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• Kirby performed a tumbling routine for her talent portion at the pageant in Hot Springs on Saturday. Her platform is "Stay Well, Get Well, American Cancer Society."
• The first runner-up was Heather Johnson of Olivia, Minn., followed by Autumn Simunek of Hot Springs, Tessa Dee of Mitchell and Brittanie Venard of Tea.
•

new poll say it won't matter much whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney wins -- even though the presidential candidates have staked their chances on which would be better at fixing the economic mess.
• People are especially pessimistic about the future president's influence over jobs, according to the Associated Press-GfK poll. Asked how much impact the November winner will have on unemployment, 6 in 10 gave answers ranging from slim to none.
• Yet the candidates, the polls and the pundits agree -- the economy is the issue of 2012. Can either man convince voters that he would set things right?
• James Gray of Snow Hill, N.C., is skeptical.
• "It doesn't look to me like the economy or nothing gets better no matter who you've got up there," Gray said. "I don't know why it is."
• ___

• COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Wildfires damaged more than a dozen Colorado homes over the weekend and forced evacuations for thousands more while shrouding top state tourist destinations in smoke and emptying hotels and campgrounds ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.
• Colorado is having its worst wildfire season in a decade with more than a half dozen forest fires burning. One of the newest fires, a blaze near Colorado Springs, grew to more than 3 square miles Sunday after erupting just a day earlier and prompting evacuation orders for 11,000 residents and an unknown number of tourists.

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