DID YOU KNOW

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Illinois ranks No.1 in the number of vanity license plates, with nearly 1.3 million of the nations 9.3 million personalized tags purchased by Illinois vehicle owners.

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In 1816, delegates met in Corydon, Indiana to draft the state constitution and worked under an elm tree to escape sweltering heat. The "Constitution Elm" died in 1925, but its trunk is preserved under a shelter.

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Manson, Iowa lies near the center of a 24-mile-wide meteorite crater--one of the largest known meteorite craters in the United States-- that was created 74 million years age when a huge piece of extraterrestrial rock crashed to Earth. The town recognizes its gigantic, yet invisible, attraction with an annual Greater Crater Days.

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The state's first Olympic gold medalist was John Kuck, who won the shot put in 1928 while a student at Kansas State Teachers College, now Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas.

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The states oldest blackchurch is the Second Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan established in 1836. The still-active church became a stop on the Underground Railroad and aided slaves who were fleeing north to freedom.

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Since 1897, the 102-foot Hermann Monument of a German folk hero with upraised sword has adorned a hilltop in the German settlement of New Ulm, Minnesota. In 2000, Congress designated the Hermann Moniment to be an official symbol for the contributions of Americans of German heritage.

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Cape Girardeau, Missouri holds the Guiness World Record for simultaneously launching the most Mentos candy fountains---973 of them last October. When the candy is dropped into bottles of carbonated diet soda it causes a chemical reaction, creating geysers up to 30 feet high.

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For more than 50 years,Thurl Ravenscoft had a "grrreat" career as the voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. Revenscoft was born in Norfolk, Nebraska

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Last December, State Bank & Trust in Fargo presented full-time employees with $1,000 and part-time employees with $500 with a catch-the gifts to be passed along to someone in need before June 30. Employees also received digital cameras to document their deeds.

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Founded in 1971 as a small produce stand, Jungle Jim's International market in Fairfield, Ohio has grown into a 6.5 acre theme park of food with several animated displays, including a rock band of General Mills cereal mascots.

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Dinosaur researchers worldwide visit The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City, South Dakota, which houses the world's most extensive collection of Tyrannosaures rex fossil material.

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From 1863 to 1947, Raspberry Island Lighthouse in the Apostle Islands,Wisconsin, was home to keepers and their families. Today an automated beacon quides vessels on Lake Superior, but the restored lighhouse is open for tours.

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The 1950s Park Forest House Museum in Park Forest, Ill., is a red brick "townhome" outfitted with 1950s-era furnishings, including a chrome dinette set, hand-crank ice crusher and black rotary telephone. Park Forest was a planned suburb built during the post-World II boom.

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Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell, 40, a native of Blommington, has the rare distinction of being a classical music superstar. Along with his concert career, Bell has performed with Josh Groban,James Taylor and Sting. He was named an Indiana living Legend in 2000.

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Gymnast Shawn Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, became the fourth U.S. woman to win a world all-around title at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championshipslast September in Germany.

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A granite memorial near Osborne, Kansas is a tribune to 11 serivemen who died in September 1943 when their B-24 Liberator bomber crashed into a nearby hillside during a training flight in stormy weather.

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Miss Michigan, Kirsten Haglund, 19, an aspiring Broadway star From Farmington Hills, was crowned Miss America 2008. She won $50,000 scholarship and a year of travel to promote the pageant.

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In 1878, Swedish immigrant Alfred Josephson opened Josephson's Clothing Store in Red Wing.Minnesota. The store, with its original cabinets and old pine Floor, is believed to be the oldest men's clothing store in the state.