Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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Our brain releases chemicals into our body that impact functions in our body, such as our mood. There are four chemicals that commonly support “feeling good,” and they are also known as “happiness chemicals.” These four chemicals are dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. Dopamine provides us with pleasure, motivation and learning. Known as the reward chemical, dopamine may help us feel determined to accomplish our goals or meet our needs. Oxytocin is often known as the love hormone...
Everyone we know, meet, or pass in the grocery store has their own set of personal life experiences that are unique from our own. We all come from different places, have our own set of genetics, and have different parents or families, which is part of what makes us unique from each other. We can even have different experiences than our siblings who grow up in the same home as us. Our experiences are part of what help us learn, create adaptations to the world around us, and how we continue to...
Another Father’s Day is nearing an end. How have we spent it? With the exception of a two-hour lunch date, the “Yellowstone” Father’s Day marathon has been playing. And, just like the “Yellowstone” Mother’s Day marathon and the Memorial Day marathon and any other excuse needed to air 72 hours of the popular TV show, John Dutton’s family’s woes have provided background noise. Thank goodness it has a solid soundtrack to sing along with while I work on the paper and fiddle with household chores....
As unique is our loss is as unique is our grief. What do we do when one day we can smile, laugh and look back at memories with fondness and thankfulness for the life we shared with our loved one; the next day we feel paralyzed by our pain and sadness? We feel broken and feel as though we may never be our "old self" again? We may not like the answer ... we feel what we feel. There is no twelve steps, timeline or prescription for our grief. New research supports that as unique as we are as...
Content advisory: This article discusses sensitive topics, including suicide. Reader discretion is advised. No one told Kristine Cecava that one day her job would lead her to cleaning up the scene of a suicide. Yet when the time came, she knew what needed to be done to help support the deceased's family. Cecava, a former district judge and county attorney in Cheyenne County, was called to a crime scene at the home of a friend's son where he committed suicide. In sparsely populated areas, part...
There are more than 900,000 child care workers across the United States. Think of the impact they have on the millions of young children and families they serve. Trusted early educators allow parents to work. They help businesses run at full speed. As small business owners, they invest their dollars right back into their communities. And, Buffett Early Childhood Institute Executive Director Walter Gilliam argues, the early childhood workforce just might be the linchpin to our country’s economic...
In the musical "Oklahoma," one of the questions it tries to help answer is the age-old dilemma of whether or not the farmer and the cowman can be friends. In the song "The Farmer and the Cowman," the light-hearted melody and lyrics make the feud between the farmer and cowman seem silly, pointing out that "territory folks should stick together." Sunnnybrook Cafe sits close to, if not on, the intersection of farming and cowman territories in rural Nebraska. Its actual address is Ewing, but the...
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 'there's something hitting the house!'" She poked her head out the front door. "I said 'it's hailing,' and she looked at me like 'What?'" Brad grabbed a stone and showed it to his wife. It's frozen rain, he explained. "She said, 'That's amazing. I've never seen that before. What's it called again?'" That's...
Every year, as the new year approaches, we scour newspapers to see how each approaches its top list of articles. Some break it down by category. Others separate local from national news. Some choose not to report a list. We see merits in all of those approaches. While the top 10 stories listed below are based strictly on the number of unique visitors to that story's dedicated web page, we, as publishers, feel a number of important - and a few fun - articles didn't make the cut. One of our...
Writing about grief is like writing about life-huge! Where does one start? It is like describing love: basically impossible. The comedian and late-night host Stephen Colbert lost his father and two older brothers in a tragic accident when he was young, and said, about grief, "It is a gift to exist, and with that gift comes suffering. If I am grateful for life, I must be grateful for all of it. I hope that grief stays with me because it is all the unexpressed love I didn't get to tell you." So...
Recently, while visiting from out of state, my father had a "health hiccup." As we navigated getting this problem investigated and addressed, he was very concerned that we keep his primary care doctor informed. As my dad has said repeatedly, "I give him more grief than any of my other doctors, but I also listen to him more than any of my other doctors. He's the only one looking out for all of me!" Like many Americans, particularly older Americans, my dad has a whole host of specialists he sees...
Sunlight lands different on the Nebraska Sandhills. As the giant orb breaks the horizon, the promise of a new day casts hues of yellow and orange against a cerulean sky. By midday, the sun's rays build in brilliance, a sign of growth and prosperity, land covered with promises of a brighter tomorrow. At dusk, pastel clouds paint the western sky with a warm glow. Even as lighter shades give way to darkness, glimmers of hope continue to peek through, offering encouragement. Look close enough and...
“We must remember these American heroes and speak their names when we see their family members. We can never forget those who sacrificed everything for our freedom,” said Bill Williams, co-creator of the Remeber the Fallen memorial. “While this memorial is about those who have died, it was created for the living … to help the families in their grief, while reminding the rest of us of the terrible price paid for our freedom by our current generation of military.” A very emotional memorial, Remembering Our Fallen, is a stark reminder of the ul...
