Harper Lee has died at the age of 89. The elusive author of To Kill A Mockingbird wrote from the perspective of a young girl (Scout) about life and racial injustice in a small Southern town. It was essentially a story about her own childhood. Lee was enormously modest, saying at various times that she wrote the novel merely by stringing together old letters and later that her editor was the true author of the book. To Kill A Mockingbird became a metaphor for decency and gained international fame and was read by black and white audiences. In later years, the intense focus on race in the U.S. led to criticism that the novel was patronizing of blacks. Lee died peacefully Thursday, publisher Harper Collins said in a statement Friday. It did not give any other details about how she died.

On average, Canada’s weak dollar has driven up imported fruit and vegetables as much as 15 percent, and in some cases even more. Lettuce is said to be up nearly 18 percent over last year at this time. The reason for the dollar’s weakness is of course the sinking price of oil. There’s way too much of it to sustain previous prices. One reason for that is the new river of natural gas flooding the market and the slowdown in the Chinese economy.

STATS CANADA

Statistics Canada’s January year-over-year inflation number was up from 1.6 per cent in December. The agency’s latest consumer price index found the overall cost of food was up four per cent last month compared to a year earlier — with fresh vegetable prices up 18.2 per cent and fruits up 12.9 per cent. Lettuce, as noted, is up  17.9 per cent over the year before, apples were up 16.6 per cent and tomatoes up 11.9 per cent.

CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR DOWN

Year-over-year prices moved upwards in every category of the index except for clothing and footwear, which saw a decrease of 0.3 per cent compared to January 2015. Lower prices in January for items such as natural gas, fuel oil and telephone services kept downward pressure on the inflation reading, the agency said. Natural gas was down 18.6 per cent, fuel oil down 15 per cent and telephone services 2.5 per cent.

But the leaders of Local 79 of CUPE, with the employment of some 23,000 people at issue, say they are still far apart. That’s tough talk. Will they be crazy enough to strike? Tell us that’s not the right word if you disagree. Or maybe you would prefer to get a secure, well-paid job at City Hall instead. City has a tentative agreement  Josh Matlow letter

The annual New York Toy Show is open today with merchants from Canada, the U.S. and Europe checking out what they might wish to stock in their stores. It is not open to the public but Alex Denis of CBS has this entertaining review.

Diane Buckner reports on this significant opening and the questions that hang over it. Another Saks opens next week at Sherway Mall.

The mystery of checkout Aisle 8 continues at Loblaws at 301 Moore Ave. Today the aisle is gone and the floor has been re-tiled to make it seem like the aisle never existed. Woo. One cheeky clerk said maybe it was going to be a dance floor. Hey, if Whole Foods can have tattoo parlors, Loblaws can surely have a dance studio. It may yet be true that a self checkout lane with a new desk will fill this space. But for the moment, let’s dance.

The mixed blessing of a Facebook persona, the new publicity of having a picture online, has seen a Durham Region woman ambushed when her picture was used by an online predator to attract a 12-year-old boy. The Bowmanville man is now in custody. Police published the picture and asked if anyone else had been entrapped in the same way by the fictitious “Jennifer Jackson.” The real owner of the face and image contacted police and asked that they protect her identity.

Read here

Burned out home at 173 Stibbard. Photo:The South Bayview Bulldog

Fire has destroyed an unoccupied house undergoing restoration at 173 Stibbard Ave. just off Mt. Pleasant. Rd. The blaze shocked neighbors and the couple living at 171 fled for their lives as flames licked at their home. The family cat was left behind and a Toronto Fire hero ran in to bring it out. Water damage will force the man and wife into a hotel while their pet enjoys the hospitality of a neighbor. A woman opposite on Stibbard said she and her husband were terrified by the spectacle of the flames. This morning, the charred hulk of the gutted renovation is flooded with bright sunlight revealing even small details of the damage. A new home under construction at 175 was also burned but the owner of Sherwood Homes says he feels lucky to have escaped with no greater damage. The raging blaze that met firefighters caused the closure of Mt. Pleasant Rd. between Blythwood Rd. and Sheldrake Blvd. for a few hours.

Wine will be sold at 70 grocery locations in Ontario by the fall and as many as 300 such stores on a timeline as yet to be established. Premier Kathleen Wynne made the announcement at the Longo’s store which is housed in the historic steam engine repair building on Laird Drive. It is more of the equally historic gradualism in such matters which has seen every provincial government loathe to let the cash flow from alcoholic beverages slip from the LCBO.

WILL THIS SELL MORE WINE?

Analysis may have shown that sales overall will increase by loosening  the control. That will increase revenue from the heavily-taxed product. “Imported and domestic wines will be sold at up to 150 grocery stores,” the province said in a statement. “As well, up to 150 existing winery retail stores that are currently just outside a grocery store checkout will be permitted to operate their store inside that grocery store, with a shared checkout, and broaden their assortment to sell the wines of any Ontario producer.”  There’s an okay analysis here from the CBC.