:: Today, at 5pm, the city’s Office for Information and Complaints hotline will shut down after 33 years of service. It will be subsumed into the city’s new 311 information service.
:: Number of staffers for the hotline in 1974: 1
:: Number today: 28
:: Number to be staffing the new 311 line: 35
:: Former Channel 6 local horror show host Count Film-Ula will no longer be participating in next season’s broadcast of the CBS reality-based game show, The Amazing Race, as previously announced. The Count’s scheduled Amazing Race partner, nephew and publicist, Anthony Reno, cited the Count’s declining health as the reason behind the pullout, although he added that his uncle continues to be very dedicated to his hobby of creating chainsaw sculptures.
:: Due to pressure from the AARP and local advocates for the aged, the Geriatriclympics has been canceled. The second annual event, which was to be held this weekend in the parking lot of the Sunny Tomorrows Assisted Living Center on 117th and Carrey St, had come under fire as not being particularly sensitive. Among last year’s events were a colostomy bag toss, a 100-meter shuffle and the Rascal demolition derby.
:: Funeral services will be held this weekend for Toto the Tiger, accidentally struck by a city bus last Tuesday. The husky male Royal Bengal tiger was born in captivity at the Chauncey Butler Circus in 2000, and has been a favorite of city residents since his debut later that year as “official spokes-tiger” for the year-round, indoor event. Famously tame, Toto was renowned for his live, unleashed appearances at charity events, children’s hospitals, retirement homes, animal shelters and swim meets. The Chauncey Butler Arena will remain open to all attendees beginning Friday night, and ending Sunday at five p.m. City bus driver Rolly Furst remains on paid suspension.
:: Veterans Day (November 11) falls on a Sunday this year, so the official municipal holiday will be Monday, November 12. The current contract for municipal employees does not include Veterans Day as a paid holiday, so city employees should show up for work as usual.
– David Andrews, Ray Ingraham, Jon Morris, RJ White