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WORLD & NATION UPDATE: AT HOME

Compiled from news dispatches

June 23, 2008

Raging Midwest floodwaters that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean prices soaring are about to give consumers more grief at the grocery store. In the latest bout of food inflation, beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for corn-based animal feed. The floods engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states, sending world grain prices skyward on fears of a substantially smaller corn crop. The government will give a partial idea of how many corn acres were lost before the end of the month, but experts say the trickle-down effect could be more dramatic later this year, affecting everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas hams.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton fulfilled a pledge to a young supporter by speaking at the teenager's high school graduation on yesterday. The girl, Aleatha Williams, a campaign volunteer and the daughter of a supporter, introduced the senator to fellow graduates from Pelham Preparatory Academy in the Bronx as "my aunt." Clinton said she had known Aleatha "and her wonderful mother, Patricia," since the girl was 2 and had promised her when she graduated from eighth grade that she would attend her high school graduation. "Four years later, here I am with all of you," Clinton said. Clinton ended her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on June 7 and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, who has clinched the nomination.

Experts are telling Chicago residents to beware of the birds. The fiercely territorial behavior of red-winged blackbirds is being blamed for several recent divebomb attacks. The birds peck at unsuspecting bicyclists and pedestrians and swipe at their hair. Just ask Holly Grosso. The businesswoman says she was pecked in the head. She calls the incident "so bizarre." Field Museum ornithologist Doug Stotz says the birds favor parks and vacant lots near ponds and Lake Michigan. Relief may come in late July, after their nesting season ends.