Sportonomics: Amid losses and drama, TFC seeks a new kit sponsor

Heading into last weekend, the team has won just twice since mid-July. Those developments don’t inspire a sponsor to spend big money for a spot on a TFC jersey, says Schulich School of Business instructor Vijay Setlur. “If they make the playoffs it will generate the positive feeling that the team can use to approach potential brand partners,” said Setlur in the Toronto Star Sept. 22. “But if the season ends up being a disaster … it will signal another period of instability. Does a brand want to be associated with a team that’s perpetually unstable?” Read full story.

Sourced: Ring in a sweet Rosh Hashanah with Jewish honey
Sabrina Malach, 33, one of two local Jewish beekeepers, spent hours last week with a team of volunteers extracting this nectar. It’s part of her mission for “Tikkun Olam” – to repair the world – and get other local Jews to join her, reported the Toronto Star Sept. 24…. About eight years ago when Malach started seeing hexagons everywhere, she knew bees were her calling. The Thornhill, Ontario native got a master’s degree from York University in Environmental Studies with a focus on urban pollination. One day she hoped for hives of her own. Read full story.

‘Feeble’ Health Canada can’t block dodgy drug imports
Joel Lexchin, a drug safety expert at York University, said the regulator is notoriously slow in posting important safety information it promises to make accessible. With respect to the drug facility inspection reports, the records should already be available for Canadian consumers, he said in the Toronto Star Sept. 19. “The expectation is that it should be made available and the fact it’s not speaks to an ongoing attitude about the relationship between Health Canada, the pharmaceutical industry and the public,” Lexchin said. Read full story.

York University to help students with low income attend law school
York University intends to provide free tuition to five low income students entering its Osgoode Hall Law School – temporarily at least – as part of the school’s income-contingent loan program, reported The Toronto Observer Sept. 18. Read full story.

Editorial: Pan Am Games to highlight Toronto
What makes these games especially exciting is that not all of the events are centred in the downtown core, reported the Beach Mirror Sept. 18. They’ve been spread out in facilities from the York University campus in North York to Centennial Park in Etobicoke and into east Scarborough. It makes the games accessible to so many more fans, and will in a number of cases give residents the opportunity to watch international athletics in facilities they can walk to from their homes. Read full story.

Stinginess: Second chance or smell of death?
3G, the Brazilian company behind the takeover of Tim Horton’s and Heinz, is known for its hard-nosed attention to the bottom line, right down to counting sheets of paper. Their hiring philosophy is called PSD, which stands for poor, smart and deep desire to get rich. On Sept. 18, CBC’s “Ontario Today” had guests, including Professor Alan Middleton from York University’s Schulich School of Business, weigh in on whether stinginess a chance to turn a business around or the beginning of the end. Listen to full interview.

Tiny Magic
In addition to the artist talk and reception at the Dunlop Gallery Friday night for the exhibition From What Remains, there’s a screening of 10 short films and videos by Saskatchewan artists at the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative, reported Prairie Dog Sept. 18. The program is called Tiny Magic, and it’s curated by Amber Christensen, a former Saskatchewan resident now doing grad studies in cinema and media at York University in Toronto. Read full story.