Fresh brewed news for Thursday, February 4, 2010

More and more gruesome details are being made public as the Villanueva hearings continue. The two police officers who were present during the incident, Jean-Loup Lapointe and Stéphanie Pilotte, both testified yesterday and handed in their reports. Among other important details, the inquiry highlighted that certain procedures were not followed. Lapointe did not hand in his gun right after the incident; he was allowed to keep and discharge his weapon himself.

Montreal shop owners are going to war against the Tremblay administration and the Mayor's decision to hike parking fees. They state that higher parking costs will choke downtown Montreal's economy, while the Mayor argues that the extra money will go into funding public transit. I don't know why, but I have a distinct feeling of deja-write about this...

According to shocking revelations by daily paper La Presse, taxpayers have contributed to golden parachutes of over $2.4 million to various city counselors who lost or quit politics after the Nov. 1 municipal elections. Cosmo Maciocia, president of the Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles borough and member of the executive committee, was granted a $80,955 "transition" allocation on top of his $34,046 departure check.

Photo: "ciel", by Midnight Poutine flickr pooler ncbeets.