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Changes at the pump in Tracy
Photo by Deb Gau
The Food N Fuel gas station in Tracy sits vacant, with a “For Sale” sign in the window. It was one of three gas stations to close in the town the past couple of years.
July 24, 2008
TRACY — Although small corner gas stations have become a thing of the past, drivers looking for fuel can usually find a station or two in towns with a highway. But sometimes even those are rare.
In just a couple of years, the number of gas stations along U.S. Highway 14 in Tracy has dwindled from four to one. The Food N Fuel has been closed for about two years, although the property is now up for sale. The BP station shut down earlier this year, and the pumps near the Red Rooster are also closed. Only Casey’s General Store is left.
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They’ve gone loony, in a good way
July 24, 2008
Last year, Chelsea and Kaylin Caron of Marshall gave their mother Lori a special Christmas present, participating in the annual Star Tribune MS TRAM for the first time ever.
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Saluting Kenneth
July 24, 2008
Kenneth Lawrence Holm of Clarkfield was stationed on the USS Oklahoma, docked at Pearl Harbor, when the ship came under attack on Dec. 7, 1941.
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Farmfest features Coleman and Franken, plus new events as well
July 24, 2008
A hotly contested U.S. Senate race will take center stage during the first day of this year’s Farmfest.
The Farmfest forum tent will bring together Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and challenger Al Franken, D-Minn.
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Top Headline Poll
Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw American troops from the war zone within 16 months if he wins the presidency. Do you agree with that timetable?
Yes
52%
No
48%
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Avera Marshall
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Blogs
Karin Elton
Megan Hanson
Per Peterson
Andy Rennecke
Cindy Votruba
Robert Wolfington III
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Karin Elton
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Highly fructo-licious
Wed, July 23, 2008 @ 4:58PM
I’ll get off my soapbox (for a while) and not tell people what to do other than — read your food labels! High fructose corn syrup is gross. It is subsidized by the federal government so it is cheap to use. It’s in everything — ketchup, pancake syrup, bread, frozen lemonade. According to the Mayo Clinic, it hasn’t been proved that the syrup is responsible for America’s obesity problem or the increase in diabetes and high cholesterol, but “the fact remains that Americans consume large quantities of high-fructose corn syrup in the form of soft drinks, fruit-flavored beverages and other processed foods. These types of foods are often high in calories and low in nutritional value. This fact alone is reason to be cautious about foods containing high-fructose corn syrup.” Read your labels! I buy organic ketchup to avoid the syrup, but if you want pancake syrup without it, you have to buy real maple syrup which is better, but super expensive, almost $7.
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Megan Hanson
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Who's Looking At Your Feet?
Thu, July 24, 2008 @ 2:14PM
A few people have asked me why my title of yesterday’s blog talked about shoes and then the post was about Obama. I was hoping people would catch the pun when the post was about flip-flops...or the scariest shoe in politics. Ha ha ha. Okay so no one’s laughing. Sorry, all I can say is that I tried. I think I also disappointed a few people who were hoping that the blog would take a break from the politics and talk about actual shoes. Shoes are one of my favorite subjects to talk about, so to make up for yesterday, today’s blog is about shoes. This is fair warning to any male that doesn’t understand the concept of shoes to women, or for someone that was hoping for another Obama rant. It’s hard to write a blog about shoes, because there is just so much to say. A lot of people think that shoes don’t matter. “Who’s going to be looking at your feet?” they ask.
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Per Peterson
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Giving a Mini a chance
Thu, July 24, 2008 @ 3:30PM
I’ve never really been a fan of mini anythings. I like big things, you know, quantity over quality. I don’t like mini-burgers, Mini-Coopers or mini-TVs. Minnie Mouse even bugged be when I was a kid. Before recently, I especially didn’t like mini-dogs, or as I call them, ‘punts.’ No, not runts, punts — as in they’re small enough to punt. And NO — for you animal rights people out there — I would never actually punt a dog. I respect and appreciate all dogs, even the stupid ones, even pit bulls to a certain extent — don’t like ‘em, but I can appreciate why dog lovers do. My stance on mini-dogs has changed the last few weeks as I’ve gotten to know the newest addition to our family, our Miniature Schnauzer, Schatzi. It’s a cute, little black thing currently about the size of a piece of pizza, and it’s not going to get much bigger than a football from what I’ve been told.
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Andy Rennecke
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Twins issues
Tue, July 22, 2008 @ 2:11AM
Another East Cost loss for the Twins on Monday night and another loss for Ron Gardenhire against the Yankees. Ho-hum. I’m so used to it that it’s not even getting me down about the Twins right now. But several issues that came up in the past week need to be addressed. For one, the Francisco Liriano complaints about being in the minors too long are laughable. Last time I checked, Franchise, a team has every right to keep you in the minors as long as they want -- no matter how good you’re doing. The Twins staff is set for now and Franchise will just have to wait his turn. I’m sure he’s hoping Livan Hernandez has a heart attack within the next month so he can make it back to the bigs. Sadly, that could happen. Livo looks more and more bloated by the outing. Stop feeding him pizza, Rick Anderson! Another issue is Carlos Gomez batting leadoff. The kid had been playing so well that his recent slump came as a big surprise.
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Cindy Votruba
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Things that go bump in the night
Tue, July 22, 2008 @ 5:41PM
In my blog about my trip to DeSmet, S.D., I talked about watching “Ghost Hunters International” on the Sci-Fi channel that night at the hotel. It sounded kinda cool to go around the country, heck, the world to check out the presence of ghosts in various houses, hotels, cemeteries or bars using all sorts of gadgets. The episodes I watched took place in England (or was it Ireland?) and New Zealand. This Sunday, I bought the first season of “Ghost Hunters.” I guess I’ve become a bit intrigued with the paranormal. But if I ever encountered a ghost, I’d probably be scared out of my wits. On Monday, I went to the author program at the Marshall Lyon County Library. I had wanted to go anyways, but then I also wanted to do a story on what people’s thoughts were about the paranormal. I mean, there’s various television shows out there — “Ghost Whisperer,” “Ghost Hunters,” etc. And there are boatloads of books about haunted places everywhere, even in Minnesota.
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Robert Wolfington III
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Hey, I want that!
Tue, July 22, 2008 @ 4:11PM
Catching a viewers attention today is more important than ever for television advertisers. Skipping commercials has become nearly a sport for many television viewers who subscribe to a digital video recorder — be it TiVo or a box provided by the service they subscribe to. TiVo has long been criticized by some in the advertising business for giving users the ability to skip over commercials that help pay for the television shows being produced. For years TiVo has been working on bridging the gap between allowing viewers to avoid 30 second spots while still giving advertisers a space to sell their products. This week an existing deal between TiVo and the online retailer Amazon.com was expanded — giving advertisers a new avenue for revenue directly from viewers’ televisions. TiVo has long used pop-up windows during selected portions of advertising on programming to provide additional information.
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Kenny Wallace
USMTS in Slayton
Golf Pro Am Tourn. Day 2
summer 2008