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 2923 - 2947 of 3067
WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday to permit the government to borrow enough money to avoid a first-time default for at least four months, defusing a looming crisis setting up a springtime debate over taxes, spending and the deficit. The House passed the measure on a bipartisan 285-144 vote as majority Republicans back away from their previous demand that any increase in the government’s borrowing cap be paired with an equivalent level of spending cuts. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the chamber wou...
Two major items were discussed in depth at the Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners and Cheyenne County Board of Equalization meeting Tuesday at the Cheyenne County Courthouse. The issues dealt with an agreement regarding a mutual aid service between counties and the removal of a Medicaid discount for county prisoners. The proposed County Sheriffs Inter-local Agreement with Cheyenne County, Deuel County and Garden County was passed during the meeting, while the proposed SWAT Agreement with...
At the City of Sidney Council meeting last night City of Sidney Attorney J. Leef presented the council with revisions of two different proposed city residential laws. After taking feedback from both the previous council meeting and the city’s planning commission meeting Monday night, Leef gave recommendations based on the teams’ inputs regarding the definition of accessory buildings in residential zones. Also discussed was the continued consideration of an ordinance related to the parking of recreational vehicles and trailers in town. “Th...
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama devoted one word — “deficit” — to the issue that brought Washington to the brink of fiscal crises time and again during his first term. But it was the paragraph that followed in his inaugural address that foreshadowed what’s to come — more hard bargaining and more last-minute deals driven by Obama’s own conviction that he now wields an upper hand. “We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring fo...
Debate that has been passed back and forth between city council members and planning commission members continues regarding the definition and restrictions of accessory buildings in residential zones at the City of Sidney Planning Commission meeting Monday night. City council members present consisted of Aaron Barnes, Chris Gay and Joe Arterburn. At the Sidney City Council meeting two weeks previous city attorney J. Leef had inserted language into the proposed statute and the council had asked...
LINCOLN – Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approved a new route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline on Tuesday that avoids the state’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region. Heineman sent a letter to President Barack Obama confirming that he would allow the controversial, Canada-to-Texas pipeline to proceed through his state. The project has faced some of its strongest resistance in Nebraska from a coalition of landowners and environmental groups who say it would contaminate the Ogallala aquifer, a massive groundwater supply. Canadian pip...
The first of many public meetings between Sidney residents and Doug Whiteaker from Water Technology, Inc. and Jeff King with Ballard*King and Associates regarding their creation of Sidney’s new swimming pool or aquatics center commenced at City Hall yesterday afternoon. In attendance were city representatives, city council members, members of the community, as well as representatives from the Cheyenne County Community Center. Community Center officials have been working with the city on the p...
With every new year comes a flood of New Year’s resolutions. Some of these resolutions involve promises to become healthier and to attend the gym more. At the Cheyenne County Community Center 11 workout classes are offered for those who want to take their personal workout to the next level. One of those classes is step aerobics. The class is held every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the center and Carla Orr, the class instructor, encourages members of the community to join the class at any time. L...
WASHINGTON — Supporters of President Barack Obama’s gun-control proposals are planning a methodical, state-by-state campaign to try to persuade key lawmakers that it’s in their political interest to back his sweeping effort to crack down on firearms and ammunition sales and expand criminal background checks. To succeed will require overturning two decades of conventional wisdom that gun control is bad politics. The National Rifle Association is confident that argument won’t sell. But with polls showing majorities supporting new gun laws a...
OMAHA (AP) — An Omaha woman serving a life sentence for strangling her landlord has died in prison. The Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York says Monique Lee died Friday morning. The cause of death has not been determined. Officials say Lee collapsed in the center’s medical unit after complaining last night that she did not feel well. Lee was convicted in August of first-degree murder in the death of Karen Jenkins. Prosecutors say Lee used a vacuum cleaner cord to kill Jenkins, who had evicted Lee. Jenkins’ body was found near an ab...
LINCOLN (AP) — A Nebraska man must register as a sex offender despite never being convicted of a sex crime, the Nebraska Supreme Court said Friday in upholding a lower court’s ruling. The state’s high court asked the Buffalo County District Court in January 2012 to review all evidence from a hearing to decide whether 33-year-old Chad Norman’s crime involved sexual contact with his ex-girlfriend’s 11-year-old son. The high court said the district court found clear and convincing evidence that Norman’s crime involved sexual contact with the bo...
LINCOLN (AP) — Farmers, manufacturers and shipping companies could lose millions of dollars’ worth of sales tax breaks under plans announced Friday by Gov. Dave Heineman, but their income tax burden would also vanish. The Republican governor unveiled two possible tax-reform packages, both of which would eliminate corporate income taxes and make up the lost revenue by ending the state sales-tax exemptions. But the two measures differ in both their scope and who would benefit. Heineman said he submitted both to initiate a public discussion wit...
