The March producer price index increase, higher than most economists' 0.8 percent forecasts, followed February's 1.3 percent rise, the department said. wholesale prices jumped 1 percent on rising food and gasoline, but computer and light-truck prices dropped, the U. The core index, excluding volatile food and energy, was unchanged, the department said. Natural gas for home heating increased 3.3 percent, while liquefied petroleum gas, such as propane, was up 6.5 percent. Light-truck...

Prizes were given to every student, but eight students were picked for their unique creativity and pumpkin design. The best pumpkins around: Contest sparks 5th grade creativity. Alex Lakin, 10, found an idea completely different from the rest of the students and received third place and best fairy-tale pumpkin. Each student in three fifth grade classes at Cottonwood got a free pumpkin to take home. They could do whatever they wished with it - keep it or decorate it and bring it back for...

The churches sell the pumpkins on consignment, meaning they only pay for what they sell; they aren't charged for damaged or unsold pumpkins. were looking for a pumpkin to carve, one that was free of spots and would last through Halloween. The LaMarks were focused on finding a great pumpkin, not necessarily on performing any kind of social good deed. The groups keep a portion of the proceeds, usually about 30 percent, of each pumpkin sold. were looking for a pumpkin to carve, one that was...

Master gardener, television host and magazine editor Rebecca Kolls rolled into Austin recently, making a quick pit stop at Sledd Nursery, Clarksville's quaint, historic filling-station-turned-retro-garden-center, to share some of her gardening expertise. She lives in Wisconsin now with her husband and their two children and visits Austin occasionally for her home and garden media projects. And later, while working as chief meteorologist at a TV station in Minneapolis, she cultivated a...

Daffodils sprang up in sheets across the parks (on a bank in our local greenspace someone had spelled their initials last autumn - sweet graffiti indeed), cherries erupted on the streets, magnolias exploded in front gardens and people started to walk about with smiles on their faces. Daffodils sprang up in sheets across the parks (on a bank in our local greenspace someone had spelled their initials last autumn - sweet graffiti indeed), cherries erupted on the streets, magnolias exploded in...

Turns out she was referring to a haredi ruling, also promulgated over the Internet, that "cluster" vegetables, notably cauliflower and broccoli, are not kosher owing to the very tiny bugs that may have taken up abode among their tightly-packed florets - not even if you soak them in various substances beforehand. Turns out she was referring to a haredi ruling, also promulgated over the Internet, that "cluster" vegetables, notably cauliflower and broccoli, are not kosher owing to the very...

Your food can be as simple as chips with dip, a vegetable platter and an assortment of cheeses, all from the local grocery store. Remember, presentation is everything, so display your food artfully on spider web platters or embellish the area with decorative spider webs from your local craft store. If you'd like to offer guests something more substantial, consider a soup or stew served in hollowed out miniature pumpkins instead of bowls. Once at the door, the wreath, crafted of natural...

Mark Bethke said the driver of the semi was not injured, but the truck's windshield was shattered at around 3:40 Wednesday morning. Bethke said such incidents have happened in past years, but it is rare for a vehicle to get hit by the falling gourds. Patrol seeks pumpkin tossers. The North Dakota Highway Patrol is looking for the people responsible for tossing pumpkins off an I-94 overpass and hitting a semi in the westbound lane. Pumpkins were tossed off the 106th Street overpass about...

It sends dangerous signals to other countries to engage in unsustainable agriculture practices to quickly meet the rising demand for raw vegetable oil. However, a dark cloud now hangs over his business and threatens to dampen the benefits that the biodiesel industry brings to all Americans. The oil companies could put a stranglehold on materials used to make biodiesel, stunting the growth of the biodiesel industry, and leaving companies like Mid-Atlantic Biodiesel on a "bridge to nowhere....