Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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What began 10 years ago as a heartfelt tribute to a twin brother in heaven and a fleeting moment of joy for a toddler granddaughter has grown into one of the Midwest's biggest and brightest holiday traditions: Christmas at Comstock. The event started modestly, with a single decorated home. But when an anonymous donor delivered nearly $3,000 worth of lights and inflatables to organizer Henry Nuxoll's doorstep over a 30-day period, the display quickly grew-transforming Comstock into a Christmas...
Another disappointing close loss. The streak now stands at 29 consecutive losses to ranked teams for Nebraska. It stretches across four coaches. It is what it is. I’m not a fan of focusing on the past and that’s not why this game was disappointing. It was disappointing because of the environment of the game, the opportunity Nebraska had if they won, and the opportunities they had to win the game. The night game environment was electric for the blackout. Nebraska had the opportunity to keep the season alive and become a dark horse candidate for...
When your children aren’t children anymore, when they’re almost 40, you still pray for their safety, for health and happiness, maybe even a better life than the one you provided. For the past six weeks, the number of prayers for daughter Amanda’s health - physical and mental - has increased. Since Sept. 19, Amanda has been in the hospital 35 days. Somewhere in that span, she ventured home for 36 hours, but her condition deteriorated and the doctor prescribed a return trip to the hospital. Originally, she was diagnosed with bronchitis. When she...
None of us like paying taxes. But even the Bible says we're supposed to ("Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's" is how I remember it). Anyway, I about fell out of my chair the other day when reading a probing article by the Lincoln Journal-Star's Andrew Wegley about the state's lackadaisical collection of taxes. When I pay my taxes, I'm expecting everyone else to do the same. But that's not happening in Nebraska (really it never has) but the number of tax scofflaws is growing. The story detailed... Full story
A longtime pastoral transition has led to a new chapter of cooperation and faith among three area congregations. Following the 2024 retirement of Pastor Dan Feusse, who faithfully served Concordia Lutheran Church in Clearwater for 26 years, members began to ask an important question: what comes next? "When a Pastor leaves or retires, the natural question for a Church is 'what is next?'" said Pastor Ryan Janke, who now serves as the spiritual leader for the newly formed tri-parish of Concordia...
It's Oct. 1. That means one thing in Nebraska: Fall turkey hunting season is here. Nebraska Game and Parks has reminders for hunters who will take to the field in search of a bird for the season, which runs Oct. 1 to Nov. 30: All harvested turkeys must be reported via Telecheck within 48 hours of harvest. This can be done at OutdoorNebraska.gov/hunt/telecheck/ or by calling the phone number on the permit. Reporting via Telecheck is mandatory. When hunting during the Nov. 15-23 firearm deer...
Sometimes, you need a good laugh. After last week - filled with school activities, work obligations, and family medical emergencies - I needed something to smooth the chaos and soothe the calm. I found it in a TV show, “The Paper,” a mockumentary spin-off from the creators of “The Office.” The show is available on Peacock, a streaming service. Most days I am the lone SAM staffer in Clearwater’s building, appropriately dubbed “The Office.” Yet, the mundane crises created during the show, like di...
It's almost like a bad movie that gives the story away in the previews with no plot twist. The whole offseason and the first three weeks of the season there were two main questions with this team. Are they talented and deep enough at running back and at defensive line? The result of this game shouldn't really be shocking to anyone, no matter how hard we willed ourselves to believe certain things would get better. Now that sounds a bit harsh to these position groups, and it wasn't just them that...
LINCOLN--Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha had hoped to hear from state officials, including the governor and the director of the Nebraska Department of Corrections, during a committee hearing at the Capitol on Friday about plans to convert a state prison into a proposed immigrant detention facility. Instead, he heard from four dozen Nebraskans who showed up full of emotion, with posters and written statements to voice their opposition to turning the Work Ethic Camp in McCook into a federal facility to house those arrested by U.S. Immigration and...
LINCOLN — In the past five years, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has weathered $75 million in cuts. Cuts to staff. Cuts to university libraries. Cuts to colleges that have taught UNL students for more than a century. But the pain from those cuts, spread over years, likely will be dwarfed by what's to come, as the state’s flagship university moves to slash $27.5 million by the end of the calendar year. The total, announced by Chancellor Rodney Bennett in early August, represents nearly 6% of UNL’s state-aided budget. It exceeds the budge...
The 2026 budget took up most of the Antelope County Commissioner's meeting, Tuesday, with all commissioners present. The ACC are moving the budget forward, with a proposed 1.6 million dollars coming from the Inheritance Tax Fund for tax asking on specified projects, mostly in the road department. A budget meeting will take place on Sept. 16 at 8 a.m. at the courthouse. The Antelope County Weed Department remains under close scrutiny as Weed Superintendent Bryan Cornette faced the ACC. Cornette...
