Philip Alves

Council has given the go ahead to special prosecutor Timothy Wilkin to pursue charges against Mario Campese, Mayor Linda Jackson’s husband and 2006 campaign manager.

Hankering for a new bathroom but the recession has you hugging your wallet a little tighter these days? If you are, you’re not alone and the federal government knows it.

It was a whopper of an announcement on Wednesday. York Region Chairman and CEO Bill Fisch welcomed Premier Dalton McGuinty’s pledge of $1.4 billion in provincial transit money for new Viva buses and the construction of dedicated bus rapidways on Hwy. 7, Yonge St. and Davis Dr.

Isolated seniors in Vaughan have reason to feel a little more connected. On March 16, Thornhill MP Peter Kent announced more than $60,000 in federal money for three seniors’ groups: the Concord West Seniors Club, the First Chinese Seniors Association of Vaughan and the Seniors Enrichment Centre.

Police are hunting for a suspect after two purse snatchings about 30 minutes apart in Thornhill.

Vaughan Today swept the two English-language print categories at the recent York Regional Police Media Awards. Managing editor Alexis Dobranowski and reporter Corey Lewis each took home an award statue at the March 3 event.

Vaughan’s new integrity commissioner says her job isn’t the cleanup of city hall. It’s to create rules and make sure they’re being followed. Suzanne Craig, who will be leaving her post as Toronto’s director of corporate access and privacy to take up her new position on April 6, says she’s heard the cleanup suggestion and it’s presumptuous.

Laid off workers aren’t the only ones who need help during a recession, says Heidi Garcia, human performance specialist with Karico Performance Solutions. Companies need to make full use of their employees’ talents to survive and thrive, though many don’t, she says.

Two people face a slew of charges in connection with what police are calling a rash of warm-up thefts across Markham and Vaughan that began in October.

The job market is a crowded place these days. Layoffs continue apace as the recession drags on and companies claw back. The Canadian economy shed 83,000 jobs last month, bumping the unemployment rate up to 7.7 percent, according to Statistics Canada’s February employment report, released last week. Ontario alone lost 35,000 of those jobs and the province’s unemployment rate of 8.7 percent is the highest it’s been since April 1997.

Vaughan city councillors are pleased with a recent court decision that cleared them of wrongdoing and bias against Mayor Linda Jackson. Ontario Superior Court Justice Peter Lauwers’ ruling, released last week, dismissed Jackson’s claims that council’s unanimous call in June to pursue charges after a court-ordered audit of her campaign finances hinged on a series of illegal actions.

Mayor Linda Jackson says she’s disappointed with a recent court ruling in her battle with the city and is considering her options.