Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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The 2020 census is an important tool for understanding population trends and demographic shifts in our greater Nebraska hometowns, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Articles lamenting the shrinking population of rural areas abound, but we know better. Nebraska Community Foundation’s Youth Survey is taking a qualitative look at the reasons young Nebraskans choose to remain in, return to or leave their hometowns. Our work at NCF suggests there’s much to look forward to in greater Nebra...
SUBMITTED ARTICLE O'Neill Community Foundation Fund and Holt County Economic Development Fund welcome Emily Morrow and Katie Hawk home for the summer to help local leadership further their missions. Morrow and Hawk are both students at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Morrow graduated from UNL in May with a dual degree in advertising and public relations and broadcasting. Hawk will begin her sophomore year in the fall at UNL studying business management. Both began their duties in May a...
KLOEE SANDER Nebraska Press Association Every traveler has time to stop for ice cream. And when travelers make it to Potter, Nebraska, the ice cream shop adorned in red and white draws them in. The Potter Sundry old-fashioned soda fountain is home to a classic—the tin roof sundae, which is made of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, fluffy marshmallow cream and nuts. As weary wanderers walk into the Sundry, they are stepping back in time. The antique tin ceiling captivates them a...
A capital campaign to construct a youth enrichment center on the Antelope County Fairgrounds is underway. The idea hatched after the 2020 show-and-go fair, as participation numbers in poultry and rabbit exhibits skyrocketed. Rhonda Meyer, campaign committee chairman, said exhibitor numbers in these areas have increased exponentially in the past five years. "Poultry exhibits have gone up 44% and rabbit entries are up 256%," she said. "We went from eight rabbits to 50 last year." During fair...
From the Wyoming/Nebraska border to the opposite side of the state, 432 miles along U.S. Highway 20, link the state’s Pine Ridge region, sandhills and Elkhorn River, before reaching Siouxland Freedom Park in South Sioux City. It’s a 432-mile walk Ken Hanel, of West Point, and Daryl Harrison, of Thurston, know well. The pair completed the walk Saturday, after starting May 11. The 432-mile route wasn’t selected by happenstance. In February 2020, Governor Pete Ricketts named Highway 20 as the N...
The Lawrence Goscha Scholarship Fund, an affiliated fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation, has established scholarship opportunities for area high schools and their graduates. These schools include Clearwater, Orchard, Elgin Public, Ewing, Neligh-Oakdale, Pope John XXIII Central Catholic and Wheeler Central. Scholarships in the amount of $3,750 will be awarded to successful applicants. Graduating seniors and those graduates in his or her second or subsequent year of post-secondary education are encouraged to apply. For an application or...
A farm cooperative that serves customers in a 30-county region of northeast Nebraska has pledged its support to improvements in agriculture facilities currently underway at Northeast Community College in Norfolk. Farmers Pride, headquartered in Battle Creek, has pledged $50,000 to the Nexus project at Northeast to build a new veterinary technology clinic and classroom building and other facilities on the Acklie Family College Farm. "Many of our employees and customers have graduated from...
Kelsey Carlson calls me from the road, as she drives the quiet ribbon of highway connecting the hospital where she works to the small-town child care that has changed her life. Not long ago, when her daughter, Avery, went to a different child care, Kelsey would sob while driving to pick her up. She worried her daughter wasn't safe. She dreaded the thought that Avery was planted in front of a TV. She cried because she felt terrified she was failing at work and failing her child. Today, as Kelsey...
What is the difference between news and opinion? This, friends, is the question of the week. In last week's issue, I explained how SAM began a partnership with Trusting News, a project of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and American Press Institute. We worked to devise strategies that promote responsible and ethical journalism. One goal I established, through the project, is to provide a breakdown of what makes a news article, an editorial and a column. In the Advocate-Messenger, opinion and...
It goes without saying that 2020 is a year we will never forget. It was a year of change, challenge and pivots. Some things slowed down. Others stopped altogether. Despite considerable hardship, the Nebraska Community Foundation network’s resolve to build a Greater Nebraska proved impervious to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid efforts to flatten the curve, neighbors stepped up to help those in need. Goals were met. Grants were made. Work got done. Total assets now exceed $180 m...
A 100-year-old, family-owned meatpacking business is making an investment in the future of agriculture with a donation to the Northeast Community College capital campaign to construct new ag facilities on the Norfolk campus. The Greater Omaha Packing Co. Foundation has pledged $50,000 toward the Nexus campaign at Northeast. Henry Davis, the third generation of family ownership at Greater Omaha Packing, said, "I am especially interested in supporting the investment in agricultural education as a...
The Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation and two Nebraska Cattlemen affiliates in northeast Nebraska have thrown their support behind the Nexus project to build new agriculture facilities at Northeast Community College. Together, the Cattlemen Foundation, the Boone and Nance County Cattlemen, and the Cuming County Feeders have donated $50,000 to the project, currently under construction near the intersection of E. Benjamin Ave. and Hwy. 35. "We are pleased to be able to support the education of the...
Northeast Community College faculty, staff, students, volunteers, donors and other guests gathered Thursday for an event that is literally and figuratively groundbreaking for the institution's agriculture program. A ceremony marked construction that is presently underway on the Nexus project which consists of a new veterinary technology building and a combination farm operations building and large animal handling facility at the new Acklie Family College Farm. The site is located near...
Northeast Community College is thrilled to announce that TC Energy and the TC Energy Foundation have donated $500,000 to its Nexus campaign to support the construction of new agriculture facilities at the College. The donation will further enable students to take courses in areas of crop production, livestock, crop science, entomology, forages, chemicals, marketing, sales and a number of other fields to form a strong foundation in the agriculture field. The donation was presented by Trevor Jones, government and community relations advisor for...
The siren song of the big city is quiet in greater Nebraska. Youth today overwhelmingly prefer the connections and comforts of smaller communities to the grind of major metropolises, according to Nebraska Community Foundation’s recent survey of over 1,300 high school students. In January 2020, NCF began working with the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Center for Public Affairs Research to co-create the Nebraska Youth Survey, with the purpose of examining young people’s perceptions and persp...
Four individuals will vie for the title of Miss Clearwater Rodeo 2020 during Friday's opening evening of rodeo competition. The winner will reign over the 53rd annual event, scheduled for Friday through Sunday, July 10 to 12. Taylor Bolling, of Clearwater; Josey Booth, Neligh; Morgan Erhardt, Orchard and Brooke Lehr, of Columbus, will be judged in horsemanship, congeniality and appearance categories. Prior to Friday's 7:30 p.m. rodeo opening, awards for all categories will be announced, in...
KATIE ANDERSON Nebraska News Service Property tax relief is on the agenda for the 17-day legislative session later this month, but opponents argue that the proposed property tax relief plan will hinder school district spending and taxing authority. State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, chairwoman of the revenue committee, is leading the charge to get a property tax relief package passed when the Legislature resumes on July 20. “We have a property tax crisis more severe now in agriculture but moving toward suburbia,” Linehan said. “If you b...
The Nebraska Cooperative Council Education Foundation has awarded 11 scholarships totaling $31,000 for the 2020-21 academic year to students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture at Curtis, and the University of Nebraska-Kearney. The NCCEF scholarship program was initiated for the 1993-94 academic year, with funding from voluntary contributions from the agricultural cooperatives that are members of the Nebraska Cooperative Council. Since the...
The Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently announced that David Chochon, O'Neill, and Lauren Sheridan-Simonsen, Neligh, have been selected to participate in Leadership Nebraska Class XIII. Sheridan-Simonsen is the director of economic development for the City of Neligh and Village of Clearwater. She has worked in economic development since 2015. Prior to working for the City of Neligh, she was employed as a financial administrator in the medical field and was self-employed....
Almost 500 new bills were introduced by members of the Legislature during the first 10 days of the legislative session. Each proposed legislation will have a public hearing before the relevant committee. The public hearing process has already started and will continue through February. I introduced five bills this year. The first three will have public hearings next week before the Natural Resources Committee and the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. LB 769 requires that each...
A number of scholarships are available to high school seniors with Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company services at home The Foundation for Rural Service has a vital interest in helping rural communities grow and thrive. FRS is a part of The Rural Broadband Association. NNTC is a member of these organizations that both strive to keep rural America alive in Washington, D.C. In May of 2019, Elsie Magwire of Spencer was awarded $2,500 through the FRS scholarship program. She is the only Nebraska...
An O'Neill woman is the newest member of the Northeast Community College Board of Governors. The board voted unanimously at its monthly meeting Thursday in Norfolk to appoint Nicole Sedlacek to an open District Two seat. Sedlacek, an economic development consultant with the Nebraska Public Power District, succeeds Keith Harvey, Creighton, who resigned in September. District Two covers Boyd, Brown, Holt, Keya Paha, Knox and Rock counties in their entirety and a portion of Cedar County. Sedlacek...
Tucker Stagemeyer, of Page, will serve on Governor Ricketts Youth Advisory Council. The council consists of 25 members comprised of 14- to 19-year-old students from across Nebraska. The group's goal is to increase communication between youth, community and government. Council members stay informed on bills, laws, policies and decisions that may impact youth in their communities and across the state. The newly-appointed group met recently in Lincoln for a two-day workshop, learning about...
