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 684 - 708 of 1718
My first newspaper route was acquired in 1962. I had it for about 2 years and it was a major reason why I ended up needing eyeglasses. My route began and ended at the Fairbanks Public Library. There I discovered the wonderful world of books that were within the walls of the public library (not the Internet). It became my habit to check out a book and read it while I was delivering my papers whenever the weather permitted, especially during the summer. By the time I was finished with my route I...
Can states ban Critical Race Theory (CRT)? Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas have already passed legislation banning the teaching of CRT in their public schools. Kevin Stitt signed his state’s bill into law, he said he did it to bring the people of his state closer together, but the State of Maine has inadvertently given states a new way to oppose the teaching of CRT. The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments from a l...
Agriculture is the heart and soul of Nebraska. Through the years, our farmers and ranchers have built a reputation for producing crops and livestock that are second to none. Among U.S. states, Nebraska ranks: #1 in agricultural cash receipts per capita #2 in ethanol production, cattle on feed, all cattle and calves, beef exports, and commercial red meat production #3 in corn for grain production, corn exports, and total ag cash receipts #4 for land in farms and ranches #5 for soybean exports, so...
We live in a time when legislative bills containing hundreds of pages are passed by Congress without sufficient time to read or analyze the contents. This results in unpleasant surprises when such bills are finally scrutinized. One such surprise has been found in President Biden’s much-promoted “Infrastructure Bill” and former congressman Bill Barr of Georgia brought it to light in a piece he wrote late last month for The Daily Caller. Buried in the recently passed bill is a mandate that all v...
In 1905, the USDA published a bulletin: Nomenclature of the Apple: A Catalog, that listed 17,000 names. After removing the duplicate names, it still listed 14,000 different varieties of the apple. Between Captain John Smith in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and the beginning of the 20th century, American settlers planted thousands of fruit trees, and produced thousands of varieties. Horticulturists now consider those three centuries the Golden Age of pomology, the science of fruit-bearing trees....
During the Viet Nam war era the hippies, peaceniks and other radical liberals were advising young men of draft age to avoid the draft in any way possible. Self-inflicted injuries, leaving the country for Canada and other foreign countries, and simply refusing to go, were advocated. More than one draft dodger moved to Canada, which may account for the mess it is in now. After graduating high school I enrolled at the University of Alaska. My plan was to take a year or two getting the liberal arts...
Chancellor Ronnie Green believes the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) is racist. Under his leadership, UNL recently released a plan to address “institutional racism” as part of its “Journey for Anti-Racism and Racial Equity.” From racially motivated hiring practices to divisive trainings, the plan would inject Critical Race Theory (CRT) into every corner of campus. At the foundation of UNL’s plan are the writings of Ibram Kendi, who has openly called for discrimination on the basis of skin c...
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, World War II was already raging in Europe. It had begun more than two years earlier, after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. And just months before Pearl Harbor, Nazi Germany had turned on its former ally, the Soviet Union. We offered the allies aid in response, but we didn’t enter the war. Most Americans simply didn’t want to: In May of 1940, after Hitler invaded France, only seven percent of Americans said we should declare war on Ger...
The recent trial of Kyle Rittenhouse dominated the national news cycle. As usual, the event became highly politicized. I followed the trial closely as I carry a firearm, and was concerned the Rittenhouse verdict might impact Second Amendment rights. In the end, the jury acquitted Rittenhouse of wrongdoing, but that doesn’t mean the young man didn’t do anything wrong. By “wrong” I mean error in judgement. Having been a concealed carrier of firearms most of my adult life, I understand that si...
I recently noticed a headline that Thanksgiving is an offense to indigenous people, promotes colonialism, etc. Let’s just take a moment for that to sink in. A celebration following a winter they didn’t think they would survive, helped in part by people they had met in the North American continent, and spreading a table is an offense. I really wanted to believe it was a joke, a parody of headlines, The Babylon Bee, or The Onion, publications designed to be humorous and deliberately mis...
Thanks to my dad I became something I never thought I would be – a student of history. History was boring with no practical application in our fast changing, technically oriented world. Then I came across some pictures of my dad in uniform and the ship he served on during WWII – the USS Portland, a heavy cruiser that saw action at Midway, Guadalcanal, and other big battles in WWII in the Pacific. I asked him why he enlisted in the Navy instead of waiting to be drafted. He replied, “I wante...
What value is there in a college education today? Where can a student go today for higher education which isn’t laced with Left-wing propaganda such as Critical Race Theory? Nebraska’s state’s colleges and universities are now devolving at an alarming rate. Many Nebraskans now believe there may be more hope for the Cornhuskers to play in a bowl game this year than for our own colleges and universities to recover their good names and reputations. Last week Gov. Pete Ricketts announced publi...
During this season of Hanukkah and Christmas, friends and acquaintances have asked me to explain Hanukkah to them. I’m happy to help them understand the holiday. A recent, highly publicized interview with U. S. Senator Kamala Harris raised questions and negative comments about her understanding of and explanation for the significance of Hanukkah. The Hebrew word Hanukkah means “rededication”. Rededicating the Temple through purification acts and oneself to practice traditional Judaism. It has a...
There are no shortage of challenges facing Americans right now with our country reaching the highest level of inflation in three decades, a lack of workers to fill job openings nationwide, record illegal entry and smuggling at our southern border, and a supply chain unable to keep up with the demands of manufacturers and consumers. Despite facing these crises every day, we still have much to be thankful for as Americans. This year has brought new job opportunities for those in search of work,...
Last week I wrote about ESG scores and what they mean for business now, and soon could mean for individuals. ESG scores are just the latest mile marker on the road to a utopia planned by collectivist and globalist elites in which they rule the world and we serve as happy minions that are mere cogs in the machinery making the world run. In exchange for passive servitude, a large centralized government will promise security, peace and unparalleled convenience. They envision a world in which...
We’re now hours from the feast that is designed historically for a time of giving thanks. Homes will have the designated cooks scurrying around the prep table in the kitchen making sure the turkey is in the oven, and the oven hot, the dressings are cooking, Aunt Betty brought the homemade pies, cousins Steve and Jennifer brought the vegetables and relish plate and the in-laws bring...well, you get the idea. We can all paint the scenario like a star writer in part because we’ve all lived som...
Below is a poem I wrote about 15 years ago. I saw then that some of what has hit this country in the last few years was already in the works. I never thought the poem would be such a correct prediction of the way things are now. Titled “Code of the Rest,” it provides what I believe to be a fair comparison between the radical socialist left and the moderate conservative right. Forget the Code of the West, the Code of the Rest is best. Honor is out, we compromise. Morality is out, we surmise. Eve...
The American economy isn’t doing so well. A new poll shows that seven out of every ten Americans now admit that rising prices are causing them to change their spending habits. This is not good news going into the busiest shopping season of the year. Indeed, inflation has a way of putting a damper on our spirit of thanksgiving. So, how do we prepare ourselves for the Thanksgiving holiday when things may not be going as planned? Many people view the task of giving thanks as a kind of obligation t...
Senators and Representatives first met in Congress, under the U.S. Constitution, on March 4, 1789, in the Federal Building in New York City. Six months later, on September 25, James Madison, a Virginia Representative then, submitted to the House twelve amendments to the new Constitution. His first—called the Congressional Apportionment Amendment — specified that each member of the House shall represent no more than 30,000 people. It fell one state short of adoption, and no state since has ratifi...
In September 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, bound for the New World. The ship’s 102 passengers and 30 crew members – an eclectic mix of religious families fleeing persecution and single men seeking to become landowners on a new continent – had one thing in common: They hoped that better lives were waiting for them at the other end of the sea. Only half of the Pilgrims would live to see the spring. Those who did had a lot to be thankful for, so after a successful first harve...
I had an exchange with my editor in the last week during which he remarked how things I’d written about months ago are only now starting to be covered on the fringes of mainstream media channels. Specifically, I’d written several pieces about The Great Reset. Now that the World Economic Forum’s meeting for this year has wrapped up, they’re not even trying to hide their intentions anymore. It’s all out in the open on the WEF website, and on the site of the International Monetary Fund. One just ha...
One of the home “fast food” go-to meals is burgers, or most any sandwich, and a plate of chips. No, it isn’t usually very healthy, but it is quick and light. I still recall a time — it feels like years ago now — when I stopped at a store to get my favorite variety of barbecue chips and found the 20 oz bag had generally 12 ½ ounces of product. I might be exaggerating some, but it truly felt like the bag was only half-full. So, I paid for a full bag, the bag was full size, the wording described...
Humans tend to have a rather bad trait that often raises its nasty head. Shortly after God created the human race certain members of this new creation determined that they were better than anyone else and therefore the power to rule over one and all was theirs, and theirs alone. Even before the tower of Babel some people were attempting to gain power over others. This tendency has continued throughout history unto today. Kingships and dictatorships, regardless of the title, they all establish co...
Several weeks had passed since President Biden announced he’d be instituting a mandatory vaccine enforcement measure through the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The more time that elapsed, the more speculation there was that the president was bluffing. Last week he showed he wasn’t and established rules that require all businesses with more than 100 employees to ensure all their workers are either vaccinated by January 4 or are tested weekly and weari...
Sometimes I’m glad ghosts and ghouls aren’t as rampant aas television networks say they are. Quite honestly, if ghosts and other-worldly personalities could go in and out of dimensions that easily, the actual people who have gone on, what would stop those from the past from absolutely schooling us on how the world is being run? Imagine all of the editors of history suddenly meeting the players in that particular chapter in time. Imagine getting schooled on what really happened compared to wha...
