Girl sxually assaulted during school trip to park

Police are trying to find the suspect that sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl during a school outing in Scarborough. The girl was with her class in the Livingston Rd. and Guildwood Parkway area at about 1:30 p.m. Friday when she was approached by a man and sexually assaulted. Police say the assault happened despite the fact that there was an adult presence. The adult was with the group but did not realize the assault had taken place. The suspect was later seen walking southbound on Livingston Rd. “Obviously the fact that it’s alleged that a man approached a group of children in the company of an adult and was able to do this is quite brazen,” said Toronto police Const. Wendy Drummond. The suspect is described as "a white male aged 40 to 50, standing six foot to six-foot-four, with a medium build, balding with short grey hair and brown eyes." He was wearing a blue nylon coat with a hood, faded blue jeans and brown, construction-style boots. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-7474 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477.

I feel extremely terrible that something like this could happen, not to mention it was in the middle of the day with many people around, including an adult. Teachers need to watch their students as closely as possible, and obviously, this teacher was not doing their job. If I was a teacher, I would not let my 7-year old students leave a 5 metre distance from me. Child protection has to be the first priority when leaving a school, but this was not the case in this scenario. My condolences are towards the girl's family and friends.

Toronto 18 ringleader apologizes at sentencing hearing

The ringleader of a deadly plot that was supposed to cripple the economy and unleash a high spread massacre in downtown Toronto says he is "regretful and sorry" and wants the opportunity "to pay the moral debt I owe." "I will turn myself around from a man of destruction to a man of construction," said Zakaria Amara, the leader of the Toronto 18 homegrown terror cell, in a court in Brampton during his sentencing hearing Thursday. The Crown is seeking a sentence of life in prison, while the defence is asking for a range of 18 to 20 years in the sentence. Amara addressed the court claiming he had been led "down the path of extremism" and "locked in an ideolgical position," which he now admits was very wrong. The 24-year-old Mississauga man said that after his arrest in the summer of 2006, he spent three years in isolation, during which time he continued to accept and promote extremist views because there was "no one to shed light on the blind spots."

I think that the only possible option is to give this horrible person a lifetime sentence. Someone would have done this much damage should not be given a second chance. Anyone in his situation would obviously be saying the same thing that he is, and the judicial system should not think twice about giving him what he deserves - a life sentence. I cannot imagine how much damage this person would have done, if his plan went through.

H1N1 ruled out in Durham child deaths

Two autopsies have been completed on children who died in a within a day of eachother in Durham region. While the causes of the deaths have not been released, neither appears to be related to H1N1. Durham Regional Police have investigated both cases. Lakeridge Health made a statement Thursday evening, in response to a media report, indicating two pediatric patients who were "not actively treated at Lakeridge Health" had died recently. Due to privacy issues, the hospital would not release any more information, including the ages of the children, the symptoms they showed or even which Lakeridge site the children had been taken to. Lakeridge did indicate that under such circumstances, autopsies are generally done. Those autopsies were completed Thursday, said Dr. William Lucas, the regional supervising with responsibility for Durham. "The two deaths are not related in any way, shape or form," he said, noting the children had neither a familial relationship or, it appears, the same cause of death. Not only that, but "they're not looking like they're in any way related to H1N1." Flu has been ruled out in one case, and in the other, pathologists are awaiting final test results to officially rule out H1N1. "But, appearances suggest it does not look like it's going in that direction," Dr. Lucas said. The cause of death has been determined for one child, but citing privacy reasons, the coroner's office could not release that information. Police usually investigate in the case of any sudden or unexpected death.

I feel terribly for the families that have lost these two children. I cannot imagine how it would feel to lose a child. Having this information leaked that the children did not have H1N1 will likely give some parents the comfort that children are not getting severly sick from the swine flu. I think that many people are going to start caring less and less about the topic and within a month, no one will be talking about it at all. I think it is good that the doctores didn't give out too much information about these children, because that is how rumors start from people and then familes get calls about things that are not true.

