"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dreams of our founders are alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

President-elect Barack Obama offered that powerful observation to a crowd at Grant Park in Chicago as he accepted his victory.

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"It was a humiliating experience. It was one of the most uncomfortable situations I've ever been in."

North Dakota Teacher of the Year Beth Ekre, a sixth-grade teacher at Carl Ben Eielson Middle School in Fargo, who was turned away from a reception honoring top teachers sponsored by the North Dakota Education Association because she was not a member.

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"When you get outspent 14-to-1 and you have a governor that has a 75 percent approval rating and is adamantly opposing a measure, that's a pretty tough uphill battle."

Rep. Dave Weiler of Bismarck, who introduced the legislation that placed the unsuccessful Measure 1 on the ballot.

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"I've been hunting since I could walk."

Seventeen-year-old Andrew Wiseman of Bismarck after shooting a female mountain lion Oct. 25. It's the third confirmed mountain lion kill of the year in the Badlands.

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"I'm a happy warrior; I've been a happy warrior for some time."

Superintendent of Public Instruction Wayne Sanstead after the polling numbers gave him a victory election day.

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"We're calling out to bow hunters to spend a little more time in the tree stands."

North Dakota Community Action Partnership executive director Ann Pollert announcing a program that distributes venison to the needy will only accept deer killed with arrows, concerned about lead fragments in animals killed by hunters using rifles.

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"It's not going to be any more fun as we get into it. It's just going to be a mess."

National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Walker of Bismarck as the first winter storm of the season cut loose Thursday.

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"It's like winning the lottery four times in a row with the same number."

Cancer survivor Sean Swarner talking about overcoming an advanced form of Hodgkin's disease and then a rare type of lung cancer, Askin's sarcoma. Swarner spoke at the University of Mary Healthcare Institute in Bismarck on Thursday.