Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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The 107th Legislature, first session, began Wednesday, Jan.6 under different circumstances from other years. Due to the pandemic, families of the newly-elected and re-elected senators were not allowed to sit on the floor but had to be seated in the balcony. The chief justice of the Supreme Court administered the oath to the newly-elected and re-elected senators, who remained at their seats instead of gathering up front for the swearing-in ceremony. Eight new senators took their oath, of which, t...
One photo of my parents captures them in their zone. It’s their wedding anniversary and they’re waltzing. Both are looking directly at the camera, still smiling after 40 years of wedded bliss. They’re definitely in their element. They enjoyed dancing. When King’s Ballroom was still operating in Norfolk, the ‘rents were waltzing around the dance floor. Other couples stopped as Dad and Mom sashayed to the strains of big band tunes, offering an ovation to the young couple when the melody slowed to...
For end-of-the-year columns, it’s customary to recap events of the past 12 months, usually highlighting a mix of good and bad. Because this year has been dominated by health, and my beat is health, it seems fitting to reflect on where we are. Where we are is not good. A headline in the Los Angeles Times seemed to sum up the current state of the U.S. health care system: “Bodies pile up, patient care falters as COVID-19 devastates L.A. County hospitals.” In the Times’ story, a hospital critical care nurse says, “No one would believe this is the U...
Hello, my name is Mark Mahoney, and I'm a stay-at-home dad. That is a sentence I never thought I would write, yet I'm happy to have been home nearly every day with Hazel, my one-year-old daughter, since the end of June. Prior to then, I had been a full-time newspaper reporter for just over 13 years. I thought I would miss being a part of the workforce once I left it, but I really don't. Though I guess I haven't left the working world entirely, as I contribute to the Summerland...
Nebraskans are fortunate to have ample access to natural resources. These resources have long supported agriculture in our state, and fairly recently, have allowed for the expansion of our renewable energy industry. As our homegrown renewable energy continues to grow, many communities and utilities have started to pursue goals to replace older generation with clean energy. Several utilities in Nebraska have already taken steps to either put goals into place or begin planning for a cleaner energy future. Notably in mid-November, the Lincoln...
History buff LuAnn is geeking out this week, racing to beat the clock to New Year’s Eve, when AMC-produced “Hell on Wheels” will be withdrawn from the Netflix repertoire. I’d seen advertisements for the western history series but hadn’t committed to view it, until my father-in-law made the suggestion. Scott and I have binge-watched four seasons and have 12 episodes to complete by Thursday. Hopefully, we’re on track. Even though my kids tell me I am older than dirt, I do not remember studying, i...
The legislative session will begin Wednesday, Jan 6. On that day, newly-elected members will be sworn in and the speaker, chair and vice chair of the Executive Committee and committee chairs will be elected. What happens after that may depend on the status of the pandemic. Under normal circumstances, we would then introduce bills for 10 days, do some preliminary work including adoption of rules and committee assignments, with committee hearings beginning around the second week But this year,...
JOHNATHAN HLADIK Policy director Center for Rural Affairs As they continue to face challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, rural small businesses and communities with loans through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program find themselves on the outside once again. Provisions of the Rural Equal Aid Act, a measure with bipartisan support in the House and Senate, were left out of the latest round of stimulus funding approved Monday by Congress. Our elected officials have again let these rural entrepreneurs down and h...
“I need a sign to let me know you’re here. All of these lines are being crossed over the atmosphere...” That song lyric, from “Calling All Angels,” by Train, kept replaying in my mind Monday evening, when we gathered with approximately 30 individuals to view the great conjunction, at Honey Creek Observatory, north of O’Neill. Low, rolling clouds blanketed the southwestern sky. Occasionally, a sliver of the waxing gibbous moon would surface, offering a quick glimpse at its corona. The Christm...
SANDRA RENNER Farm and Community director Center for Rural Affairs We are nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic and cases in rural America are increasing at a rapid rate. The impacts vary greatly across rural states, yet per-capita infections are most extreme in communities occupied by meatpacking plants, predominantly in the Midwest, low-income African American communities in the Southeast and Native Americans. Rural racial health inequities rose to the top quickly as the pandemic came to a head. Many rural communities need COVID-19...
A couple of months ago, I found a saying that spoke to me. I do not know if or where I found, saw or heard the saying, but it resonated with me. I quickly jotted it down in my phone, accompanied with other ideas; I knew I would return to utilize the phrase soon. As I was trying to decide what to write about, I scrolled through the notes on my phone and the saying resurfaced. “No one can take away from you what you put in your own mind.” Upon further research, this saying is part of a larger quo...
I am a woman on a mission. Or, at least I have an idea I hope Ewing community members will believe is viable and consider pursuing. During Monday’s Village Board of Trustees meeting, discussion turned to the old water tower and the possibility of it coming down once the new tower is functioning. It got me thinking about my friend, and SAM freelancer, Terri Hahn. Terri grew up in Lewellen. About two years ago, she wrote about her hometown’s efforts to save the town’s water tower. The struc...
