Morning Brew: August 12th, 2008

Photo: "John Butler Trio live @ The Sound Academy" by ariehsinger, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Tuesday August 12th, 2008:

Most residents have slowly made their way home after Sunday's horrifying explosion in North York, and now more details about the event are coming to light. It turns out that the site hadn't been inspected for about three years, prompting Mayor Miller to call for a review of the bylaw that allowed the plant to exist in the first place.

A body was found near the explosion site late last night, but police are still not releasing the identity of the victim. There is still one Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases employee that has yet to be accounted for, but officials are waiting for a post-mortem to be completed before releasing the name of the victim.

The blast caused damage to Mount Sinai Memorial Park, one of the city's oldest Jewish cemeteries. The cemetery, which opened in 1920, is now closed pending a survey of the damage.

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With the school year just around the corner, parents may be a bit dismayed to find out that talks between the Ontario government and the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario are at an impasse. If a teacher's holdout makes you nervous, then the news that contract negotiations between the Toronto police union and management have broken down won't really do much to calm your nerves. The two sides are expected to enter arbitration next month.

Ontario NDP justice critic Peter Kormos recently wrote a letter addressed to the Attorney-General calling for disciplinary action against the judge in the custody case of recently-murdered 7-year-old Katelynn Sampson. Is it too soon for this issue to become political?

After being swept by the Indians, the Jays' bats came alive in a 7-2 beatdown against the Tigers in Detroit last night. Time for another winning streak?