Thursday’s headlines

CITY HALL
• Rob Ford’s sister’s ex-boyfriend charged with threatening death [The Star]
• Arrest thrusts Ford family again into public eye [Globe & Mail]
• Rob Ford’s latest cutback: he’s going on a diet [Globe & Mail]
• Fords’ wants Canada-wide diet challenge [The Sun]
• Toronto police do not support safe injection sites, study suggests [The Star]
• Toronto lags in municipal funding for the arts: study [Globe & Mail]

BUDGET CUTS
• Toronto budget: Mike Del Grande’s candid chat about social programs [The Star]
• Library boad scrambles to cut, as business lobby urges a tax hike [The Star]
• Library use in Toronto surges in 2011, new figures show [Globe & Mail]
• Libraries safer in Ford Nation [NOW]
• James: Board of Trade gets it right [The Star]
• Ford vows to hold property tax increase to 2.5 per cent [Globe & Mail]
• ‘Smart, reasonable, repsonsible,’ budget will hold property tax at 2.5% [National Post]
• Mayor hashes out last-minute tweaks to budget [Globe & Mail]
• Toronto’s budget unfairly hurts women, groups allege [National Post]
• Women’s groups slam Ford budget [The Sun]
• Budget ‘horse trading’ expected to save shelters, arts funding [The Sun]
• Toronto isn’t divided by geography, but betrayal [Torontoist]
• How Rob Ford has started a bonfire with taxpayers’ cash [The Grid]

TRANSIT
• TTC rescues 21 busy rush-hour bus routes from service reductions [The Star]
• TTC chair shoots down Board of Trade’s call for another fare hike [Globe & Mail]
• Woman rushed to hospital after being trapped under TTC streetcar for 20 minutes [Globe & Mail]
• Transit challenge proves to be, well, a challenge [The Sun]
• Video: Saving Transit [The Grid]

OTHER NEWS
• The Pitch: Toronto International Boat Show [National Post]
• Rick Mercer’s rants damaging anti-graffiti cause: Mississauga councillor [National Post]
• Protecting Toronto’s heritage [Torontoist]
• More lost words [Torontoist]
• Where do Christmas trees go after Christmas? [The Grid]
• Confessions of a Toronto smoker [The Grid]