The Toronto Schools Using Non-Teachers Most Are in the Poorest Neighbourhoods | The Local Exclusive data shows a stark divide in how the TDSB relies on untrained emergency replacements—and schools in low-income neighbourhoods are bearing the burden.

Toronto schools have been increasingly calling on lunch supervisors, parents, and other non-teachers to cover staff absences. How often is this happening at your local school? Find out with our search tool here! #OntEd #TDSB thelocal.to/emergency-re...

The Toronto Schools Using Non-Teachers Most Are in the Poorest Neighbourhoods | The Local Exclusive data shows a stark divide in how the TDSB relies on untrained emergency replacements—and schools in low-income neighbourhoods are bearing the burden.

Great, enraging education reporting from @wencyleung.bsky.social for @thelocal.to. Students from some of the city's poorest neighbourhoods are spending days and days with untrained non-teachers in the classroom. And the province and the board won't talk about it. thelocal.to/emergency-re...

What Tracy Kidder Stood For His deep, immersive writing had moral stakes and changed people’s lives.

Tracy Kidder, who died last week at the age of 80, was the author of articles and books that served for many readers as timeless exemplars of what nonfiction writing could be, Cullen Murphy writes.

Go Ahead and Use AI. It Will Only Help Me Dominate You. A message of support for my fellow writers

By all means--continue.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/go-ahead-a...

Blue Jays back, life is good

Man…when I was coming up as an investigative reporter at Fortune, the writing and editing process was grueling (and rewarding!). What an embarrassment this is for a brand that meant so much to us.

The New Reality for Toronto's Crossing Guards | The Local Once a job for local retirees backed by the police, today's crossing guards are poorly paid contract workers employed by private companies. As they confront growing road rage and speeding drivers, the...

So we removed speed cameras, have zero reckless driving enforcement, and privatized crossing guards so that we now rely on a group of poorly paid contract workers to get people safely across the street. It's not going well! thelocal.to/crossing-gua...

Not yet, unfortunately

Tracy Kidder, Author of ‘The Soul of a New Machine,’ Dies at 80

Tracy Kidder was such a hero, RIP. The loss stings extra, I think, because both Kidder’s methods (e.g. embedding himself in a 5th grade classroom for a year) and his choice to so often write about the heroism of normal people feel out of time. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/b...

Rare, great opportunity to come join The Local as a permanent full-time reporter! Looking for someone who knows and loves Peel Region to join the team.

Lay It Down | Hazlitt People love John Samson Fellows’s music. He doesn’t want to make it anymore.

This profile of the great John Samson Fellows in @hazlitt.bsky.social is somehow both heartbreaking & heartwarming. I can't stop thinking about it hazlitt.net/longreads/la...

Insanity, can't believe we're letting the robots take away our punctuation

Congrats Arno!

The Talented Ms. Goldiee Podcast Episode · Question Everything · March 5 · 28m

On today's Question Everything, a magazine editor tries to solve a mystery -- is one of his freelancers trying to trick him? Check out "The Talented Ms. Goldiee" with @nickhunebrown.bsky.social from @thelocal.to

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/q...

The Talented Ms. Goldiee Podcast Episode · Question Everything · March 5 · 28m

Got to make an audio version of my @thelocal.to AI journalism scammer story for one of my favourite podcasts, Question Everything.
Show: www.kcrw.com/shows/questi...
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/q...

Come cover the municipal elections with us this fall! Very proud of what we've built with The Local Fellowship program, and excited about adding a photography fellow this year. Share with your early-career journalist friends, and feel free to message me with questions.

The Province Took Over Ontario’s Biggest School Boards to Fix Their Finances. The Numbers Tell a Different Story | The Local Analysis by The Local shows Ontario’s largest boards receive some of the lowest per-pupil funding in the province—raising questions about whether the real problem is mismanagement or the funding formu...

No one covering the province's school board takeovers like @wencyleung.bsky.social at @thelocal.to. thelocal.to/ontario-scho...

The kids slowly arriving back at the shinny rink, nature is healing, etc

Health811 Promises 24/7 Health Advice—If You Can Wait | The Local Data obtained through freedom of information requests show wait times have increased dramatically since Health811 replaced Telehealth Ontario, peaking at a monthly average of more than 11 hours.