Hopes and tensions were high in Arrowhead Stadium Thursday night as Cincinnati was driving down the field in the final moments, only trailing three points. On their last drive, the Huskers Malcolm Hartzog gave up a catch on a critical fourth-down conversion. Four plays later, Hartzog was penalized for defensive holding, placing the ball at the Nebraska 33 yard line. Husker fans feared yet another close game was slipping away. However, on the next play, Cincinnati took a shot into the end zone where Hartzog sprinted under the route and...
PROCEEDINGS SUMMERLAND PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION AUGUST, 18, 2025 The Summerland Board of Education met in regular session, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, at the school in the board meeting room. President Nate Schwager called the meeting, which was advertised in the Aug. 13, 2025, newspapers, to order at 5:31 p.m. Schwager noted the Open Meetings Act posted in the board room. Roll call was taken. All board members were present: Ryan Ahlers, Chelsi McLain, Nate Schwager, Scott Thiele, Austin Twibell, Jeremy Wagner. The pledge of Allegiance was...
MINDEN - Waylon Petersen wore a wary look as his family entered the white red-trimmed pavilion. But when the calliope music kicked on and Grandpa hoisted him on a race horse, the 2-year-old's lingering suspicion turned to joy. Over decades, similar scenes had unfolded countless times on the more than century-old carousel at the Harold Warp Pioneer Village, a 20-acre attraction packed with historical items in the heart of Nebraska. Then they stopped. Time and Mother Nature made the carousel -...
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...
When Gerri Peterson was wrapping up her college degree, she had no idea she'd soon be running a newspaper. "My dream job fell into my lap," she says. After graduating in December, she spent six months shadowing the retiring publisher of the Hooker County Tribune in Nebraska. By the time she was 22, she wasn't just reporting the news-she owned the paper. In Louisiana, Craig Franklin had a different path, but a similar sense of calling. He'd been connected to the Jena Times in Louisiana most of hi...
Stars will shine, stripes will fly and summer nights will come alive as the Holt County Fair rolls into Chambers, Aug. 2 through 9, promising a week packed with tradition, entertainment and hometown fun. 4H Shooting Sports competition will begin Saturday, Aug. 2 and continue Sunday, Aug. 3. Saturday events will feature .22 rifle, trap, small-bore pistol and muzzleloading. On Sunday, BB gun, air rifle and air pistol competition, in addition to archery, will be held. Air pistol shows will take...
Author's note: This article couldn't have been written without the players who brought the game of baseball to life. I'm especially grateful to Eric Snyder, Wayne and Julia Schacht, Shirley Erb, Jim and Kristi Schutt, Jeff Shabram, Jamie Curtis, and members of American Legion Post 136. Your memories, stories, and support meant the world-thank you for helping keep this history alive. Baseball has long been known as America's pastime, and in Orchard, it was no different. Warm Sunday afternoons...
Well, it's that time of year – when the corn is rising in the fields, the calves are fattening on the pastures, and politicians aplenty are announcing their candidacy for elected office. Those announcements seem to come earlier than ever, as do the negative campaign ads. The next election is the primary in 2026, about a year away. But unfortunately, it's not too early to send out some mud-slinging ads condemning so-and-so for doing something horrible, like once traveling to China, or having s...
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...
There's some good news and plenty of bad news for Nebraska's rural hospitals. Just recently, state officials cheered the announcement that the federal government had approved the state's application to join a program, already involving 44 other states, that would provide an additional $1 billion to the state's hospitals and nursing facilities. But, at the same time, there's concern that President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" will severely cut the federal funding for Medicaid, which is a major...
The 2025 National SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta is in the record books. The Summerland TeamWorks crew began competition Tuesday, June 24, in Atlanta and, when the final whistle blew Thursday, at 4 p.m., Willis Mast, Alec Schindler, Bennet Flenniken and Ashton Cleveland felt positive about their project. Flenniken said the competition was challenging, and noted the team had fun. "We all learned a lot through trial and error, and I think we should be proud of what we...
What's the magic number for the number of feathered friends Clearwater residents may have on their property? Village trustees revisited the topic during the June 9 regular meeting. In May, a building permit request submitted for a chicken coop, for Preston and Kimberly Scott, at 101 Colorado Street, was discussed and postponed until additional research could be done. At the time, the Scotts told Village Clerk Angie Hupp approximately 30 to 40 chickens were planned to be housed in the coop and...
The people waiting their turn to rappel down the 17-story Highline Apartments building had strict instructions: Don't come up to the roof until we come get you. Most of the group, assembled there for a fundraiser, seemed content to hang back in the designated waiting area half a flight of stairs below the roof, where they'd eventually step over the edge into the blue sky high above downtown Omaha. All but one person, actually. Sister Stephanie Matcha, age 81. The octogenarian nun who does her...
Graduation makes me think about a column I wrote a few years ago regarding high school as a student’s first job and graduation as an exit interview. It’s a valid topic for seniors to consider. Sure, you have a signed diploma in hand, but as you head to the next stage in life - the workforce or college - it’s important to evaluate what you learned and areas you need to improve. One of the most important skills an employee should master is time management. How good are you at meeting deadl...
