Top headlines from Vancouver and beyond for June 20 2011:

The family of Nathan Kotylak, the water polo star photographed attempting to light a shirt stuffed into the gas tank of a police car during the Vancouver riot, has fled their home after their address was posted online and threats began floating in from social media.

Bike share is coming to Vancouver, but what to do about those provincially-mandated helmets?

Mortgages, consumer credit and loans now represent 147% of Canadians’ disposable income, pushing the average household’s debt to yet another new high.

The West Ender spills some ink on the struggles of local, independent businesses, pinched by lagging consumer demand, rising rents, the HST, and stiffer drunk driving laws.

The plywood sheets that have become a canvas of grief and comfort following the Vancouver riots are to be removed from the Bay today, and city councillors are looking for suggestions on how to preserve them.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: Glenn Gould Plays Bach

Top headlines from Vancouver and beyond for June 17 2011:

The subjects of one of the most iconic images of the Vancouver hockey riot have been identified.

Mayor Gregor Robertson and Premier Christy Clark have declared that public celebrations for the Celebration of Light and the Grey Cup final will go ahead as planned. “We are not going to back off and give our city over to a bunch of losers … we are not going to let them change our plans to gather in big numbers and celebrate who we are,” Mr. Robertson said.

Meanwhile, Robertson has asserted that the violence and vandalism was the work of everyone’s favourite mass-gathering punching bags: the anarchists. Video evidence is emerging of young men with crowbars, supporting the assertion that some came down prepared for mayhem, but the majority of participants look like regular old fashioned idiots mixed with a few brave citizens.

On the way to the office The Tyee performed a random survey on the HST ballot. The findings: confusion.

And, the legendary barefoot bandit Colton Harris-Moore is expected to plead guilty to charges of interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft, being a fugitive in possession of a firearm, piloting an aircraft without a valid airman’s certificate, interstate transportation of a stolen vessel, and interstate and foreign transportation of a stolen firearm.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: The Gun

Top Headlines from Vancouver and Beyond for June 16, 2011:

Hundreds of morons descended on the downtown core last night, rioting, looting, overturning dozens of vehicles, and sending hundreds of people to the hospital, and even though Jim Chu blames Anarchists for the violence, he fails to mention the thousands of other morons who cheered them on, not to mention the thousands other morons who thought standing on top of an overturned car might make a great Facebook profile picture.

Meanwhile, media around the world seems mighty bemused by the sudden outbreak of violence, many noting that, while Syria riots for freedom, and Libya riots for democracy, Vancouverites riot because a group of well-paid men were unable to put a piece of rubber into the correct coloured area of a group of other well-paid men.

Fearing the inevitable black eye that the violence will give Vancouver on an international level, Gregor Robertson and Christy Clark have been careful to distance ordinary Vancouverites from those involved in the violence, and at the same time, many of those ordinary Vancouverites took to the streets, beginning even before sunrise, to aid in the cleanup effort.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: The Globe and Mail’s Stanley Cup Riot Photo Gallery

If you’ve ever wondered what large-scale collective stupidity looks like.

Top headlines from Vancouver and beyond, June 14 2011:

With B.C. voters having just received their mail-in ballots for the HST referendum, Canada Post has locked out its 50,000 employees in response to the rotating strikes that have crippled the Crown corporation’s operations in Montreal and Toronto.

The Ministry of Public Safety and the Solicitor General have announced that downtown liquor stores will be closed at 4pm in response to a “real and serious threat to public safety”.

To calm nerves fans should put things in perspective: experts. Thanks, experts.

While Stephen Harper and Gregor Robertson paid full price for their playoff tickets, the Vancouver Canucks have offered Premier Christy Clark and her son free entrance to game seven. Clark’s high-profile boosterism of the ‘Nucks playoff run has been denounced by critics as a cynical ploy to gain a political advantage.

Despite the vocal protests of some Burnaby parents, the Burnaby School Board has passed legislation aimed at combating homophobia and homosexism – “the assumption that all people are heterosexual and that heterosexuality is superior and more desirable for all people than any other sexual orientation.”

BORED AT WORK BONUS: The Boston Globe on home ice advantage

Street interviews on Granville following the Canucks’ game 6 loss were lackluster at best… until Freddie Rawji hijacked our camera.

Top headlines from Vancouver and beyond for June 14 2011:

Watching five plastic-clad men chase a piece of rubber around an arena sure has this city excited. For an enlightened morning perspective dig the comments below The Province’s story on Mason Raymond’s vertebra compression fracture.

The Sheraton Wall Centre has been found guilty of discrimination by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after denying organizers of a Bhangra show the opportunity to book rooms. I wonder if they would find themselves in front of the BCHRT if they had denied access to a Norwegian Black Metal band.

A report from the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada indicates household debt has reached a new national record and that over half of indebted Canadians are borrowing money to meet their daily expenses.

Facing a $2.1-billion pension shortfall, Air Canada’s customer service staff moved to strike early this morning, rejecting the company’s plan to enact a defined contribution pension plan for new employees.

If you’ve got an extra $2,500 kicking around, consider buying us a ticket or two to game 7.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: Dirty Medicine

Top Headlines from Vancouver and Beyond for June 13, 2011:

Even though the game is taking place in Boston, the party will definitely be taking place in the streets of Vancouver, as more than 100,000 people are expected to converge in the downtown core for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even more intriguing would be an estimate of the number of high-fives expected…

Responding to widespread commentary suggesting that the Canucks are the most hated team in the NHL, The Province’s Jason Botchford makes a sane and sensible rebuttal: Who cares?

After being found guilty of assaulting a newspaper deliveryman for no particular reason, Constable Jeffrey Klassen of the New Westminster Police has received the inevitable slap-on-the-wrist sentence of one year’s probation, and 100 hours of community service.

Investors in the province are getting a wee bit skittish after an Ipsos-Reid survey has shown that, despite an aggressive (taxpayer-funded) push by the government to save the HST, voter support is still in favour of extinguishing the tax altogether.

And, at the federal level, The Tyee explains why striking postal workers not only deserve our support, but why their fight for fair wages may end up affecting all of us.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: ‘Soft Drink, Hard Labour’

Top Headlines From Vancouver and Beyond for June 10, 2011:

Surprise, surprise… A new survey has revealed that Vancouver has the highest average rent in the country. And apparently, that there are still places in Canada where people pay $860 for a 2-bedroom.

Statistics Canada reports that more than 20,000 jobs were created countrywide in the month of May, pushing the national unemployment rate down to 7.4%. However, the report also points out that most of these workers were self-employed, none of this increase took place in BC, and, if you’re a student between the ages of 20-24, your unemployment rate is actually more than double that.

The “Fan Zone” portion of Georgia Street will close at noon today, in preparation for tonight’s home game against the Bruins, with police expecting more than 70,000 people to fill the streets. Break out the jerseys and facepaint!

And Joshua Charlie, the six-week-old sibling of Sherry Charlie (whose murder in 2002 prompted an overhaul of the provincial child-welfare system) has died, under what appear to be accidental circumstances, forcing the family to deal with the loss of a second child in less than ten years.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: The Secret of Mirror Neurons

Hoist the mizzenmast, raise the gangplank, don’t forget your pieces ‘o eight, and set sail for blissful intoxication with Boneta’s ode to the wit of Winston Churchill.