Health811 is touted as a way to provide Ontarians with free, 24/7 health advice, writes @wencyleung.bsky.social. But data obtained by The Local shows wait times have risen dramatically since 2022, and it’s unclear where callers end up once they do speak with someone. thelocal.to/health811-te...

The fake AI journalists are only getting worse

When Your Dermatologist Becomes a Salesperson | The Local Getting a mole checked can takes months, but Botox appointments are readily available. Why dermatologists say their practice is the canary in the coal mine for privatized care.

Getting a mole checked can takes months, but Botox appointments are readily available. @rebeccaga0.bsky.social on why dermatologists say their practice is the canary in the coal mine for privatized care. thelocal.to/dermatology-...

Tuning into Olympics coverage takes me from “who is Hashimoto?” to, three minutes later: “wow, this really isn’t like Hashimoto.”

Understanding the Eglinton Crosstown in Seven Illustrations | The Local From Shohei Ohtani’s salary to the tunneling rate of a mole—an unorthodox guide to the numbers behind Toronto’s newest transit line.

The tunnelling rate of a mole, Kardashian career-spans, Jamaican patties-per-capita—we had to pull out unorthodox units of measurement to understand the Eglinton Crosstown. Amazing art by the great @michaeldeforge.bsky.social. thelocal.to/understandin...

How Ontario’s Corporate Pharmacies Are Burning Out Their Pharmacists | The Local At corporate pharmacies like Shoppers Drug Mart, pharmacists say they face overwhelming pressure from their parent companies to perform medically unnecessary tasks in the interest of profit.

Ontario's corporate pharmacies, like Shoppers Drug Mart, have faced allegations of overworking their pharmacists and setting high targets for medically unnecessary tasks to bolster profits. The resulting burnout, @kunalchaudhary.bsky.social writes, is an impending crisis. thelocal.to/shoppers-dru...

Meet Gabrielle McMann, Our Yearlong Journalism Fellow | The Local The emerging journalist is our first early-career fellow, in partnership with The Philanthropist Journal

We're thrilled to introduce Gabrielle McMann, our yearlong early career fellow in partnership with @thephilanthropist.ca! Over the course of this year, Gabrielle will be working together with the Local team, learning the craft of magazine-style community journalism. thelocal.to/gabrielle-mc...

Graph of WaPo numbers versus the New York times that shows a drop off in late 2024

You can see the exact moment in October 2024, as readership is headed for an upswing, when Bezos cans the Kamala endorsement and the Washington Post loses 10 percent of subscribers. The solution, of course, is to fire all the reporters. www.natesilver.net/p/the-sad-an...

Inside the Booming Industry Selling Lifestyle Drugs Online | The Local From erectile dysfunction medicine to hair loss treatment to weight loss drugs—a thriving online market has emerged to seamlessly deliver drugs straight to your door. But what happens when prescriptio...

I had a lot of questions about the millions of online pharmacy ads that have popped up in recent years, hawking hair loss treatment and ED medication and weight loss drugs. @royinori.bsky.social answered them! thelocal.to/online-pharm...

Saving Rhea Seegobin | The Local For the growing number of Canadians who will get cancer in their lifetimes, the financial stress can be profound. But despite her terminal diagnosis, with the support of her community, Rhea is determi...

"It’s a certainty there will be active cancer somewhere in her body—in her brain, in her liver, in her bones—for the rest of her life, however long that may be."

@wencyleung.bsky.social @thelocal.to

thelocal.to/cost-of-canc...

how an editor uncovered an AI journalist Podcast Episode · kill switch · 01/28/2026 · 33m

I had fun talking about AI journalism and Victoria Goldiee on the kill switch podcast. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Rhea Seegobin Can’t Afford Terminal Cancer | The Local For the growing number of Canadians who will get cancer in their lifetimes, the financial stress can be profound. But despite her terminal diagnosis, with the support of her community, Rhea is determi...

So much going on, but make time for this piece by @wencyleung.bsky.social. A gorgeous, surprisingly uplifting story that tackles an enormous subject, really the biggest subject, and tells is with such careful intimacy. thelocal.to/cost-of-canc... #longreads