Blowing snow to hamper afternoon commute

Drivers heading west during Thursday afternoon's commute should be prepared for white-out conditions, as a gusting winds and light snow will combine to reduce visibility in parts of the GTA. "A lot of snow is just kind of sitting there," said Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson, after explaining that Wednesday's frozen rain-snow slush mixture has given us a hard crust that fresh snow is not sticking to. "Any loose snow that has fallen recently could very be whipped up by the wind and produce those local poor visibilities." Coulson noted that blowing snow will be a factor for commuters in all regions of the GTA, Peel and southern parts of Halton region like Burlington and Oakville, are expected to get the worst of it. Flurries and strong winds, with gusts around 60 km/h, are expected to last until Friday. There is an expected drop of temperature throughout the day, with the coldest spots of the GTA feeling like 20C with the wind chill. Though Toronto is already experiencing an "abnormal temperature trend," said Coulson, those cold temperatures are only going to get colder. A cold air mass is heading to Toronto from northwestern Ontario, where temperatures today are as cold as 25 C. The cold air is expected to hit the GTA tomorrow, though it will have warmed up significantly, with a day time high expected of 4 C.


I think do not think that people should be worrying about the snow as much as they currently are. Yes, the snow causes for the roads to become more slippery, but with the availability of snow tires, drivers should not be as paranoid about the icy roads. In my opinion, all car companies should give snow tires with each car, or at least a much lower price. There would be a huge decrease in accidents, and there would be more purchases for these tires if they still cost money. I know that when I start driving, I will only be driving in the winter, if my car has winter tires.

Holding charities to business standards

At the perfect time for Christmas giving, Charity Intelligence Canada, which collects an annual list of non-profit organizations that offer donors "the biggest bang for their buck," has released its 2009 recommendations. Twelve Toronto charities have been chosen. Most are well known, deliver measurable services and have influential supporters. They are: Second Harvest, Fort York Food Bank, Evangel Hall Mission, Salvation Army Gateway, Red Door Family Shelter, Barbra Schlifer Clinic, Pathways to Education, Junior Achievement of Central Ontario, East York Learning Centre, Gateway Linens, Eva's Print Shop, TurnAround Couriers. These charities are doing great work and deserve the recognition they are getting. But so do many small, grassroots voluntary organizations that will never win a Charity Intelligence seal of approval. They change lives in ways that can't easily be measured. They know their clients personally and take the time to listen to them. They don't try to be big, businesslike or competitive. They are doing good for the people who need it. To those who normally "write cheques to unknown charities," Charity Intelligence offers a better option. But to those who have been affected by a charity, know its staff and volunteers, see the good work it does in their community and believe there is nothing wrong with traditional giving. Some charities deliver services efficiently. Others mobilize citizens, strengthen communities, combat indifference and solve problems in ways that defy market analysis.

Having these charities contribute donors is something all people should recognize. They are non-profitable, so you can tell that they really care about people that need basic needs. Kate Bahen, the Charity Alliance should be reawrded because she has created a foundation that will change people's lives forever. She works hard to  make sure the company is well run and it is her goal to ensure it happens. She chose 40 charities out of 40,00 that she thought were the best to be part of the alliance, and she is doing a great job.

False alarms prompt space station scare

Astronauts at the international space station and space shuttle Atlantis woke up to a worrying sound - alarms indicating a fire and dangerous loss of pressure, NASA said Friday. But a check revealed tht there was no serious trouble. Depressurization-caution alarms went off around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, waking up the shuttle and station crew. The flight control teams on the ground said there was no depressurization, so they shut off ventilation fans. The crew was never in any danger, NASA said, and teams on the ground are looking into the cause of the false alarm. Flight control teams at Mission Control in Houston, Texas, were bringing the station back to normal soon after the alarms, but it was 10:15 p.m. by the time the crew was able to go back to sleep because they had to wait for the station's ventilation system to be reactivated. The crew members went back to work on Friday when they focussed on preparations for Saturday's spacewalk. They'll have to recharge batteries, switch out spacesuits and review procedures. They also will use the shuttle's robotic arm to grab a second cargo pallet of spare equipment that Atlantis brought up in advance of its transfer to the space station Saturday.

I think it is interesting that thi soccured. Something must have happened for this to occur and I think that the astronauts should be worried about this. I think that there was a decreased amount of pressure in the air and that the alarm went off because of this. NASA is doing a good job by investigating this because if I was there, I know I would want an investigation. I would  not be surprised to see something happen in a few days that has to do with this incident.

U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry

Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop. Froehlich is among the growing number of people across the U.S. fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal. Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to demand that she stop drying clothes in the sun. She also received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about. "They said it made the place look like trailer trash," she said, in her yard across the street from a row of neat, suburban houses. "They said they didn't want to look at my 'unmentionables.'" Froehlich says she hangs her underwear inside. The 54-year-old is one of a growing number of Americans demanding the right to dry laundry on clotheslines despite local rules and a culture that frowns on it. Their interests are represented by Project Laundry List, a group that argues people can save money and reduce carbon emissions by not using their electric or gas dryers, according to the group's executive director, Alexander Lee. Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and Hawaii have passed laws restricting the rights of local authorities to stop residents using clotheslines. Another five states are considering similar measures.

I think it is rediculous that some states are banning the use of clothelines. People own their own land, and it is not like people are making noise or disrupting others, they are just drying clothes. People do not have look at their neigbours backyards to see what they are doing. If they came on to their property, it would be a different story. Plus, Carin said she washed her underwear inside, so only shirts and pants were being washed. This law, in my opinion, is one of the craziest things I have ever heard of. This should not be a law in any state. People should be able to hang clothes whenever and wherever they want, as long as it is on their own property, and isn't disrupting others through noise.

Fast food, coffee to escape new blended tax

The Ontario government is retreating from plans to impose the new HST on coffee, newspapers and fast-food meals. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and Revenue Minister John Wilkinson are expected to announce Thursday morning at a Tim Hortons outlet on Islington Ave. in Etobicoke that restaurant meals costing less than $4 and newspaper subscriptions will begin only having a 5 per cent federal GST. That means the 8 per cent provincial sales tax portion of the HST, which blends the two consumption taxes as of next July 1, will not be added on your Tim Hortons "double-double" or your Wendy's Frosty. The Liberals were concerned that such an in-your-face tax being paid every morning by people in every demographic could be politically damaging.  In that vein, the government is also giving a similar exemption for newspaper subscriptions. Up to this point, books, feminine hygiene, diapers, children's clothing and kids' booster seats had been the only exempted products. However, taxes will still increase on gasoline, home heating fuel, taxis, legal services, golf green fees and hundreds of other items.

I think that this change in taxes is going to be good for the citizens of Ontario. 8% on food, and drinks can really add up for the people who buy fast food and coffee regularily. If people pay attention to this change, I think more more and more people will start buying these products. It doesn't seem like a big difference, but I think it is. A lot of money, each day, will not be speant on fast food and newspapers, because of this decrease in tax paid on these products. I am happy that this change has been made, because I like these foods, I and will coninue to prchase them.

New York Yankees manager wins good Samaritan title

After one of the best days of his life, Joe Giradi helped a victim of a car accident get out of harm's way. According to Jason Zillo, spokesman for the Yankees, Girardi was driving home after his Yankess had just won the world series, when he saw a crashed car on a busy strectch of a highway on the premisis of New York. The car was jutting into traffic. Girardi immediatley stooped to make sure the driver was okay. "He wanted to make sure that if someone was in the car they were OK," Zillo said. "And then he wanted to help her get away from a dangerous position in the highway." Police arrived moments later. The accidnet occured at 2:25 a.m. on Thursday, reported CNN affiliate WABC. Marie Henry, 27, of Stratford, Connecticut, said Girardi sprinted across three lanes of traffic to come to her aid. "She had no idea who I was," Girardi said in a radio interview Thursday. A Westchester County police officer who arrived at the scene described Girardi in the good Samaritan role as "totally surreal." "The guy wins the World Series, what does he do? He stops to help," Officer Kathleen Cristiano told local news Web site LoHud.com. "A lot of people know him as 'Joe Girardi, the manager of the New York Yankees,' but Joe is someone who puts other people first," Zillo said. "The easy thing would have been for him to just drive by. But I think it shows a lot about his character."

