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 3004 - 3028 of 3067
July Battle Of The Weeds It’s a constant battle, but the City of Sidney is up to the task when it comes to snuffing out weeds and the eyesores they create. Jeanie Matthes, Code Enforcement Officer for Sidney’s City Police Department says the recent drought has provided weeds a breeding ground. “This season is bad for bindweed,” Matthes said. “It’s just been so hot and dry.” For the most part, citizens have been cooperative. However, Matthes says violations do occur locally, and the steps taken to resolve a violation can be tricky. “Some... Full story
It turns out that Sidney residents were on the “good list” this holiday season, according to Sidney Police Major Joe Aikens. Aikens said that around the holidays there tends to be a pretty prominent increase in domestic violence cases. This holiday season however there were barely any in the Sidney area. “I don’t think we have even had one,” Aikens said. “We had a couple little disturbances at bars but nothing in the nature of serious crime.” This year’s crime rate during the holidays has been a lot better than in previous years, he expla...
WASHINGTON – Amid partisan bluster, top members of Congress and President Barack Obama were holding out slim hopes for a limited fiscal deal before the new year. But even as congressional leaders prepared to convene at the White House, there were no signs that legislation palatable to both sides was taking shape. The Friday afternoon meeting among congressional leaders and the president – their first since Nov. 16 – stood as a make-or-break moment for negotiations to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spend...
January Council To Test The Waters For New Pool SIDNEY – When approached about the condition of the city’s public pool a few months back, Mayor Wendall Gaston realized things weren’t going swimmingly. “It’s been remarkable that the pool has been able to stay open,” Gaston said, “but it’s getting old enough where the repairs are becoming a problem. And one of these years, we’re going to be told, ‘You know, we just can’t put it back together again.’” Saddled with that prospect, Gaston was asked to spearhead a pool committee. That organizat...
Just because we have passed the ‘season of giving’ it does not mean that is what has to happen – we stop giving. Something the ‘Fun Committee’ from 21st Century Equipment hasn’t forgotten; the employees are holding a food drive until the end of Feb. “This is the first year we are doing something like this,” service coordinator Kristin Simmons said. “It was kind of a collective idea. We had done a store survey and there were a couple suggestions of trying to do more community service. Our comm...
According to new statistics released by U.S. Census Bureau News and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, new single-family house sales increased 4.4 percent nationally in the month of November. “Housing indicators for the third quarter of 2012 continue to portray a fragile, but steady, recovery in the housing market,” members of the department said. The seasonally-adjusted rate nationally for the month of November was 377,000 houses sold, surpassing not only the estimated Oct...
WASHINGTON – Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end “fiscal cliff” were in disarray as lawmakers fled the Capitol for their Christmas break. “God only knows” how a deal can be reached now, House Speaker John Boehner declared. President Barack Obama, on his way out of town himself, insisted a bargain could still be struck before Dec. 31. “Call me a hopeless optimist,” he said. A look at why it’s so hard for Republicans and Democrats to compromise on urgent matters of taxes and spending, and what happens if they fail to meet th...
NEW YORK – In 2013, small business owners will contend with many of the same issues that made it hard to run their companies over the last 12 months. They’re also heading into the new year with a lot of uncertainty. It’s unlikely that negotiations in Congress will resolve all of lawmakers’ disagreements over tax and budget issues that affect small businesses. And there are still many questions about the implications of the health care law for small companies. That points to continued caution – and perhaps slow hiring – among the nation’s sm...
Little do some people in Sidney know but, at first, upon migrating here the De Novellises, didn’t open Sidney Auto Sales car lot or wasn’t even in the car business. Even prior to moving to Sidney, despite Dennis ‘Denny’ De Novellis’s background of growing up around the business, he was not. He worked as manager of a large furniture store in Colo., a job he obtained from a friend after coming home from touring on the PBA Bowling Tournament tour. Sherry De Novellis was the self-proc...
Air Force Veteran Dewayne Phelps literally can say he knew the fighter planes and bombers used in World War II inside and out even before he was an enlisted man. Prior to going into the service Phelps said he worked for the company in California, that built the planes used overseas. “We were building Air C Planes and the bombers b-24 in that plant,” Phelps said to name a couple planes the company built. “I mostly worked with the Air C Planes. The bombers were built in a different depar...
Nebraska has been rated the third best-run state in the United States behind North Dakota and Wyoming and had the second lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 4.4 percent last year, according to a survey done by 24/7 Wall St. In 2010 Nebraska also had the second-lowest debt per capita at $1,297. The average for states nationwide was $3, 614. Being one of the nation’s biggest agricultural producers, with that subdivision earning 8.3 percent of the states GDP last year. The survey team members determined the results by reviewing each s... Full story
WASHINGTON – When it comes to the nation’s budget challenges, congressional leaders are fond of saying dismissively they don’t want to kick the can down the road. But now, a deadline hard ahead, even derided half-measures are uncertain as President Barack Obama and lawmakers struggle to avert across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts that comprise an economy-threatening fiscal cliff. Congressional officials said Wednesday they knew of no significant strides toward a compromise over a lon...
