Blayne Lastman couldn’t sleep last night—so he decided he wasn’t going to run for mayor. The Bad Boy Furniture boss had already assembled a campaign team, while his ex-mayor dad Mel talked about what a nice boy he is. But Blayne then decided the current mayor is doing quite alright. After all, John Tory has raised more than $1 million to spend on advertising in whichever light he likes:

Josh Colle passed the baton back to dad. The two-term councillor and TTC chair announced he was retiring from municipal politics. And then his father, the freshly ousted Liberal MPP Mike Colle, replaced him on the ballot. Meanwhile, interest in the new Ward 20 keeps growing: former CTV reporter Karlene Nation has entered the race as a conservative-leaning opponent to candidates affiliated with the Liberals and NDP.

Danforth shooting speculation brings on exasperation. Toronto Sun coverage of the tragedy has raised alarm among other journalists. And at the memorial scene, Rebel reporter David Menzies was recognized by a woman who fed him the ultimate viral video line: “I Don’t Care About ISIS!” Nonetheless, the probing of shooter Faisal Hussain’s possible motivation has continued, which is keeping alive the possibility of a paradox:

Chick-fil-A can’t pray away Toronto media branding it anti-gay. The chicken chain announced a northern expansion, which was reported on stateside as a booming business story—even if Canadian outlets can’t look away from controversies stemming from the company's devout Southern Baptist ownership. (The Toronto Star inadvertendly publishing a press release served to kindle the furor.)


Today’s edition of 12­:­36 is brought to you by the Toronto Life Wine Club, because today is the deadline to get its debut trio for summertime: a bold and elegant red, a luxurious sparkling rosé, and a crisp and fresh white. Learn what the club is all about before it stops trying to get your attention.


Diply has been cut down deeply. Building a meme machine on the back of social media sharing sounded like a bright idea to the company's London, Ontario founders—until changes to the Facebook algorithm sent the site's traffic plummeting. Several tweets indicate Diply has undergone its second round of major layoffs in 2018. Paying influencers to share stuff may be reaching a point of no return.

“Every aerospace company has to donate to Republicans in order to function.” The romance between Claire “Grimes” Boucher and Elon “Iron Man” Musk has taken some weird new turns on Twitter, including a now-deleted claim that she “literally tried to instigate union vote” amidst clashes over unionizing at Tesla. She’s also striving to correct media outlets reporting on her recent tweet streak:

Jacob Hoggard’s mug shot revives curiosity about Bruce McArthur. Hedley’s frontman is about to appear in court to face sexual assault charges involving “a woman and a girl.” But circulation of his stark arrest photo has led to more speculation about why an alleged serial killer didn’t get a similar one. Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash says Hoggard’s has a “valid investigative purpose.”

Word of the moment

ZAPPACOSTA DRIVE

The operatic singer of the Pizza Nova jingle now has his name on a North York street.




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