Stories from Thursday, December 4, 2008

CHICAGO -- In its third decade of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, the Gatorade Company, in partnership with ESPN RISE Magazine, today announced Tyrone Sellers of McCook High School as its 2008-09 Gatorade Nebraska Football Player of the Year...

The McCook City Fire Department has been awarded a $102,458 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Congressman Adrian Smith of Nebraska announced the award Wednesday. McCook City Fire Chief Marc Harpham confirmed that one of Smith's aides called with the good news...

Valmont Industries in McCook laid off 41 employees Wednesday. Employees were laid off because of the changed agricultural economy and with crop prices down, said Jeff Laudin, manager of investor relations in Valmont's corporate office in Omaha. Valmont manufactures steel and aluminum utility poles, specialty structures like cell phone towers and in the McCook plant, farm equipment such as irrigation systems...

The economic turmoil is taking its toll across the U.S., including for those in the McCook area who are adapting to unemployment, high food prices and the turbulent stock market. The first to feel the reverberations are usually those living on the edge, said Barb Ostrum of the Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska. ...

LINCOLN -- Daniel Wallen, 58, of McCook, who served a five-year term as a member of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, died Dec. 2 at Kindred Hospital in Houston, Texas, following a short illness. Wallen owned and operated a farm with his brother, Tim, near McCook. A native Nebraskan and graduate of the University of Nebraska, Wallen was appointed to the Commission by Gov. Ben Nelson and served in that capacity from Jan. 28, 1995 through Jan. 15, 2000...

HAYES CENTER -- Hayes Center Sheriff Tom Dow has requested that the Nebraska State Patrol assist in interviews into the taking of the Hayes Center Public Schools bus Nov. 17. No charges have been filed yet, Dow said. The bus was taken from its parking place on school property before 5 a.m., and returned later, with damages...

Last year's Scrooge Challenge continued to grow during 2008 and a gift this week from KRD Credit Union helped the challenge to surpass the $150,000 mark. Manager Jean Hester, center, presented a check to McCook Community Foundation Board members Scrooge (Don Harpst) and Kathy Latta. ...

Every year 5 percent to 20 percent of the U.S. population becomes infected with influenza virus, resulting in over 200,000 people hospitalized with complications. Vaccination is the best way to prevent the flu and its severe complications. While annual vaccination is recommended for many specific at risk groups of people, anyone who wants to reduce their risk for getting the flu should be vaccinated during the flu season...

Recently someone asked me, "How big is space?" Well, my answer was, "How big can you imagine?" When dealing with the great distances involved between astronomical objects, our mind sort of goes into a "boggle" state when we hear the numbers involved and we have a difficult time comprehending all of it...

Ex-xx-cu-uuse me The "City Money Sought for Keystone" headline in Tuesday's Gazette is not factual, Fact is it ain't the city's money … it's our money. Every dime the city has comes from our tax dollars or income generated by facilities built with our tax dollars. Even loot received from the feds comes from our taxes. Government only provides the staff and support necessary to serve as a conduit for our money to projects that will benefit the community...

Amid the general gloom and doom in the economy in general, the mood around the gas pump is a bright spot. But don't think it's just because drivers are forking over less cash. The folks selling the fuel are making more money in the process. That's the surprising economic reality, according to the Oil Price Information Service...