Five Honda SUVs stolen within eight-hour period Guelph Police are investigating a series of vehicle thefts – all of them Honda SUVs. They said five were taken on Wednesday morning within an eight-hour period. The first incident was reported at 3:30 a.m. A resident told officers their white 2024 Honda CR-V had just been stolen from their driveway, in the Eastview Road and Victoria Road North area. Police said the vehicle was later found abandoned a short distance away with damage to the rear and side windows. Another call came in at 6:25 a.m. A resident living near Watson Parkway and Fleming Drive said their 2025 CR-V had been stolen. It was found in a parking lot along Auden Road. Police said it was also damaged but did not specify what had been done to the vehicle. Five minutes later, a third incident was reported. A man said his wife’s white 2025 CR-V had been taken from their driveway in the Grange Road and Starwood Drive area. At 8:20 a.m., another man said his silver 2025 CR-V had been stolen from the parking lot of his condo at Grange Road and Auden Road. “Some of the complainant’s property, including a wallet, was later recovered on a nearby street,” police said in a media release. A 2026 Acura MDX was also reported stolen just after 11 a.m. Police said security video showed two people climbing onto the vehicle and smashing through the sunroof to get inside. “All of the thefts remain under investigation,” the media release read. “It is not known if they are related.” Anyone with information is asked to contact the Guelph Police Service at 519-824-1212. Flamboro Speedway mourning loss of flagman Doug MacLean The Flamboro Speedway has confirmed the person killed during an incident over the weekend was a flagman. In a social media post on Monday, the speedway northwest of Hamilton, Ont., wrote, “Unfortunately, following the incident that occurred during a feature event, our Flagman Doug MacLean has passed away.” MacLean was manning the starter stand on Saturday night when two vehicles collided. One of the cars was sent flying into the air and slammed into the platform. Emergency responders were called to the racetrack around 9:15 p.m. and MacLean was taken to Hamilton General Hospital where he died from his injuries. “It’s a tragedy. It’s a big loss,” John Casale, co-owner of Flamboro Speedway, said. “He was not only a worker here, he was a great friend.” Casale said the starter stand has been in the same position for 25 years, and there has never been a similar incident. The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development was notified of the incident and an investigation is underway. A legacy of love MacLean, who was 70-years-old, has been a familiar face around the track for decades. “He was a fixture here. He loved what he did,” Casale recalled. MacLean was a racer at the Flamboro Speedway from 1979 until 1986. Once he stopped racing himself, he helped other achieve their dream, notably working for Charlie Beck’s pit crew. In the early 1990s, he began working at the track as an official, and eventually became a flagman. A flagman is a track official who is responsible for communicating race instructions and track conditions to drivers using a series of flag signals. In 2001, he was named head starter, the official in charge of beginning the races. In recognition of his dedication over the years, MacLean was inducted into the Flamboro Speedway Hall of Fame. People who worked alongside him say his passion was clear. “Actually, he was off a week ago,” Casale said. “He didn’t know what to do with himself because he wants to be here.” He was also known for sharing his love of racing with children and inspiring the next generation. The track is open and another night of racing is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday. But for many, MacLean’s absence will weigh heavily on the community. Ontario families retain law firm following crash that killed five children The families involved in a collision in Mapleton Township that resulted in the deaths of five young children have hired a personal injury law firm. A SUV collided with a van at the intersection of 4th Line and Wellington Road 12, north of Kitchener, Ont., on June 12. Of the 10 people in the van, eight were members of the Doerksen family. Five of their children were killed: 12-year-old Peter, 10-year-old Helena, 8-year-old Sara, 6-year-old Maggie and 4-year-old Susy. Their parents and 15-month-old brother were also hurt in the crash, along with fellow passengers Peter and Elisabeth Bartsch. The Doerksen and Bartsch families have now retained the services of Greg Monforton & Partners. The Windsor, Ont. firm announced the move on July 23 in a post on their website. “The collision is believed to have occurred when an SUV failed to obey a stop sign and struck the victims’ vehicle,” they alleged. The driver of the SUV, a 42-year-old man from Brampton, died in hospital from his injuries. Investigating the crash CTV News reached out to the Ontario Provincial Police for an update on the case. “The investigation into this collision remains ongoing,” Sgt. Ed Sanchuk said in an email. The cause of the crash not been released. The law firm also intends to look into what happened that fateful day. “We like to collect information while memories are fresh,” explained managing partner Joanna Sweet. “We’re simply looking for additional information and for information that maybe the family can have now, rather than waiting for the outcome of the police investigation. These things take time, as they need to. That’s common, that’s appropriate. But the family is wanting answers.” The firm’s investigation is just the first step. “Depending on the results of that investigation, we’re not ruling out the potential of a lawsuit. But that’s not what’s being commenced at this time,” Sweet said. “The family has lived through one of the worst things any of us can imagine. So, to have some better understanding, to help them reach some closure, to help them better understand what happened on that night would be very meaningful to them.” They are also acting as an intermediary for the victims. “The families are very grateful for all of the community support that they’ve received and all the well-wishes,” Sweet said. “They appreciate that people are respecting their privacy during this time and ask that further inquiries go through our office, because they want some privacy while they mourn. None of us can imagine how tragic this is for the people who are living through it.” Part of King Street in Kitchener becomes pedestrian only Part of downtown Kitchener is transforming into a pedestrian paradise for the summer. King Street West, in front of City Hall, is being transformed as part of what the city calls “King Street Unplugged.” The section from College Street to Young Street will be pedestrian-only from Sunday, July 26 until Friday, July 31 as live entertainment, workshops and music fill the space. Free daily activities will start at 11 a.m. each day. A full list of events, including a cornhole competition, breakdancing workshops and a retro market, is available online. Opening ceremonies will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Anna Mae’s Bakery and Restaurant not closing, despite AI rumours An artificial intelligence (AI) mix-up has led to some unexpected questions at a beloved bakery and restaurant in Millbank, Ont. The owner of Anna Mae’s Bakery and Restaurant said she was confused when she first heard concerns about the future of the longstanding business. “Last week we started getting questions from customers coming in and just asking if we were closing,” Amanda Herrfort, the owner of Anna Mae’s Bakery and Restaurant, said. “We were very confused because we had never, ever had that conversation or discussion of any sort.” A quick internet search revealed a bakery called “Anna Mae’s” had just announced it was closing. However, that business is in Illinois. “If you actually looked up our name and our website, it came up normal. It came up fine. It said nothing about us closing.” Herrfort said she went from merely confused to seriously concerned on July 18 when she was sent a screenshot of a Google AI generated search result that stated her store in Millbank was closing on July 31. “Panic is what I was thinking. How could this information be so wrong?” she asked. “To have somebody just all of a sudden say you’re closing down and have that big rumour going around is quite terrifying because we are certainly not closing down.” Herrfort used the Google AI chatbot the tell the company about the problem. “I just decided to put it into the messages saying hi, we are the owners, we are not closing, I think you have us confused with the Anna Mae’s in Illinois,” Herrfort said. “And then it wrote back and said, ‘Oh yes, I can see how this could be detrimental and we will get this fixed in our research right away.’” Although it appears that the search results have been fixed, Herrfort still has concerns. “It was just a terrible thing to know that all your hard work can be undermined in such a short period of time by a confusing AI message,” she said. “This is something that we’re seeing much more often” Ritesh Kotak is a cyber security tech analyst based in Toronto. He said this type of issue is common. “When you don’t have a human in the loop and there’s information that’s being scraped and being processed, there is a very real possibility that errors can happen,” Kotak said. According to Kotak simple errors can be presented as fact, and in some cases, facts are made up entirely. “We even hear about AI making up information, this is what we call a hallucination,” Kotak explained. He said oftentimes scammers are behind this type of misinformation, but that does not appear to be the case in this situation. “This is something that we’re seeing much more often, and AI has made it really easy for scammers to replicate websites, so what a lot of people are seeing now is deals that are just too good to be true,” said Kotak. Kotak said when you come across something that sounds strange or too good to be true, do more research. “Sometimes go old school, pick up the phone, call the company, call the organization, and just validate and verify the information.” In a statement to CTV News, a Google spokesperson wrote, “The vast majority of AI Overviews are high quality and meet our high bar for helpfulness and accuracy. Just like other features in Search, issues can arise when there is an absence of high quality information on the web on a particular topic, and we use these examples to improve AI Overviews broadly.” Anna Mae’s Bakery and Restaurant in Millbank remains open and there are no plans to close the business anytime soon.
