Stories from Tuesday, January 5, 2016

LaVada J. Fichtner Feb. 17, 1929 - Jan. 4, 2016 GOTHENBURG, Neb. -- LaVada J. Fichtner, 86, of Gothenburg, died Jan. 4, 2016, in Gothenburg. She was born Feb. 17, 1929, in Porum, Oklahoma, daughter of B.L. and Vera (Matthews) Lucas. LaVada grew up in Porum. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Red Willow County commissioners agreed on a bridge study, new guidelines for hazardous materials waste charges and sick days for jailers Monday morning, during their first meeting of 2016. Board members will officially reorganize their positions and responsibilities for 2016 during their meeting Monday, Jan. 11...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Pheasants Forever along with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Farm Service Agency will be hosting 56 landowner meetings around the state. This general CRP sign-up will continue through Feb. 26. Four meetings will be held in Frontier, Red Willow, Hayes and Hitchcock counties in January 2016...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The McCook Toy Box giveaway provided hundreds of area children with Christmas toys recently, including more than 150 bicycles, and the event was proudly supported by volunteers investing more than 1400 hours of their own time. Coordinator Barb Ostrum recapped final numbers for the charity event to the McCook City Council Monday evening and thanked city leaders for waiving the Memorial Auditorium rental fee. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- A planned development district for a housing project advanced recently and put it on pace to become the newest entity managed by the sales tax reliant McCook Economic Development Corp. The Final Planned Development District for Quillan Courts was unanimously approved by the McCook City Council on its second of three required readings Monday evening. ...

CULBERTSON, Neb. -- the Southwest Nebraska CERT -- Community Emergency Response Team -- plans an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Culbertson fire barn at Warsaw and Taylor in Culbertson. The public is invited to attend. For more information, call (308) 737-5855...

The Internet has made vast amounts of information available to the masses, but there has been a disconnect when it comes to official documents. Reporters used to be able to read handwritten "incident reports" in police stations and sheriff's offices, but the advent of computerized record keeping restricted access to the point that those reports are sanitized or altogether unavailable for the press and members of the public...

Eleven-year-old Gracie Manley offers hot chocolate to Karen Kliment Thompson, who, along with family and friends, officers and members of the McCook Area of Commerce and the McCook Cordials, welcomed Gracie's dad's new business, "On the Spot Plumbing Services LLC" to the Chamber and to the business community of McCook. ...

COLUMBUS, Neb. -- Nebraska Public Power District is preparing to begin 2016 with new power supply contracts in place with a majority of its wholesale customers. "We are nearing the end of the contract renewal process," said President and CEO Pat Pope. ...

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. -- One business each in Stamford and Orleans were found to be non-compliant when the Nebraska State Patrol, conducted compliance checks at 13 businesses in Harlan and Phelps Counties. They were the Rusty Spur in Stamford and Paddington Station in Orleans...

The first week in the new year and it is a slow news day. The politicians aren't back to work yet -- not a bad thing. No change in the hopefuls running for president since the end of last year. Trump is full of bombast and no plan laid out on how to get things done. Cruz I like and Rubio not a bad choice either. Hillary and or Bernie too horrible to contemplate. Politics!...