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Regulators just imposed unprecedented fees on water usage in the state’s agricultural heartland. In much of the United States, groundwater extraction is unregulated and unlimited. There are few rules governing who can pump water from underground aquifers or how much they can take.

The French are arriving and younger consumers are leaving. A much shorter version of this article is published by the Financial Times. Is Napa Valley quantitatively important to California wine? Absolutely not. The volume of wine it produces is just 4% of the total. But in terms of image and prestige it is vital.

The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage sits around 7.5%, the highest level since mid-November of last year, according to Mortgage News Daily. Even with rates higher, however, mortgage applications to purchase a home rose 5% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.

The number of homes listed for sale in California is on the rise and last month saw the largest jump in more than a year amid heightening home prices in the state, according to data from the California Association of Realtors (CAR).

The latest inflation report, released this week, shows that inflation came in higher than expected in March, indicating that the stubborn issues that have plagued the economy for the past couple of years are still far from resolved. This unwelcome news then caused mortgage rates to climb in tandem, pushing the average 30-year mortgage rate above the 7% mark.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer inflation remained persistently high last month, boosted by gas, rents, auto insurance and other items, the government said Wednesday in a report that will likely give pause to the Federal Reserve as it considers how often — or even whether — to cut interest rates this year.