| Like `everybody's living room,' libraries are vital to civic life ...
Toronto culture has its ups and downs, but the city's libraries have always remained solid. We seem to be, relatively speaking, a city of readers and our library system is supreme in North America – far overshadowing in total circulation, number of branches and number of visits, the library systems of such cities as Chicago and Los Angeles. The civic purse is empty, but the city has recently coughed up enough to keep the system going and to help maintain that supremacy. Toronto city Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27) cites an increase of close to a million dollars over last year in the capital budget for the library, which covers repairs and renovations (see sidebar above). More should be on the way for the operating budget – book purchases and so on – as well as for the capital budget.
Briefly in Tompkins
Internationally renowned artist George Rhoads will be featured in a solo show in the CSMA Gallery, with an opening reception from 5 to 8 p. m. during Gallery Night of Ithaca, followed by "Art Without a Net," an improvisational collaboration in music, dance and poetry under the direction of Jay Leeming. On April 4, First Friday will open an exhibit by SewGreen, a collective dedicated to ecologically and economically sustainable fashion. The exhibit will include winners of the 2008 SewGreen Competition. The inaugural series will end Friday, May 2 with a premiere performance of "Images," a chamber music piece by composer Laurie Conrad for flute, harp, violin and viola. The Ithaca Journal Chili Recipe Contest Does your chili rank with the county's best? Enter The Ithaca Journal Chili Recipe Contest for a chance to compete against professional chefs at the Great Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-Off on Feb.
Ryanair's nose dips on talk of empty seats
The concern is that they have no fuel hedging for the next year," he said "They gambled on fuel falling and it just keeps rising, which is bad as it represents 40pc of their costs." The shares closed down 18½ cents at €3.89½. While Ryanair was suffering some turbulence, the wider market was experiencing the calm after the storm. The FTSE 100 closed 6.8 lower at 5869, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 ended down 117.8 at 9738.5. After a tempestuous week of tumbles and bounces (not to mention the odd emergency rate cut and rogue trader) the market ended pretty much where it started. The blue-chips dipped 0.6pc over the course of the week, while the mid-caps ticked up 0.6pc. Imperial Tobacco was the top FTSE 100 riser, jumping 202p to £24.30 after its takeover of Spain's Altadis.
Animal Fix: Polar Bear Cubs, Lemurs Trying to Keep Warm & a Baby White ...
Zoo deputy director in Nuremberg, Dr Helmut Maegdefrau, updated reporters on the bear cub situation on Thursday morning. He said the zoo was still looking for another orphan bear, "so that it can smell and hear the ice bear, as it does not have a mother bear." "We will try to get a playing companion as soon as possible, but it is really difficult at this stage and age. In three months it will me a bit easier, because the bears of this age stay normally in caves with their mothers," he added. The deputy director also asked for more restraint around the bear enclosure. "We will definitely make sure to seal the area off for media vehicles to give them a bit of peace. We've seen yesterday that both lady bears do react to the whole thing more than we thought," he told reporters at the zoo gate.
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