Morning Brew: March 26th, 2008

Photo: "Tri-Walk." by blogTO Flickr pooler Lindsay..

Your morning news roundup for Wednesday March 26th, 2008:

Our law enforcement agencies are taser-happy. A report on Toronto Police reveals that the number of officers equipped with tasers and the number of times tasers were deployed are both way up. The RCMP seemingly has something to hide.

The major local terror cell case has finally begun in the courts. Despite a partial publication ban, shocking and sensational details about what was being planned have been made public. Training camps, planned attacks greater in scale than the London subway bombings, and talk of the beheading of politicians at Queen's Park are amongst the purported evidence. Yowzers.

--

TTC Strike Watch:
Talks have stalled already. A mediator from the provincial Ministry of Labour is being brought in tomorrow to help with talks between the union and TTC management. The union is willing to continue talks beyond the April 1st deadline so long as they see progress.

The provincial budget was announced yesterday, with a chunk of funding going towards education and training as opposed to tax cuts for business (which was the key strategy Flaherty's pushed in unsolicited advice).

The annual tradition continues. Every year there's a Roll Up the Rim coffee contest scandal, and this time it's allegations of Tim Horton's staffers in Atlantic Canada pre-checking cups for winners before filling them and passing the losing ones on to customers.