Toronto's Catholic school board says it will review how it handles police background checks following news a coach on Rob Ford's Don Bosco football team with a history of violent crimes concealed his identity using a series of aliases. The Globe and Mail reports that Payman Aboodowleh, a former enforcer for Sandro Lisi's drug operation, worked with teenagers alongside the mayor

Metrolinx says plans to build LRT lines on Sheppard and Finch have not been derailed by council's decision to build a subway in Scarborough, and could start even sooner. Construction on the Finch line is supposed to start in 2015 and Sheppard a year later. Both will take five years to complete and are part of a provincially funded $8.4 billion transit plan.

City council will appoint a new member of council today to replace former deputy mayor Doug Holyday. Etobicoke community council decided to endorse former provincial cabinet minister Chris Stockwell after hearing from 45 candidates interested in filling the seat. The decision isn't binding, however, and city council can still choose whoever they like to take the seat.

Rob Ford might be in the midst of a crisis over his choice of friends, but a Bay Street lawyer and fundraiser who said he would back the mayor in 2014 says his 'spectacular' economic record trumps everything.

Global News has uncovered details of the Cessna reportedly used by Toronto police to tail Rob Ford. The light aircraft includes a large camera mounted to the side and is primarily used for intelligence gathering by the marine unit.

Rogers says it has fixed a problem that caused a nationwide voice and text outage last night. The company says it hasn't found the cause of the issue that led to a barrage of abuse from frustrated customers. President and CEO Nadir Mohamed said its postpaid customers effected by the outage will received a credit to their account.

The eerie green glow of the aurora borealis was visible in dark parts of the city Tuesday night. If you missed it, Global News has a little gallery of photos to make you feel terrible for not paying attention.

Finally, the TTC is continuing to test its new streetcars under the cover of darkness. Earlier this week, YouTube user ttcgeek spied two coupled vehicles leaving the Roncesvalles yard for a push test. Don't worry - there are no plans to run the cars in chains. The TTC was testing how easily stranded vehicles can be moved.

IN BRIEF:

• Alice Munro becomes 1st Canadian woman to win Nobel literature prize [CBC]
• Census protester Audrey Tobias acquitted of not filing form [CBC]
• Metrolinx agrees to increased development on Kodak lands [Toronto Star]
• TDSB selects Donna Quan as new boss [CBC]
• 7 people injured in 2-vehicle crash in Toronto [CBC]
• Leafs' Joffrey Lupul misses practice [CBC]

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: /blogTO Flickr pool.