Within the last few years, the plateau block of St. Denis bordered by Duluth to the south, and Rachel to the north has seen it's fair share of fires. Earlier this year, it was Lombardi - a restaurant on Duluth. Preceding that, the immensely popular L'acadamie burned on two different occasions. Last night, the latest 5 alarm fire was closer to Rachel St. and ravaged a few buildings including the ones housing Barouf and Continental.

I happened to be walking by tonight and caught a few photos. The local press has small write ups on the inferno and can be found here, and here, and ici.

If you�??ve been worried about your safety while riding the Metro these days, you can now, supposedly, rest easy. Although metro crime stats don�??t indicate that riding the underground is particularly dangerous, the public perception over some recent incidents and inaction by metro security guards seems to have forced the city�??s hand. As of today, you will see city police officers riding the subway and generally trying to make their presence felt�?�

Resident Humpday Headliner Cat is on hiatus this week, so I humbly try to fill in.

What can I say, other than it�??s a slow news day. The local media must be down to skeleton crews for the summer, because there�??s not a lot of reporting going on. It�??s either because staff is playing hooky, or vacations have kicked in �?? but can you blame them? The summer season is in full swing, and there�??s not a bad weather report in sight.

There�??s no doubt that the F1 is a huge event for the city, but the media coverage is getting silly. If you try googling �??Montreal�?? in their News search function, the first 25 or so stories that appear are all about this past weekend�??s race. The award for silliest story goes to ITV (a Brit sports channel) lamenting the race for its lack of celebrity sightings. They go so far as to suggest that Celine Dion might have added some buzz to the festivities.

It�??s Tuesday, which means only two days until F1 mayhem officially arrives in town. Scenesters, you will congregate on Crescent and/or St. Laurent (between Ontario and Pins, of course), until Sunday when race fans will flood Ile Ste. Helene. Everyone else, you will leave town or avoid those three locations like the plague.

As for today�??s news it�??s, well, less than thrilling�?�

All three levels of government are playing a role in today�??s media coverage. While our prime minister, Stevie Wonder, is busy cozying up to Bush at the upcoming G8 conference, his cronies back home are finding resistance to their plan to deport a Montreal woman without her daughter.

Today is National Denim Day and it�??s not too late to donate to the cure foundation to fight breast cancer. Actually, it�??s never too late, but if you donate before the end of today, you can truthfully explain to your boss why you�??re wearing jeans to work (of course, if they�??re acid wash you may have a hard time explaining that to anyone).

Generally, it�??s a slow news day for the city. With no new hijab controversy, the press is turning its attention to the changing seasons and improving weather, which, according to la presse, is a perfect time for the criminal element to emerge from hibernation�?