Morning Brew: Sushi Diners Robbed, Our lowly CN Tower, THS re-opens for Adoptions, Witness Abduction in Oshawa, The Sky is Falling, Tom Cheek vying for Award, Go Team Canada!

Photo: "This is What a $5 Shirt Looks Like" by neilta, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

It's a technique more common in cities in South America and in Quentin Tarantino films, but it happens here occasionally as well. Last night armed, masked robbers burst into the Agincourt restaurant Nikada Sushi Robata, and made off with diners' money, jewelry, and electronics. The more suave way to pull this off is to first be seated, eat a meal, and then initiate the heist... but these robbers clearly aren't the suave types.

Law & Order: The 'Shwa isn't likely to become a new TV series, but some drama involving an attempted murder trial appears to be playing out in Oshawa. A key Crown witness was allegedly abducted by three men, while on his way to testify in a preliminary hearing for the case.

After weeks of political, police, media, and court turmoil, the Toronto Humane Society is once again facilitating adoptions of animals from its River Street animal shelter. Over 100 cats and 25 dogs were available for adoption on their reopening yesterday, and the media was there to capture the first animal to get a new home (see below Citynews video).

Sometimes the sky does fall. A driver in south Mississauga was shocked but rather fortunately not injured when a piece of plywood flew off a high-rise construction site 100m above and landed on his car as he drove by.

The late, great Toronto Blue Jays radio/TV announcer Tom Cheek is a short-list candidate for a Ford C. Frick Award - a prestigious Baseball Hall of Fame honour. Cheek announced an incredible 4,306 consecutive regular season games before being forced to end the streak when his father passed away. Sadly, Cheek died not long after, due to a brain tumor.

Sports fans across the country will be glued to the TV tonight, as the Canadian junior ice hockey team faces off against USA in the gold medal game. If Canada wins, it'll mark a record sixth consecutive championship title and will allow us to continue to stop/spray our American friends on the ice and say "In. Your. FACE!"

The Burj Dubai in the UAE has officially opened and is now called the Burj Khalifa. Back in September of 2007, it officially unseated Toronto's CN Tower as the world's largest free-standing structure... but I doubt this fact will have much impact on our tower or tourism.

Bonus video: launch party for the Burj Khalifa: