The news about Torstar getting into betting
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Details about the Toronto Star publisher pursuing online gaming in what’s described as a way to help fund journalism include the company claiming the paper’s Atkinson Principles will be “kept in mind.” The lobbying for single-game sports betting to become legal in Canada coincides with Ontario allowing private sector players to pursue an estimated $500-million market.
Downloading all of the shots
March started with a little more optimism on the vaccination front, even if AstraZeneca jabs still aren’t recommended for people over 65 and the U.S. won’t share supply before all Americans are inoculated. Canadian provinces are also administering different approaches to the rollout: B.C. became the first to accelerate the timeline by delaying second doses despite pushback.
The hit-and-run driver who left the scene to do a radio report about the fatal accident. Toronto Star reporter Steve McKinley tells the story behind the sentencing of Matthew Gerald Kennedy, at the time a Halifax journalism student. Kennedy was arrested 20 months later, when he was doing traffic reports on the radio.
The weirdest new art attack
Suddenly, the crypto-art scene is generating stories like how Thunder Bay–born artist Michah Dowbak, who had a modestly successful music career, grossed US$4.3 million in a matter of minutes on the platform Nifty Gateway. Not to be outdone is Grimes, who had a US$5.8 million take from digital artworks, a trend that requires explanation:
CTV giving a music documentary series the saddest prime-time slot. This is Pop, which assigns a different Canadian filmmaker to the history of a sub-genre, comes from Banger Films, the company best known for Hip-Hop Evolution. But premiere airings are relegated to the 10 p.m. Saturday time slot purgatory, albeit streaming later.
Finally, the rise of a digital DJ
Kaytranada, whose name was first widely known for winning the Polaris Music Prize in 2016, is nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. Perks of percolating fame for the Montreal artist include TikTok commissioning the premiere of the track “Caution,” and a podcast episode that explains how he ascended:
