Stories from Tuesday, February 22, 2022

McCOOK, Neb. — McCook High’s boys begin B-7 subdistrict play at 6 p.m. tonight knowing not to expect a repeat of their 40-point win over Lexington last month. “Lexington has been playing their best ball of the season as of late. The last time we played them we shot exceptionally well and Lexington didn’t,” Bison coach Joe Imus observed. “We are expecting a much more competitive game this time around...

OMAHA, Neb. — Losses have been known to keep Levi Kerner awake in the middle of nights. Blame it on big brother Zack needing to finish his own ZZZs! “Yeah, when were younger, I would sometimes jump out of bed and tell Zack said let’s go!” Arapahoe’s senior heavyweight revealed after finishing a 50-0 heavyweight season Saturday night. “Zack would get up, wrestle and whip me then say ‘now go back to sleep.’ We were that much of a wrestling family.”...

OMAHA, Neb. — Red alert roared across Omaha because if anyone was spotted shaking hands with McCook’s Makayla Pate... They were going down fast to the CHI Health Center wrestling mats. Pate didn’t just beat three Omaha Class A school opponents on Friday at the CHI Health Center...

OMAHA, Neb. — McCook junior Alex Anthony dominated his final Class B state match while every Bison wrestling qualifier won at least once in CHI Health Center last weekend. Coach Nick Umscheid provides more details about Anthony, sophomore Canyon Hosick and senior girl Gwyneth Davis...

Donald O’Neil WAUNETA, Neb. — Donald O’Neil, 77, of Wauneta, died Wednesday (Feb. 9, 2022), at Perkins County Community Hospital in Grant, Neb. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn of Wauneta; children, Sandra (Doug) Reinke of Imperial, Neb., Kathleen (Marty)Misfeldt of Blair, Neb., Shaun (Mindy) O’Neil of Brighton, Colo., and Shannon (Sandy) O’Neil of Wauneta; brother, Ron (Nancy) O’Neil of Wauneta; sisters, Mary Carman of Imperial, and Patti Fanning of Wauneta; and seven grandchildren...

McCOOK, Neb. – A Republican gubernatorial candidate, along with his running mate, met with business leaders in McCook on Friday afternoon in and effort to learn about issues that are important to southwest Nebraska voters. State Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha chose Dave Rippe of Hastings, Neb. as his pick for lieutenant governor. Rippe is the former director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development...

McCOOK, Neb. – Applications are still being accepted for the position of the McCook Chamber President said Chamber Board of Directors Chairperson Lori Beeby. “We’re looking for someone that’s passionate about the community and wanting to run with the daily activities of the chamber,” Beebe told the Gazette. ...

McCOOK, Neb. - What more could a guy ask for? Darrell Meister, owner of the bison herd located north of McCook next to the Red Willow State Recreation Area, shared the photo of two bison bulls starting a new alfalfa bale in the pasture. Meister said that in normal years, they would have the herd on one of the four forage plots. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook City Council broached the topic of annexation again Monday night, this time with reports from the city utilities department and the fire chief. The council first considered the issue at its Jan. 3 meeting with a map developed in 2003 of proposed areas. ...

BROWNWOOD, Texas – The McCook Community College softball team scored a 15-13 walk-off win in the morning game after giving up a 13-3 lead in the fifth inning. Odessa Community College beat MCC in the second game 11-2. Cisco went to 11-4 with the loss, Odessa improved to 11-2...

BENKELMAN, Neb. — Wauneta-Palisade’s boys held on to a wild 42-41 win over Southwest as D1-11 subdistrict boys basketball tipped off Monday night. The Broncos (6-17 record) advance into a semiifnal tonight against No. 1-seed Dundy County-Stratton (20-3)...

So the Russians are going to invade and take over the eastern one third of Ukraine. It is roughly the third of the population of that country and they speak the Russian language. Obviously that aggressive takeover is in Russian Dictator Putin’s plan to expand his influence back into all the territory that Joe Stalin took over after WWII. ...

Cutting taxes. This is a perennial issue that most senators promise to address in the legislature. They campaign on this issue and make promises, usually with good intentions. But then, year after year, little, if anything, is accomplished. Much time on the floor this week was spent on an income tax cutting bill, LB 939. ...

LB 777 is a bill I introduced this session. The purpose of the bill is to create a video archive of all legislative sessions and all hearings in the various committees. Forty-six states currently have a form of this capability for their citizens. I think it is high time for Nebraska to join this list...

Sophomore Daniel Bannon (Sydney, Australia) was named Region IX Player of the week and three pitchers who combined on the teams’ second-ever no-hitter, were named co-pitchers of the week. Those pitchers were sophomore Alex Lozada (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico), Cade Webber (freshman, Kelowna, British Columbia) and sophomore Owen Lester (St. Charles, Ill.)...