"Ranches are going broke raising 600-pound calves. The big cattle in the United States were developed with a feed bucket, and they (ranchers) can't survive on what the ranch produces."

- Henry Meyer, Flasher, on switching to smaller livestock and going to year-round grazing.

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"They (soldiers) have families at home; they're gone for a year. They're family people. They see happy kids like Mohammed, with incredible problems. They (the kids) have an emotional impact."

- Bismarck Dr. Craig Lambrecht explaining why U.S. soldiers are helping Iraqi children through the Smith Gate Clinic in Iraq and facilities in the U.S. Mohammed Raad Adnan, 9, and his mother are in Bismarck so Mohammed can be treated for a urology birth defect.

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"Jessica has been in remission for about a year now … We really owe our lives and our success to God and support we've had from family and friends and our Church family at Century Baptist."

- Nic Cruz, whose wife, Jessica, has battled Hodgkin's lymphoma. At the same time, Cruz has started a successful business, CiNcity Designs LLC, on the "Strip" in Mandan.

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"Widespread, there is a lot of support. I heard 10 to one in favor on this project since the last (zoning) meeting."

- Stark County Commissioner George Nodland explaining his support for a zoning request for a coal dewatering plant near South Heart.

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"Some of the crops, for example, the corn, did not have the growing-degree days to grow as we probably would have liked to have seen. The season wasn't normal."

- Burleigh County Extension Agent ElRoy Haadem discussing this year's growing season. Hettinger dipped to 28 Wednesday night, apparently damaging the area's corn.

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"They ran into something. We don't know what it is. We are taking precautions."

- Mandan City Administrator Jim Neubauer on Thursday after crews working on Mandan's south side water project hit some wood. After more research, it appears workers encountered human remains in wood caskets near the old Greenwood Cemetery. The city will review what action will be necessary.