Photo: "Beach Excitement" by shotzy, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

Loblaw is looking to up its stake in the youth fashion industry, and has plans to open a large Joe Fresh retail shop on Queen West (where the Home Depot was planned but yanked). It's a good move, I think... since heavy-hitters H&M, American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, and Le Chateau are already there. Oh, how Queen West has changed since I was a teen.

One bullet was fired but no one struck outside the TTC Coxwell subway station during evening rush hour yesterday. Witnesses are saying that it appeared to be a botched robbery, but if that's the case, then why did both men flee the scene? Of concern here too, is that this might have been over a necklace (when just a few weeks ago a man was shot in the Annex over a necklace).

Remember those "stray voltage" incidents that had the city in a worry after pets and kids got electric shocks on city sidewalks and streets? Apparently it cost over $14-million for Toronto Hydro to patrol, monitor, and fix infrastructure to prevent the problem in 2008, taking a huge bite out of the corporation's profits. Is there a fee hike in the cards for 2009 or 2010?

Inflation in Canada just hit a 56-year low at -0.9%. While this is generally a bad news indicator, I'm sure we'll be told by our federal government that there's nothing to fear, that we're pulling out of the recession, and that it's a good time to buy.

It's official. Bazis International has sold the site of One Bloor to a Toronto developer, meaning that the mega-hotel-condo-tower will not be built. What will become of the site is a huge unknown.

Coors has pulled a controversial billboard campaign out in British Columbia that poked fun at Toronto. I suspect that marketing execs thought it was a great idea to approve the ad for their beer touting "Colder than most people in Toronto" in big, bold, frosty letters because the backlash would bring them more nation-wide attention than the 30 signs ever could. And here in Toronto, they're making some waves as well, with intrusive ads on bus shelters.

How do you, as a Torontonian, feel about the controversial "Colder then most people in Toronto" Coors ads in BC?