Stories from Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Benjamin Calep Ellis May 13, 1949 - Feb. 9, 2015 WRAY, Colo. -- Benjamin Calep Ellis was born May 13, 1949, in Wray to Thomas Caleb and Blanche (Redden) Ellis. He passed away Feb. 9, 2015, in Wray. Ben's first year of school was in a country school house in the Wiggins area. After that, he went to Wiggins Elementary up to the fifth grade. The family relocated to Haigler, Nebraska, and later moved to Indianola, Nebraska, where he attended high school...

Cynthia L. Raridon Dec. 2, 1953 - Feb. 17, 2015 ASHLAND, Neb. -- Cynthia L. Raridon, 61, formerly of Lincoln, Nebraska, passed away Feb. 17, 2015, in Ashland. She was born Dec. 2, 1953, in McCook, Nebraska, to Lloyd M. and Beverly Jean (Hale) Raridon. She was retired from the Nebraska Department of Roads Testing Lab...

This information is gathered at the McCook Public Safety Center, the McCook office of the Nebraska State Patrol, the Red Willow County Courthouse, the Red Willow County Sheriff's Office and the McCook Humane Society. Police activity Activity log...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The City of McCook approved a one-year lease with Prairie Gold Homes Monday evening, setting the stage for the non-profit to expand Department of Corrections inmate training options available locally. The lease agreement provides a rent-free facility for the non-profit at the now-vacant Public Safety Center on West B Street and is anticipated to strengthen the Work Ethic Camp, as well as assist McCook in addressing a local housing shortage...

McCOOK, Neb. -- If changes in the accounting procedures of the Republican River Compact were "monetized," they could be worth up to $1 billion over the next 50 years. Jesse Bradley, department head of the Integrated Water Management Division of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources in Lincoln, told those gathered for the annual Middle Republican Natural Resources District water conference in McCook Tuesday that the U.S. ...

Southwest Nebraska has its share of wealthy people, but most of us can't imagine what it would be like to be ranked on Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people. Bill Gates topped the list again, as he has for 16 of the last 21 years, with a net worth $79.2 billion. Gates, along with No. 3, Warren Buffett, worth only $72.7 billion, have made an effort to do good things with their wealth through charity activities, but let's put things in perspective:...

Well, that is two months of the new year we have burned through, now we are starting on the last month of the first quarter of the year. We also have two more planets appearing close to each other in our early evening sky, this time Venus will be helping us find the dim, distant planet Uranus and there will be another one next week...