Stories from Thursday, January 8, 2015

Joann A. Smolczyk April 13, 1935 - Jan. 4, 2015 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Joann A. Smolczyk passed away Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015, at Bryan LGH in Lincoln, Nebraska at the age of 79. Jo was born on April 13, 1935, in Bellevue, Nebraska, to parents Alvin J. and Estelle A. ...

Lillian Lorena Power July 7, 1917 - Dec. 18, 2014 GRANT, Neb. -- Lillian Lorena Power was born on July 7, 1917, at Gothenburg, Nebraska. She was the youngest of seven children born to Clyde and Lorena Guhr Bryant. Lillian grew up in Gothenburg and graduated from high school in 1934. After graduation, she attended Kearney State Teacher's College for a year...

Red Willow County, Nebraska, Clerk Magistrate Gretchen Wiebe, right, administers the oath of office to the county's newest slate of officers in the district courtroom this morning. From the left are: Clerk of the district court Lori O'Dea, county assessor Sandra Kotschwar, county clerk Tami Teel, county treasurer Marleen Garcia, county commissioner Vesta Dack, county roads superintendent Gary Dicenta, Sheriff Alan Kotschwar, county attorney Paul Wood and county commissioner Earl McNutt...

Cowboys Irvin Mowry, left, Chad Van Campen, center, and Jeb Fortin, and Alex Yonkers in an ATV, move cows along a Red Willow County road northwest of McCook, Nebraska, in bright, warm sunshine Tuesday morning. Don Klein -- in a tractor with bales as the lure -- said the crew moved the cows from winter pasture to a near-section of land with feed bunks, closer to home as the cows near calving season. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Community Hospital has put a temporary visitor restriction in place due to the increased outbreak of influenza in the area, according to Sharon Conroy, RN, Community Hospital Infection Prevention. Staff at the hospital is asking that people do not visit patients if they have a fever of more than 100 degrees and have a cough and/or a sore throat...

McCOOK, Neb. -- National law enforcement support organizations are promoting "Law Enforcement Appreciation Day" on Friday, Jan. 9. The effort hopes to bring supporters for law enforcement agencies to the forefront during a time when negative attention towards authorities is being spread at a staggering rate...

LINCOLN, Neb -- The opening this spring of the new "Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center" near Grant, in Perkins County, means local and global hands-on wheat research and changes in University of Nebraska Extension programming areas in Southwest Nebraska...

Americans enjoy jokes at France's expense. But jokers are forgetting the long relationship the United States has enjoyed with the French, arms and soldiers essential to defeating the British in the American Revolution, to the gift of the giant statue that greets ships arriving in New York Harbor, through two world wars and continuing today...

So I spent some time with my little nieces and nephews over the holidays and forgot what being 3 and 4 years old was kind of like. One really cool thing I was reminded of was the fact that sometimes it's okay to have an alter ego. Ya know, like an imaginary friend who can come and go as you please. There when you need them and gone when you don't...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Dixie, an 18-month-old boxer-greyhound mix, left the McCook, Nebraska, Humane Society animal shelter Friday about 3 p.m., en route to a new home 1,500 miles away, in sunny San Jose, California. With her new family, Dixie feels "like she is home."...

BARTLEY, Neb. -- Three of the four Curtis, Nebraska, teens injured in a pickup-semi truck accident late evening Jan. 7 near Bartley are brothers. All four of the boys were transported to Cambridge Memorial Hospital in Cambridge, and Curstun "Curty" Barthel, 15, was flown to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, and his brother T.J. Barthel, 14, was transferred by ambulance to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha...