Well, we all know how the mayor feels about privatization. Last week, Rob Ford told the Fan 590 that he can't believe school gymnasiums sit empty, just taking up space, when they could be generating revenue by having advertisements placed on their floors and walls. Not surprisingly, his remarks are drawing controversy. Some parents don't like the idea and school board trustee Chris Glover said private advertising in schools is "a slippery slope." What do you think of the idea?

Hundreds of Toronto teens participated in a time-honoured tradition yesterday: lining up for hours at the CNE in hopes of landing a late summer job running games and serving food (like those tasty donut cheeseburgers). The job fair runs until August 18th. The Ex says they've already received 11,000 applications for their own jobs and are no longer accepting resumes.

Sure looks like the Sun has it in for panhandlers for some reason. Adding to the "should Toronto outlaw panhandling" discussion: Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday says that ticketing panhandlers is a waste of money because, well, they don't ever pay up, and it's not like they have any form of address at which they can be tracked down. But that doesn't seem to stop cops from charging them anyway. Last year, police laid over 15,000 charges against panhandlers, up from just over 13,000 charges laid in 2009. Most charges were for "aggressive panhandling."

Yesterday's news of city staff's unapproved $2.5-million in purchases has prompted Toronto's audit committee to probe the matter. The auditor general won't, however, be auditing the individual purchases, but reviewing the matter in general with plans to dig deeper in its year-end audit. And, as always, councillor Doug Ford gave another obtuse signature soundbite regarding the matter: "You know how we're going to deal with this one. I'm going to leave it at that."

IN BRIEF:

• Vigil held last night for disabled man in middle of SIU probe
• Gas prices tumble in GTA thanks to economic crisis
• Toronto fire, police and EMS to build Habitat for Humanity homes
• TSN asks: why do the Argos suck?

Photo by Vic Gedris in the blogTO Flickr pool