The James Logan Courier

By Tyler Bridges
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

PISCO, Peru — Peru's prime minister pleaded for emergency aid — "even coffins" — as the toll from the strongest earthquake to hit this country in 35 years climbed Thursday to 510 dead, at least 1,550 injured and tens of thousands homeless.

With both the hospitals and a crowded 18th century church in this city of 130,000 destroyed, two dozen people were being treated on a concrete soccer field across the street from one of the hospitals.

Virtually every block of Pisco appeared to have sustained damage, especially houses and walls made of sun-dried mud bricks. Many residents wandered without purpose, some sobbing, some carrying their belongings, all apparently dazed by the level of destruction.

By Mary Anne Ostrom
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Japanese pioneer in stem cell research is opening a lab in San Francisco, a significant milestone in the state's bid to become an international draw for the world's leading regenerative medicine experts.

Last year, Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University was the first to identify genes in mouse skin cells that allow scientists to "reprogram" the cells to an embryonic state from which they could create some tissue types.

By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

MIDLAND, Va. — The Labor Department's most recent inflation data showed that U.S. food prices rose by 4.1 percent for the 12 months ending in June, but a deeper look at the numbers reveals that the price of milk, eggs and other essentials in the American diet are actually rising by double digits.

Already stung by a two-year rise in gasoline prices, American consumers now face sharply higher prices for foods they can't do without. This little-known fact may go a long way to explaining why, despite healthy job statistics, Americans remain glum about the economy.