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All posts by Philip Alves

Watch your vehicle, police warn after warm-up thefts

A pair of Wednesday morning warm-up thefts in Vaughan has police reminding drivers to be careful with their cars. On Nov. 4 at about 6:30 a.m., a Toyota Camry was stolen from a Martin Grove Road driveway, police say. The car was left running with the doors unlocked. It was left unattended for less than three minutes.

New youth city councillor welcomed

Ali Fatehzadah has taken on his post as Vaughan’s fifth youth city councillor with some lofty goals and the knowledge that he’s now a role model. “I’m of Afghan descent, my parents are from Afghanistan,” the 17-year-old Maple High School student said recently. “I’m a proud Canadian.”

The Log Driver’s Waltz

This may well be simultaneously the best song and cartoon of all time. No, that’s too wishy-washy. It is both the best song and cartoon in the history of everything.

Thornhill Grits name hopeful

The new federal Thornhill Liberal nominee says the ruling Conservatives talk a good game but the time for talk is over. Karen Mock, an educational psychologist and consultant with a history of dealing with issues of human rights, hate crime and diversity, replaces former MP Susan Kadis heading into the next federal election.

Hall lauds fallen man

Donald (Chic) Milne answered his last alarm from Fire Station 2 on Feb. 2, 1974. He drove Pumper 2 from the fire hall at Keele St. and Rutherford Rd. to a house fire on Crestwood Rd. in Thornhill. He died in hospital the next day. Chic was the first — and to this day, the only — Vaughan firefighter to die in the performance of his duties. Thirty-five years later, the station he was based out of has been dedicated to his memory.

Free tools to help present info visually online

I was at an all-day workshop yesterday at the Toronto Star put on by Robb Montgomery of Visual Editors out of Chicago. The entire day was about thinking of ways to present info visually to readers of online newspapers or blogs — and probably just as important to smaller outfits with limited resources, how to that for next to nothing.

Free blog options abound – here are 17

This post started out as research for a workshop on the basics of blogging — how to set a free one up, really — that I ran last week for journalism students at Centennial College in Toronto. I focused mainly on WordPress because it’s what I’ve worked with most, but I still wanted to give them options.

The Education of Brian Nicholl

The producers of the fifth estate, the CBC’s investigative TV series, called me up one day asking if they could use some photos I shot in early July, 2008, of a protest by Progressive Moulded Products employees after the company shut its doors. I jumped at the chance.

Voting changes on hold for now

Vaughan councillors agree a report by the city’s task force on democratic participation and renewal is both progressive and practical. But the overall response by Vaughan’s council members to the report’s 16 recommendations was lukewarm.

Council agrees to new rules

The nine who make up Vaughan’s city council have a new rulebook to play by. Council voted Monday to adopt the Code of Ethical Conduct for Members of Council, a 32-page document that replaces an earlier code first adopted in 1996.