruity breach at U.S. firm

Photo by Sally Hunter in the blogTO Flickr pool.