Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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Danna York was tired of feeling like an inconvenience. When she wanted to leave her home in Waverly and head to Lincoln for errands or for fun, she'd have to get a ride from a friend or family member. That changed around 2013 when York, legally blind since birth, learned about the Lancaster County Public Rural Transit program. It offers curb-to-curb transportation throughout the county and several nearby towns - provided one stop falls outside of Lincoln city limits. "It has just been...
A new Flatwater analysis shows the state has fallen behind its neighbors. Business leaders are diagnosing why - and hoping new efforts will reverse the troubling trend. Not long ago, Nebraska's growth was quite literally a national cover story. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts soared through the air wearing skis and goggles on the Olympic-themed March 2018 cover of Site Selection, an economic development industry magazine. The cartoon image illustrated Nebraska's high-flying, three-year run as...
Way back in the day, when I was in high school, I had a summer job of mopping floors at a local hospital. Being a janitor was a really satisfying job because when you were done, you could easily see what you had accomplished, unlike a lot of other occupations. Anyway, one of my compatriots on the broom was a guy named Howard Johnson. Howard was as big as an actual Howard Johnson's and he had an axiom for work: "the simplest way is the best way." As I recently watched the Nebraska Legislature str...
For nearly a month, I’ve had a nagging cough, drippy nose, and an overall feeling of malaise. During that time, I debated whether to drive myself to the emergency room in the middle of the night due to a high fever (Scott wouldn’t wake up, I tried), experienced muscle pain in the ribs from excessive coughing, and shuddered every time my ears popped. For relief, I tried a shot or two of blackberry brandy, antibiotics, over-the-counter meds and homemade concoctions. While some worked better tha...
It's one thing to try and cut out shenanigans in state government and another if you're part of it. Gov. Jim Pillen's recent "State of the State" address laid out plenty of goals to cut out funny business in state government, from ending frivolous lawsuits to reversing tax breaks for special interests. But not mentioned was a sizable, no-bid contract the governor approved in 2024 for a lobbyist he was well acquainted with, via overseas trade missions and events in Nebraska. State Auditor Mike...
Dr. Ali Khan knelt down outside a Karachi doorway and extended his hand. The young girl who, moments earlier, had just received the polio vaccine extended her hand and a skeptical look toward the smiling doctor in a red hat emblazoned with a white N. "On the front lines in Karachi, meeting a superstar who just got her polio protection. Every drop counts!" Khan wrote in an October social media post accompanying the photo. The dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska...
Regina Sullivan’s phone kept ringing as she worked from home on June 23, 2020, but she didn’t look, because she was on the clock. Then the knocking on her door started. She walked up the stairs just before 11 a.m. and looked outside to see officers from the Lincoln Police Department. Immediately, she had a sick feeling that she knew what they would say: Marvin Lee Sullivan, her son, had died. “I was no good,” Regina said. She broke down in the doorway. Her daughter, who was sleeping upstair...
Dr. L. Dale Van Vleck died Dec. 23, 2025, after a brief illness. Dale was born on June 11, 1933. He grew up near Clearwater on his family farm. Dale earned his bachelor’s (1954) and master’s (1955) degrees from the University of Nebraska prior to serving in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps. He then continued his education at Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1960, working with Dr. Charles Henderson. Continuing his career at Cornell, he served as a research geneticist prior to a tenure-track position in which he was promoted thr...
Karissa Denae Johnson can still remember the indignity of it all - the day her life fell to pieces. It came in college, sometime between traveling the country as a childhood performer and traveling the globe as a young adult given a second chance. Between going on mission trips with her family and writing her first book. Between singing Sundays at Omaha-area churches and pursuing a career on stage in New York City. The moment intersecting those experiences came April 23, 2007, the day...
Poodle skirts, banana splits, and golden oldies set the stage as Ewing's finest seniors cruised back to the 1950s for the 106th-annual Sunset Banquet, a Ewing tradition honoring area residents ages 70-plus. Guests celebrated the era with music, food, trivia, and prizes. Carhops delivered cheeseburgers, fries, and Cherry Cokes (or 7-Up) and served banana splits. The origin of the banquet goes back to 1917, when the Methodist Episcopal Ladies Aid honored elder members of the community. For 100 yea...
Brace yourself Nebraskans for another year without meaningful property tax relief. That's because the "One Big Beautiful Bill" means that Nebraska will have to do without about $216 million in state income tax revenue over the next two years, and $406 million less over the next four years. That's a Big Gulp of funding for a state budget that lawmakers had already cut by nearly $400 million to balance the state budget. As you recall, during the last session of the Nebraska Legislature,...
Forgive me if I'm feeling a little confused (regular readers of this column will probably say "what's new?") but aren't we in a national debt crisis? Our national debt has ballooned to nearly $37 trillion dollars in recent years, thanks in large part to spending during the COVID-19 pandemic to assure that businesses didn't close and workers could still feed their families and pay the bills. The debt is why, supposedly, that we allowed a team of 20-somethings with no government experience called...
Austen Baack rediscovered his love of books while chopping fruits and vegetables at the back of a grocery store. As a young kid, Baack was a voracious reader. But that changed in his teens. "I was SparkNotes-ing everything," he recalled. "I hardly read anything in high school." Then, after graduation, Baack found himself working eight-hour shifts at Hy-Vee. He started listening to audio books to navigate the monotony of the job. "And that reignited my whole love for reading." He carried that...
How often do you spend $2.50 on a 20-ounce pop or $2.59 to satisfy a sweet tooth? So why hesitate to pay just over $1 for quality local news? It costs about $2 to produce a single copy of SAM each week-a true bargain in today's economy. Since the Advocate-Messenger launched in July 2019, printing and mailing costs have soared. That doesn't include time spent covering events, writing articles, designing ads, or meeting with advertisers. On average, each issue includes 10 pages, with four in full...
Over the past 25 years, Dollar General stores have become a fixture of the retail landscape in rural Nebraska. Now, there are 142 chain "dollar" stores - 115 of them Dollar Generals - in Nebraska towns with a population smaller than 10,000. OAKLAND - If you drive down U.S. Highway 77, you won't see the grocery store that has managed to keep afloat in this town for more than 100 years. It's five blocks off the highway, on Oakland's main drag. What you will see is a bright yellow sign, beckoning...
Molly Pofahl had big plans for the $370,000 in federal money awarded to the East Central District Health Department in March. They would use the money to provide cleanup for homes with high lead levels in Boone, Colfax, Nance and Platte counties, said Pofahl, the department’s chief public health officer. They could make it easier for people living in the district’s rural areas to get vaccinated. She planned to get training for her staff to better teach central Nebraskans about preventing infections. Lessons learned during COVID-19 informed the...
I thoroughly enjoy Paul Hammel’s column in this paper and wanted to add a few thoughts of my own to his piece about the lack of civility in our political discourse. Upon President Trump's inauguration, I decided to approach this term differently in comparison to 2016. I promised myself I would listen, try to be open to different approaches, be less judgmental of opinions that were different than my own, and look for positive ways to impact the political discourse. I have prayed daily for peace, in the world and in our country. Prayed that d...
When I first moved to Brookings, the primary care physicians took care of their own patients in the hospital. We would round on patients in the morning before clinic or try to sneak over during lunch or after clinic. While I loved taking care of patients in the hospital, it was hard to juggle the responsibilities of both giving my attention to the patients in the hospital while seeing people in the clinic. Any time the hospital nurse had a question, my clinic nurse would have to interrupt a...
It's daylight savings time, so let's turn back the clock ... to four years ago when the state was still contending with the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a silver lining of sorts to those awful days – a huge influx of federal funds to keep the economy going. And state senators met on how to spend that glut of money with plans to finally make Nebraska a more attractive destination for new residents, and a place where more tourists will spend their vacation cash. Lawmakers even had a flashy name f...
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is essential to addressing food insecurity, but thousands of Nebraskans will lose access to benefits on Oct. 1, if the Nebraska Legislature does not act. Legislative Bill 192, introduced by Sen. Dan Quick, would maintain the current income eligibility level for SNAP, ensuring continued food access for an estimated 10,000 Nebraskans. In 2021, the Nebraska Legislature raised SNAP eligibility from 130% to 165% of the federal poverty level. The raise...
Imagine 30 minutes in a warm, soothing environment that claims to deliver health benefits like easing chronic pain, reducing stress and even promoting weight loss. Thanks to 26 Renew, area residents can now experience these perks by booking time in an infrared sauna located in the heart of Orchard. Owned by Alexa Simons, 26 Renew operates out of the former girls' locker room at the Orchard Community Center. Simons, originally from Sutton, moved to Orchard in 2023 with her husband, Tristan....
PROCEEDINGS HOLT COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Dec. 31, 2024 The Holt County Board of Supervisors met in regular session as per adjournment with all members present. This meeting publicized pursuant to Section 84-1411 R.R.S. 1943.Notice of meeting given in advance thereof by publication in paper as shown by Affidavit of Publication on Dec. 26, 2024, in the Holt County Independent. Chairman Tielke convened the meeting at 9:47 a.m., and informed the public of the location of the Open Meeting poster. Motion by Keyes, second by Frahm, to approve the...
Three taxidermied penguins preside over Room 426 in Allwine Hall, standing atop a row of metal cabinets in the back corner. The Antarctic birds are locked in an everlasting staring contest with a stuffed hornbill whose craned neck protrudes from a bookcase holding a row of primate skulls. To the students who file into professor James Wilson's mammalogy class, these are ordinary sights. What grabs their attention on this Monday afternoon are the short stacks of paper spread neatly across the... Full story
With the rapid rise in internet use among children, the dangers of online exploitation have grown alarmingly. Children’s access to the internet has become nearly ubiquitous, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote learning, online gaming, and social media are now integral to daily life, meaning more children, even preschool-age children, are regularly online, often unsupervised and unprotected. This new reality demands that we consider not only physical safety for our children, but also the dangers they are facing online. The S...
Like a comet that swings by the earth every few years, there's been talk now and then about placing some huge development between Omaha and Lincoln along the Platte River. Between the state's two largest cities would be an ideal location for a new football stadium for the Cornhuskers, the reasoning goes. An airport there would attract more flights to and from our state. And wouldn't a huge lake look great along Interstate 80 in that spot? Back in the day, the idea was to dam up the Platte River...
