Howard Moscoe will not be running in the upcoming election. The 70-year-old public servant has decided to move on to other opportunities, although he hasn't said what those are just yet. Over his 30-year career, Moscoe was known for a number of things, including his colourful quips, such as "Rob Ford couldn't pass gas in council without 23 votes."

George Smitherman discussed ideas to make Toronto a "green energy district" last night. His ideas include refocusing Toronto Hydro to produce 500 megawatts of green energy in the residential and private sectors, as well as creating environmental jobs. Smitherman also spoke about using Build Toronto and Invest Toronto to convert areas with high commercial vacancies into areas that employed clean energy. With all this talk of clean energy, I have to mention this. If we're going to look at Rob Ford's faults, we might as well consider who else has skeletons in the proverbial closet.

Twitter, or more accurately a sensationalist Tweeter, is to blame for all the rumours about a bedbug infestation at the Scotiabank Theatre. Helen Spitzer developed itchy spots on her back and thighs after seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World at the venue last week. She claims that it was her goal to warn others of the possible infestation, but when a friend of hers tweeted that TIFF was in trouble, the bedbugs story went viral. The rumour, however, is reportedly untrue and TIFF will go off itch-free as planned. Spitzer maintains she still has bedbugs. Bed bugs... not theatre bugs.

Reyal Jensen Jardine-Douglas, who was shot and killed by Police on Sunday suffered from mental issues but was apparently not displaying violent tendencies at the time he was shot. The bus that Jardine-Douglas was on was stopped by police who confronted the man and asked if he had any weapons. As the man reached into his pocket he was shot by police. A small knife was recovered as evidence.

Plans to re-create Fort York are $4-million over budget. Much like the eight-storey ice rink, the plans for Fort York are ambitious and the funding is not fully accounted for. Currently, there's about $10-million that needs to come from private funding. "This is where the country was allowed to survive as a country; this is where Toronto became Toronto," Joe Pantalone said in support of the extra cost.

Toronto will host the first conference regarding gay tourism in November. The conference will examine ways to draw gay, lesbian, and transgendered tourists to Canada, by marketing cities such as Toronto as tolerant and accessible. The gay tourism market is estimated to be valued at about $70-billion, money that might help fund Fort York or the new ice rink.

The Jays spanked the Rays 13-5 in Tampa last night. The win came from 10 runs in the 6th inning.

Photo by louise@toronto in the blogTO Flickr pool.