Stories from Wednesday, February 5, 2014

50th anniversary The family of John and Diane Hanson of North Platte, Nebraska, is requesting a card shower in honor of the couple's 50th wedding anniversary Feb. 8. Their family includes son, John Hanson, wife, Meagan and their children, Alex, Evan, Ellie, and Abbie of North Platte; daughter, Karen Harrach and husband, Mike and their daughter, Meredith, of Blue Springs, Missouri; and daughter, Mary Martin and husband, Mitch and their children, Brennen, Erynn and Keira of Brighton, Colorado. ...

McCook Community Colege McCOOK, Nebraska -- Patrons of the arts have two weeks left to see the works of a photographer whose work has been showcased on both coasts and remains a highly-sought out artist. Peter Brown's landscapes and images of small town Great Plains life have been displayed in New York, Los Angeles, Houston and San Francisco...

BELLEVUE, Nebraska -- An area woman is among the the nearly 1,100 students who earned Bellevue University degrees during the last half of 2013. Kathy Dernovich of Culbertson received a bachelor's of science degree in behavioral science. The school conferred 1,097 total degrees from June to December 2013, including 366 master's degrees and 731 bachelor's degrees...

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Television cameras will focus the spotlight on McCook during a series of segments to be shown on Lincoln and Grand Island stations KOLN TV, KGIN TV and KSNB TV during February and March. Two of the television stations' news and weather on-air personalities, Jon Vanderford and Brad Anderson, came to McCook Saturday, Jan. 25, to film the segments for the "Pure Nebraska" series...

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Today, Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) introduced the Critical Access Hospital Relief Act which would repeal the burdensome 96-Hour rule now being enforced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This regulation requires physicians at Critical Access Hospitals at the time of admission to certify Medicare and Medicaid patients will not be there more than 96 hours. Otherwise, the hospital must transfer the patient or face non-reimbursement...

Twelve-year-old Austin Kreutzer scoops the light-weight snow that blew away almost as easily in the 30-40 mile-an-hour wind that blasted through McCook, Nebraska, Tuesday. This morning, City of McCook road crews bladed away what accumulated and drifted through the night, hitting the streets at 4 a.m. Forecasters warned of extremely low temperatures and wind chills of -25 degrees through noon today. They predict only single-digit high temps through Thursday...

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Decorated combat veteran and 1997 World Sniper Champion, Col. Tom Brewer, has set his sights on a new target these days after retiring from the military life earlier this year. Brewer announced his candidacy in January for the western congressional district seat occupied by fellow Republican and U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith...

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri -- O'Reilly Auto Parts, one of the largest auto parts groups in the nation, will open a store in McCook in late spring or early to mid summer of 2014, a company official announced today in a telephone conversation with the McCook Gazette news department...

With a purple minion on her right shoe and a yellow minion on her left, Sierra Paulson of McCook, Nebraska, displays the custom-decorated shoes her dad, Shawn Paulson, created for her. Sierra -- 13 years old and a seventh grader at McCook Junior High -- said she likes the adorable little minion characters in the "Despicable Me" animated movies, and asked her artist dad to decorate a pair of shoes for her. ...

It seems like a no-brainer. Why should a business built on helping people get healthy sell a product that is one of the leading causes of illness in the country? But that's exactly what the second biggest drugstore chain in the nation will continue to do until Oct. 1, when CVS Caremark will finally have pulled all tobacco products from the shelves of its 7,600 pharmacies...

Maverick veteran lawmaker Ernie Chambers is at it again, this time in an unlikely arena, the debate on taxes. To the joy of some and the bewilderment of others, the proclaimed atheist state senator has offered a bill (LB675) that would end the property tax exemption for Nebraska churches. The man who sued God back in 2007 is, once again, quoting the Bible to prove his point. Wait, an atheist quoting the Bible? Not surprising to me...

Well, we have survived halfway through winter. Sunday, Feb. 2, marks the halfway point between winter and spring, which is only 43 more days away. Feb. 2, is a cross-quarter day, or a day that is halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox which are two of the quarter-days, the other two being the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox...