toronto rain

Morning Brew: Bruins drop Leafs in agonizing Game 7, Hadfield returns, TTC needs more support, the mystery of Mark Fraser's skull, and elephants must move soon

No denying it, that loss still stings. I doubt this is the first place you'll hear about it, and it pains me to type it, but the Leafs came within a whisker of eliminating the Boston Bruins last night. The Buds lead 4-1 in the third period, building a commanding lead after going a goal down early, but it wasn't to be. A late rally and a heartbreaking overtime goal put Toronto's season to bed with a thump. Ouch.

Back in the world, Toronto's favourite aerial photographer Cmdr. Chris Hadfield landed safely in a grassy field in Kazakhstan late yesterday evening. Hadfield spent five months aboard the International Space Station, singing songs, doing cool science experiments, and probably some actual science stuff too. Welcome home.

TTC CEO Andy Byford is hoping to get more support (and money) for a total overhaul of the way the system is managed. Speaking at the Empire Club yesterday, Byford said the the "TTC needs to work on regaining the trust of our elected officials." An increase in subsidy would help the Commission manage an increase in ridership, he says. Does the TTC get bashed too often?

Toronto police are investigating claims a TTC streetcar drove more than 2 kms after a man fell under its wheels at Queen and Kingston Road Sunday. The man reportedly stumbled upon exiting a different streetcar, suffering "major trauma" when the vehicle hit him. It's possible the driver didn't realize he'd hit anyone.

Also in transit, the TTC is backing a driver who was filmed refusing to let a woman exit through the rear doors of a bus mid-block. The woman shouts that she's feeling ill and wants to leave but the driver felt it wasn't a safe place to exit. "From our perspective he did his job," a spokesman said.

A picture purporting to show the fractured skull of Maple Leafs' D Mark Fraser is causing controversy online. St. Michael's Hospital, which appears to be the name in corner of the image, denies leaking the image and the team is investigating how the scan became public. There's been no confirmation the image is genuine and the Reddit account it was associated with has been deleted. Weird.

The Toronto Zoo elephants moving to a sanctuary in California need to travel before the summer weather gets too hot or risk having the transfer delayed further, according to Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker. Loading or unloading the pachyderms in extreme hot or cold could put their health at risk.

Finally, Rob Ford's office isn't letting go of a distinctly political paragraph printed at the end of official city press releases. The current boilerplate refers to "delivering customer service excellence" and "building a transportation city" and should be changed to something less ideological, according to the city's communications department. So far Ford's office hasn't come up with a replacement.

IN BRIEF:

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Tony Wei-Han Chen/blogTO Flickr pool.


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