News you may have missed

1. Fanshawe College to buy Kingsmill building?

Fanshawe College revealed a plan to purchase and revamp the Kingsmill department store located on Dundas Street across the Centre for Digital and Performance Arts in June.

The plan, which is part of the project to bring Fanshawe to downtown London, was to add three stories to the building, expand the digital and performance arts programs to the building and move the school of tourism and hospitality there.

Fanshawe, however, asked the City for a $10 million grant for the project, which city council did not endorse.

Elaine Gamble, senior manager of corporate communications at Fanshawe, said the school is reviewing its options to determine its next steps following the council's decision.

Fanshawe College President Peter Devlin said the $66.2-million plan was “the single largest capital investment the College has ever made.”

2. Route changes for the London Transit Commission

The London Transit Commission has approved changes to its services that is going to take effect on August 31, including a new Route 91 Express route on Oxford Street, between Fanshawe College and Wonderland Road.

The Route 91 Express will only operate during peak period, which is between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Other route changes include:

Route 90 Express: Extension of the route from downtown to White Oaks Mall. The peak period frequency will increase from 30 minutes to 20 minutes.

Route 10 Wonderland/14 Highbury: One extra all-day bus on weekdays and Saturdays.

Route 2C Dundas: The route will bee shortened from Western University to downtown to Western University to Wharncliffe and Riverside.

Route 10B Wonderland: Between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., the Route 10B Wonderland frequency will increase to 20 minutes and to 30 minutes between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Route 27 Fanshawe: Between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. during the school months, the route's frequency will increase to 20 minutes.

Route 38 Stoney Creek/Fanshawe West: The route will now also operate between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. during the week.

Route 30 Newbold: Extension of the route to the Brose/Commerce industrial area.

3. London Transit Commission routes finally available on Google Maps

Done with the terrible London Transit Commission web application and ad-filled third-party mobile applications: LTC's route information is finally available on Google Maps.

After more than a year of testing, the feature, which went live on June 24, allows commuters to find routes and schedules on the Google Maps website and mobile applications. maps.google.ca

4. London Mayor Joe Fontana, convicted of fraud, forgery and breach of trust, steps down

London Mayor Joe Fontana stepped down on June 16 after he was convicted of fraud, forgery and breach of trust three days earlier for using government funds to pay for his son's wedding in 2005.

Fontana was charged by the RCMP in November 2012 after it was found that he used a $1,700 federal cheque to pay for a deposit for his son's wedding reception while a Liberal member of Parliament for London North Centre.

The former politician said he would not return to public life.

Fontana was elected mayor with over 47 per cent of the vote in the 2010 municipal election, beating incumbent mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best.

5. Joni Baechler in the new interim mayor

With Fontana gone, city council appointed Ward 5 Councillor Joni Baechler as interim mayor until the next municipal election, which will be held in October.

A city councillor since 2000, Baechler was appointed after three rounds of voting on June 24, more than a week after Fontana's resignation.

Although some Londoners hoped Baechler would run for mayor in the next election — there's even an online petition on the website Change. org — she said she would not run for mayor or re-election on city council in a blog post dated January 4.

Russ Monteith, a lawyer and former politician, was appointed to replace Baechler as Ward 5 councillor until the next election.

6. New dean of the Faculty of Arts, Media and Design

Fanshawe College announced a new dean of the Faculty of Arts, Media and Design on July 22.

Helen Pearce, a former journalist and journalism professor, was appointed dean of the faculty, a position she assumed on July 28.

Prior to her appointment, Pearce was the chair of the Fanshawe's School of Design, a role she held for five years.

She has also worked as a journalist in London, Windsor and Vancouver and taught broadcasting and communications at Camosun College in Victoria, British Columbia for 12 years.

Pearce holds a PhD in education from the University of Calgary.

The former dean of the Faculty of Arts, Media and Design, Gary Lima, was appointed senior vice-president academic in April.