I think that this story should be heard all around North America. After you have just coched your team to winnng the World Series, most people would not be looking out to make sure someone they do not know is okay in a car. Many people would not have stopped but Mr. Girardi did because he cares about other people. This gives me a good idea of what kind of person he is and I know that many people should look at what he did as something they should do in the future.

Teen treated for flu symptoms before death

A 13 year old boy died form what he feared most - H1N1. After suffering from flu-like symptoms on the weekend, he died from complications of the disease on Monday, his father stated.  "When the first wave happened in the winter, he was concerned about it, and we said it was all OK," Paul Frustaglio said. "What do you know, that's what it was." Evan was in London, Ont. with his mother at a hockey tournament this weekend. He was a member of the Mississauga North Stars. When he had a sore throat and a dry cough, she took him to a pharmacy where a pharmacist told her it was a sign of the season. "They said it looked like simple flu symptoms and they sent him home and said, 'Continue to give him Tylenol,'" Frustaglio said. "Less than 24 hours before he died... I would have brought my son to the hospital. It gave us a false sense of security." His father stayed home from work on Monday to be his son. He said that Evan was feeling better and took a bath. "He went to the bathroom, and he started having an attack. He stopped breathing like that - like he was hit by a bolt of lightning," he said. "We called 911, and brought him to the hospital, and now he's gone." Evan's school has been closed and all of the players on his hockey team have been contacted. The GTHL commisioner, John Gardner found out last night, and has cancelled the team's next two games. He is put in place steps to prevent the disease form spreading to and from others. Evan's coach says he is worried because all of the players were swimming together, in the hot tub and sharing water bottles, although they did not touch their lips on them. Evan's family and his team captain have been put on tamiflu. A facebook page in Evan's memory has been created. It currently has 300 members and will surely get more.

Hearing someting like this, not only makes me feel terrible, but worries me a little. This could have happened to anyone on any hockey team in the northern Toronto area. Players on my hockey team will hopefully get vaccined. I know a kid who I use to go to school with who knew Evan quite well. I can't imagine how he feels. I have joined the Facebook group because, although I never met him, I know he was a good person. I hope people get the chance to rest and take medicines before it becomes too late. H1N1 is goign to be a bad disease this winter. We need to do everything we can to preven theses events.

Why the book-price wars haven't come to Canada

Walmart is separating for the greedy pricing of bestsellers by its American partner that has spurred American booksellers to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate. In the U.S., Wal-Mart online and Target are matching the $9 or under price Amazon.com has put on 10 bestsellers, setting off a price war that booksellers fear will "devastate not only the book industry but our ability to remain a society where ideas are always available to the public." The bestsellers include books by John Grisham, Stephen King and Barbara Kingsolver that usually sell for from $25 to $35 (U.S.). In Canada, neither Amazon.ca or Wal-mart Canada are in that type of discounting. Andrew Pelletier, vice president of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart Canada, said that Canada is taking the Canadian approach for "what is good for the Canadian market" that often is different in the U.S. "We are two different countries. The U.S. approach is based on their marketplace," Wal-Mart Canada also doesn't sell books online.

I think that having the book prices at a lower price will benefit everyone in Canada. People would be surprised to see the amount of people that read books on a regualr basis, so having the prices at fair level is great. The bestsellers are purchased so much in Canada, and I think that the authors make enough money, that having prices increase won't tremendously affect their difference in income. The prices are high in the U.S. and the authors make money off of them, but not as much of it comes form Canada.

Mom says missing daughter had been excited about concert

Morgan Harrington has gone missing. The 20 year old education major went to a Metallica concert on Saturday night and has't been seen since. "She was excited about the concert and she brought home three outfits that she tried on for me," her mother said Tuesday on HLN's "Nancy Grace." "We chose one and she said, 'Mama, it is a rock concert so it is probably not what you would choose, but is this one OK?'" Harrington said she told her daughter, 'That will do fine.' "You know you have to give your kid wings," Harrington said. Morgan had been so anxious about the concert, she put the tickets up on the fridge six months ago when she got the tickets. Metallica posted a message about Morgan's disappearance on their web site under the heading "One of our fans is missing." "We are deeply concerned about the disappearance of 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington, who was last seen while attending our concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA, on Saturday night," the message said. The message described Harrington as 5'6", 120 pounds, has blond hair, blue eyes and was wearing a black Pantera T-shirt, black mini skirt, black tights and black boots. They asked that anyone with any information to contact Virginia State Police or University of Virginia police.

The people that are close to Morgan should get everyone around them to help search for her and get her home quick. Once the word spreads to a larger amount of people, some people may take advantage of her and could cause her to possibly never be found again. I think it's awesome that Metallica has advertised her missing on their web site because a lot more people will be informed of it. Hopefully, her absence will come to an end soon, because if I wee in her situation, or her family's, I would be quite scared.

Police: UConn football player stabbed to death

The cornerback of the UConn football team had the game of his life after beating Louisville. He gave his mom a call and was given the game ball. A few hours later another member from the football team called Jasper Howard's mother - it was the coach. He informed her that her son had just been stabbed. "He was a good child, a wonderful, sweet, loving child," Joangela Howard told CNN affiliate WSVN. "I just hope whoever did it turns himself in. [Jasper] didn't deserve this." Jasper started every game for UConn last year, was stabbed at a student dance on Saturday night. The junior, born and raised in Miami, was a soon-to-be father. A fire alarm was pulled late Saturday night, and the 300 students at the dance rushed onto the streets. A fight between two groups broke out and Howard and an unidentified person were stabbed. The two were sent to a hospital, and then airlifted to another hospital in Hartford, where Howard was pronounced dead from injuries. The other victim was treated and released. Authorities are investigating whether alcohol was involved. There were students and non-students involved in the incident. The Huskies are 4-2 this year, and Howard led the league in punt returns.


It is extremely sad to see something happen to anyone, let alone a future NFL athlete. These stabbings happen so often now that I think that something should be done. College and Universities should not promote activities within the school that involve non-students. This would allow the school to trust the students and not have to risk the chance that the non-students are going to harm anyone or anything. Security should be present at these events as well because it is probably not too hard for the students to obtain substances and objects that shouldn't be active at these events.

Gates gives $120-million to help poor nations farm

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation i going to donate a total of $120-million. This is supposed to boost agricultural production, and farming in the developing world. “Melinda and I believe that helping the poorest small-holder farmers grow more crops and get them to market is the world's single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty,” Mr. Gates, the billionaire founder of software giant Microsoft, said. The Gates Foundation has been active in fighting child and infectious diseases in poor countries. It has given $1.4-billion to agricultural development. Mr. Gates says that the process of making global hunger decrease is “endangered by an ideological wedge that threatens to split the movement in two”. “It's a false choice, and it's dangerous for the field,” Mr. Gates said in prepared remarks. “The fact is, we need both productivity and sustainability – and there is no reason we can't have both.” The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said on Oct 8 that net investments of $83-billion a year must be made in agriculture in developing countries if there is to be enough food to feed 9.1 billion people in 2050.

I think that Mr.Gates is doing a good thing by helping out the developing countries. He has so much money that could be going towards other things that would benefit him, but is choosing to help people who need it much more than he does. He should be rewarded for his efforts. He has been helping out the agricultural aspect of the less fortunate people and is surely helping out the world in a huge way.

Google Wave to be released to 100,000 testers Wednesday

Google's new product, Google Wave, is set to be tested by 100,000 beta users on Wednesday. It is said to "revolutionize" online communiation. The app from Google Inc. brings all of the elements togther including, e-mail, chat, Wiki documents and photo sharing web sites. These all brought together are known as the "wave." Google first intorduced Wave at a developer conference in May. Testers will begin geting rid of all of the bugs, before its hopeful launch at the end of this year. Wave was created by Lars and Jens Rasmussen, the Australian brothers who also creatd Google Maps. They say that this app will eventually take over e-mail and the way people communicate over the internet. "This should be something everybody uses and something everybody knows," Jens Rasmussen said. In Wave, e-mail-like communications can be edited by several users at the same time. Users can also chat about certain sections of Wave documents in current time, where all users see what a person is typing as it is typed. If a person comes to the conversation late, they can replay everything they've missed. Originally Wave was pointed out for having too many bugs. "As an initial user of Wave, I have to tell you: things have gotten much more stable. It still has a slow response time in certain situations and it can still crash, but these things happen far less often than they used to," Ben Parr of the social-media blog Mashable writes.

