Stories from Thursday, July 11, 2019

HASTINGS, Neb. — The McCook Force finished second at Nebraska’s Class C 14-and-under state softball tournament with only two losses to champion Auburn Adrenaline stopping them from a championship last weekend. McCook Force won four other state games over Kearney, 6-2; Bennington, 5-3; Wakefield, 13-1; and 5-2 over Meridian during this 25-team, double-elimination tourney...

Nila M. Murrain Oct. 8, 1927 - July 9, 2019 LINCOLN, Neb. — Nila M. Murrain, of McCook died on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, at St. Elizabeth’s in Lincoln. A memorial service will be Saturday, July 13, 2019, at 10 a.m., at the Methodist Church in McCook. Pastor Jeff Kelley will officiate. Burial will take place at Fort McPherson Cemetery at a later date. All Faiths Funeral Home is entrusted with arrangements...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Every day, Matt and Shelly Sehnert make decisions affecting their local business, Sehnert’s Bakery and Bieroc Cafe in McCook, from how many employees to hire to the number of apple fritters and creme horns to make. The answer to the last one: There can never be too many...

McCOOK, Neb. — Bizarre can only describe what happened midway through game two of McCook’s baseball home doubleheader against Broken Bow last Wednesday evening. One fact became clear: McCook American Legion 203 leaders are already focused on doing what they can to keep this “unfortunate situation” from happening again...

Lorry sughroue Associate Editor McCOOK, Neb. — It was a hard pill to swallow but it in the end it paid off: the changes and reductions in staff at the McCook Public School District this year resulted in nearly $400,000 in savings. McCook Schools Business manager John Brazell told the McCook School Board Monday night that $390,000 in savings will be seen for the district in the 2019-20 fiscal year, due to staffing being reduced and re-assigned this past year...

McCOOK, Neb. — The number of passengers flying to and from the McCook City airport on Boutique Air are looking up for second quarter totals. Boutique Air, the federally subsidized essential air service at McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport, reported a total of 579 passengers flying out of the airport from April to June. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — The Heritage Hills Men’s League continued their season’s second half Wednesday evening: A League Old Sarge’s Bar 39 Samway/Michaelis 38.5 Golight 37.5 Gary Thompson Agcy 37 Culbertson Bank 37...

Voting was split this morning for the annual Crazy Days costume contest, with Pinnacle Bank and the Pinnacle Agency, below, sharing bragging rights with the Sports Shoppe, right. Both winners will be awarded the winning prize of a free quarter-page ad from the Gazette. ...

SUTHERLAND, Neb. — The “Different Strokes” pool team from TJ’s Family Fun Center in McCook will advance to the American Poolplayers Association (APA) Masters Championship in Las Vegas this August after winning the Western Nebraska Masters Regional Championship at Longhorn Bar recently...

McCOOK, Neb. — It’s more than reading, writing and arithmetic for students at McCook Public Schools. Rather, students are being given opportunities throughout their school years to think about their choices after graduation. Principals at McCook Public Schools presented to the McCook School board Monday night examples of what teachers are doing at each grade level to prepare kids for career and college readiness. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — Six McCook Community College student-athletes were selected by their respective coaches to be recognized for the 2018-2019 academic year as Athletes of the Year in their individual sports. From these six outstanding athletes, who were also successful students in the classroom, the MCC Indians Boosters selected the overall male and female athletes for the year...

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A team of researchers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln needs the help of curious people. Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, professor of civil engineering at Nebraska, is seeking citizen scientists to conduct water tests in August for a program that aims to track water quality across the state while also keeping Nebraskans safe...

BROKEN BOW, Neb. — A super second-half surge this season has earned McCook’s First Central Bank Juniors the No. 1 seed entering B-6 area tourney play on Friday. The Juniors (12-11 record) have won 10 of 13 games since a 2-8 start. They just went 3-1 at the Fort Morgan (Colo.) Tournament last week...

MINDEN — Turn those frowns around because McCook National Bank still left Minden with an upside-down “M” Wednesday evening. Yes, few could understand how the Seniors delivered only four hits against 4-10 Minden pitching. “They (Minden) were throwing fastballs down the middle at 65 miles an hour,” coach Scott Smalley said. “And we struck out 11 times.”...

Congratulations to Nebraska lawmakers and McCook school administrators for seeing to it that high school graduates are exposed to at least the basics of how our political system works. The basics, like the three branches of government, balance of powers and rule of law somehow got pushed aside in decades past as other social issues drew attention away from the fundamentals...