Morning Brew: May 2nd, 2008

Photo: "Spring" by chewie007, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your new stuff morning news roundup for Friday May 2nd, 2008:

Shady people active at the Queen and Bathurst intersection have new eyes watching over them. The troubled street corner has been a hot spot for crime, and police hope that recording the daily goings-on will act as a deterrent. People who aren't shady will also be recorded, and are encouraged to look up and smile in support or scowl in disgust.

New immigrants to Canada and the GTA, and the middle class in general, are struggling more financially these days than previously - and the numbers are shocking. In 1980, the average recent male immigrant and female immigrant made 85% of the average non-immigrant income. By 2005, that dropped to 63% and 56% for male and female immigrants, respectively.

--

A new digital projector is giving astronomy enthusiasts in Toronto a new view of the solar system. The freshly refurbished planetarium at the Ontario Science Centre was unveiled yesterday by former Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau. I'm only moderately upset about their failure to include Planet B612 in the mapping.

Residents of south Etobicoke are shocked and dismayed by the approval of a new strip club in their neighbourhood. They shouldn't be at all surprised by the news, since it was reported on Monday that the GTA is facing a chronic shortage of strippers.

A new 12km extension to highway 401 will ease congestion and expedite trade at the Windsor-Detroit international border crossing. The price tag? A whopping $1.6billion. I wonder if we'll still be trucking our garbage to Michigan when the new bridge is completed.