Twin Cities Democrats Confident Marriage Amendment, Mitt Romney Will Fail

President Barack Obama's ground campaign and a shifting sentiment toward the two constitutional amendments have the state's DFL party feeling positive headed into Election Day.

Twin Cities Democrats think the state's most controversial issue–the amendment to the state's constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman–will fall flat on Tuesday, making Minnesota the first state to vote down such an amendment.  In our survey of DFL influencers–local politicians and party activists–the Democrats also believe having the amendment issue on the ballot will be a boost for President Barack Obama, as he looks to defeat former Gov. Mitt Romney in Tuesday's presidential election.  Of the 100 influencers who volunteered to take our survey, 24 responded to our "flash" poll, issued last Friday.  Only a quarter of the responders thought the marriage amendment question would help Romney with turnout. The same …

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Patch Poll: Will Facebook Disappear?

An investment analyst says Facebook will be irrelevant or outright "disappear" within eight years. Local residents provided Patch with their reaction. What do you think?

Nearly one billion people have personal profiles on Facebook. Think about that for a second. There are 6.8 billion people calling Earth home right now, and about one of every seven of us use Facebook. According to WorldHunger.org, worldwide, around one billion people are hungry right now, the same number of people who have Facebook accounts. Astonishing? It really paints a picture of how widespread (and even invasive) Facebook has become. But will it last? Since Facebook's recent Initial Public Offering, where the public could become investors in the company, analysts have begun debating the profitability and mortality of the social-media and friend-making company. According to the Huffington Post, one such investment analyst says the …

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Poll: Are County Warnings Too Broad for Severe Weather?

Severe weather season is in full swing. Do you think there should be changes to how severe weather warnings are issued?

Severe weather season is in full swing in Minnesota. Severe weather warnings are a fairly frequent sight this time of year on television screens, radios, websites, and other instant media applications. But are warnings where only counties are listed too broad? A post this morning by Minnesota Public Radio raises an interesting question. Some travelers may not know county names (can you recite all of Minnesota's 87 counties and identify where they are on a map?) or be familiar enough to have a good frame of geographic reference when severe weather alerts are broadcast.  Dakota County covers approximately 580 square miles. When a warning is issued, that also covers approximately 400,000 people. The Dakota Communications Center has the …

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Troy Thompson

10:38 am on Friday, May 4, 2012

What about cell tower-specific text alerts? Those can be targeted much like the DCC "reverse 911" notification system if the carriers would support it.   more ›

Vote for the 'Best of' Apple Valley in Our Upcoming Patch Polls

Patch is introducing a new feature where users will vote for their favorite Apple Valley businesses and services.

Starting next week, Patch users will come together to determine the Best of Apple Valley. Patch will run a series of polls spotlighting specific type of business or services in the community and encouraging users to vote for their favorite. The Best of Apple Valley poll series will begin by highlighting Apple Valley's coffee shops (we'll also be including Rosemount this time around, since we assume a fair number of you stop over there for your daily latte). Voting will open on Monday morning, and the poll will remain open through 9 p.m. Thursday, March 8. Friday. On Friday, March 9, we'll announce the winner. Next week's contenders on Apple Valley Patch will include: In Apple Valley Caribou Coffee Dunn Bros. Coffee Starbucks Coffee (Barnes…

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Editor's Notebook

Facebook Polls: What Do You Want From Apple Valley Patch?

On Monday, I'll post a few polls on the Apple Valley Patch Facebook page about what you'd types of content you'd like to see on applevalley.patch.com, and hope you'll take a moment to answer.

A week and a half ago, I wrote a note about Apple Valley Patch's six-month anniversary, and said I hoped you'd continue to let me know what you'd like to see on the site. I thought that I'd follow up on that by taking some more specific polls about your favorite things to see on the site (or what we aren't doing or aren't doing enough of that you'd like to see). Facebook has a polling feature that facilitates this nicely, so this morning I posted a poll to Apple Valley Patch's Facebook page, and I plan to post a couple more during the day on Monday; I'd encourage you to become a fan of Apple Valley Patch on Facebook and cast your vote in these polls. But I know not everyone has a Facebook account, so I'm copying the first poll below so you…

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