Record rainfall is sowing havoc on corn, soybean futures

RECORDA searing Midwestern drought can send corn and soybean futures into the stratosphere. Too much rain, however, makes for a more complicated situation.

That is the position farmers and grain traders find themselves after spring and summer rains delayed planting of both crops across the eastern half of the Corn Belt and then continued to soak the region into early July. The Corn Belt is the corn-producing region encompassing western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, eastern Nebraska and southern Minnesota. MORE

18 raging wildfires force California Gov. to declare state of emergency

18California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a statement of emergency as 18 large wildfires burn through more than a dozen counties.

“California’s severe drought and extreme weather have turned much of the state into a tinderbox,” said Governor Brown in astatement. “Our courageous firefighters are on the front lines and we’ll do everything we can to help them.” MORE

New York holds last mass services before dozens of Catholic church closures

Father Bartholomew Daly gives the last mass at Church of Our Lady Peace in New YorkTeary-eyed and angry Catholic parishioners across New York attended final mass services on Friday in some of dozens of churches closing or stopping regular worship services.

The closures follow an announcement by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in November that it would consolidate 368 parishes into 294, reflecting a national trend of parish closures in the United States caused by low attendance, a shortage of priests and financial troubles. MORE