Sacramento Topics

SECOND -- A bunch of grapes that was missed by a mechanical harvester stands alone at Mohr-Fry Ranches on Thursday, October 26, 2006. This year is shaping up as one that California wine fans will remember fondly - but that many of the state's wine grape growers would rather forget. Late spring rains, a summer heat wave and a dry early fall have combined to yield an average sized but high-quality wine grape harvest that some are predicting will be the best in a quarter-century. Despite that, many varieties of wine grapes are selling for bottom-of-the-barrel prices - even as U.S. wine consumption is at an all-time high. An ongoing glut from the massive 2005 harvest and changes in the federal law governing the blending of wines from different vintages have combined to push grape prices down, wine brokers said. ( The Sacramento Bee Hector Amezcua )

The sign at the Clovis Memorial District building reads 107 degrees, Friday, Aug. 10, 2012, in Clovis, Calif. Both Friday and Saturday the extreme heat hitting the Central Valley will be closing in on records. Temperatures soared into triple digits across the western United States on Saturday as a continuing heat wave strained energy supplies and sent thousands to beaches, lakes and shopping malls in search of cooler climes. (AP Photo/The Fresno Bee, Craig Kohlruss)

Seth Perlman Associated Press A record-breaking heat wave in most of the country is devastating the corn crop in places like Pleasant Plains, Ill. A letter writer disputes that global climate change is a cause.