Late blight occurs intermittently in the northeastern U.S., but this year's outbreak is more serious, as rainy weather has hastened the spores' airborne spread and infected plants have been widely distributed by large retail chains.

Although the disease, the same one responsible for the 1840s Irish Potato Famine, is not harmful to humans, it is highly contagious and likely spread on store shelves to nearby uninfected plants, experts say.

It can also spread after plants reach their final destination, further increasing the risk to other tomato and potato plants in commercial fields and home gardens.

Cornell University professor of plant pathology, Meg McGrath, said late blight was "worse than the Bubonic Plague for plants."

"People need to realize this is probably one of the worst diseases we have in the vegetable world," she told the Associated Press. "It's certain death for a tomato plant."

Botanically, the sunflower is technically not a single flower, like the rose, but an amalgam, or "head" of about 1,000 florets, each in a spiral display across its dish-like face. E Pluribus Unum, "Out of many, one,” our nation’s motto, aptly describes the sunflower. It's the USA of the botanical world.

Most of all, it is the sunflower’s sunny personality that renders it such an apt icon for our country. Throughout our history, visitors to this country, including Tocqueville and Mrs. Trollope, have remarked on Americans’ cheerfulness and optimism. This upbeat outlook is a key ingredient in American exceptionalism. We don't do "ennui" or "weltschmerz": we even have to import the words.

The sunflower is dynamic, too. The heliocentric sunflower's radiant face follows the sun's course through the day, a fitting tribute to the origin of life on earth. Helen Keller wrote, “Keep your face to the sunrise and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do".

If a customer purchases a major home appliance over $399 with a Citibank-issued Sears card and loses his/her full-time job after 60 days and up to 1 year from the date of the purchase, 1/12th of the purchase price will be credited to the account each month that the customer is unemployed. This credit covers the appliance and related accessories, extended warranties, maintenance agreements, protection and service agreements, delivery haul-away, installation and sales tax. If the customer is still unemployed one year after the purchase, they will receive a credit to their account for the remaining purchase amount. The customer keeps the appliance and will owe nothing on that purchase. The customer can make their purchase at a Sears store+ or at sears.com

"We thought this would be a way to get folks to jump in where they'd been a little reluctant," Doug Moore, president of Sears's home-appliance unit, said in a telephone interview.

The retailer, based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, is running the trial program to spur spending on refrigerators and washing machines as consumers hold off on bigger purchases amid declining home values and mounting job losses

The cuts will generate annualized pretax savings of about $150 million and save about $60 million, or 10 cents a share, in the second half, the Dallas-based company said today in a statement. Kimberly-Clark said it will record severance and related pretax costs totaling as much as $150 million in the second, third and fourth quarters, equivalent to about 25 cents a share.

"These actions, while difficult, are necessary to help us emerge from this demanding economic environment as a stronger company," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Falk said in the statement. The company's net income has declined for six straight quarters.

IKEA Chief Executive Anders Dahlvig, due to step down on Sept. 1, said in an interview with Swedish daily Dagens Industri that the group's trend of rapid growth had been broken as the worst recession in living memory hit markets across the world. "(But) thanks to us having succeeded in swiftly cutting our costs we are spared the large losses that have hit other companies," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

"And it is of course positive to be able to post our best ever sales in the middle of the worst downturn in the modern era."

Boosted by the opening of new stores, the group currently sees sales rising 3 percent to 21.5 billion euros ($29.8 billion), excluding currency swings, in its fiscal year ending on Aug. 31, the newspaper said.

Christensen, who revealed she's collaborated on a bed linen line with Swedish brand Odd Molly, with proceeds to the charity Chernobyl Children's Project International. Christensen is in Old Molly's current campaign. "For one bed cover, I wanted to use a huge image that looked like a [photo] that had been torn from an old book and left to fade on a windowsill," she said.

1. Tim Allen (Tim Taylor) Home Improvement 22%
2. Ty Pennington Extreme Home Makeover 19%
3. Bob Villa Home Personality 17%
4. Steve Thomas Renovation Nation and This Old House 6%
5. Nate Berkus Oprah/Linens & Things 5%
6. Richard Karn (Al Borland) Home Improvement 5%
7. Dan Ackroyd Infamous Plumber's skit on Saturday Night Live 3%
8. James Denton (Mike Delfino) Desperate Housewives 3%
9. Pat Harrington Jr. (Dwayne Schneider) One Day at a Time 2%
10. Norman Fell (Mr. Roper) Three's Company 2%
11. Tom Lester (Eb Dawson) Green Acres 2%
12. Don Knotts (Mr. Furley) Three's Company 2%

She said: "We are trying to promote growing your own food and vegetables, getting families and children involved, getting their hands dirty. "It's a growing movement throughout the country and we're just hoping to encourage that." This is the first time vegetables have been grown in the backyard of the monarch's London residence since World War II. Then, as part of the Dig for Victory campaign, royals and others produced 1.3m tons of food.