Stories from Thursday, February 16, 2012

Dyle D. Fritsche Feb. 26, 1925 - Feb. 14, 2012 MAYWOOD, Nebraska -- Dyle D. Fritsche, 86, of Maywood, Nebraska, died Feb. 14, 2012, at Great Plains Regional Medical Center, North Platte, Nebraska. 

He was born Feb. 26, 1925, at home near Quick, Nebraska, son of William and Charlotte (Easton) Fritsche.

Dyle married Gertrude Jean Vaughn on Sept. 9, 1944, at Oberlin, Kansas; to this union nine children were born...

TRENTON, Nebraska -- Citing their desire to treat all irrigators equally, board members of the Middle Republican Natural Resources District Tuesday afternoon struck language from their proposed rules and regulations that would have shut down wells in rapid response areas during years of predicted water shortages...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Sen. Mark Christensen prioritized a bill Tuesday that could be beneficial in the refilling process of Hugh Butler Lake, once repair work to Red Willow Dam is completed. The bill, LB 653, intends to allow for interbasin transfers of water during times of flooding. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Seventh and eighth grade social students at St. Pat's Catholic School grilled Nebraska U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns on a number of issues during a Skype interview Monday, finding out a few things about the senator. He supports Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney...

TRENTON, Nebraska -- The Middle Republican Natural Resources District board of directors voted Tuesday afternoon to help fund payments to landowners permanently retiring irrigated acres through the "Ogallala Aquifer Initiative." The Ogallala Aquifer Initiative is a voluntary program to provide technical and financial assistance to farmers and ranchers who want to improve water conservation on their agricultural land. ...

HAYES CENTER, Nebraska -- The Hayes Center, Nebraska, board of education hit a brick wall Monday evening when its members tried to schedule a recall election of one of its board members. Four tie votes left the board with no date for an election to recall board member Randy Richter, and petition circulators with questions about what to do next...

We haven't had a chance yet to read a new book about football in McCook, Nebraska, as well as Linton, North Dakota and Canadian, Texas, but we like the title. "Prairie Blitz: high school football on America's 50 yard line" by David Almany is ready to be released...

We would preferred to have it named the USS McCook, and there's already a USS Nebraska nuclear submarine in operation, but is heartening to see a new state-of-the-art Navy ship will be named after Omaha. The USS Omaha will look kind of like Darth Vader's flagship, a stealthy tri-hulled "Littoral Combat Ship" designed to deploy manned and unmanned vehicles and sensors in support of mine, undersea and surface warfare missions...

To all those new moms out there, just a heads up for the future, you will be required to provide "snacks" ALL the time and for EVERYTHING. Almost every facet of your child's life includes snacks, school, church, sports, at home, you name it. Snacks, snacks, snacks! So, when you're sitting there rocking your new baby, you may think, "Oh, snacks are no big deal. ...

Not much happening astronomically speaking this week. Venus and Jupiter are still the brightest things in the southwestern sky after sunset, and the moon is setting near sunrise. Next week tiny Mercury will be joining the evening crowd with a short appearance and brief conjunction with our old friend Uranus...

Roberta Blankenship March 6, 1938 - Feb. 16, 2012 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Roberta Blankenship, 73, orginally from Benkelman, Nebraska, died today (Feb. 16, 2012) at Hillcrest Nursing Home. Services are pending with Carpenter Breland Funeral Home.

I'm not a fan of the recent wave of "found footage" movies, but I can appreciate why they're popular -- the best ones have a raw, intimate quality that feels more like reality than a typically-shot fiction film does. The new 8-episode series "The River," airing Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ...