Photo: "early in the morning.." by blogTO Flickr pooler Luna Ramona.

Your morning news roundup for Wednesday March 12th, 2008:

A Mississauga public school trustee says he and parents in his constituency feel that Christianity is being under-represented in the public school system. I say it's high time to introduce Canada to its newest holiday mascot: Kinaramenorah Claus and his sidekick Crescentmoonmangerdolph the gender-neutral, queer-positive Afroindoberian reindeer.

Toronto has been burning too much (has that serial arsonist been found yet?). 3000 applications have been submitted by aspiring firefighters to join the country's largest fire services team, and the new recruits will likely see plenty of action in the fullness of time.

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Gas prices continue to climb, and the good ol' days of $0.68/L are a distant memory. Drivers, are you used to it yet? How much do you actually think you'll be willing/able to spend? $1.50/L? $2.50/L?

Police in Etobicoke are investigating what sounds like an insane episode of Law & Order Special Victims Unit. A girl under 18 years of age claims to have been abducted and sexually gang assaulted by as many as 8 men before being let go on the side of the road. One can only hope that this isn't an accurate description of an actual incident, but if it does turn out to be true, we can only hope that these men are found and dealt with swiftly.

An Air Canada flight from Calgary bound for London, England had to make an emergency landing at Pearson late last night because it blew a tire on takeoff. Is it just me, an increase in media attention, or are there really more and more Air Canada flight safety issues we should be concerned about?