As the Nebraska State Legislature returned to session this January there were many proposed bills attracting statewide attention. The proposed tax relief bill is one of them. However, there are some bills being proposed that are less known to the public, such as one dealing with the question of where tax dollars for schools are being spent. Senator Jeremy Nordquist introduced the Education Compensation Transparency Act, LB 274, to the legislature this Wednesday. According to a press release by Nordquist, the proposed bill “will require full d...
LINCOL (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has unveiled two proposed tax reform measures that would eliminate or reduce state income taxes. The larger plan unveiled Friday would eliminate the state’s income tax on corporations and individuals, while getting rid of $2.4 billion in sales tax breaks that Nebraska currently allows. The second bill would eliminate corporate income taxes and provide an exemption for retirement income. Married couples would receive an exemption for the first $12,000 they earn, while single filers would see a $6,...
It is an organization rich in heritage and tradition with origins from right here in Nebraska. Omaha to be exact, the organization is Job’s Daughters, founded by Ethel T. Wead Mick in 1920. She established Job’s Daughters for young women between the ages of 10 and 20 naming the organization afterJob’s three daughters in honor of her deceased mother. As a child Mick’s mother read her stories from the Bible’s book of Job, it was her beloved memories and love of the book’s teachings that inspired h...
Cheyenne County District Judge Derek Weimer struck down a challenge by plea of abatement by the Chicago trucker charged in the Sept. 9 multi-vehicle accident which claimed four lives and an unborn baby. Josef Slezak, 36, appeared with counsel Kelly Breen Thursday afternoon to contest evidence which was presented by Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub during Slezak’s preliminary hearing. Slezak is charged with four counts of Class III felony manslaughter, four counts of Class IIIA felony motor v...
The City of Sidney has been awarded the title of an Economic Development Certified Community for the second time by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and the Nebraska Diplomats, according to City officials. This certification lasts for five years and will designate the city as such for the years 2013 through 2017. Updates of the city’s condition however will be required periodically throughout that time period, city officials reported. An official announcement of the communities t...
The Royal Family KIDS Western Nebraska branch is hosting an open house this Sunday to inform the public and potential volunteers about their opportunities to help children in the area who have only known a life of abuse and neglect. The information session will be held at the Christian Life Center in Sidney from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., according to Yvonne Donaldson, the program’s director. Royal Family KIDS is a worldwide organization devoted to helping abused, neglected and abandoned children. E...
With the creation of a new Talks and Treats teen book club there is once again a reading program for every age at the Sidney Public Library, said Eileen Nightingale, the children’s youth service librarian at the library. For four months now library staff has held the new teen reading program on the third Tuesday of every month. Teens in grades seven through 12 are encouraged to attend, Nightingale said. According to Nightingale how the reading club works is a different book is passed out to t...
When President Barack Obama stands in front of an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people outside of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21 it will be the 57th presidential inauguration this country has witnessed. This year however the president will technically partake in two inaugurations. Jan. 20 serves as the seventh time in history that - due to the date of inauguration falling on a Sunday - another swearing-in ceremony will be held that Monday. According to section one of the 20th amendment to the U.S....
Cheyenne County Community Center director Mike Namuth has been announced the winner of the 2012 Sidney Sun-Telegraph’s Weekly Football Pick’em Challenge. Namuth’s season record was 57-28. There were four other constants participating in the challenge this year. Close behind Namuth in the standings were Sidney Federal Savings and Loan President Steve Smith and American National Bank Vice President Bill Butkus, who both ended the challenge with a record of 55-30. Other participants included City...
Pastor of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Pastor Dave Hall followed an interesting path to the priesthood; despite the 30 years he has now worn the collar. “When I was a teenager I felt that God was calling me to do something different than I was doing,” he began. “But then after a while I ignored it. I was going to college and quit college to start working. I did that for about a year and a half. “The pastor that was pastoring me when I was a teenager said to me one day, ‘You know you are neve...
Two Iowans facing drug charges were back in court Wednesday before Cheyenne County Judge Randin Roland. Jessica Carroll, 30, and Benjamin Schneider, 20, both of Ames, appeared for status hearings on multiple counts stemming from their Jan. 8 arrests on eastbound Interstate 80, just west of Sidney. Carroll. During a traffic stop, authorities were alerted by a smell of marijuana. Eventually, Nebraska State Patrol trooper Ron Kissler and Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office deputy Fred Wiedeburg discovered heat-sealed packages of marijuana, which w...
Sidney’s West Elementary School auditorium went silent as approximately 45 parents sat in anticipation watching each of the 32 students nervously or confidently approach the microphone during the practice round of the annual Central West Spelling Bee competition this Wednesday. Students advanced to the front of the stage when their name was called and turned toward their word pronouncer, Carla Brauer. Brauer, who serves as the school counselor at Central and West Elementary, pronounced each w...
WASHINGTON – Braced for a fight, President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled the most sweeping proposals for curbing gun violence in two decades, pressing a reluctant Congress to pass universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting. A month after that horrific massacre, Obama also used his presidential powers to enact 23 measures that don’t require the backing of law...