I am very optimistic that Google Wave will take over Facebook as the world's most used online source. Just hearing about the product makes me think just how many people will be using it. 321 million people have Facebook, and I wouldn't be surprised if that number is doubled by the time Google Wave is in its prime. I know that once Google Wave comes out, I am for sure going to try it. Society always wants new, and once they see this product, they will never go back. Google Wave will be the biggest thing that the internet has ever seen!

Online chats led to Texas terror suspect's arrest

There has been an accusation for a bomb plot in Dalas, Texas. A 19 year old Jordanian was was arrested Thursday beause of a violent posts on an extremist chat site. Federal officials said Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, who entered the United States illegally and lived in Texas, attempted to set off an explosive. It was attached to a car at the base of the Fountain Place office tower, which is 60 stories high. The police had been reading his posts on the site for quite a while, before they arrested Smadi yesterday. "Smadi was discovered by the FBI within an online group of extremists," the affidavit says. "Among many others in the group who espoused and endorsed violence, Smadi stood out, based on his vehement intention to actually conduct terror attacks in the United States." Officers that had weant undercover got in touch with Smadi, pretending to be part of the Al Qaeda. After many months of investigation, they knew that Smadi was a threat. Smadi had planned on bombing the Dallas-Forth Worth Airport, before deciding to hit the Fountain Place tower. Smadi was quoted on saying that he was "a soldier of Osama bin Laden." The undercover agents got Smadi to drive a truck that he thought had a bomb in it into the bottom of the tower. The agents then caught him. Smadi is scheduled to make his first court appearance in front of a federal magistrate judge Friday in Dallas. He is being charged for attempting to use weapons of mass destrution, which will make him see a life sentence in prison and a 250,000 fine.

I feel quite relieved to see something like this be stopped. Had this bombing occured, the number of people hat would have died would have been huge. I think that it is very important for agents to be able to see every chat room or conversations because things like this could happen everyday and security is very important to have.

Drowning mother: 'Please, come help me!'

After finishing her night shift at Sam's Club, Seydi Burciaga walked into her minivan. She was only .3 miles away from her house, but never made it. At 5 a.m. her Nissan Quest was swept off the road by floodwater. The creek is usually three feet wide on the average day. The car was tossed and carried behind some trees and a school. Water was coming into the vehicle quickly. "Please, coe help me," she said. "Please!" The dispatcher used some clues that Seydi was giving him to ocate where she might be. burciaga had lived in the neighbourhood for the past decade, so she was very familiar with area. She was reffered to as the "neighbourhood mom" and would help anyone who needed. "She was a very loving mother, a good wife, a strong woman," said Pedro Burciaga, her husband of 14 years. "She liked helping everyone, and overall she worked very hard. ... She always had a smile for everyone." An hour after the incident began,her car was found more than 300 metres away. She was laying in the back seat of the car when she was found dead. She was a mexican immigrant and her birthday was coming up on November 10. She had a 9 year old son and a 4 year old daughter. Her husband struggled for words. His favorite memory: "Her smile, how she was with my children. She loved them a lot. She gave them lots of love."

The only thing I can say is how badly I feel for Seydi's friends and family. Having a story like this occur is tremendously sad, and makes me feel how lucky I am to have my family still with me. My grandfather died two and a half years and it was very tough to get through it. But having a father or mother of spouse of child would be the worst possible thing. The 911 call was recorded and you could see how frustrated and scared she was. I can't imagine being in a situation that she was in.

Cold? Flu? H1N1? How can you tell the difference?

