After using Facebook and YouTube to jump into the race for mayor of Toronto, Adam Giambrone has shown he’s a product of his time. So no surprise he’s also a fan of text messaging, but it’s the little habit of what the kids call “sexting” that’s causing Giambrone some embarrassment…

The TTC chair and Toronto mayoral candidate has apologized for what he calls a serious lapse in judgment. He’s referring to an affair he is admitting he had with a 20-year-old university student.

Kristen Lucas revealed she had an intimate relationship with Giambrone for over a year. She also told the Toronto Star that Giambrone had told her that his live-in partner of many years is at his side during public events for “political” reasons. It also seems that he informed his lover of the TTC fare hike before it became public.

So is a high-profile public official’s private life a story?

“I really don’t think that a person’s private life should be put out there in public,” said one young woman. “It’s really their personal life and it shouldn’t really affect their professional viewpoints and the way they act. So no, I don’t think it’s a news story.”

“I think we do [have to care] because it’s based on integrity, and people believe in you, for you to do the right thing,” disagreed one young man. “I think it does matter as news and it should matter for the people of Toronto.”

And it’s the question of integrity that has the Toronto Sun’s Sue-Ann Levy shaking her head.

“It speaks of integrity. If a man like Adam Giambrone can lie to his live-in woman then what is he going to do with the tax payers? Or with his constituents?” she asks.

Everyone – including the country’s top brass – is reeling at yesterday’s revelation that colonel Russell Williams has been charged in connection with, not only the murder of 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd who body was found yesterday – but also the murder of Corporal Marie-France Comeau and the home invasion sexual assaults of two other women last fall.

Police started honing in on Williams after receiving information during a canvas of drivers along Highway 37 last Thursday. He was arrested Sunday in Ottawa as police swooped down on this tweed area home.

Williams has enjoyed an accomplished military career most recently taking over as base commander at CFB Trenton last summer, overseeing not only the repatriation of our fallen soldiers from Afghanistan, but also the recent movement of equipment and personnel to support Canada’s relief mission in Haiti.

Colonel Russell Williams joined the Canadian Forces in 1987, soon earning his wings. He worked as a flight instructor in Manitoba before being posted to a squadron in Nova Scotia. He later moved to Ottawa, where he transported dignitaries. After earning a Master’s of defence studies in 2001, Williams served in the Middle East. He then moved to Gatineau, Québec for French language training, before taking over as base commander at CFB Trenton.

Seems TTC workers have had about enough of being the public’s punching bag for all that is wrong with the public transit system. And now TTC employees are now fighting back, as they have created a Facebook group -posting photos and comments of passengers breaking the rules. Toronto Transit has been under fire after photos and videos of sleepy TTC ticket takers and drivers taking extended coffee breaks have surfaced in the media.

The Facebook group quickly surfaced after a stern memo by the TTC's General Manager demanding an end to the “culture of complacency and malaise”. In response, rumours of a work-to-rule campaign buzzed around the social networking site over the weekend. The union is not endorsing any job action but is expected to provide a response tomorrow morning.

The general manager of the TTC, Gary Webster, issued the following statement to employees on Saturday:

”I don’t know about you, but I am becoming increasingly tired of defending the reputation of the TTC, tired of explaining what is acceptable and what is not, and tired of stating the obvious: that much of the behaviour reported is, indeed, unacceptable.”

So what can the TTC do to better improve its image? We already know they’ve hired a consulting firm to steer them in the right direction when it comes to improving their service, but will that be enough?

Merril Mascarenhas, from the consulting firm Arcus thinks the TTC needs to focus primarily on customer service.

“I think they need to understand that they’re in the customer business, not the transport business,” he says. “It’s the customer who’s paying, and they need to realise the value of that.”

So how does our transit system stack up against others around the world? Well not too well against Hong Kong's according to Marcus Bowman.

The Spacing Magazine writer recently visited the populous city and was amazed with the efficiency of their system. Even though Hong Kong's geography, population, and political climate can be challenging, says Bowman, the city still makes it work.

“They have a really great attitude of integrating the system into their daily lives,” he says, “because they understand that people take public transportation daily.”

Both Bowman and Mascarenhas agree that technology can do fabulous things, and that the TTC might want to invest some money to support technological advancements.

”It’s all about quicker, faster, and a more comfortable experience,” notes Mascarenhas.

They’re shutting down Washington today – all government offices are closed because of a record breaking blizzard that dumped more than 60 centimetres of snow on the US capital. The snowstorm didn’t stop the
political plows from shovelling more republican dirt on the beleaguered Obama administration though.

At Saturday’s inaugural Boston Tea Party convention in Nashville, headliner Sarah Palin attacked the president on government spending, and said the tea party movement is at the forefront of preserving
conservative values.

”This is about the people! And it’s bigger than any tea party, bigger than any king or queen of a tea party, and it’s bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter,” she joked with a crowd that broke into cheers.

But it seems Sarah Palin needs to look at herself in the mirror before mocking others, as – in what can be described as a high school flashback – the well-known Republican was caught using cheat notes written on her hand during a Q&A session after her speech. This, after she openly poked fun at President Obama’s use of a teleprompter.

When the subject of running for president on 2012 came up, the partisan crowd urged her on chanting "Run Sarah Run".

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Jack Layton is a fighter; from his days as a Toronto city councilor to his present post as leader of the federal New Democratic Party. Layton does not shy away from a battle, and now -as he prepares for the fight of his life against prostate cancer- will be no different.

“This year, more than 25 000 men are going to be diagnosed with prostate cancer (…) I’m one of them,” Jack Layton announced today. “I'm a fighter and I'm going to beat this.”

Despite the recent devastating news concerning his health, Layton intends to stay on as a member of parliament for Toronto Danforth, and as a leader of the NDP of Canada.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in seven men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime; that’s an average of 490 Canadian men who are diagnosed with the disease every week.

Cancer has struck Layton’s family before, as his father also dealt with prostate cancer, and his wife Olivia Chow battled thyroid cancer.

Jack Layton announced today that just as his wife and dad had fought their battles, he would also fight his with “optimism and determination”.