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Morning Brew: Environment Canada investigating tornado reports in Southern Ontario, Toronto spends a lot on unnecessary speed "humps," what's Adam Giambrone been up to?, a profile of Giorgio Mammoliti, and the TTC wants to ban abusive passengers

Environment Canada is investigating reports of tornadoes touching down in southern Ontario during that spectacular light show last night. Though no tornadoes were seen around these parts, apparently funnel clouds were spotted near Goderich, of all places, which obviously doesn't need more twister trouble. The storm shut down the CNE and Toronto FC's game early, and lighting reportedly struck a house in the GTA, sparking a fire that spread to a neighbouring home.

Apparently the city spends upwards of $168,000 on those annoying speed humps a year; humps, some city staff say, are not only unnecessary but installed due to "emotional" reasons rather than technical ones. Ron Hamilton, manager of traffic operations, estimates that 40 to 70 are installed each year, and 80 per cent of those shouldn't be installed anyway.

The National Post seems to think we care about what Adam Giambrone, the embattled former councillor and mayoral candidate, has been up to since he left office. Well, if you're curious, here are some interesting tidbits: he's set to marry his long-term girlfriend; he still hasn't paid back the $3,300 he owes to the city; and that infamous couch that brought his mayoral candidacy to a salacious end may or may not still be in City Hall's basement — someone at the city seems to think it may have been sold at an auction, which is kind of gross.

The City of Toronto has released an official photo gallery of the chalk tributes to Jack Layton at Nathan Phillips Square. It's nice to know that this inspired act has been well documented given last night's rain, but given that Layton will lie in state at City Hall tomorrow it'd be even more touching to see a whole new set of messages pop up — and I think we will.

Kudos goes to Edward Keenan at the Grid for this insightful and revealing profile of Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, especially given how uncooperative it sounds like his subject was.

IN BRIEF:

Photo by Neil Ta | I am Bidong in the blogTO Flickr pool


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