Community events

Saturday, March 13

• American Legion Bingo, 7 to 10 p.m., Post Home, White Lake.
• District 20 Legislative Cracker Barrel Session, 10 a.m., Mitchell Technical Institute amphitheater, south campus, Mitchell.
• District 7 American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary Spring Convention, 11 a.m. registration, Legion Post Home, Corsica
• The Glass Menagerie, DWU production, 7:30 p.m., Pepsi-Cola Theatre for the Performing Arts, Mitchell.
• Dakota Discovery Detectives, 9 a.m. to 9:45 for ages 3 to 5; 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 6-8; Dakota Discovery Museum, Mitchell.
• Mitchell Post 18 Baseball annual pancake feed, 7 a.m. to noon, $5 each or 10 for $40, middle school cafeteria, Mitchell.
• Used book sale, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Community Room, Mitchell Public Library.
• Legislative Cracker Barrel Session for District 25, 10 a.m., Arend Building, Alexandria.

Sunday, March 14

• “Confronting the Controversies,” DVD and discussion series, 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., Mitchell Congregational United Church of Christ, 301 E. Fourth Avenue, open to members and non-members.
• “A Tribute to Heifetz,” featuring Jasper Wood, 3:30 p.m., Sherman Center, DWU Campus, Mitchell.
• The Glass Menagerie, DWU production, 2 p.m., Pepsi-Cola Theatre for the Performing Arts, Mitchell.
• Pancake Breakfast, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., $3 adults, $2 children, $12 for family, St. Margaret’s Catholic Church, Kimball.

Sports

Saturday, March 13

• Mitchell Marlins boys’ hockey team at state tournament in Brookings
• Freeman and Stickney/Mount Vernon at state girls' basketball tournaments

Sunday, March 14

• DWU softball vs. Nebraska Wesleyan in Tuscon, Ariz., 6 p.m.
• Mitchell Marlins boys’ hockey team at state tournament in Brookings

Nightlife

Saturday, March 13

• Signatures, Mitchell, will have live music from the Flat Broke Band from 9:30 p.m. to close. No cover.
• Thirsty’s, Mitchell, will have live music from Pop Machine, beginning at 9:30 p.m. There will be a $5 cover.
• The Jackpot, Mitchell, will have week 2 of its Band Wars 2010. Winners will advance to the finals March 27. This week Avian Sunrise, Crash Landing and More Than Enough will perform beginning at 9:30 p.m. No cover.
• Jitters, Mitchell, will have live music from Rake, Fatal Imbalance and Enolamai from 6 to 9 p.m. There is a $4 cover.
• The Dakota Roadhouse, Mitchell, will have live karaoke from 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. No cover.

Mitchell native Steve Hildebrand, a political consultant who played a vital role in President Obama's rise to the White House, appears to be growing more and more disappointed with the Obama administration's failure to deliver on its campaign promise of change.

Check out this excerpt from a CNN interview with Hildebrand:

"I think that there is a real shot we [Democrats] are going to get slaughtered in elections this fall if we aren't leading the efforts to reform Washington," Hildebrand said. "We campaigned in '06 and '08, and if voters don't see that change, we haven't lived up to that promise."

For the rest of the story about the interview, click here.

Here's the script:

ANNOUNCER VOICE OVER:
The headlines are scary....bailouts, runaway spending, a government takeover of health care.

Washington is out of control.

Blake Curd is running for Congress to shake things up.

A doctor, an Air Force Persian Gulf Veteran, Blake Curd has answered the call to serve.

BLAKE CURD:
This is Blake Curd.

You know, Washington’s lost touch with what made America great.

Unchecked spending, tax hikes and bigger and bigger government are threatening our future.

Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin has had her chance, ….she hasn’t changed Congress, she’s become part of the problem. We need to send a message and really change direction, before it's too late.

V/O: Dr. Blake Curd. He’ll cut wasteful spending and stop tax hikes, to get the economy back on track.

Blake Curd -- not just another politician. Blake Curd, a principled, proven conservative leader… just what South Dakota needs.

BC: I’m Blake Curd, candidate for Congress, and I approved this message.

V/O: Paid for by Curd for Congress.

Here are some excerpts:

... We've been here before. In fact, a big reason why we're here today is because government went on an anti-fat campaign back in the 1970s. Remember the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "diet pyramid"?

I was reminded of this fact recently while reading "The South Beach Diet." ... I was reading along and chanced upon this passage about how the federal government arrived at the low-fat dietary guidelines issued by federal officials back in the day. Those federal guidelines assumed all dietary fats were evil:

...

"The McGovern committee was originally chartered to fight malnutrition, but in the 1970s it switched to a new goal - the prevention of over-nutrition. The campaign started with a preconceived notion: Fat was inherently bad, and our over-indulgence in it was the major cause of obesity and heart disease in the United States.

...

"How has America done since the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet recommendations? We've gotten fatter and fatter. In addition, adult-onset diabetes, a sure sign of unhealthy blood chemistry, has become widespread."

Click here to read the entire piece.

That's a non-seasonally adjusted rate, meaning that the statistical impact from seasonal employment trends is not removed. The non-seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate rose from 4.9 percent in December to 5.5 percent in January. Nationally, the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent in December to 10.6 percent in January.

Mitchell's January rate was tied with Sioux Falls' rate for fourth-worst among the state's largest cities, after Watertown at 6.6 percent, Rapid City at 6.5 percent and Yankton at 6.3 percent.

To see a full copy of the state's new labor bulletin, click here.