Stories from Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Back in 1937, at 500 East M, there was the city pool and not much else, as shown in the top photo. The City of McCook built its first public pool in 1937 using federal funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), part of the "New Deal" to put millions of unemployed people back to work.The structure is still in use today at the same location. ...

Cleary Building Corp. regional manager Joey Loftsgard, left, presents branch manager Doug Brooks with the 2015 sales award for outstanding sales performance in 2015. Brooks works out of the company's Arapahoe, Nebraska, branch office. Brooks won Cleary's Elite Sales and $5-Million Club Awards. ...

Republicans have vowed to stall any nomination President Obama puts forth to replace Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia, but they'll have a hard time justifying opposition Merrick Garland, who the president was expected to nominate this morning. There are no qualifications spelled out to be a Supreme Court justice -- not even a law degree -- but one would be hard-pressed to find someone more qualified than Merrick Garland...

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following letter has been submitted to the McCook City Council and other city officials concerning a second proposed hotel development: We are writing you this letter to express our concerns for the health of the lodging industry and the property tax base that the current hotels in McCook represent...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Today, eMeetings, tomorrow, live streaming? At least one member of the McCook School Board would like to see it happen. With its regular meeting Monday night as its first eMeeting, the McCook School board tapped on their laptops instead of writing down notes, with the night's agenda shown via PowerPoint. School board member Bob Elder noted the change and added that it would nice in the future if the meetings could be set up so teachers and others could view the meetings at home...

MCCOOK, Neb. -- The superintendent of McCook Public Schools received only two comments from teachers about the school calendar for next year. One comment given anonymously was that they liked the school year beginning Aug. 17, in the middle of the week on Wednesday like it did this year, said Superintendent Grant Norgaard at the regular McCook School Board meeting Monday night. ...

Dirt blowing off fields obscures prairie "dinosaurs" near Marion, Nebraska, Tuesday morning. A couple hours later, drivers between Bartley and Cambridge had to use their wipers to clear dust and rain -- and the resulting mud -- from their windshields...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Buy local. Buy local. Buy local. Support your "mom and pop" stores. Spend your money at home. We've heard these sayings for more than a generation of years, thinking they're the catch phrases of modern-day commerce in response to big chain stores and box stores moving into smaller American markets...

McCOOK, Neb. -- A man arrested in January on felony charges for possessing methamphetamine and a loaded handgun was sentenced to probation last week in Red Willow County District Court. The offender, 29-year-old Nathan Keenan Deloach, admitted guilt in February to a Class IV felony offense for possession of methamphetamine and an infraction for possession of drug paraphernalia. The felony weapons charge was not pursued by Red Willow County Attorney Paul Wood...

Before we start, I would hope by now you have all made your annual "leap forward" and changed your clocks into Mountain Daylight Time. Daylight Saving Time, our annual leap of partial insanity which makes us think we have a longer day. I am reminded the story of when a Native American chief was told about Daylight Saving Time he said, "It would take the government to think that by cutting a foot off one end of a blanket and putting on the other that he would have a longer blanket."...