Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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SUBMITTED ARTICLE - NCDHD "You didn't grow up, you gave up." This is Officer Dave Gomez's reply to youth citing "growing up" as an excuse for misusing the internet, alcohol and drugs. The response should be mirrored by everyone discussing the health and wellness of youth. On Dec. 12 and 13, North Central District Health Department and the Holt/Boyd County Collaboration brought Gomez to 10 areas schools in Holt and Knox counties. Gomez, a 13-year Idaho law enforcement officer veteran and 10 as a...
Pretend for a moment that Nebraska somehow halted all use of nitrogen fertilizer – not a single speck more on our lawns, golf courses and corn fields. What would happen? Nothing fast. That's because, experts say, generations of corn growing, feedlot runoff and oft-unwitting nitrogen overuse has left a legacy of nitrate, creeping slowly downward toward our water supply. "It's there, it's moving towards the groundwater, and there's not a thing we can do about it," said Don Batie, a farmer near L...
The search for a new high school principal at Summerland Public School is underway. Greg Appleby, longtime Ewing and Summerland administrator, announced he will retire at the end of the current academic year, after a career spanning more than 30 years in education and 29 in the Ewing and Summerland districts. The board of education accepted Appleby's resignation during its Nov. 15 meeting. In his letter to the board, Appleby wrote, It's been my honor and pleasure to serve Ewing Public Schools an...
As a freshman, Olga Mendoza watched several Latinx students receive scholarships from the Gallery of Stars, presented during the annual Latino Youth Summit, held at Central Community College in Columbus. At the time, she thought, "I can't wait until I'm a senior. I want that scholarship." Last Wednesday, as Mendoza and other Summerland students who attended the summit gathered for a photo, the Summerland senior received a surprise. Jane Shanahan, with the Jesusita and Santos Courage and...
Greater Nebraska's future healthcare workers are already here, but they may not know it yet. In the last three years, Nebraska Community Foundation surveyed more than 3,200 middle and high school students across the state on what they want their future communities and careers to look like. In 2022 alone, more than 700 students responded to the survey. Students consistently rank medical or healthcare professions as their most desired career among multiple options. The most recent survey, however,...
The Honorable Kale Burdick handed fines, license revocations and probation sentences to several defendants who were convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, when he presided from the bench of the Holt County court in O’Neill on Nov. 1. Lane F. Ebsen, 20, of O’Neill appeared in front of Burdick for sentencing on two counts, Count I, driving under the influence of drugs, first offense, a Class W misdemeanor, and possession of marijuana, less than one ounce, an infraction. Burdick placed Ebsen on probation for 12 months, inc...
In 2024, NASA will send a small surgical robot from Nebraska to the International Space Station. The tiny, two-pound robot will be able to perform surgeries on the space station that would normally require a surgeon’s expertise and much larger equipment. The surgical robot can operate more or less on its own, performing complex procedures at the flip of a switch. The device, developed by Nebraska-based Virtual Incision, is a significant step toward making it possible for surgeons to operate r...
Fifty years ago, women’s volleyball wasn’t even a varsity sport at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Fast forward a half century and Nebraska volleyball is must-see entertainment. Matches at the Devaney Center are standing room only. The Huskers again led the nation in home attendance last year with crowds averaging over 8,200 per match. And their national championship match against Wisconsin in December broke collegiate volleyball records for both in-person attendance (18,755) and TV vie...
Growing up on a hill overlooking North Omaha during World War II, Mary Carpenter remembers the numerous vegetable plots, called victory gardens, that dotted her Florence neighborhood. “Everybody had one,” said Carpenter, the reporter’s mother-in-law. “We grew everything - asparagus, potatoes, tomatoes, black raspberries, pears, even grapes. That’s what fed us and supplemented our food.” Over the ensuing decades, many of those gardens disappeared as grocery stores started carrying seasonal produce year round. Yet 80 years later, everything...
ASHIA AUBREY Buffett Early Childhood Institute It’s the first day of kindergarten— kids get dropped off at school, where they meet other children for the first time, encounter new teachers, and experience a brand new schedule and structure—all in a setting that is likely unfamiliar to them. This transition can be a whirlwind for children, families and educators. “The Nebraska Transition to Kindergarten Toolkit and Resource Guide” was created to support the process between preschool and kindergarten. It’s a new guide for families, school dist...
The Legislature has passed the midway mark in this 60-day legislative session. The priority bill designation process is also complete. From this point on, generally only bills with priority status will be debated by the Legislature. Every senator gets to select one bill as their priority bill, every committee can pick two and the speaker is authorized to designate 25 bills as speaker priority bills. I selected LB 925 as my priority bill and it received first-round approval this past week on a...
SUMMERLAND PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION Feb. 16, 2022 Summerland Public School Board of Education held a regular meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 16, at the school. President Ed Nordby called the meeting, which was published in the Feb. 9, 2022, papers, to order at 12:08 p.m. Nordby noted the Open Meetings Act posted in the boardroom. Roll call was taken. Present: Candice Hoke, Marty Kerkman, Ed Nordby, Nate Schwager, Steve Thiele, Jeremy Wagner. Possible motion on board member absence. All board members were present. Motion by Kerkman, seconded...
The public hearing on LB 1023 was held Thursday, Feb. 10 before the Natural Resources Committee. It reflects the work of the Statewide Tourism and Recreational Water Access and Resource Sustainability Special Committee and proposes to adopt the Lake Development Act and the Water Recreation Enhancement Act. I was appointed to serve on the STAR WARS Committee, stemming from the passage of LB 406, last year. In addition to recommendations to construct a 3,600-acre lake in or near Sarpy County and...
We have reached the one-third mark of this 60-day legislative session but still have a great deal of work to do. The various standing committees are busy holding public hearings on the 600 bills that were introduced in January. As of Feb. 3, public hearings have been conducted on 257 bills during the first three weeks of hearings, but 343 bills have yet to be heard during the next four weeks, before the public hearing process concludes and the Legislature begins to meet on the floor in full-day...
HASTINGS – With two nurses out sick in early December, charge nurse Osa Brooks found herself scrambling to care for 28 patients. With only one floor nurse available, employees from other units were called in to work the floor or give medications. “It was really scary because I had 10 patients that I was responsible for, and I had another nurse giving medications for me,” Brooks said. Brooks said the chaos scared her because of the chance that she could have missed something, causing her patie...
After a three-month break, the Legislature convened Wednesday, Jan. 5, to begin the 107th legislative session, second session. Senators were called into special session in September to complete the redistricting process, based on new census data. Legislative District #40 no longer contains Boyd or Rock counties. Rock and Boyd counties are now part of Legislative District #43, represented by Sen. Tom Brewer. Legislative District #40 also lost the southern portion of Dixon County, which will be...
A large number of America's military veterans have returned home to civilian careers and often want to continue the service mission they committed to in the armed forces. Many veterans from rural areas have found that mission through farming and ranching. These farmer-veterans provide food, protect natural resources, and contribute to the vitality of their local communities while running their own businesses. With the average age of a U.S. farmer at nearly 60 years, and millions of acres...
For months, a silence fell across Nebraska’s auditoriums and theaters. Spaces where excited patrons once congregated were forced to remain empty because of COVID-19. But now, as many theaters around the state are starting their second full seasons in the pandemic, a sense of hope for venue staff abounds as they welcome patrons back in full. Located on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s campus, the Lied Center for Performing Arts must follow all COVID-19 safety protocols implemented by the university, which includes a mask mandate. Mat...
Summerland School District will feature five new staff members in the 2021-2022 school year, including one elementary and four high school educators. Staff members met for inservice training, in Orchard, Aug. 16 and 17. On Aug. 23 and 24, staff and students moved materials from the three former sites into the new facility, in preparation for the Aug. 30 start date. Jacob Goldfus His first impression of the Summerland School system and new facility can be summed up in one word: incredible. Okay,...
Preparations for the 2021- 2022 school year are nearing completion for Superintendent Kyle Finke and members of the Summerland School staff. In an interview, Friday, with area media representatives Finke said the new building "is coming along." "The elementary, we could have probably been in there today, moving in," he said. The lower level of the high school, which includes the industrial tech and ag areas and science and social studies classrooms, are slightly behind. "The nice thing is, we...
Summerland Board of Education approved a letter asking the state school board of education to “proceed with caution” on the second round of proposed health standards during the board’s July 12 meeting, in Ewing. A motion passed unanimously after minimal discussion. Board member Nate Schwager, who helped create the letter, said, “The hardest thing is they already rejected the first set of standards. You just don’t know what to expect with the second.” Board of education president Ed Nordby said...
PROCEEDINGS SUMMERLAND PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION July 12, 2021 Summerland Public School Board of Education held a regular meeting, Monday, July 12, 2021, at the Ewing site. President Nordby called the meeting , which was advertised in the July 7 newspaper, to order at 6:03 p.m. Nordby noted the Open Meetings Act posted in the boardroom. Roll call was taken. Present: Candice Hoke, Marty Kerkman, Ed Nordby, Nate Schwager, Steven Thiele, Jeremy Wagner. Motion by Thiele, seconded by Kerkman, to approve the agenda as presented. Voting aye:...
Briese and Timothy Gragert, who represent Antelope and Holt counties, respectively, in the state legislature, joined 28 other senators, Thursday, urging the Nebraska Department of Education to reject proposed health standards. Statehouse officials urged local school boards to adopt a resolution in opposition to the proposed standards. According to the letter, “Nebraskans have spoken loud and clear - they do not want their children subjected to the health education standards proposed by the N...
I would consider the recently completed legislative session successful for Nebraska taxpayers. Among other items, we passed, and the governor signed into law, bills to provide a sales tax exemption on municipal water, tax relief for military retirement recipients, tax relief for social security recipients and income tax relief for corporate taxpayers. On the property tax front, we provided a valuation reduction for agland in the context of school bond repayment, we added additional dollars to...
The speaker of the Legislature has announced that senators will complete their work a few days early, adjourning sine die on May 27 rather than June 10. This is partially due to the many late nights that were worked in order to complete our business and knowing we will be meeting again in a couple months. Every 10 years, the Legislature must complete the redistricting process to reflect population changes after the U.S. Census is complete. Due to the pandemic, states didn’t get the census d...
