Stories from Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The boys and girls track teams from McCook and North Platte battled the elements as much as each other in a dual meet Monday afternoon at the McCook High School track. The meet was rescheduled from last Thursday because of weather. It was contested despite chilly temperatures, snow flurries and wind gusts up to 30 miles an hour...

HASTINGS -- The McCook Community College Indian baseball team swept a doubleheader from the Hastings College junior varsity last Thursday in Hastings. McCook won the opener 4-0 and the second game 5-3. In Game 1, sophomore right hander John Braun threw a one-hit complete game shutout for his first victory of the year (1-0)...

April 11, 1915 - March 29, 2009 LACROSSE, Kan. -- Mary Lucille Stackhouse, 93, died Sunday (March 29, 2009) at Rush County Nursing Home. She was born April 11, 1915, in rural Jewell County, Kan., to Charlie E. and Martha E. (Crumley) Stackhouse. She grew up in Jewell County and graduated from Lebanon High School in 1933. She attended Fort Hays and received her teaching certificate...

LINCOLN -- Once again, Nebraska faces a dual problem. Parts of the western side of the state could face drought problems under below-normal precipitation this spring, but parts of the eastern side of the state could face flood problems under above-normal precipitation, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln state climatologist said...

GRANT -- Perkins County Schools has reported an extremely high absenteeism due to influenza in their school system in Grant, according to the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department. Thirty six out of 117 students were absent Monday, because of diagnosed influenza or influenza-like symptoms...

If you want to know about public vs. private healthcare, talk to Natalie Brooks of McCook. After spending two months job shadowing doctors in Argentina, where the health care is split between government-owned and private, the 22-year old has her own ideas on the subject. And her impressions are mixed...

In these trying days, I am amazed of the things that make the news, The federal debt, is one good bet, that the editor will always choose. The other things the A.P. brings, is sad and scary times. The best of all, since way last fall is one of the local headlines...

It was checkup time and, yes, I found today's Air Force in great shape. I find it hard to believe that they can still be a lean and powerful fighting force without my help but they seem to be doing just fine. Darn! Ann and I were invited to MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa for a conference called Phoenix Rally. ...

Someone sorts through architectural salvage and rubble taken out of the big yellow house at 301 E. Second in McCook, the subject of a disagreement between the City of McCook and owner Terry Jessen of Scottsbluff/Gering. City officials and the McCook Health Board and Property Resolution Team want the 110-year-old house torn down. ...

NELSON INTRODUCES "OPERATION AIRLIFT" March 31, 2009 -- Today, Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson introduced bipartisan legislation allowing new travel reimbursements for National Guard and Reserve service members nationwide that was inspired by 48 Nebraska National Guard soldiers who almost didn't make it home for Christmas because of travel restrictions...

It isn't hard to justify Bo Pelini's new $1.851 million annual salary, a $751,000 raise from the $1.1 million he made in 2008. The raise makes him only the seventh highest paid coach in the Big 12, up from 11th last year. "When you compare B0's performance and experience with other coaches, he was certainly deserving of a significant salary increase," Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said. The new contract also adds a year, through Feb. 28, 2014...