The South Bayview Bulldog

A Canadian man and woman, 50 and 45 years, are in hospital in stable condition and a 15-year-old boy thought to be their son, is in critical condition in Hawaii following the crash of a tourist helicopter at Pearl Harbor. The names have not been released. See video.

In Thorncliffe Park, police are looking into the stabbing of a man., 47, in an apartment at 71 Thorncliffe Park Drive. It happened about 12.45 a.m. Saturday and the victim is said to be in critical condition.

And CUPE local 79 and the City have agreed to extend negotiations an additional 24 hours as they work to a avoid a strike.

Time flies, especially when you’re spending money. Try to believe it was on this day 20 year ago the first Canadian two-dollar coin was launched into circulation Since then the durable two-tone deuce doubloon has become a valued friend to Canadians in need of metre-money or a main-lined solo-long espresso. Almost 883 million of the coins have entered circulation The toonie features the image of a polar bear on one side, and like all other current Canadian circulation coins, has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the other.

TOONIES LAST 20 YEARS

The discontinued two-dollar bill was less expensive to manufacture, but each bill lasted on average only one year. Toonies, on the other hand, are durable as the deuce (sorry). They last 20 years. The introduction of the toonie followed the successful introduction of the $1 loonie coin in 1987. That coin must be counted as an enduring success.

COMMON LOON

The loonie’s rather embarrassing beginning is disappearing into history. It was first intended to carry the image of a Canadian voyageur but the original plates were lost in transit. Not to encourage counterfeiters, the Canadian Mint just moved on to a picture of the common loon. It seems to have worked.  The Mint abandoned plans for a possible $5 coin to replace the $5 bill a decade ago, after a government-commissioned poll found almost no support for such a move, despite the savings to be had.

Watch as this helicopter accident happens in a split second. It hardly seems possible that the chopper could fall so quickly. Tourist Shawn Winrich was taking photos of Pearl Harbor when he saw a helicopter “essentially coming straight at us” at the popular Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,  tourist destination. He switched to video, recording the helicopter’s dramatic drop into the water below.

VISITING CANADIANS

The family of four visiting from Canada and the pilot on board made it out, but one passenger — a 15-year-old boy who was trapped underwater and had to be cut free from his seat — remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday. No identities have been released

Man rescued from crashed helicopter at Pearl Harbor

The Toronto Zoo’s 11-year-old female rhinoceros Ashakiran, gave birth to a male calf on Wednesday, February 17th at 9:42 pm. He is just about as cute as an English bulldog. The Bulldog likes its funny looks and wishes a similar satisfaction for this little guy.

A company called Bullwheel International Cable Car Corp.is proposing to build a cable car system across the Don Valley from the Evergreen Brick Works to a newly-built platform on the edge of Playter Gardens Park, which overlooks the valley. It is seen as an all-season service which might carry as many as 1,500 passengers on a summer weekend. After lift-off from the Brick Works, the routing appears to take the line over the unpopulated Don River shores to the “Danforth Station” platform at the park. Playter Gardens is on Cambridge Ave.

SHORT WALK TO DANFORTH

From there it would be a short walk to the Danforth and the Broadview subway station. Happily, the line doesn’t propose to run under the Bloor Viaduct. This is a Toronto Star special which has been in the works for a number of days it seems with prepared responses from the Mayor, Councillor Fragedakis and others. They see it as a nice addition to the city’s “transit”. It is suggested the cable car could be running in as little as four years and that the cost would be $25 million. It is not exactly stated but the reasonable assumption will be that this is Bullwheel’s tab and not the city’s. although as in all such appealing ideas it is good to be on guard. Some will note that the service would run across busy roads — the DVP for one  — and the meaning of that to safe driving might be discussed.  Some artwork

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.