[PHOTO] Looking east on Gloucester Street, May 2012

Toronto's Gloucester Street is a largely residential east-west corridor just two blocks north of Wellesley Street, extending east from Yonge Street over Church to Jarvis.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• James Bow comes out in support of today's strike by Ontario teachers.


• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling links to an article describing how NASA archivists tried to recover data from a 1960s lunar orbiter.


• Centauri Dreams has two posts on habitable exomoons, the first on gas giants in the habitable zones of other stars and the second on the requirements for moons to be habitable. (They would need to be roughly a quarter the mass of the Earth.)


• Daniel Drezner likes the idea of a United States-European Union transatlantic free trade agreement.


• Eastern Approaches notes the directions of Slovakia's foreign policy.


• Norman Geras links to a blogger who suggests that, if Saddam Hussein stayed in power in Iraq, the Arab Spring in that country could have been bloody. (Look at Syria.)


• Understanding Society's Daniel Little takes a look at the idea that different generations have different experiences.


• Window on Eurasia reports on a Russian writer who notes that the North Caucasus and its population cotninues to identify as Russian, and shares in Russian experiences. No separatism there.

[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto school board head resigns, plagiarism allegations grow"

The past day's worth of news about Chris Spence, head of the Toronto District School Board until he resigned on account of extensive plagiarism, is astonishing. Just. Astonishing.

The man who was brought in to turn around Canada's largest school board has resigned "with a profoundly heavy heart" after admitting to plagiarizing material for a newspaper article.

Chris Spence, who was appointed director of education for the Toronto District School Board in 2009, handed in his resignation on Thursday — 24 hours after issuing an apology for plagiarizing a large part of an article published in the Toronto Star. The article has since been removed from the newspaper's website.

"It is with great sadness and regret that I am writing to tender my resignation as director of education for the Toronto District School Board," Spence said in his resignation letter.

"I have come to this decision after a great deal of reflection, and no small amount of consultation with family, friends and colleagues. I do so with a profoundly heavy heart."

Chris Spence, director of education for the Toronto District School Board, has resigned after being caught up in a plagiarism scandal. (TDSB)Spence, 50, said he doesn't "wish to be a further distraction to the trustees, or my many friends and colleagues at the Toronto District School Board. I therefore submit my letter of resignation and, once again, offer my sincerest apologies."

Chris Bolton, chair of the TDSB said he had accepted Spence's resignation "effective immediately."

[URBAN NOTE] "Glen Murray drops out of Ontario Liberal leadership race"

This news about Glen Murray's withdrawal from the leadership contest of Ontario's Liberal Party is unsurprising, given his frequently-noted weakness outside of Toronto.

(Will he try to run for mayor of Toronto, as at least one commenter speculates?)

Ontario Liberal leadership candidate Glen Murray is dropping out of the race and is throwing his support behind Kathleen Wynne.

"I think the best chance for the renewal I want to see in Ontario and in the party, and the person who is better able to get us there than I am, is my friend Kathleen Wynne," Glen Murray said at a Thursday news conference announcing the move.

And because I believe that renewal is more important than anything else, and because I simply believe she is the best person to be premier of Ontario, she has my full and unqualified support."

The news on Thursday morning comes one day after Murray, the MPP for the Toronto Centre riding, participated in an all-candidates debate and gave no indication he was bowing out of the race. With Murray's departure, there are now six candidates vying for the Liberal leadership — Eric Hoskins, Gerard Kennedy, Sandra Pupatello, Charles Sousa, Harinder Takhar and Wynne.

Wynne is considered one of the frontrunners in the race to succeed outgoing Premier Dalton McGuinty. She said Thursday that Murray would play a senior role in her cabinet if she is elected.

"I know this is a very hard moment for you, because you've put your heart and soul into this, and I'm very grateful that you're coming and we're going to be able to work together," she said, addressing Murray.