Are you driving around with expired plates?

Plus, holes in Toronto's draft budget and syphilis' comeback in Ontario [Get This Offer]( [The Star] First Up [By Kevin Jiang] By Kevin Jiang Good morning. Here’s the latest on Toronto’s draft budget, the one million Ontarians driving with expired licence plates and why syphilis is making a comeback in Ontario. DON’T MISS David Rider/The Star toronto [Olivia Chow’s budget vows to get the city “back on track” — but by one measure it’s heading the wrong way]( For all the investments included in Toronto mayor Olivia Chow’s 2024 draft budget, by one important measure, the city is headed the wrong way — and it could mean more disruptions for users of the city’s public recreation facilities, public transit or roads. Over the next decade, the amount of unfunded capital work required to keep Toronto’s assets in good shape is expected to double, from $10.6 billion by the end of last year to $22.7 billion in 2033, Ben Spurr reports. Even though Toronto’s draft budget will throw $1.8 billion more at the problem than was allocated last year, things are only getting worse. [Here’s how city spending may impact you](. - By the numbers: Toronto’s new budget is dedicating $26 billion to the state of good repair work — the amount of unfunded capital work required to keep its assets in good shape — over the next decade. But will it be enough to keep up with the city’s projected 2033 backlog, which has swelled by $4 billion in just the last year? - Context: At the start of February, Chow unveiled her proposed budget — including a 9.5 per cent property tax hike (down from the initial 10.5 per cent). The plan will see improvements to transit and public services, while largely shunning police demands. [Take a look at the details](. Richard Lautens/The Star provincial politics [More than a million Ontario drivers with expired licence plates are risking $1,000 fines. Are you one of them?]( The Star has learned more than a million Ontarians have yet to renew their licence plates and are facing fines up to $1,000 — even though doing so is now free, Robert Benzie reports. In 2022, premier Doug Ford scrapped the $120 annual licence plate renewal fee. In the time since, charges for people with expired plates have skyrocketed, from 5,341 tickets in 2022 to 15,631 in 2023, according to Ontario Provincial Police. [What’s the state of your plate?]( - Go deeper: Removing the renewal charge was a signature policy of Ford’s after he campaigned on keeping costs down — [but the act would cost the provincial treasury more than $1 billion a year](. - Wait, what? There was some confusion after licence plate renewal stickers were scrapped alongside the annual renewal fee, [leading some motorists to think they no longer have to renew at all](. Others, forgetting to remove the 2022 renewal sticker from their plates, wound up getting ticketed outside the province by police thinking their plates were expired. - Get it done: One’s licence plate expiry date is usually the birthday of the owner; motorists can check their licence plate status and renew it online. You can [see here if your licence plate has expired]( and [renew your plate online here](. Toronto Star Photo Illustration health [Ontario is dealing with syphilis rates not seen in decades]( Though once commonly passed from mothers to their children during childbirth, syphilis was long considered a disease of the past. Congenital syphilis was “something you learned about but didn’t see,” one doctor told the Star’s Megan Ogilvie. Now, he said, that’s changed. In 2022, the latest data available, there were 27 cases of syphilis being passed to babies — up from five in 2020. It’s the largest spike seen in Ontario in decades. The provincial trend mirrors what’s happening across Canada and the rest of the world, leading experts to sound alarm bells. The surge in cases signals a dangerous gap in public health, they say. [Take a closer look at what’s happening, and why](. - What we know: Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that can be preventable and easily treated with antibiotics. If left untreated, it can cause blindness and paralysis, alongside other dire consequences, from memory problems to organ damage. - Across the border: Last month, the U.S. CDC reported roughly [207,000 diagnosed syphilis cases in 2022, the largest number since the 1950s](. In Canada, 13,953 cases were detected the same year. WHAT ELSE Pierre Poilievre claims 40 offenders were arrested 6,000 times in Vancouver in a year. [But is that actually true?]( We spent 12 hours inside a Toronto ER. [Here’s what it’s really like for doctors and nurses on the overnight shift](. Here’s what’s at stake as the Ford government reforms kindergarten — [and why some experts are concerned.]( Israeli forces rescued two hostages in a dramatic [raid on Gaza that killed at least 67 Palestinians](. Super Bowl LVIII's big moments: [Usher’s halftime show, Beyoncé’s song drop and Taylor Swift’s arrival](. Patrick Mahomes rallied the Chiefs to a second straight Super Bowl title — [besting the 49ers in overtime](. A UN report found that nearly [half of the world’s migratory species are in decline](. Is gen-Z lazy at work — [or are they simply better at setting healthy boundaries?]( This motor home parks on a downtown Toronto street for weeks at a time. [Why does the city give it a free ride?]( This high-earning tech worker is [wondering how she can finance a $400,000 (U.S.) return-to-school bill](. Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly faces possibility of [lengthy suspension after Tuesday in-person hearing over a cross-check](. I almost bought Instagram’s favourite trench coat, [but a Toronto pharmacist made me reconsider](. POV Canadian Press/Patrick Doyle [As the war in Ukraine nears the two-year mark, Kyiv must be wondering where all the support from the West has gone]( CLOSE-UP R.J. Johnston/The Star BLOOR STREET WEST: A T-shirt-clad cyclist joins in Cycle Toronto’s annual “Coldest Day of the Year Ride” — [which fell on a mild Saturday with temperatures of 7 C](. A day earlier, the city broke records for the warmest Feb. 9 in 86 years. Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_208745). I’ll see you back here tomorrow. Get unlimited access to the Star 50% off sale: Only $1.20/week for 52 weeks! 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