Stories from Thursday, February 26, 2015

Virginia L. Wilkinson Feb. 24, 1924 - Feb. 21, 2015 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Longtime Goodland, Kansas, resident Virginia L. Wilkinson, 90, died Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015, at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was born Feb. 24, 1924, at Kirk, Colorado, the daughter of Alice Lillian (Dillon) and Elmer Havens. On July 18, 1942, she and Lloyd Wilkinson were married at St. Francis, Kansas...

Mary K. Allen Feb. 17, 1920 - Feb. 22, 2015 MINDEN, Neb. -- Mary K. Allen, 95 years of age, formerly of Benkelman, Nebraska, died on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, at the Kearney County Health Services-Hospital in Minden. Lunch will be at the Benkelman Methodist Church on March 14, 2015, at 12 p.m. with inurnment at 1 p.m. in the Benkelman Cemetery. Layton-Craig Funeral Home in Minden is in charge of arrangements...

CULBERTSON, Neb. -- Hitchcock County Elementary in Culbertson was one of two schools that were recognized earlier this month as Nebraska's 2014 Title I Distinguished Schools. The other school is DC West Elementary School in Valley, Nebraska. The schools were recognized during a national Title I conference in Salt Lake City, Utah...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The warden of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Work Ethic Camp in McCook sees a new vocational construction program for work camp inmates at the work camp as "a win-win situation" for all involved. Warden Pam Morello told those gathered for the Work Ethic Camp's Community Involvement Committee meeting Tuesday morning that the WEC's partnership with Prairie Gold Homes will be good for inmates who will learn marketable skills they can use upon their release, and that the creation of affordable housing "will be huge for McCook.". ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The use of Tax Increment Financing for economic development in Nebraska may have additional oversight requirements implemented, but is unlikely to see major changes this session, according to one legislator. District 44 State Sen. Dan Hughes said the Urban Affairs Committee received more testimony in support of TIF projects this week than was presented in opposition...

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. -- It's going to cost students an extra $2 per credit hour to take "for credit" classes through Mid-Plains Community College next year. On Wednesday, the MPCC Board of Governors approved a 2.13 percent increase in resident tuition - raising the per credit hour rate from $79 to $81...

McCook, Neb. -- The Community Hospital Board of Directors was updated at the February 18 meeting on the second quarter balanced scorecard results as well as other director education and reports. Under board education, the directors reviewed the board member job description and the Elements of Governance Board Roles and Responsibilities. Several healthcare magazine news articles were also included in their packets as well as information on two upcoming conferences...

Seatbelts have been required in American cars since the early 1960s, but not in school buses. Why not? That's what Dawn Prescott of Fremont wants to know, urging Nebraska lawmakers to adopt LB373, offered by Sen. Robert Hilkeman of Omaha, which would require public school buses purchased after Jan. 1, 2016 to come equipped with lap-shoulder belts. Schools would have to demonstrate twice a year how to properly wear the belts...

"They love each other; who are you to deny them happiness?" So goes the mantra of the humanist mind ... Human feelings are subjectively relevant, but hardly sound rationale for making decisions. In the matter of "same-sex marriage" ontological truth is the sole judge of facts, and these principles must guide our response. ...