Croatian president visits Grgich

PARIS -- France's government said Wednesday it will soon allow vintners to flavor their wine with wood shavings -- a moneysaving shortcut to help face off tough international competition, and a reform that immediately angered purists.

BERKELEY -- California wine sales in the United States hit another record in 2005, a rise experts attribute to a jelling of factors from the Supreme Court weighing in on wine shipments to the vino-centric movie, "Sideways."

Napa Valley has its Winecrusher statue to remind visitors they're entering wine country. Now Prosser, Wash., in the heart of Yakima Valley, is thinking about building a 100-foot high water tower in the shape of a wine glass.

Weekly wine columnists for newspapers often fall into a habitual pattern: Facing a deadline, they taste a handful of recent-release wines, write a brief introduction about the class of wine they fall into, and plop down, at the end of the column, a few "tasting notes" on the best wines they tasted.

Back in 1998 in my first year as a tech columnist, I wrote a column, which I admit was not intended to win any friends, entitled "It was Apple that needed to 'Think Different.'"

NewLevel to manage Tug McGraw Foundation

Voicing strong words of frustration, Lincoln Avenue at Jefferson Street property owner Michael Mak suspended all plans to develop a retail parcel located at the busy intersection and has put the corner lot up for sale. "I had no choice but to let go of this property. I've nowhere to go."

Several downtown merchants complained they were caught by surprise Monday afternoon when more than 1,000 protesters marched by, causing traffic delays and the loss of customers.

WASHINGTON -- College graduates are flocking to America's big cities, chasing jobs and culture and driving up home prices.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Venture capitalist John Doerr made his name and fortune with early investments in Netscape Communications Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and other pioneering tech firms that went from scrappy startups to household names.

ATLANTA -- There's a big power shift in the world of paid television, and it's not between the traditional rivals of cable and satellite. Consumers are getting more control over what and how they watch, and cable operators are doing everything they can to cater to their rapidly evolving desires.