Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 1 - 17 of 17
Governor Jim Pillen has issued a statewide burn ban, to help reduce the potential for additional wildfires in Nebraska. Dry and windy conditions have caused the spread of significant fires in the central and western parts of the state. On Friday, March 13, Pillen issued an emergency proclamation activating the deployment of state resources to help combat fires, including the use of aircraft and personnel from the Nebraska National Guard. The governor's executive order prohibiting burning will...
Northeast Community College is taking agricultural innovation to new heights with the launch of its Agriculture Drone Pilot Certificate, made possible by a $45,000 grant from the CHS Foundation. The funding supports the purchase of spray drone equipment, faculty training, and program development for the 16-credit certificate, which includes industry-standard tools such as a specialized trailer. The new certificate responds to growing demand for skilled drone operators in agriculture and compleme...
SILICON PRAIRIE NEWS Stone Pillar International is a software and intelligence company that uses drone-acquired data for actionable decision making. The company's official launch comes as Nebraskans face the threat of invasive eastern redcedar and the opportunities of new drone rules and advancements. Nebraska is on the front lines of both tech innovation and woody encroachment. As pilots and entrepreneurs look to the skies with new uses of drone technology, researchers and ranchers are looking...
An accident on 508 Avenue, approximately two and one-half miles south of Ewing, on Friday, Jan. 2, has resulted in two fatalities. According to the Holt County Sheriff's Office, Boyd-Holt E911 Dispatch received a call about an injury accident at approximately 9:18 p.m. Holt County Sheriff's Office personnel responded and determined that an individual driving a 2020 RAM pickup, northbound on 508 Avenue, lost control on the icy 'S' curves, left the roadway, and rolled onto its top into a pond. The driver, a 34-year-old Minneapolis, Minnesota...
An accident on 508 Avenue, approximately two and one-half miles south of Ewing, on Friday, Jan. 2, has resulted in two fatalities. According to the Holt County Sheriff's Office, Boyd-Holt E911 Dispatch received a call at approximately 9:18 p.m., about an injury accident. Holt County Sheriff's Office personnel responded and determined that an individual driving a 2020 RAM pickup, northbound on 508 Avenue, lost control on the icy curve, left the roadway, and rolled onto its top into a pond. The...
The 109th Legislature’s first session has adjourned sine die. As of the day of adjournment, the Legislature had passed 175 bills, excluding “A” bills, and one proposed constitutional amendment. Without going into my legislative accomplishments (that I will address in next week’s newsletter), I’d like to deviate from my normal newsletters and just provide my own personal assessment of how the Legislature did this session. In my mind, there were three major successes and one disappoin...
“Old soldiers don’t die, they just fade away.” Gen. Douglas MacArthur, a World War II hero, used that phrase in his farewell address to the U.S. Congress more than 70 years ago. But the comment doesn’t come within a country mile of describing one, old Nebraska soldier. Tom Brewer, a native of Gordon and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, served six tours of duty in Afghanistan during his 36 years in the Army, earning a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He served two terms in the Nebrask...
The Legislature passed the budget bills this past week containing its recommendations for the fiscal year 2025-2026 & fiscal year 2026-2027 biennial budget. Now, it will be up to the governor whether he signs the legislation as is or uses his line-item veto authority. When the Legislature convened in January, senators initially faced an estimated $432 million shortfall for the next two years, a number that soon grew. A large part of the increased deficit, but not all, came because the state’s ec...
This past week, the Legislature made some progress in breaking through the logjam of bills currently sitting on the agenda. Senators are trying to find ways to move their bills since time for debate on non-budget bills is growing short. The budget is scheduled to be advanced to the full Legislature on April 29, and Speaker Arch announced that debate on budget bills will begin on May 6. One measure advanced to Final Reading this past week was Sen. Hallstrom’s LB80. This bill builds upon legislati...
They knew the record-breaking attendance number before the rest of the world. The iconic attendance number that hovered over the northeast corner of Memorial Stadium on the night of Aug. 30 was the work of Fantasy Drone Shows, a Norfolk-based aerial entertainment company. The assistant athletic director of marketing and fan experience confirmed the final attendance number at approximately 7:50 p.m., leaving the company with less than an hour to program and launch 150 drones to announce the...
Oh, what a night! I've been at Memorial Stadium for some of the sweetest victories (and saddest defeats) in history. I was there in 1978 when the Huskers and Tom Osborne defeated Oklahoma. I've watched multiple Nebraska vs. Colorado games play out. I witnessed Ron Kellogg III throw a Hail Mary to the endzone and saw Jordan Westerkamp grab it out of thin air, securing a win. I sang "Let Me Clear My Throat" with 89,000 other Husker loyalists when they upset Michigan State. But, on a night when...
Northeast Nebraska teachers visiting the Haskell Agricultural Laboratory this month learned that the 550-acre site is full of learning opportunities for students. Teachers from Summerland Public School participated in the event. The arboretum at the Haskell site, part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s network of ag research centers around the state, can help children learn identification and biology for trees and plants. The beehives and pollinator gardens illustrate the interactions of insects and plants. The sweeping fields of corn and...
In 1937, the Nebraska Safety Patrol was formed to address the rising problem of crashes on our state's roads. Eighty-five years later, that organization still stands-now known as the Nebraska State Patrol. Its mission to help keep our communities and citizens safe hasn't wavered. But they continue to adapt the ways they carry out that mission to meet the needs of Nebraskans. As we celebrate 85 years of the NSP, let's recognize all they do for our state. They keep us safe on the roads, protect...
The honeybee’s contribution to humankind is worth it’s weight in gold, liquid gold. References to beekeeping have been found near Spain in archaic cave paintings, hieroglyphics in an Egyptian temple and at an Israeli archeological excavation, where an ancient apiary was uncovered, containing over 100 straw and clay hives. But it wasn’t until the early 1600s that European settlers introduced bees and beekeeping to the New England colonies. The immigrant honeybee that makes the Americas it’s home...
Random thoughts ... a.k.a. I am multi-tasking and a million ideas are racing through my mind. I’ll number them to give this column some semblance of order. 1. Best quote I have read in a long time. “Left, right or center - facts have no party line.” Spot. On. Many times at our house, Scott and I get into heated political discussions. He tells me I am not paying attention to what is happening (uh no, I pay attention all day long). Then I explain he fails to fact check before sharing some talki...
Three Holt County supervisors agreed, when the leaders met at the courthouse in O’Neill last Thursday, to serve on a committee to look for ways to improve efficiency within the road department. Road superintendent Gary Connot described several recent issues he attributed to lack of training, oversight and accountability. “I personally think we have got to get more oversight, more practical training and more instructions to our motorgrader operators,” he said. “We had a guy this last summer – we had the best set of roads in the county – in a per...
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION The mystery of the unidentified flying drones deepened Monday as new sightings moved eastward into central Nebraska and puzzled law enforcement officials gathered in northeast Colorado. Even callers to Gov. Pete Ricketts' monthly radio show were seeking answers. "We're being inundated with these drones. They're starting to be a real annoyance," said one caller, Gene from Palisade, a southwest Nebraska community west of McCook. The governor had no information to give but...