When Chris Lewis was first asked to be tested on H1N1 in August, she wasn't so keen on it. But when she thought about it, she knew that taking one needle could save many lives. "I heard people might die from it," Smith said. "So I think it's a good idea to help people, by being involved." Chris and her girlfriend Tyra Smith were part of a group that were the first Americans to be given the H1N1 shots. They kept diaries and gave blood, to help create vaccines that would be ready for the fall. Now with the winter closing in on us,many people will be getting the cold and the flu. Doctors are worrying that some people may be getting the one-two punch of H1N1 and the flu, could make some Americans not be able to cope with the sicknesses, plus the colds many peple get this time around. But how can you tell what you have? Dr. Shmuel Shoham, an infectious-disease specialist at Washington Hospital Center, says "the common cold, seasonal flu and H1N1 are all respiratory illnesses, but they're caused by different viruses." Cold symptoms consist of three to five days of a cough and stuffy nose. Swine flu and a seasonal flu have similar symptoms which makes it dificult to distinguish one another. These symptoms include fever, body aches, diarrhea and severe fatigue. People need to go to the doctors once they start feeling these symptoms because they could end up in the hospital for many days, or even weeks, if it is not taken care of. The people that have the best chance of getting H1N1 are young people ages 6 months to 25 years, pregnant women, and people with long-lasting health conditions like asthma or heart disease. The CDC recommends that these people get vaccinated first.




Getting these tests done is very helpful. I think that this year is going to be one of the worst years for illnesses and if the symptoms are not identified, the number of sicknesses will be to the maximum. People sacrificing themselves should be given benefits of some kind like money because they aren’t just helping themselves, but others as well. Also, people will be able to find out how severe their illness is and can let people with H1N1 get the help they need before they need treatment or medicine for their little cold.

Fired boss sues OLG for $8.8M

Kelly McDougal, president of Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. was given the option to fire someone, or else. She chose the "or else"option and lost her job that payed her $400,000. She wanted to give the Government a "symbol of change," and intends to sue over the firing. "The damage that has been done to her through the mouths of the minister of finance and the premier of this province will haunt her for the rest of her career and severely limit her opportunities for re-employment at a similar or equal level," the notice says. McDougald is suing Ontario, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and OLG. She says that the damage that has been done to her is "irreplaceable" and worth $8.8 million. Kelly says that she met with OLG chairman Michael Gough on August 27, and was told to take OLG's chief financial officer John Black's job away from him. She was also insisted to fire one other person, who's name has not been released. "When Ms. McDougald made it clear that she was not prepared to terminate the employment of any senior executive at OLG for cause, the minister ultimately decided to terminate the employment of some other senior executive at OLG for cause, namely, Ms. McDougald," the notice states. Duncan and Premier Dalton McGuinty have insulted McDougald publically.

I have to agree with Ms. McDougal's decission to quit being president of Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. I believe that you have to be happy in a workplace and she obviously wasn't. The only thing I don't agree with amount of money being sued because she earned $400,000 last year, and now she may make $8.8 million just because she said no to someone. This incident is getting very public and I can't see how she could win this in trial.

Ghost Hunt turns deadly.

On Tuesday night, a University of Toronto ghost search was ended after a 29 year oldwoman was found dead. Leah Kradik, was found without pulse at 1 Spadina Cres. at 2 am. Leah was on a date for the first time, and the couple were rumored to be searching a "haunted" building down town.  Police say that a wire that Leah was holding on to snapped, and she fell tons of flights of stairs. Kubik, an American native, worked at the Toronto office of Message Labs. The building was no stranger to unfortunate incidents. This building, "The 134-year-old Connaught medical research building" also had a murder inside of it 8 years ago. that same year, David Buller, a professor from U of T, was killed after being stabbed. The artist received several wounds during a knifing spree in the second-floor studio where he was teaching his course for 15 years. The students that take classes at the building were found so surprised about the incident. "This is chilling and a little extreme," said Brendan Vanderwater, 20, of St. Catharines. "I have friends who hunt for ghosts, but it's for pleasure."

I think that seeing all of these deaths i such a shame to see because of all of the students and people going to this building. If an area outside was "cursed" then it would seem more believable because of shootings or gangs. But inside a building, I think that this is getting in people's heads and it is just irony. People shouldn't be frightnened and ignore the past.