Harper Lee: The author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” one of the most beloved and lasting works in American literature, died yesterday at age 89 in Monroeville, Ala. where she lived.

Harper Lee’s first novel about race and injustice in the Jim Crow South was published in 1960, sold 10 million copies, and won her the Pulitzer Prize. The movie two years later starring Gregory Peck as the wise country lawyer Atticus Finch was just as successful.

Lee once told an interviewer, “I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers, but, at the same time I sort of hoped someone would like it well enough to give me encouragement.” The fame and notoriety that followed scared her and she became somewhat reclusive, rarely making public appearances to accept literary praise.

Lee was back in the news last year when her lawyer found and published her long lost novel, “Go Set a Watchman.” Atticus was not quite the gentle and lovable man in “Watchman” as he was in “Mockingbird.” Many people questioned whether Lee, who said nothing publicly about it, really wanted the book released.

Second Notice: The Department of Justice is accusing Apple of a marketing ploy in its refusal to help investigators unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists.

A new filing says Apple’s objection “appears to be based on its concern for its business model and public brand marketing strategy” — specifically, that what Apple is selling with the iPhone is uncrackable privacy.

Politics: Heading into primaries today in South Carolina and Nevada, Donald Trump remains far in the lead for Republican candidates with 34 percent in the polls followed by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in a distant second and third.

In South Carolina, Real Clear Politics gives Trump 32.9, Cruz 18.1, and Rubio, 17.1. Bush, Carson and Kasich together have 27 percent of the voters. The lower ranking candidates need to produce some upward movement to survive.

For the Democrats in SC going into the primary, Clinton, 57.4; Sanders, 33.3.

The Obit Page: Italian author Umberto Eco, a scholar of the obscure study of semiotics and best selling novelist has died at age 84. Eco wrote “The Name of the Rose” about murder in a 14^th-Century Italian monastery. Semiotics is the study of a culture’s symbols, words, religious icons, even clothing and music. Eco’s novels brought his academic knowledge to life.

The One Percent: In what some people might take as a surprise, billionaire Charles Koch writes in The Washington Post that he agrees in part with socialist candidate Bernie Sanders who, according to Koch, says that government policies and regulations help “perpetuate a cycle of control, dependency, cronyism and poverty in the United States.”

Interestingly, the libertarian brothers Charles and David Koch in recent years have poured fortunes into politics, trying to sway both candidates and issues to their advantage and profit. They’re against big government and regulation. Still, Koch says, “Koch Industries opposes all forms of corporate welfare — even those that benefit us.”

Journalist Jane Mayer wrote in The New Yorker last month that the brothers are trying to change their oligarchic image to show their concern for the poor and middle class in order to put a happy face on their continuing efforts to benefit themselves. “As the Kochs prepare to launch the most ambitious political effort of their lives, they appear to be undergoing the best image overhaul that their money can buy,” she wrote.

In effect the tiger is changing its stripes but it’s still a carnivore.

Mayer reported that Koch Industries decided it needed to “rebrand” its image in part by showing concern for the struggling little guy, an interest in “fairness” and “well-being.” Koch’s essay is salted with similar terms, and there it is, “well-being,” right there in the last paragraph, straight from the company’s new public relations book.

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