From CQ Midday Update:
Ah, Valentine's Day. One legend has it that we're commemorating the anniversary of the death of St. Valentine, a Roman clergyman executed in about 270 A.D. for secretly marrying couples in defiance of the emperor. Another says the holiday began as a Roman fertility festival. Nowadays it's a great way to sell candy, flowers and jewelry. Per capita candy consumption hit 24.6 pounds in 2003, the Census Bureau says, with a large portion of that devoured around Valentine's Day. If that sounds like a lot of sweets, it's actually down from the 27 pounds each American gobbled in 1997. To avoid joining the obesity epidemic, you can send roses -- $52 million worth of domestically produced buds were sold at wholesale in 2003. And jewelry is always in season. A year ago, jewelry stores sold $2.4 billion worth of merchandise in the month of February, the Census Bureau says.