🌡️ We’re back to nice weather. Today’s high is 17 degrees with lots of sun. Saturday and Sunday will be even nicer, with shining sun and temperatures pushing 20 degrees.
🌆 Etobicoke Lakeshore Coun. Amber Morley wants the Bloor Street bike lanes to stay. Some of her constituents are firmly behind her. Some are resolutely opposed. Premier Doug Ford is on that second team, so it might not matter what the councillor wants.
🐾 Picking up a dead animal after two days proved too ambitious for city staff. So they changed the service standard time to five days, which is only met 62 per cent of the time. The guy in charge blames staff shortages and a spike in critter cadavers.
🎨 If we want to make Toronto a vibrant cultural city, we should invest tens of millions into local arts organizations, according to a new report from city staff. One of the biggest recommendations is to spread arts funding out beyond the downtown core, which currently sucks up 77 per cent of municipal funding.
🚌 Thousands of students had their rides to school cancelled after a school bus operator ran into “driver qualification” issues. Full service might not be restored today but is expected by Monday.
🏆 Want your art to appear on a FIFA World Cup poster when Toronto hosts the largest sporting event in the world? Now’s your chance. You’ll also get $8,000, which seems like fair compensation for a piece of art viewed by potentially billions of people. Remember, it’s about the exposure.
⚽ Sonndr, a beloved coffee shop across from Trinity Bellwoods, is doing the Lord’s work by evangelizing about the virtues of soccer in a city where hockey is king. Owned by two former Toronto FC players, the cafe hosts watch parties for big matches and sponsors a local team.
🧠 Toronto Life profiles a Torontonian who’s dedicated his life to trivia and has seen his hard work pay off by finally appearing on Jeopardy!
🎬 Hot Docs has had a rough few months beset by money issues and internal restructuring but the film festival just announced its December lineup ahead of next spring’s big event.
Commuter corner
Subway service on Line 2 between Victoria Park and Kennedy will end at 11 p.m. for track work. Shuttle buses will run instead.
Until Nov. 3, the 501 Queen streetcar will divert both ways via Church Street, King Street and Spadina Avenue because of track work.
The Waterfront Marathon means tons of downtown road closures starting tonight. Downtown will more or less shut down on Sunday morning.
Events, dear boy, events
Justin Timberlake is at Scotiabank Arena tonight.
Dogs in costumes will be patrolling the Distillery District on Friday night for a Halloween event.
Roy Thompson Hall is hosting a live-scored showing of The Nightmare Before Christmas tonight and tomorrow.
OCAD is hosting its fifth annual gallery crawl on Oct. 19.
The 25th annual Planet In Focus film festival takes over the Paradise Theatre until Oct. 20.
The Waterfront Marathon is on Sunday.
