Family

Joyner-Fry, originally on the downtown square in Tyler but now in the Bergfeld Center, has been in business for 75 years, it's the oldest family-owned business in the city. Now the store is down to the last few weeks of selling men's shirts and ties.

The men's clothing store got its start in the early 1930s in downtown Tyler, and now Steve Fry is retiring and plans to close in late December. The doors could close sooner if the shelves and racks become bare before the end of the year.

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Brookshire's Firefighter Combat Challenge is coming up Oct. 12 to 13 in Tyler, and it will give us a chance to see how we measure up to those beefy firefighting guys. We know there are plenty of in-shape gals that keep us safe from fires too and we appreciate it. They get a workout!

I know for one, I am not good at carrying a heavy fire hose any distance. I get mad when the garden hose gets a kink and won't untangle. Think you can beat the best?

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Call it the "baby bust." For the fourth straight year, birth rates in the United States have declined.

Slightly fewer than four million babies were born in the U.S. in 2011, the lowest total since 1998. However, the 1 percent drop in the birth rate was less than it had been in the previous three years. This suggests that the economic pressure experts believe is depressing the birth rate may be easing up.

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Now that the temperatures are coming down a little, East Texans don't have an excuse to miss out on what East Texas has to offer and this weekend. This weekend offers up high school football, an art tour, a concert, a couple of festivals and more!

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It’s that time of year again when we apologize to our pancreas and then eat until we're sick -- Halloween candy season! Everywhere we turn, we’re bombarded with chocolate and gummies and sour things and those peanut butter taffies in the wax paper wrapping that no one ever eats. Somehow those things have survived the ages but our favorites have gone by the wayside. It’s bittersweet heaven on earth.

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We have all been through it. Bad driving is like a uncured plague across this city. Driving has been and probably will forever be a frustrating experience. As most of Tyler will not be getting off of the road any time soon, here is something we may all need to relearn.

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My spouse and I have been together for 14 years, and at points along the way I've mentioned not being particularly fond of the scary parts of Halloween. So by now it should be known right?

I like the cute parts of Halloween! Like the cute, cuddlely kid costumes and the nice, harmless pumpkins.

It was a big mistake letting the spouse take the kids shopping for Halloween decorations.

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I have to admit, I didn't try the delicacy that is Frito pie until I moved to Texas. Growing up in Nebraska we sometimes mixed chili, cheese, and saltine crackers together, but the genius of replacing the Saltines with Fritos just didn't occur to us.

Texans are onto something! Frito Pie is delicious, and who cares how fattening.

We Texans broke a Guiness World Record on Monday with a Frito Pie that weighed over a thousand pounds. Some states might be ashamed, but in Texas its a badge we wear proudly. We just may need a Tums to go with our badge.

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Before you run to the nearest chain restaurant, consider eating somewhere that your neighbor just might own. These ten local restaurants are waiting for you to fall in love with. Variety of styles in taste, cost, and environment are sure to please all coming for dinner.

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Curious kids love to look at things and check things out, and parents love it when those things are free. This sounds like win-win.

The Tyler Museum of Art is giving free passes to local elementary kids so they can go check out an exhibit to celebrate National Arts and Humanities month in October.

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The risk was just too great, so organizers made the decision to shut down the rides and close the gates to the East Texas State Fair early.

The fair had 43,400 people in attendance on Friday and the midway actually broke a record for the amount of money brought in.

It could have been a record-setting weekend perhaps, but organizers called it quits and cancelled the Sunday evening concert.

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They're out with those numbers again, about how much it costs to raise a child from age 0 to 17.

Parents will swallow hard...the US Dept. of Agriculture says it takes $234,900 to raise a kid, including food, shelter, and necessities. Depending upon your definition and your child's definition of necessities, it could be $2 million, right? A kid has to have his Wii.

Texas is actually one of the cheapest places in the US to raise a child.

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