Have you seen these new Ontario Place details? 👀

Plus, high-speed rail (maybe) coming to Canada and Toronto's 67th homicide [Get This Offer]( [The Star] First Up [By Kevin Jiang] By Kevin Jiang Good morning. Here’s the latest on new details emerging about Ford’s plans for Ontario Place, Canada’s first high-speed rail line and a teenager charged with first-degree murder. DON’T MISS Andrew Francis Wallace/The Star ontario place [The Ford government dropped new details about its Ontario Place plans]( After years of secrecy, more details are emerging about Ontario’s 95-year lease with Therme for a towering spa resort at the new site of Ontario Place, David Rider reports. Notably, the contract requires at least 1,600 parking spots for Therme and another 200 for an expanded Budweiser Stage — or taxpayers could be on the hook for millions in damages to the Austrian firm. [Take a closer look](. - Word from officials: Infrastructure Ontario’s Michael Lindsay described the parking provision as “reasonable” and said the government plans to build a total of 2,500 parking spots for visitors to the Science Centre, new parkland and other attractions. - Parking plans: Appearing to have ruled out an underground parking lot for being too pricey, Ford floated the idea of a towering, above-ground parkade near the waterfront that some [activists have slammed as an “absolute blight at Ontario Place.”]( Jean-François Monier/AFP via Getty Images transportation [Canada might finally be ready to build a high-speed rail line ]( Imagine boarding a train in Montreal and arriving in Toronto in just three hours. That’s how long one transportation executive expects the journey to take, should a new 1,000-kilometre rail corridor between Toronto and Quebec City usher Canada into the modern era of high-speed rail travel, Alex Ballingall reports. But questions are swirling around the project, which is still in its infancy — [namely, how fast will the trains actually go?]( - All aboard: Ottawa is expected to choose between three groups of private companies in the coming weeks to help design and build the project. These include more than 20 businesses, from Air Canada to national rail companies from France, Spain and Germany. - Next stop: The idea is to build a single rail corridor with stops at Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Laval, Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City.  Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov crime [A 13-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder]( Officers were called to a parking lot near Jane Street and St. Clair Avenue West just after midnight Tuesday, where a boy allegedly stabbed a 54-year-old man to death. Life-saving measures were attempted, but the yet-unidentified victim was pronounced dead at the scene. He is Toronto’s 67th murder victim this year, Abby O’Brien reports. [What’s going on?]( - Context: While not unprecedented, a Star analysis shows it’s extremely uncommon for one so young to be charged with murder. Twelve is the youngest age one can be held legally accountable for criminal behaviour. [The last time a 13-year-old faced first-degree murder charges was in 2018](. - The youth murders: Statistics show it’s becoming increasingly common for youth to be implicated in murder in Canada. In 2022 alone, [90 youth were accused of homicide — a five-decade record](. [Toronto Star Archives] Look through the past with the Star Archives. Search your family name to trace your roots, find your birthdate to see what was making headlines or dive into true-crime stories to unravel gripping mysteries. Subscribers get access to 100+ years of the Star. Interested? [Start exploring here](. WHAT ELSE Will Canada's airline passenger protection regulations be struck down? [The Supreme Court will decide today](. [Power-of-sale listings have more than doubled]( as mortgage lenders repossess homes from over-leveraged buyers. [Magna has launched an internal investigation]( in the wake of Frank Stronach’s sexual assault charges. Why this billionaire CEO is disputing a police theory that [he was the target of a midnight shooting](. A mother is in life-threatening condition after a [family of five was struck at an Etobicoke intersection](. A Brantford area child has died of rabies — [the first such death in Ontario in nearly six decades](. Rape or a one-night stand? Jacob Hoggard’s trial closed with [very different versions of his alleged sex assault](. Ontario’s largest tire and battery recycling firm is [taking the province to court over lax enforcement of regulations](. [Canadians are three times more positive about Kamala Harris]( than Donald Trump, a new survey suggests. Here is how a second Trump presidency [could be disastrous for Canada](. Here’s everything you need to know about [Toronto weather, road closures and events this weekend](. Set in Toronto, the unconventional romantic drama [“Matt and Mara” keeps viewers guessing](. POV Dispatch file photo/Dispatch TNS [We’re doctors — and this is the glaring hole we’re seeing in our national health care conversation.]( CLOSE-UP Aude Castel/University of Montreal UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL: Seven-year-old tabby cat Fée poses in her cute new accessory — a crocheted beanie capable of reading her brain waves. Canadian scientists invented the world’s first method to non-invasively scan the brains of awake cats. [Here’s why it matters, and what it means for the future of veterinary care](. 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_3201). Andrew will see you back here tomorrow. Get [thestar.com]( + ePaper edition. Only $1 for 6 months! Save over $100. [Get This Offer]( If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. 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