Case Ootes, the TCHC's new interim managing director, will be paid $25,000 for his three month stint, which is more than the former board director earned in a year. Although maybe the man has a point when he says, "This is a $6-billion corporation. I'm the managing director, which means I've taken over responsibilities of all of the board members. To expect someone to do that for free is not living in the real world." Rob Ford echoed that sentiment by saying, ""We're not going to have someone come in here and do it for free." Ootes's TCHC paycheque comes on top of his $99,620 severance package, the pensions he collects from his career as a councillor in both Toronto and East York and the $11,000 he earned leading Mayor Rob Ford's transition team last fall.

Seems that Rob Ford has other things on his mind besides Case Ootes' salary. Like making his stage debut. Yes, that's right. Ford will be making a cameo appearance in the musical, Thomas Saves the Day, this Friday at 2:25 pm to an auditorium full of March Break kids. And before you think Ford isn't in on the joke, consider the cleverly worded press release for the show: "The Gravy Train is NOT Stopping Here."

Seems that the fears of a nuclear meltdown in Japan are making their mark over here. Yesterday, Greenpeace joined forces with Ontario's nurses to make an "urgent appeal" to the provincial government to delay indefinitely public hearings on building new nuclear reactors. The press conference couldn't have come at a better time with the Pickering nuclear power plant making headlines with its "negligible" water leak. Whatever that means. However, the Ontario government shows no signs of slowing down its plans to build two new units at Darlington.

The mystery of the G20 burning police cruisers deepens. The sentencing hearing for Nicodemo Catenacci, who was convicted last month of torching a police cruiser during the G20 summit, took a bizarre turn when he abruptly told the court he was firing his lawyer and withdrawing his guilty plea. "I never wanted to plead guilty; she convinced me to," he said. A day after he pleaded guilty, Catenacci told the Windsor Star he felt he was a scapegoat used to divert attention from the police. His guilty plea has been vacated.

IN BRIEF:

• It's St. Patrick's Day!
• $50 million Lottomax jackpot claimed by Toronto bakers
• Leafs hang in there with win over Canes
• Raptors fall to Pistons

Photo by AshtonPal in the blogTO Flickr pool.