Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Sorted by date Results 2564 - 2588 of 3076
OLYMPIA, Wash. — In a quest to save money, political leaders in Washington state are exploring a proposal that would shift some government workers out of their current health plans and onto the insurance exchange developed under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Lawmakers believe the change, which could affect thousands of part-time state employees and education workers, would save the state $120 million over the next two years. It would consequently push more health care costs onto the federal government because many of the low-income...
The Nebraska legislature suspended debate on the Legislative Bill 407, regarding state funding for public schools. The potential effect of the LB 407 on schools in the Cheyenne County area varies, according to local administrators. Sidney Public Schools Superintendent Jay Ehler believes the bill will impact Sidney little, if at all. “The state aid formula is so complicated it is hard to keep track of how various bills will affect our school district,” he explained. “Based on the models for state...
Can landscaping help put Sidney on the map? At last night’s meeting of the City Council, the answer seemed to depend upon a dollar amount. Both Korey Stanley of Peeley Irrigation, and B.J. Raffelson of Raffelson Rock Co. presented their proposals for the South Entrance Project meeting. The project is planned for the corner of the intersection at 11th Avenue and Old Post Road. A gas station is in the process of being built adjacent to that land and Wamsley Development gifted the city a...
The City of Sidney is alerting residents of two solicitations going on in the community creating consumer concerns. One involves an illegal door to door solicitation and the other involves a mailing on water line repair insurance. The first involves the Choice Gas Program currently in effect until April 25 where a natural gas provider is soliciting consumers door to door. No company or individual has requested nor received a solicitation license from the City of Sidney. The solicitation is being done illegally. If you are approached, the City...
Hundreds of people attended the free Health and Wellness Fair on Saturday. Local businesses and services manned 35 booths all morning. Vendors answered consumer questions about their services. Informational pamphlets, goodies and useful gadgets were passed out to attendees. A couple organizations even offered t-shirts. The Panhandle Public Health District provided free colon cancer screening kits to everyone who stopped by their booth. Free oral cancer screenings were conducted by Summit...
The parole hearing of a man convicted of sexual assault 13 years ago has at least one concerned mother expressing concern. Cynthia Sutton recently contacted the Sun-Telegraph wishing to get the word out there of her ex-husband’s hearing, set for Wednesday, April 24. “I feel that my fellow citizens of Sidney, Neb. and the surrounding communities need to be informed of yet another sex offender’s possible early parole,” she wrote. According to a Notice of Hearing by the Nebraska Board of Parole, Sutton’s ex-husband, Gary Vannatter Sr., was convi...
Panhandle residents dealt with road and school closures as best they could during the recent blizzards. But how does the weather affect the city as whole after the snowflakes have gone and the winds have died down? “Storms always cause numerous challenges for the city staff and emergency management personnel, but dealing with the storms is just part of what we do as a city,” said Sidney City Manager Gary Person. “Each storm brings different types of challenges,” he continued. “Obviou...
GERING (AP) — A Gering man has been granted parole less than eight years after stomping to death a friend. Station KDUH says 40-year-old Scott Cramer became eligible for parole this month. He'd pleaded no contest to manslaughter after prosecutors lowered the charge from second-degree murder. Cramer was sentenced on May 31, 2006, to 15 to 20 years in prison. Cramer was convicted of kicking and jumping on 30-year-old Tim McGrath up to two dozen times. Cramer was wearing cowboy boots. P...
The Wheatbelt Safety Fair’s exact birthdate is a little murky. It was created “many years ago, probably nearly 20,” according to one of the founders, Pam Wieser. Yet the event’s purpose remains as clear as ever. Wieser, along with Diane Steffens, founded the fair to promote safety among fourth, fifth and sixth graders in things that are pertinent to their ages and everyday life. Safety presentations included topics about pets, lawnmowers, electrical and gaslines. Wieser says that it is “neat t...
Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce staff members and local Sidney businesses are preparing for a day of sales, community involvement and fun at their annual Girl’s Day Out. Festivities will be held April 27 and will begin with a Dutch Oven breakfast at Cabela’s at 10 a.m. Registration will be next on the agenda for the women as those that wish to participate will need to register at the Fox Theatre from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Sidney Community Development Committee are providing women with a bus shuttle service that will travel back and for...
