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had one of its best years ever in North Dakota," he said. "I would think there would be some disposable income out there."
• North Dakota's economy is bolstered by the booming western oil patch. Stores also draw shoppers from Canada. Rud said the fact that North Dakota State University might host as many as three football playoff games also could mean big shopping weekends in Fargo as fans flock to the city for the games.
• North Dakota and South Dakota this year also did not have the widespread severe flooding the two states experienced in 2011.
• "We've seen very good increases in sales tax (over 2011) and we would expect that to translate into the holidays, as well," Shawn Lyons, executive director of the South Dakota Retailers Association, told the AP.
• Lyons predicts an increase in holiday sales over the year of 3-7 percent in South Dakota, saying farmers had a strong year despite that fact that many areas suffered through drought.
• "I think producers feel pretty good about where they're at right now," he said. "Hopefully that translates onto Main Street."
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Powerball jackpot builds to $325M for Saturday
DAVID PITT,Associated Press
• DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Black Friday shoppers in many cities briefly detoured into lottery retailers, drawn off task by the prospects of winning a $325 million Powerball jackpot -- the fourth-largest in the game's history.
• Chicago resident Clyde Gadlin, 65, emerged from the bustle of holiday shoppers on Chicago's Michigan Avenue, to stop in at a 7-Eleven to buy his daily batch of Lottery tickets, including Powerball.
• For him, the game is a chance to dream -- a single winner's cash payout would be nearly $213 million before taxes -- and he tries not to let the long odds burst his bubble.
• Lottery officials say they're unsure what effect Thanksgiving and beginning of Christmas shopping season will have on sales, which normally pick up in the days before high-dollar drawings.
• If Gadlin wins, he said he'd return to his grandfather's farm in Heidelberg, Miss., where he spent part of his childhood.
• "I would go down there again and probably do a little bit of farming," he said, recalling the roaming deer and 380 acres of potatoes, corn, watermelons and sugar cane. Gadlin hasn't been there for more than 20 years.
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