Photo: untitled by Nancy Paiva, member of the theGentries Flickr pool.

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

Wow. A windfall of cash for cultural institutions is coming, in the tune of $40something-million courtesy of the provincial government [G&M]. This is huge, because despite what your Prime Minister thinks, we do care about the arts. A lot. Some of us value the arts (gasp!) more than business. More than tar sands.

How did a new street in a contested North York residential development end up being named "OMB Folly"? Should street names be allowed to take on political tone, and take stabs at organizations [Star]? Should the Ontario Municipal Board's controversial decision to develop (a deviation from the City of Toronto's Official Plan) be immortalized in the form of a silly street name?

It turns out that those strange green pills that landed on Pickering resident's doorsteps earlier this week were in fact part of a Greenpeace awareness campaign [CityNews]. An ill-conceived campaign. Police are now investigating. And rightfully so, I think.

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GO Transit is buying a section of track owned by CN [Sun], and although its not going to be considered a core asset, it will allow GO to further develop its infrastructure on the line (which is part of the Georgetown corridor).

Crackdowns on organized crime and drugs continued in the GTA yesterday, with a small series of raids north of the city, targeting the Latinos Americanos gang [NP]. Only three people were arrested and charged, but police claim that they're high-ranking members. Amongst the seized items was a two month old infant, who has been turned over to Children's Aid. Sad.

And a scheduled exhibit of the Dead Sea scrolls at Toronto's ROM in June is stirring up international controversy [Star]. Palestinian officials believe that the scrolls are amongst many historical artifacts that were illegally taken by Israel in 1967, and as such, that their display in Canada violates international law. Can o' wormage.