For almost 50 years, the Center for Rural Affairs has been a leading force in standing up for the family farmer and rancher, small business owner and rural communities. We look forward to working with former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack; President-Elect Joe Biden; and the new USDA leadership as they listen to and work with rural Americans. On Dec. 10, Vilsack was officially nominated for the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All Cabinet appointees, including Secretary of...
If you know me well, you know that fall - primarily football season - is one of my favorite times of the year. My family has a long-standing relationship with Husker football. Before the ‘rents married, Dad purchased box seats, near the field of Memorial Stadium. He didn’t miss a game. Once they were hitched, they became season ticket holders and since 1955, someone from our family could be found sitting in our west stadium seats. Dad always said he should have requested four tickets ins...
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...
My house has a deep nutty aroma wafting from the kitchen. It’s pine cones in the oven. I’m getting ready for the holidays and that includes baking pine cones. I don’t have a family recipe for them. I use them for decorations. I was lucky to find three varieties of pine cones in my backyard to collect. After a good dunk in water to help clean them, they are placed on aluminum foil covered baking sheets and popped into the oven at 275 degrees for about two hours. Now the house smells wonderful! Th...
During my 25-year stint as a play production director, I faced several challenges: kids late to practice, costume malfunctions, broken props, ill students requiring a substitution from an understudy. None of those tests equal what one-act directors are facing during the pandemic. Kudos to Summerland one-act coaches Julie Harley, Mackenzie McClellan and Sarah Kesting, who have learned to adapt and roll with the flow, so to speak, while keeping student safety at the forefront. The Nebraska School...
Over the last four years, we have updated our trade relationships and trade agreements at a historic pace. We secured updated comprehensive trade agreements with Canada, Mexico and South Korea; entered into Phase One agreements with China and Japan that address many significant impediments to U.S. exporters in these major markets; and achieved important progress to remove trade barriers faced by particular sectors in several other countries. Together, these nations purchase almost 50% of the United States’ current exports. These agreements f...
In spring 2020, we heard terrible stories of overburdened hospitals leading to preventable deaths in New York City. Now, as the COVID-19 virus surges to a new peak, these shortages have reached rural areas, where hospital systems are often under-resourced and understaffed. In Nebraska, rural counties are seeing record numbers of hospitalizations. As of last week, in the region surrounding Platte County, there was only one available intensive care unit bed, with rural areas in the state...
While I count my blessings each and every day, I have never cared for Thanksgiving. Bad memories tend to resurface. Like how the smell of turkey roasting in the oven reminds me of three-year-old LuAnn, who was ill with influenza, tried a bite of turkey and couldn’t keep it down. Grandma Fields understood my pain, and every year, she also baked a ham so people, -er, I could have another choice. Simpler times then. In 2003, my husband died from a pulmonary embolism, two days before T...
The coronavirus pandemic has laid much of the American economy on its back - but a bright spot made the disaster less crippling than it might have been. That is the Paycheck Protection Program, which funneled money to workers through small businesses. More than five million small businesses took the PPP loans, representing 50 million jobs, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Congress in June. It persuaded small businesses to keep people on the payroll instead of laying them off. That helped...
Around a month ago, I got a much needed haircut. The day before my appointment, I mentioned it in passing to the residence life office assistant as I picked up the mail. I disclosed that it was my first time getting my haircut at this place, so the end result could be interesting. The office assistant replied with a statement along the lines of, “Well, they say there is nothing more honest than a child or a drunk.” After a quick chuckle, I realized how accurate that statement was -more so about...
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many events to be canceled this year, but it does not take away the opportunity to shop local during the holiday season. Communities across the country have found innovative ways to keep both business owners and customers safe. For example, the Valley County Chamber in Ord, made its annual Snowball Drop a virtual event. Starting in early November, the Chamber posted questions about local businesses on their social media. Every community member who responds to a...
I’ve read quite a few gratitude posts on social media lately, the ones where people share what they’re grateful for. Always reminds me of the scene from the movie “Arthur 2, “where Dudley Moore’s character is asked what he’s thankful for. His response, as he stares at full dinner plate made by his middle-class wife, played by Liza Minelli: I’m thankful I’ve got the smallest piece of meatloaf. Daughter Amanda likes to pull that line during our holiday gatherings. Never gets old. I count my bles...
Who deserves farm payments? Farm payments should be reserved for family farms facing difficult times, but the government and taxpayers should not support checks without limit to the largest operations. While enacting limits on farm payments, Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have failed to close loopholes that enable the largest farms to maneuver around them. Most farm payment programs are subject to a maximum payment, and generally farms with an adjusted gross income of more than...
