Special Reports




wall covered in graffiti

Graffiti, street art and the City of Toronto

In the last three years, St. Luke’s United Church on Sherbourne and Carlton streets has spent around $1,000 annually to remove graffiti. The church even needed to buy an $800 power-washer.  St. Luke’s would remove graffiti once every…



Commuter at train station

Trauma by the tracks

TTC commuters are accustomed to delays on the subway, which are sometimes caused by suicides on the tracks. Though for most commuters the announcement might result in being late for work or school, some have the misfortune of witnessing a suicide. This can translate into either shock or trauma. People suffering in the aftermath of witnessing suicides have found refuge in online forums, with many coalescing on Reddit. The social media forum features posts from witnesses to TTC suicides.




Ice skaters at Nathan Phillips Square

Here we go again: City of Toronto 2017 budget

Don’t be surprised if you get a sense of déjà vu as the mayor and Toronto city council wrap up the budget for 2017, this week. City council finalized the budget during a meeting scheduled for Feb. 14-15. On the chopping block for budget reductions are popular public services such as library hours, childcare and the potential closing of a men’s shelter in North York for people addressing substance-abuse. They’ve all faced similar threatened cuts in previous years.


lips made up with glitter

How far will you go to look beautiful?

As the years go by the more people get obsessed with looking young and beautiful. Some are willing to using weird ingredients, participate in beauty trends that can be harmful such as tattooed makeup, while some put too much glitter on places people wouldn’t usually— or even get facials there (but that can be for cleansing purposes too, so we’ll let it slide). Now you can look just as good looking as those sexy fictional vampires by getting a vampire facial (even though that’s not really what it does). You can relax while somebody smears bird poo on your face, it’s not gross if it’s for beauty, right? They are some people that try to rejuvenate the skin by putting on a placenta mask. Better yet, just freeze yourself in the name of beauty.