Photo: "Ice Chimes" by ~EvidencE~, member of the theGentries Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

Is it more affordable for the city to clear all pedestrian walkways of snow and ice, or focus on the most important/used ones and pay the occasional lawsuit when someone gets injured on an uncleared city-maintained walkway?

The folks at the Toronto Sun want you to call the NDP so badly they've posted an article detailing how you might do that, but within the article they failed to mention why. Presumably this is their reaction to the news that the party voted against forced back-to-work legislation at Queen's Park this weekend, which would have fast-tracked an end to the ongoing York University employee strike.

I'd always wondered what kind of insider information gas guru and politician Dan McTeague had that allowed him to so accurately predict coming gas prices. It turns out that he purchases access to an industry web site that lists updated "rack" prices, and does a simple calculation. Kudos to the Star for getting him to reveal his long-running secret, and kudos to McTeague for paying that $300 access fee so we don't have to!

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Officials believe that a rash of fires this weekend in the west end (including one that forced a family to flee for their lives) were the doings of a serial arsonist who likely lives in the area. As many as 21 fires may have been set intentionally, and its only a matter of time before someone is killed, prompting CityNews to ask "Is your home arson proof?" and offer up tips like keeping your doors locked and gasoline soaked rags out of reach.

A botched Beer Store robbery in the Lansdowne and Dupont area ended in two suspects being arrested, but not before an officer was wounded on the head by shotgun pellets and a Toronto police cruiser was crushed on the railway tracks by a passing VIA Rail train. The police response seems to have been botched as well, but at least the suspects didn't get away.

And a couple of teens who apparently like to spend their leisure time speeding on highway 400 and sticking their asses out of their window were arrested and charged this weekend.