It's no secret that Americans are paying record prices at the gas pumps. Rapidly ascending prices also affect the cost of all the goods and services that are an integral part of the American economy. Farmers, manufacturers, delivery companies, repair people...you name it: they're paying more to do their jobs, and they're passing those costs to consumers.

Years of drought, erratic weather and other stresses are taking their toll on the peppers that are central to the state's economy and identity. HATCH, N.M. - In all her eight decades of farming in southeastern New Mexico, June Rutherford has never seen a chile season this bad.