Stories from Thursday, March 24, 2016

One of the the frustrations healthcare providers endure is knowing that many of the problems they treat are self-inflicted. Lack of exercise, poor diet and other lifestyle choices ultimately send many of us to the hospital or the morgue. It's tempting, therefore, to tax those poor lifestyle choices, both to make alternatives more attractive and, in this day of "universal" healthcare, to pay for the treatment required...

A friend of mine, Margaret Shapiro, who was born in Australia and raised in England, recently loaned me a copy of International Travel News for October 2015. It was full of interesting facts, including a story about the trip of an Anne Taylor of Columbus, Ohio, to Tasmania, an island off the coast of Australia...

Here's a shout out to all the happy folks that keep honking at me in the drive lane at school! And a kind request to reconsider your honking in the future. First of all, we're not in a big city where honking is a norm. Here in small-town Mayberry, most of us aren't in that big of a hurry and things are that far away...

ATWOOD, Kan. -- KYVZ Super Hits 106.1 is the new radio station transmitting out of Atwood, Kan., and reaching out to areas near McCook, Nebraska. The Rawlins County Square Deal newspaper reports that station owner Joe Vyzourek started programming Thursday, March 17, playing "The National Anthem" and Three Dog Night's "The Show Must Go On."...

McCOOK, Neb. -- A McCook City Councilwoman hopes to make changes to an unpopular traffic light at the intersection of Norris Avenue and C Street. City Councilwoman Janet Hepp directed city staff to look into options for the traffic light earlier this week, indicating she would prefer a sensor was installed which allowed Norris Avenue traffic to continue to flow when C Street traffic was nonexistent...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Charles Jordan has traded the liquid jewel tones of liquor bottles in rows for the vivid natural colors of flowers and plants in a cooler, opening "Charlie's Flower Bar" in downtown McCook. Chuck said, during his opening week in mid-March, that people recognize him from bars where he worked for 15 years, and he helped in a friend's flower shop for a year. ...

Tanner Bauer of Culbertson installs new windshield wipers during the storm that roared through Southwest Nebraska with snow and high winds Wednesday. No worries, though, there's a little bit of moisture in the white stuff, and it'll melt quickly in the 50- and 60-degree temperatures predicted through the weekend...

McCOOK, Neb. -- District 44 State Sen. Dan Hughes' bill expanding hazing prohibitions to younger students passed on final reading this morning on a 47-0-2 vote. Sen. Hughes said just prior to the floor debate he thought it would go well. The legislation stems from a hazing incident at Cambridge High School which resulted in the expulsion of at least one student and the firing of a wrestling coach who is now appealing the decision...

McCOOK, Neb. -- State legislators advanced legislation Wednesday removing public scrutiny from much of the vetting process when selecting leadership for major institutions like the University of Nebraska. The bill, LB 1109, passed on final reading on a 38-8-3 vote and advanced to the Governor desk with very little opposition from state legislators...