Earth Day is on Monday, April 22. Although there are no specific Earth Day activities planned for the city, it’s still easy to be green in Sidney. The president of Keep Sidney Beautiful, Cheryl Jones, explains that the month of April has been Cash for Cans in schools. This program promotes recycling, while funds collected benefit the Sidney Public School Booster Clubs. The mission of the Cans for Cash Campaign is to help build a green, sustainable community and increase resident awareness of recycling. On May 1, there will be an all-day e...
WATERTOWN, Mass. — A 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings was taken into custody Friday evening after a manhunt that left the city virtually paralyzed and his older brother and accomplice dead. Police announced via Twitter that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was in custody. His brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed Friday in a furious attempt to escape police. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been holed up in a boat in a Watertown neighborhood. The crowd gathered near the scene let out a cheer when spectators saw officers clapping. ...
BOSTON (AP) — Moments after investigators went before television cameras to broadcast photos of the two men in ball caps wanted for the Boston Marathon bombing, queries from viewers started cascading in — 300,000 hits a minute that overwhelmed the FBI’s website. It marked a key turning point in a search that, for all the intensity of its first 72 hours, had failed to locate the suspects. While it’s unclear how much the tips that resulted helped investigators zero in, experts say it instantly turned up already intense pressure on the two men...
On Wednesday the U.S. Senate voted down a vital amendment in the gun bill – the expansion of background checks on gun buyers. Amendments regarding the purchasing of assault rifles and high capacity magazine clips also failed to pass. “All and all this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” was President Obama’s response at a White House press conference following the decision. While some cities and states are looking into stricter gun policies, a few are taking the opposite approach: debatin...
The Sidney High School prom will be held on Saturday at the Holiday Inn. The dinner begins at 6:00 p.m. and the prom starts at 9:00 p.m. This year, however, the school decided to break from tradition. Students did not select presiding royalty. as Principal Chris Arent says, “Everyone is a king and queen on this prom night.” Their decision is in line with current trends. More students and schools seem to be focusing on equality, hoping to avoid hurt feelings, jealousy or other issues. A school in Waterbury, Conn., WF Kaynor Technical High School...
The Cheyenne County Art Guild’s Artist of the Month for April is Sidney’s very own, Ben Ramsey. Ramsey said that he has been painting ever since he was a kid and that his passion has carried on throughout his life. Although as a child he favored drawing “airplanes and Army guys,” he admitted, one of his main focuses as an artist has always been landscapes and wildlife. “He had the good fortune in having parents who encouraged him and who later augmented a scholarship to the Art Instructi...
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s preliminary March unemployment rate of 3.8 percent matched the revised rates for the three previous months, state officials said in a report released Friday. The rate was two-tenths of a point lower than in March 2012 and half the national March rate of 7.6 percent for this year, the Nebraska Labor Department said in a news release. The 3.8 percent was the second-lowest figure in the country, trailing only North Dakota’s 3.3 percent for March. Nonfarm employment rose by nearly 4,000 jobs in March. According to the state...
BOSTON — The Red Sox and the Bruins both scrapped their games. The famous Bull Market at Faneuil Hall was closed, and there were more pigeons than tourists on City Hall Plaza. Even the Starbucks at Government Center was shuttered. The killing of one suspected Boston Marathon bomber and the manhunt for another brought life in large swaths of the notoriously gridlocked Beantown to a screeching halt, leaving residents and tourists alike frustrated and angry. “It took me an hour and a half to find a coffee this morning,” Daniel Miller, a finan...
WATERTOWN, Mass. — With Boston virtually paralyzed, thousands of officers with rifles and armored vehicles swarmed the streets in and around the city on Friday, hunting for a 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombing after his older brother and alleged accomplice was killed in a furious getaway attempt overnight. During the long night of violence, the brothers killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and hurled explosives at police in a car chase a...
City of Sidney staff may be closer to hiring a new police chief than some might expect. According to City Manager Gary Person applications for the position were due April 15 at 5 p.m. “With two days of mail now passing since the deadline, we believe we have received all of the applications that we are going to receive,” said Person. “But should there be one that comes in with a proper postmark we would still honor it.” The city has received nine applications to date. Six of the applica...
LINCOLN (AP) — Some University of Nebraska-Lincoln students have joined a NASA competition in Huntsville Ala., where they will launch a rocket they built. The UNL Rocket Team is competing in its second University Student Launch Initiative contest. The Nebraska team is vying against more than 30 college and university teams. Last year the team placed third for altitude closest to the goal. Launch day is Saturday. NASA plans to provide live coverage on the social web service UStream, including embedded Twitter feed (hashtag (hash)1MileHigh) s...
