The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

It has been just over one year since I was sworn in as the public service commissioner for the 31 counties of District 4. I wanted to share another quarterly update on the work over the past three...

Have you started Christmas shopping or are you one of those people who have completed the task and have everything wrapped? I belong to the first group. While I blame my tardiness on my...

The dining room table, it's not my style. But it was my parents' style, and we ate every holiday meal there at the house they built after we all grew up and left home. A bigger house. A house with the...

As families are preparing the return to school and fall sports practices are beginning, the hard work and great memories of county fairs starting to wrap up and farmers beginning to see their crops...

It’s amazing (and maybe a bit sad) how a simple conversation, or in this case, a Twitter post, can send you down a rabbit hole. That’s how I spent an hour, Sunday, after reading a friend’s post and t...

Brad Anderson still remembers the night his wife forgot hail. He was sitting on the front porch of their Lincoln home as a storm rolled in. "...I hear LuAnne running down the stairs hollering...

The Legislature gave second-round approval to the budget bills this past week. This effort will allow the budget to be read on Final Reading next week, meeting the requirement to have it pass by the...

Having an estate plan in place is so important. Doing so can save time, money and stress for your loved ones, not to mention prevent unnecessary family disagreements. If you are reading this, take it...

The state of the state on its 156th birthday. It's still a very red, heavily conservative and largely Republican mecca situated in one of those mostly square states out west that a lot of people...

His predecessor spent eight years pushing property tax relief. Now, Governor Jim Pillen wants to clearly tie said property tax relief to school finance. It's up to the Legislature to figure out how...

The farmer was growing impatient. He and dozens of other central Nebraska farmers had gathered for mandatory training in Columbus a few weeks before last Christmas. In response to high nitrate...

Interesting question our office has received on more than one occasion: Why does SAM sometimes run articles from other areas of Nebraska? The answer is relatively simple. We are Nebraska. I like to th...

Wow, we at SAM are embarking on our fourth year of publishing a weekly newspaper. Seems like only yesterday when a group of us huddled around our dining room table to put together the inaugural...

The Antelope County Library Association presented its annual reports and review to the Antelope County commissioners at the June 14 commissioner meeting at the Antelope County Courthouse. Cindy...

The future of Greater Nebraska hasn’t looked any brighter for decades. And we can prove it. At Nebraska Community Foundation, we do lots of things. We help communities identify their local assets, tea...

How many of you read locally on a regular basis? If you’re reading this in print, you’re either a subscriber or you pick up a copy at a vendor location. Thank you for supporting a locally-owned bus...

Michael Myers had been on the job only one month when he learned the story of co-worker, Leo Cooney, and knew he had to make a difference. A package arrived on a job site, a rarity in the electrical...

The search for the truth should be a top priority for a journalist. It’s a journalist’s responsibility to present factual information in a clear and precise manner. Even when the reporter is nine year...

The Legislature debated several of my bills last week. On Tuesday afternoon, we debated my amendment to my LB 561, a bill to further define and implement the voter-approved initiative on casino...

Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” I was reminded of the quote during Sunday’s town hall meeting in Orchard. The quote i...

Greetings, SAM readers. For the past two weeks, I have shared a breakdown of the differences between news articles and editorial items, after SAM began a partnership with Trusting News, a project of...

By now, all registered voters in Nebraska should have had the opportunity to fill out an application for an early (absentee) ballot. That application should be mailed to your county’s Election C...

On a typical Easter, local churches fill with worshipers celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. This year, Easter was anything but typical. Church doors were shut during Sunday's services,...