Morning Brew: threat to dogs at Cherry Beach, lost and found in a cornfield, office space vacancy rates spike, Tory's decision and Thomson's campaign, Toronto Hydro tries to settle with stray voltage victim

It would appear that a malicious crazy has made an attempt to harm dogs and/or dog-owners in Toronto. A board containing several sharp nails facing upright was discovered buried in the sand at an off-leash dog park at Cherry Beach. This kind of thing isn't new in the city, but it's equally disturbing and alarming each time nonetheless. Poisoned food was a problem in 2008 in High Park.

He was lost in a Bradford cornfield overnight, but at about 6am this morning a three-year old boy was found after surviving a 12-hour ordeal. The boy went missing yesterday behind the family farm, but with the help of a search helicopter, police dogs, and about 50 officers he was found tired and a little dazed, but safe.

Vacancy rates of downtown office spaces are hitting double digits. Despite the overall economy having been on an upward recovery from a fairly significant recession in 2009, there's a growing number of unoccupied offices in the core. A variety of factors appears to be at play here, including downsizing trends as a result of the recession and a glut in recent and ongoing new office space developments.

Undeclared potential mayoral candidate John Tory and declared mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson have been exchanging emails about Tory's lack of clarity on his intentions. The Globe has what might be the first hard evidence that he's not truly made up his mind, and if he does make up his mind and choose to run for mayor, Sarah Thomson stands to lose some key players in her campaign (given that one of Tory's sons is an advisor, and another of his sons is poised to take on the role of her campaign manager).

Remember last year, when people and dogs were being electrocuted by "stray voltage" on city sidewalks? One dog owner who lost his pooch when it was zapped on city property is in the process of litigation, and claims that Toronto Hydro has offered the family a mere $500 for "emotional reimbursement;" an offer that is "kind of insulting." How much is too little? How much is too much? I guess we'll learn when the courts get though this case. Toronto Hydro's attempts to discover and fix the stray voltage issue cost them an estimated $20million.

Photo: "sun salute" by louise@toronto, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.