Photo/MIKE POCHWAT

Brian Public School's Yasaman Farshad, right, and Nicholas MacKenzie do the rhumba during a ballroom dance competition quarter-final held Tuesday at Lord Dufferin Junior and Senior Public School.

Photo/BRENT LEWIN

Sri Lankan community members gather near Yonge and Bloor streets Saturday for a 'March for Peace' to show their support and praise the Canadian government for recognizing the Tamil Tiger movement as terrorists.

Photo/NICOLA BETTS

The dance group Sanskriti, with Puja Amin (centre), performs at Yonge-Dundas Square as part of the closing celebrations of Luminato.

Mirror/JOHN PACKMAN

Lev Jaeger shows his son Zohar and Oscar Bean how to blow bubbles during the recent Fabulous Fathers' Day Picnic at the 519 Church Street Community Centre. The picnic is a family celebration of Gay/Bi/Trans/Queer dads, granddads, prospective dads...

Mirror Photo/Nicola Betts

The crowd gathers to watch Ashley MacIsaac perform at Yonge-Dundas square as part of the Luminato Festival - a ten day festival of the arts.

Photo/DAN PEARCE

Duncan McIntosh hands over a can of soup with his mom Caroline, left, and Sherri Lambe, communitcations director with Campbell's Soup, during the recent Help Hunger Disappear on National Hunger Awareness Day. Campbell's constructed the word hunger...

Photo/MIKE POCHWAT

Gavin Hicks demonstrates his skills during the Wakeboard Urban Rail Jam at Boardsports May 31. The competition was held to benefit the Hospital for Sick Children and organizers were hoping to raise over $10,000.

Mirror photo/BRENT LEWIN

Sukayna Sabryia, centre, finds a book she likes at the Yonge Street Mission's recent 4th Annual Book Fair. Thousands of books were given away free to the community.

Mirror photo/BRENT LEWIN

The recent first bite of a demolition at 1 Bloor Street on marked the historic beginnings for construction of Canada's tallest condos.

Photo/JOE DURAND

Sprucecourt Junior and Rose Avenue Public School students learn about potato biodiversity through displays and taste-testing at the city's Allan Gardens Children's Conservatory.

BRIEFS

Police apprehend alleged 'subway pusher'

Grgo Kutlesa, of no fixed address, has been charged with aggravated assault in connection with an alleged assault at a downtown subway station.

On May 21, Kutlesa, 42, reportedly pushed a 44-year-old man onto the tracks at the College Subway Station. The victim managed to get off the tracks and climbed back onto the platform unharmed.

The incident happened at about 6:05 a.m.

He was last seen fleeing the scene near Yonge and College streets.

Kutlesa was apprehended on Tuesday, June 24 when a dispute arose when he refused to pay for his fare at the Islington subway station.

Upon arriving at the scene, Toronto Police and special TTC constables ascertained that he was the same individual wanted for the aggravated assault.

TCDSB high school teachers accept contract

Toronto's Catholic Secondary School teachers voted recently to accept a tentative four-year agreement that would see a three per cent increase in their salary each year of the term.

Union President Kathleen Gardiner said the members voted 95 per cent in support of the agreement, which has "considerable improvements in benefits, long sought after."

Teachers and senior management have also agreed to improved consultation processes on local issues, she added.

"Provincial discussions between the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association and the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association, earlier this year, were of considerable assistance in this round of bargaining," Gardiner said.

The agreement is subject to approval by the Ministry of Education's appointed supervisor of the Toronto Catholic District School Board.

Community safety program launched in Regent Park

Toronto Police, specifically 51 Division's Focused Neighbourhood TAVIS (Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy) Deployment, have launched a new program to help make the Regent Park community safer.

The 10-week program comes out of the need to curb summertime violence in the inner city neighbourhood. In recent weeks, three people were seriously injured by gunshots in the area.

This program is part of a long-term community mobilization strategy designed to identify, prioritize and reduce crime and disorder as well as look at solutions that will help make the community safer.

To do so, an additional 13 uniformed officers will be covering the Regent Park area alongside 51 Division's uniformed and investigative officers. The Toronto Police Service's Mounted Unit and its Auxiliary Police Unit will also offer their support to the community.

Further, Toronto Community Housing and several social service agencies in Toronto will work in conjunction with the local TAVIS initiative.

Anyone with information about criminal activity in Regent Park should call 416-808-5100 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or www.222tips.com.

School crossing guards wanted

The Toronto Police Service is accepting applications for one of its most important positions: school crossing guards.

Crossing guards are responsible for helping school-aged children up to Grade 6 safely cross the road. They may also assist older children, adults, the elderly, the disabled or any other person to safely cross.

Applicants are required to pass a vision test and must provide a Certificate of Fitness from their family doctor confirming that they are physically fit to carry out the job's important duties.

They must not have been convicted of a criminal offence for which a pardon has not been granted. A proof of pardon must be provided, if that is the case. Applicants must also provide proof that the RCMP has sealed their records, if a conditional or absolute discharge was obtained.

A security check will be conducted.

The pay rate for crossing guards is $10.36/hour with a 12 per cent travelling allowance and 4 per cent vacation pay.

Contact the police division closest to your home address for additional information.

Police lay charge following cyclist's death

Toronto Police's Traffic Services, in consultation with the city's Prosecutors' Office, has charged a 43-year-old woman under the Highway Traffic Act for improperly opening a vehicle door that led to the death of a cyclist on May 22.

The accident happened near Eglinton Avenue West and Avenue Road when a 57-year-old man was hit and lost control of his bicycle when the occupant of a parked Volvo unexpectedly opened the driver's side door.

That initial accident knocked the cyclist onto the roadway where he was then struck by a 1997 Ford cube van.

The cyclist, whose identity has not been released at the request of next-of-kin, was transported to hospital but succumbed to his injuries at about 5 p.m. that day.

This incident was the city's first cycling fatality of 2008.

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