‘Leer es una fiesta'
Readings, exhibits, workshops, through Oct. 31, Alliance Française, Barrio Amón, Avenida 7, Calle 5. Info: 2257-1944.

World Habitat Day
Costa Rica's UN-Habitat office is holding a celebration with international speakers, 2:30 p.m., San José Palacio, Salón Greco B, Alajuela.

Little Theatre Group open house
Preview of “Plan Nine from Outer Space” (Halloween show), 7 p.m., Laurence Olivier Theater, next to Sala Garbo, Avenida 2, Calle 28. Info: 8355-1623, www.littletheatregroup.org.

King Lovers in concert
Reggae, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Prices surged 15.77 percent over the past 12 months, the highest year-over-year increase since 1998, according to a report by the Statistics and Census Institute (INEC). 

Food and non-alcoholic beverages became 27.7 percent more expensive, hurting low-income families who tend to spend a greater percentage of their paycheck on food. Transportation costs increased 19 percent, while the bill at restaurants went up 18.8 percent. 

Of the 292 goods and services used to measure the consumer price index, 68 percent increased in price, while 23 percent became cheaper and 9 percent stayed the same. Compared to September 2007, consumers are now paying 70 percent more for beans, 56 percent more for eggs and 53 percent more for rice. 

Last month, prices increased 0.95 percent, the highest September increase since 1999. The Central Bank estimates that 2008 inflation (from January to December) will be 14.2 percent, down from its earlier stated goal of about 8 percent. 

As Costa Rica land developers push further up the sides of mountains overlooking the southern Pacific coast, environmentalists and area residents have been warning for nearly two years that the construction is putting the ocean, the protected natural areas and the communities below at risk.

The latest to join the cry is the University of Costa Rica (UCR), whose highest body, the University Council, issued a resolution calling the development boom along the Pacific coast “one of the most worrying environmental catastrophes our country has experienced in recent years.”

The Fila Costeña mountain range drains half a dozen rivers into the ocean, feeding the towns below and flowing directly into the Ballena National Marine Park and the Sierpe-Térraba National Wetlands, a delicate ecosystem that includes the largest mangrove forest in the country.

Researchers have warned that sediment from the rivers is killing the corals in Ballena and harming the Sierpe-Térraba National Wetlands.

The university is calling on local governments, as well as President Oscar Arias' administration, to crack down in the region.

Police in the central Pacific town of Manuel Antonio last week arrested a U.S. citizen wanted for theft by the FBI.

Dean Albert Clark, 55, is charged in Sacramento, California, for his alleged involvement in a $150 million scheme in which Clark and his associate are believed to have rented Costa Rican vacation homes to more than 45 people, collecting money, and never notifying the landlords, according to a press release from DIS-Interpol.

Police found him working at a real estate agency in Quepos, on the central Pacific coast, the release said, adding that Clark is believed to have fled his business in Nevada County, California, for Costa Rica upon learning of the charges against him.

Clark was detained Thursday afternoon after an investigation by the Quepos Delegation Police, the Judicial Investigation Police and DIS-Interpol, which then sent him to San José for extradition proceedings.