Top headlines from Vancouver and beyond for July 11 2011:

225 sailors departed the Esquimalt Canadian Forces Base yesterday on the HMCS Vancouver, set to relieve the HMCS Charlottetown of combat duties off the coast of Libya. While the combat mission in Afghanistan has officially come to an end, parliament voted in June to extend Libyan efforts for at least another three months.

Closer to home, the B.C. government is scrapping plans for a media campaign challenging the perception that abstinence is the only way to drive legally in British Columbia. Complaints from restaurateurs following the implementation of the “toughest drunk driving laws in the country” are falling by the wayside following a 50 per cent drop in drunk driving fatalities after the implementation of the new rules.

Teens flip pickup with stolen front end loader. As is the tradition of the suburban clans. One wonders why they didn’t burn it, though?

A tanker truck spilled around 5,000 litres of hydrochloric and phosphoric acid near Clearwater yesterday, forcing the closure of Highway 5.

And, oh yes, there’s a civic election coming this November! The decimated NPA is looking to take back seats from the well-organized and well-funded Vision juggernaut. Expect to be reading a lot more articles like this in the coming months, as the politicking ratchets up: NPA’s Suzanne Anton moves for independent review of riot. And, NPA seeks ‘civic status’ for Pride Parade. And if you can’t wait for a slow enough news day for one of the mainstream outlets to give it some ink, considering pulling your eyeballs out while reading the partisan muck over at CityCaucus.com, the petty and predictable mouthpiece of the NPA.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: The Age of Mechanical Reproduction