Stories from Thursday, June 26, 2014

Don't drive after drinking. It's a message we've been hearing for years, drummed into our consciences by campaigns like that mounted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (née Drivers) and ever-tightening laws that have moved the blood alcohol level from .1 to .08 and even lower in some jurisdictions...

Granger Smith -- this year's Friday night headliner at the Red Willow County Fair -- admitted that he hadn't necessarily set out to be an "indie" performer when he started his career more than a decade ago.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska is partnering with McCook Clinic P.C. and nine other health care clinics on a new method of payment for doctors that is the first of its kind in Nebraska. BCBSNE and the South East Rural Physician Alliance Accountable Care Organization, an affiliation of 10 independent Nebraska clinics, have signed what's known as a "Total Cost of Care" payment contract. ...

City of McCook, Nebraska, and Red Willow Western emergency personnel respond to a two-vehicle accident at 4:45 p.m., Wednesday, two miles south of McCook on Highway 83 at County Road No. 713. Both pickups were totaled and three victims were transported to Community Hospital of McCook. ...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A Papillion, Nebraska, woman was killed and a McCook man injured severely in a one-vehicle roll-over accident reported about 1 a.m., today. The Nebraska State Patrol reports that Roxanne "Roxie" Boehm Arens, 43 years old, died and Charles "Chuck" Jordan, 42, was injured when their 2005 Jeep left Highway 83 about six miles north of McCook and rolled in the ditch. Both were ejected in the crash...

A ladybug stands out in stark contrast to the golden wheat in a field northwest of McCook, Nebraska, recently. Wheat needs more hot days and more sunshine before it's ready for harvest.

It was only a year ago when we were talking about banning fireworks altogether because conditions were so dry. It will take a long time to recharge the ground moisture, but without even adding in all of the overnight precipitation, we've received almost three-quarters of an inch more precipitation than normal for the year, 11.63 inches of moisture...