Grief is a strange thing. One minute you’re going about your life, setting type on page six of this week’s paper, and the next, you crumble into a heap, head resting on your desk on a Monday afternoon, tears streaming because it’s your Mom’s 84th birthday and she departed from this world nearly seven years ago. Each of us experiences our own journey when we lose someone. Grief does not differentiate between the ways we lose someone - death, a breakup, a misunderstanding with your closest...
Watching a couple episodes of the CW (now on Netflix) telenovela, “Jane the Virgin,” got me thinking. Life is one big soap opera, a dramedy full of ups and downs, mixed with moments of mediocrity. Nothing wrong with watching one, either. Sometimes, it’s okay to escape to a world that seems safe, maybe even a fun location to visit (in this case, Miami) ... unless Rafael’s step-mother-turned-crime-boss known as Sin Rostro, or his drug lord mother (who deserted him after receiving $10 million...
What does it mean to practice humanity in medicine? The phrase is used as a tagline and in book titles. Humanity and compassion in medicine is touted as something to aspire to, a noble accomplishment. But in reality, the biomedical model of health, the business model for healthcare, is not set up to support it. Algorithms and best practices set forth by insurance companies and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid do not account for the time required to establish meaningful human interaction...
It's 55 degrees this September morning and I'm greeting the day with a cup of hot cocoa. I'm a cocoa fan rather than a cup of hot coffee. Despite the cool temperature I have my kitchen window open as I peer outside at the flower garden. Crickets can be heard singing a serenade which I hope is their goodby song. Of course their song also means goodbye to the bright, warm summer days. The plants are transitioning into fall as some of them have lost their growing vigor. Yet others seem to blend in...
It’s either black or white. No gray area exists. A former student - we’ll call him B - once told me the above-mentioned statement. From his perspective, things either happened a particular way or they didn’t. No mishmash of emotion was involved. Things simply were or weren’t. B spent a lot of time in my classroom. He was enrolled in two courses I taught, and for one period a day, he worked as a student aide. And then there were the other hours of the day, the times when fellow educators sent him...
The Honorable Donna Taylor presided over an array of cases last Wednesday, stemming from fights, traffic crashes, driving while intoxicated or under suspension, to dog attacks. In a rare move, Taylor chose not to follow a sentencing recommendation county attorney Joseph Abler offered as part of a plea deal. Abler recommended a fine only for Smokie J. Pike, 24, of Kearney, in exchange for Pike's no contest plea to third-degree assault, fight by mutual consent, a Class 2 misdemeanor. After...
SUBMITTED ARTICLE "We're excited to announce Antelope Memorial Hospital's partnership with senior life solutions," said Diane Carlin, AMH chief executive officer. "Our new senior life solutions program will be offered at AMH, in the location of our former Neligh clinic, beginning on June 26." AMH's Senior Life Solutions is an intensive outpatient group therapy program, added Carlin, It is designed to meet the unique needs of senior adults struggling with symptoms of depression and anxiety,...
When ESPN commentator Stuart Scott accepted the Jimmy V ESPY award in 2014, Scott said, about his fight with cancer, "I'm still here, I'm fighting. I'm not losing." Scott Leisy, physical education instructor at Clearwater Public Schools and co-coach for the Summerland Bobcat girls' basketball team, said similar words to the Advocate-Messenger in July 2019, in an article which appeared in the July 25th inaugural issue. Leisy's fight with colorectal cancer lasted a little more than two years. The...
Sometimes, human nature amazes me ... and not in a good way. The entire coronavirus conversation makes me shake my head. While I understand worse-case scenarios are often used as a prompt to get people to think, a little common sense, a dollop of soap and a lot of hot water should clear up any misconceptions. Here’s what we know for sure: • As of March 9, 555 confirmed cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with individuals from 35 states and the District of...
Six Holt County supervisors listened as nearly 50 citizens presented testimony last Friday afternoon. A public hearing regarding TC Energy's application for a pipeline construction permit was held in the district courtroom at the Holt County courthouse. Pipeline opponents, from elementary students to 90-year-old grandparents, packed the courtroom, filling approximately 100 seats, and spilled out to the second-floor hallway. Speakers were called in order of sign-up, which had begun in the morning...
When Billy Joel said, “Music is an explosive expression of humanity,” I hope he meant music shapes our lives and reflects current culture. I tend to associate music with certain events, an expression of mood and tone of a nation, a bookmark comprised of notes and rhythms denoting importance, a mix tape providing background accompaniment to daily life. Ask someone to name their favorite song. More than likely, they’ll pause momentarily, contemplate for a few seconds more and rattle off a curre...
The Honorable Donna Taylor had a busy day in court last Wednesday, when she passed sentence on 11 individuals in the Antelope County courtroom at Neligh. Taylor sent Twila Guggenmos, 59, of Oakdale to the Antelope County Jail to serve a 10-day sentence for a conviction of reckless driving, with credit given for one day previously served. The judge further ordered the $135 bond fee held by the county be applied to $141.61 costs, and the balance be paid prior to release, or sit out an extra day...
