Photo: "North York Explosion" by photojunkie, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Monday August 11th, 2008:

Yesterday morning's propane depot explosion continues to make headlines across the city and across the country:

• Some local residents who were initially evacuated are now making their way home, though some residents are receiving mixed messages from officials on scene.
• Sadly, some thieves and looters are taking opportunity of the chaos to steal from the people and businesses who need our support.
• As reported yesterday, firefighter Bob Leek, a district chief of emergency planning, has died while battling the blaze. Leek was a 25-year veteran with the force, and will be remembered for his dedication and service to the city.
• Mayor David Miller, who was in Vancouver over the weekend, is heading back to Toronto to help co-ordinate the relief efforts.

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Taste of the Danforth may have lit up a part of the street this weekend, but that didn't stop a stabbing that took place early Sunday on the Danforth.

Further east, a man has died in a flurry of daylight gunfire in the McCowan and Sheppard area. A second man was also shot but police are not disclosing his condition.

A suspected mob boss who is facing charges in Italy was arrested here in Toronto this weekend. Giuseppe Coluccio is accused of Mafia ties and extortion, and will most likely be sent back to Italy for trial.

It's not quite the Olympics (which, if I remember well, we lost to Beijing seven years ago), but at least the feds are supporting our bid to host the 2015 Pan Am Games. Whether or not hosting the Games is a good thing for the city is to be debated; what's great is that we've actually got the feds on our side for something.

It's going to be hard to call us the "Big Smoke" this summer. (Yes, people actually call this city the Big Smoke.) Toronto has had its soggiest summer in the past 70 years — which you could have figured from the never-ending rain — but that also means that the number of smog days are down from last year.