Photo: "When Unions Strike" by Stacy Gagnidze, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

AAAARRRRRGGGHHH! This municipal worker strike clearly isn't over until it's over. There's now word that the union, still not completely satisfied with the terms of the tentative deal reached yesterday morning, will NOT be holding the member ratification vote today as previously planned. I'm so glad that I'm leaving town for a week of canoeing up north. Maybe by the time I return, things will be cleaned up.

Sentencing of the teenage girl who was more than complicit in the Stefanie Rengel murder came down yesterday, and it came down hard. Melissa Todorovic, who can now be named because she's been sentenced as an adult, got a life sentence for pushing her boyfriend to kill Rengel. She showed more emotion at sentencing than she did through most of the trial, apparently. Sentencing of the young offender boyfriend ("D.B.") is expected in September.

A hacker got into Toronto Hydro's electronic records, and made off with customer account information that was on file. There's no immediate risk (no credit card numbers were swiped), but the information taken could possibly be used by a malicious person to deviously get financial info from you if you fall for their phone/mail/email phishing attempts in the future.

A heroin bust associated with a flight arriving at Pearson airport from Pakistan led the RCMP to one of the largest hauls in Canada's history. Almost 120kg of the stuff was discovered in two locations (one in Brampton and one in Toronto), which represents about $100-million in street value. While our soldiers are over in Afghanistan are dying (in part trying to curb heroin production), it appears that demand for it over here has increased.

The Toronto housing market is showing signs of recovery. Citing trends in "blue chip" areas like the Beach(es) as an indicator of overall trends, it looks like we may be headed for an upward swing in selling prices.

And one of Toronto's favourite literary festivals, Word on the Street, is trying something new this year. For $100, you'll be able to "adopt" an author. Sounds like a neat fundraising concept, and I'm hopeful that it takes off.