Last month, Ellis Katsof, executive director of Burlington's Transitions for Youth, said he expected to sell 7,000 tickets to Clinton's noon-hour speech April 3. The cash raised will support Transitions, a charity for at-risk kids and their families.

But ticket sales had only reached about 2,000 yesterday for the $175 to $200 per ticket event. The shortfall prompted Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc. (HECFI) to offer up Hamilton Place instead. It seats about 2,200, said CEO Duncan Gillespie.

MEANWHILE, A council debate that approved increasing bus fares by 15 cents dissolved into a shouting match and threats of political revenge yesterday.

Councillor Brian McHattie said he is investigating his options after feeling harassed in a confrontation with Councillor Sam Merulla.

In a side conversation that interrupted the meeting, Merulla called McHattie, a vocal transit advocate, a "hypocrite" for supporting the fare hike and warned "I'm coming after you." Source...