Stories from Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The McCook School Board is pondering the future of the former District 8 facilities southwest of town, which have been unused as a school since the 2007-08 year. During a public hearing Monday evening, however, Richard Klein, president of the former District 8 board, warned that litigation may not be over yet and told the board not to make any hasty decisions...

Farm groups are uniting behind wind power, and with good reason. Although Nebraska has better wind power potential than all but five other states, we're number 22 when it comes to putting that wind to work. To rural landowners, the wind actually is something to be farmed for income, leasing land for thousands of dollars a year -- while still using much of the land surrounding the wind turbines productively...

I am writing in response to Dick Trail's Oct. 6 column titled "McCook's town hall meeting." In this column Mr. Trail referred to the open public meeting as a "carefully scripted meeting" and mentioned that "participants had to submit questions before the meeting and then those were sorted so that Senator Ben was only exposed to non-controversial topics." I served as moderator for the public meeting and wish Mr. ...

Problem 7 with the Model -- Base Flows and Dams When you build a dam and store a lot of water in the reservoir, some of that water will seep into the ground and increase the aquifer levels in the areas below the dam. The increased aquifer levels will cause an increase in the amount of water seeping out of the ground and into the streams. At least that is how it works everywhere except in the Republican River Basin...

Talk to an ag producer and the complaint is restricted irrigation. Today's water allocation is only ten percent of what it used to be and "they" are talking about shutting us off completely. Crops are suffering from drought. Whole fields are allowed to dry up and wither away. ...

STEVE KODAD Gazette Sports Editor Despite a considerable difference in enrollments, McCook and Southwest have developed an intense volleyball rivalry. The annual Red Willow County net war will be renewed tonight at the Senior High School when the Bison girls and Rough Riders square off...

STEVE KODAD Gazette Sports Editor McCook High School head softball coach Jason Cochran might be hoping for a little bit of snow in Hastings this week for the Class B State Softball Championships. Cochran's Bison squad won five straight games in cold, snowy conditions at Chadron last Friday and Saturday to claim the B-6 District title and qualify for state...

As I write to you, the Senate Finance Committee has acted on the latest version of health care reform. I continue to believe we need to reform our health care system to bring down rising costs and shore up our delivery system. Paying for this reform is a big part of the debate. ...

The mission of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services is to serve and protect the public by providing humane care and program opportunities to the 5,300 inmates and parolees placed in its custody. The department's chief responsibility is to protect Nebraska citizens. ...