Next to North Elementary school sits a small house like church that can easily be over looked if one doesn’t know where they are going. Or one would be acutely aware of where the church is, thanks to North Elementary school. Either way this small homey church is a Four Square Church, a Christian denomination headed by Pastor Kelvin Boltjes since 1986. The pastor wasn’t always a Four Square Christian, as a child he grew up within the Presbyterian Church in Otis, Colo. and in the beginning of his... Full story
During the holiday break, area youth enjoyed a white Christmas as a layer of snow blanketed the area on Dec. 24. That made travelling a bit trecherous for some, but also gave area youth the opportunity to go sledding, make snow angels and build some very creative snowmen, like this Santa Snowman by Peyton Barnes....
WASHINGTON – U.S. holiday sales so far this year have been the weakest since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession. That puts pressure on stores that now hope for a post-Christmas burst of spending. This year’s holiday season was marred by bad weather and uncertainty about the economy in the face of possible tax hikes and spending cuts early next year. Some analysts say the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., earlier this month may also have chipped away at shoppers’ enthu...
Boxes that had been placed in Sonny’s Super Foods store for the past two weeks were picked up today, ending the first of many food drives put on by the Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska, CAPWN. The food was picked up by Brenda Dickinson and taken to one of the Sidney food pantries. Dickinson said that the food drive over the past two weeks generated a good amount of food for the community. “We collected five good-sized bags of food and are picking up more today (Friday),” Dicki... Full story
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama issued a stern summons to congressional leaders Friday to approve legislation before year’s end to prevent tax increases on millions of middle class Americans and prevent an expiration of long-term unemployment benefits for the jobless. One day after House anti-tax rebels torpedoed Republican legislation because it would raise rates on million-dollar-earners, Obama said he still wants a bill that requires the well-to-do to pay more. “Everybody’s got to give a little bit in a sensible way” to prevent t...
WASHINGTON – The nation’s largest gun-rights lobby called Friday for armed police officers to be posted in every American school to stop the next killer “waiting in the wings.” The National Rifle Association broke its silence on last week’s shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 children and staff dead. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” the group’s top lobbyist, Wayne LaPierre, said at a Washington news conference. LaPierre said “the next Adam Lanza,” the man responsible for...
Sidney Jaycee members always try to create an extra glow within Sidney in the month of December and this year was no exception. Members of the organization gathered around the traincars sitting along Legion Park Dec. 8 stringing Christmas lights for seven hours from engine to caboose for the community to view. The lights illuminated the dark park and the 10th Avenue roadside that night and have been glowing bright ever since. Amber Talich, in her second year as President of the Jaycees and...
The E-Free Church of America stands tall and proud on the hill it was built upon, with Pastor Doug Birky leading Sunday worship. He grew up surrounded by Evangelical beliefs, “it was referred to as a Bible church, it was nondenominational, but it was still a very Evangelical Bible teaching, Bible believing church. “I was raised in that kind of church atmosphere. My parents were both Christian, and at a very young age I made a decision, I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior.” Pastor Birky... Full story
Second in a series Hydraulic Fracturing or “fracking” has been used for over 60 years, and is the process of mining for natural gas and oil. This has been a topic of debate among many groups within the United States for the past several years. “It is used to produce oil and gas,” said deputy director of the Oil and Gas Commission Sidney office Stan Belieu. The hotly debated aspect of “fracking” has been safety issues and if this old form of mining – with its new twist of horizontal mi...
Lincoln – Gov. Dave Heineman today discussed winter weather safety tips. With the holidays approaching and winter weather settling in, this is a good time to highlight several safety tips. The Governor was joined by State Patrol Colonel David Sankey, Department of Roads Director Randy Peters, and Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Assistant Director Al Berndt. “During a winter storm, blowing and drifting snow can cause reduced visibility and affect road conditions,” said Gov. Heineman. “The best way to keep your family and yoursel...
Of the many houses lit up with Christmas cheer this holiday season one house in particular caught the attention of judges during the annual Sidney House Lighting Contest. Julia Juedes won first place and $100 in the contest for her residential decorations at 1259 Clark Dr. Second place was awarded to Stan Belieu at 1315 Solano Dr. who received $75 for his efforts, while Dennis Hicks at 1452 Summit Dr. received $50 and third place in the contest. The Griswald Award along with $100 was awarded to...
There are so many good will projects this time of the year that offer toys, clothing and candies sometime people tend to forget the programs that help families with food and holiday dinners. Such a program exists and has been a tradition in Sidney since it was an Army Depot and the King’s Daughters were founded. The baskets given are filled with food to make a Christmas dinner with all the fixings, 16-year member Ann Schaaf said. When asked for how long the King’s Daughters had been pro...
One of this area’s most communal events, for the past 21 years, has been the Ella-Mae Gorensonfree annual Christmas dinner, hosted on Christmas day from noon until 2 p.m. The Christmas dinner named after the founder of the event, an event so popular and loved that seven years ago it spun off into a free Thanksgiving dinner. “People started asking if we could please have a thanksgiving dinner, so seven years ago we decided to give it a try. It was as successful as the Christmas dinner so we hop...
