Rising food prices strain family budgets

The grocery ads printed on the yellowing pages of a July 1968 edition of The Capital hark back to an age when the price of food was, for many Annapolitans, just an afterthought: Corn was 8 cents per ear, chicken went on sale for 39 cents per pound and a whole watermelon would set a shopper back just 89 cents.

A trip earlier this week to a local grocery store revealed prices that are providing today's consumer a little food for thought.

An ear of corn: 60 cents.

A pound of chicken: $1.39.

A watermelon: $5.99.

And inflation isn't responsible for all of the increases. The government inflation...