ANSWER: Sun Spots called the Health & Fitness Center at Central Maine Medical Center, 207-795-2473. The Center offers a punch card which allows for a certain number of visits for a specific fee and the more visits the less the fee is per visit. They also offer a day guest pass. Sun Spots then called the HealthSteps Fitness Program at St. Mary’s Auburn Campus, 207-777-8898. The program does not offer day passes; but passes can be purchased for a week of classes. The Gym, 746 Main St. in Lewiston, 207-689-3145, allows visitors to try the gym for free; it also offers a punch pass for number of visits or a day pass. The YMCA, 62 Turner St. in Auburn, 207-795-4095, offers day rates and monthly rates depending on age. Girl Power Fitness, 74 Westminster St. in Lewiston, 207-312-2277, offers a day pass and punch cards for every budget.

DEAR SUN SPOTS: I am looking for information on two snowshoers. Their names are Wilfred Dupres and Adelard Turcotte. They were from Montreal. They snowshoed from Montreal, Quebec to Lewiston, Maine in the winter of 1925 to attend the snowshoe convention in Lewiston. All I know about them is that they stayed overnight in Bethel the last week of January that year. I am fascinated by their trek in the dead cold of winter and would like to know more. Does anyone have any information they would share? Can anyone suggest an organization and contact info that might be able to help me? Thanks. — B.F. via online submission form.

ANSWER: The Franco-American Collection at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College on Westminster St. in Lewiston, has news clippings of a similar trek in 1956 when Marcel Turemme and Arthur Blanchard of Cornwall, Ontario, journeyed from Sherbrooke to Lewiston. Perhaps one of our readers has information about the trek of 1925.

DEAR SUN SPOTS: I recently heard part of a news item on the radio telling that TV commercial time will become longer and some programs will be shortened to make room for more ad time! When I watch shows I record, I can see how long the ads are on the timer. Some already five minutes! I have looked for more info on this and find nothing. Please find and provide a link or a source of this news item so I can read the details. Thank you. — No Name, Lewiston.

ANSWER: A report dated Feb. 19, 2015, from CBS Money Watch states “cable networks … are speeding up their content in order to squeeze more commercials inside their ad breaks. … Cable networks are also using strategies such as cutting down opening credits to make more time for ads. … Five years ago, the average commercial time on cable TV was 14.5 minutes, but that reached 15.8 minutes last year, according to data from Nielsen cited by The [Wall Street] Journal.” You would need to contact each cable network to learn more.

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