<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Courtesy of WTSP (Tampa Bay, Florida) at:</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; "><a href="http://tinyurl.com/nadj25x">http://tinyurl.com/nadj25x</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">--------------------------------------</div><div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><h1 style="font-size: 30px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; ">Hundreds of gay couples married in Minnesota wedding blitz</h1></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: left; ">MINNEAPOLIS (</span><a href="http://www.kare11.com/news/article/1033963/391/Wedding-blitz-brings-same-sex-marriage-to-MN" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; text-align: left; ">KARE11</a><span style="text-align: left; ">) - He was tired and hoarse, but Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak still wore a smile on his face after uniting dozens of same-sex couples in a ceremony that ushers in a new era in the state of Minnesota.</span></span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left; "><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left; "><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; ">"I promise next time something big happens I'll keep my big mouth shut," he laughed.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto; "><br></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rybak made a promise immediately after Minnesota legislators legalized same-sex marriage that he would officiate the first ceremony after the clock struck midnight August 1. He kept his word, steering an emotional and historic event as 46 same-sex couples tied the knot.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The ceremony began at midnight and wound up at approximately 6:45 a.m. An estimated 1,000 people packed the City Hall Rotunda.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The ceremony began at midnight and wound up at approximately 6:45 a.m. An estimated 1,000 people packed the City Hall Rotunda.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It's an amazingly powerful experience, both because we're here with so many people, friends and family but mostly because we're here with a broader community celebrating this incredible historic moment," Tembrooke told KARE 11 moments before they became the first couple Rybak would marry.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We believed marriage would come to us, but I don't think we knew it would be married in city hall by the mayor in front of 900 people," Miles added with a laugh.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Across the river in St. Paul, Paul Nolle and Reid Bordson were married just after the stroke of midnight at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. Nolle, a native of Green Bay, and Bordson, a native of Duluth, have been together for 13 years. They had a commitment ceremony ten years ago but being legally married opens a brand new chapter in their lives together.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"This is the most beautiful place for a wedding we have ever seen," Bordson said. "It is also thrilling to have been married in the very city, the capital, where all the political action occurred just a few months ago."</span></div></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">--------------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> </span></div><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div></div></div></body></html>