Morning Brew: Batteries and metal found in passenger's shoes at Pearson Airport, Bills to compete with Argos, gun at Yonge-Dundas Square pot rally, politicians talk road tolls, city councillor pay assessment

There's a pretty wacky story coming out of Pearson Airport. Yesterday a man was detained for several hours before being released unconditionally after suspicious materials -- including batteries and metal -- were found in his shoes during security screening. It turns out the guy wasn't planning to blow anything up; he just wanted to appear to be taller for superficial reasons. It seems that this guy is not only height-challenged -- he's also short a few screws in the coconut. Who puts batteries in their shoes to enhance their height, and walks through airport security?

"Buffalo Bills to go head-to-head against Argonauts" is a misleading headline that might make you think the NFL team is slated to play (and in all likelihood completely destroy) our CFL team. This is not the case, though. For the first time ever, the Buffalo Bills will be playing an NFL regular-season game here in Toronto during the CFL season on November 7th (on the same day the Argos play in Montreal).

The Toronto Hash Mob's peaceful pot protest at Yonge-Dundas Square took a very unexpected turn to bloody violence yesterday when some punk reportedly pulled a gun just minutes before the scheduled mass joint light up. One man was treated in hospital after allegedly being pistol whipped, and a suspect is in custody after bystanders in the crowd jumped in to apprehend and restrain him until police arrived. Plenty of media and photographers were around at the time (see CityNews video embedded below) and some captured the scene - including the crowd scatter when the gun made its cameo.

Are road tolls in Toronto an inevitable reality that politicians are poised to accept and debate but residents and visitors not yet willing to embrace? It would appear so. Imagine how horrific traffic on the 401 would become across the top of the city if road tolls were implemented on the Gardiner. It's almost inconceivable, given how horrific things already are!

We're used to hearing about them during periods of major freeze and/or thaw, but yesterday a broken water main closed Front Street East had to be closed between George Street and Lower Sherbourne. A sink hole in the road caused a rupture and a significant amount of water gushed onto and flooded the street. We've been warned that our road and water infrastructure are in really bad shape, so I suspect we'll see more of this throughout the summer.

City Hall has hired consultants (at a fee of $50,000) to conduct an "Elected Officials Compensation Review" to determine whether or not our 44 city councillors should be given another pay raise. It's head spinning stuff for some people, and quite interesting to see how the mayoral candidates are responding.

Also:

• Ork Posters does nifty Toronto neighbourhood map
• Virgin Airlines to launch California-to-Toronto service
• City launches new Live Green Toronto website

Photo: "Win You Must" by lipsofcrimson, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.