Photo: "Awoke in the shade that morning" by picturenarrative, member of the theGentries Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA:

Politicians seem to do whatever it takes to sway public opinion in their favour, including hushing officials from Transport Canada on the possibility of new road tolls and taxes. Apparently Transport Canada is still investigating the idea of implementing for road tolls, despite their having canceled their studies into the matter just before the federal election was called in September.

It's an early gift from the province, but how Toronto will spend the $237million dedicated to infrastructure remains unknown. Will we be fixing 420km of city roads, buying 360 new subway cars, or financing advertising campaigns aimed at getting even more money out of the province and feds? Hopefully this money is spent wisely.

Did the cyclist attempt to rob the cabbie before he was run over, or is this a hit-and-run with a creative twist being told by the cabbie? The strange incident last night resulted in a cyclist's leg being severed, and will surely result in an intriguing police investigation and court trial.

The audit of Catholic school board trustee spending has been completed and passed on to Toronto police after somewhere in the range of $30,000 of the near $1million were deemed to be ineligible expenses. And the cost of the investigation? Just $250,000.

The newly renovated AGO is set to open to the public this afternoon, and is getting high praise from Torontonians. We were at the media scrum yesterday and have posted a first look here.

The strike situation at York University isn't looking good. Mediated talks between the school and the union have reportedly broken down, so students will have to continue to find ways to fill their days with fun/learning/eating/working/etc outside of school. The longer this strikes go on, the more compromised the academic semester becomes.

And finally, a UofT chemist has been awarded a top prize - Eugenia Kumacheva became the first Canadian to win the L'OrĂŠal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science. Congrats for being recognized with such an esteemed research award!