"It's huge. There are big wind farms and then there are really big wind farms, and this proposal certainly fits in that latter category."

- North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark, talking about FPLEnergy's wish to build a $2 billion project capable of generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity. That would be three times the total present output of all wind turbines in the state. It would be located on leased land in a 250-square-mile area of Oliver and Morton counties.

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"It's really hard to explain to people if they've never been here. It's hard to explain that, down at the Clem Kelley complexes, there will be anywhere from three to five thousand people watching softball games. It's really unheard of in the softball world all around the country. You might get a few hundred to a game if it's a big event."

- Mike Wolf, director of the 33rd annual McQuade Softball Tournament that started yesterday with a record 424 teams entered and is expected to draw 15,000 people to fields in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

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"We lose so much knowledge over the years. People have th knowledge, do the research, and they die. We need a place to put all of this stuff. I'm happy to give back to (the University of North Dakota) what it gave to me."

- Mandan native Norbert Hoffman, a 1959 chemical engineering graduate of UND, who has given $2 million to the university department that educated him. He worked in the aerospace industry and founded, and later sold, a company that worked on military systems.

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"Through all of this very challenging crop year, we were able to purchase all of our grain domestically, with a lot of help from North Dakota farmers and elevators."

- North Dakota State Mill manager Vance Taylor, talking about the performance of the state-owned institution in a fiscal year that ends Monday. The mill made $3.02 million in the first nine months of the period, but a fourth-quarter loss could almost wipe out those earnings. Grain prices spiked to record levels, at a higher percentage than the mill could raise its charge for bakery flour, its main product.

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"We are deeply saddened … Scott shared the same passion for drag racing as his legendary father, Connie. He also shared the same desire to win, becoming a two-time series world champion. He left the sport for a period of time, to devote more time to his family, only to be driven to return to the drag strip to regain his championship form."

- A statement by the National Drag Racing Association, in reaction to the death of member Scott Kalitta, June 21, following a fiery crash at a track in New Jersey. Kalitta was 46.