Stories from Thursday, March 21, 2019

Two of my bills, LB302 and LB127, passed on final reading on Friday the fifteenth. All Transportation and Telecommunications and Natural Resources committee hearings are finished. I will be using my afternoons for the next two weeks to study the bills coming up on the floor, and looking at all of the priority bills...

A year and a half after Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast vacation destination of Port Aransas, residents are struggling to get things back to normal. Tourism is picking up, but not the throngs that flocked to fishing charters, nature sanctuaries and beaches in years past, before Hurricane Harvey hit...

As a former high school history teacher, I often get inspiration from great moments in history -- such as the Gettysburg Address, delivered by President Lincoln. The president dedicated a cemetery after the Battle of Gettysburg with over 50,000 casualties; the last part of the address gives me my marching orders in today’s political climate...

89th birthday Patsy Lee (Kleesick) Redfern, formerly of Bartley, Neb., is celebrating her 89th birthday (very quietly) today, March 21, 2019, at her new home at Brookdale McCook, room 301. She is the daughter of the late Fred and Lucille Kleesick, formerly of Bartley and the wife of the late Alan Redfern, formerly of Marion, Neb. She has one son, James Redfern of rural route McCook and one granddaughter, Erika Allen of Denver, Colo...

McCOOK, Neb. — Garden Prairie United Methodist Church, north of McCook on Highway 83, raised $1,173 for flood and blizzard relief at its free-will donation pancake supper Sunday, March 17. Coordinators report they went through 15 dozen eggs and 200 sausage links and served innumerable pancakes as God's people came together to help victims of flooding and blizzards throughout so much of Nebraska...

CURTIS, Neb. — The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis plans a free-will donation supper Tuesday evening to assist Nebraska's victims of unprecedented flooding and blizzards, and is addressing the specific needs of its ag students impacted by the natural disasters...

Ten-year-old Mikayla Anderson of Omaha has discovered a new "favorite thing to do," helping people by giving away sub sandwiches and drinks to responders in Nebraska's flooding. Her dad, Brandon, is among state crews and Nebraska National Guard personnel who are manning, in 12-hour shifts, the barricaded roads damaged and destroyed by flood water. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook City Council approved a new pay category to the city’s classification and pay plan, to acknowledge seasonal workers who return year after year. By a unanimous vote, and suspending the usual three-reading rule for ordinances, the council approved Monday night at the regular meeting to add the “Season II Employment” category, at $10.20 to $13 per hour, to the pay grade for the City of McCook...

McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors chose Willow Creek Meats as the second quarter honor business. Willow Creek Meats was instrumental in sponsoring the chamber’s Ag Appreciation Breakfast, which will be held Saturday, March 30 from 7 to 9 a.m. at the McCook City Auditorium...