Stories from Tuesday, March 29, 2016

It is the yearly ritual of preparing our income tax return. I've personally done it every year since 1956. Keeping records with the help of a personal computer has been a great help as that aid became available. Then in more recent years being able to purchase a computer program that accounts for every nook and cranny of the complex law, well almost, helps make the task easier...

Cambridge Chamber of Commerce president Sam Jaeger presents Kathy Benson of Cambridge with one of three "Chamber Member of the Year" awards for individual members. The Chamber honored business and individual members during its annual mixer/appreciation banquet in February. Others receiving honors were Barb Langley and Jeff Ommert, and Hometown Agency, Mark's Pharmacy and Twin Valleys Public Power District...

McCook Gazette McCOOK, Neb. -- Pearl Harbor and war elephants became a little more real for some eighth grade students at McCook Junior High. The National History Day projects of Candace Coleman, Kori Uerling, Brolin Morgan and Elsi Rodewald have advanced from district competition in Kearney to the state contest in Lincoln that will be April 16. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- More than 400 of the area's best and brightest high school students will be on the McCook Community College campus Wednesday to compete for more than $20,000 in scholarships at MCC's annual Inter-High day competition. These students will be competing in 26 academic areas this year. $500 scholarships will be awarded to the top placing tester in each of the academic areas...

Here in Nebraska, our land is our livelihoods -- farms and ranches cover 92 percent of the state's total land area. Agricultural production in Nebraska accounts for $22.6 billion of the Gross State Product and supports nearly a quarter of the state's workforce, but because our farms and are so expansive, small aircraft help us to get food on the table for our own families and for citizens around us country, and often, the world...

Thanks to our location near Colorado, the subject of legalized marijuana for recreational or medical use is the most common topic of drug-related conversation in Southwest Nebraska. But a much more potent class of chemicals, in the form of opium-derived legal and illegal drugs, is worthy of discussion...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Most parents have months to prepare for their new baby. Kaitlyn Furchert and fiancé Lawrence Beal, of McCook, had less than three hours. Furchert was taken to the emergency room around 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 2 because she was experiencing severe abdominal pain. It was blizzarding outside; some of the snowdrifts in the couple's driveway were as tall as Furchert...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The deadline is nearing for the McCook Community Foundation Fund 2016 spring community grants. Grant applications are due by 5 p.m. Friday, April 1. Grant applicants must align with the Fund's mission to improve the quality of life for the people of Southwest Nebraska. ...

Work is progressing on the Cobblestone Hotel under construction at the intersection of U.S. Highway 83 and N Street in McCook. BriMark Builders representatives indicated Tuesday the project is on pace for a mid-June opening. The three-story, 54-room hotel, will include an indoor swimming pool and 50-person meeting accommodations...

HAYES CENTER, Neb. -- Coordinators plan a "Mobile Pantry" to distribute 5,000 pounds of food Saturday, April 2, from 10 a.m. until noon, in the old Hayes Center junior/senior high school gym. Participants MUST bring their own boxes and bags -- laundry baskets, little red wagons and small, collapsible wheeled shopping carts (all with clean wheels, please) work well-- because boxes are not available at the site. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The City of McCook will begin crack sealing several streets throughout the community on Wednesday, March 30. The road repair project is anticipated to take two to three days to complete, weather permitting. B and H Paving is the contractor...