Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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I often say one of Nebraska’s most precious resources is our children. They represent the next generation of great entrepreneurs, family farmers, doctors, police officers – you name it – that make our state the incredible place that it is. For this, they deserve our full support and care. This is especially true for foster kids, who unfortunately face significant hardships. It’s estimated on any given day, there are 3,000 children in foster care in Nebraska alone. In many circumstances, childre...
Vaclav Smil was born in 1943, during World War II, in Czechoslovakia, in the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. As a teenager, Smil's parents expected him to chop wood, every four hours, to keep the fires burning in the house's three stoves, “one downstairs and two up.” One writer suspected that Smil may have thought then that “this is hardly an efficient way to live.” A bright student, with a strong work ethic, Smil left his small hometown in the Bohemian forest and made his way to...
“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings You have ordained praise (strength),” Psalm 8. See also wisdom Proverbs 8. Three to five year-old children are like little sponges, soaking up every bit of information around them. Sorting out proper responses may cause their psychology and intellectual information to collide in social situations. However, their emotions (coping devices) are rock solid. A Sunday School teacher asked her class, “What is a lie?” Instantly a little boy replied in a confident...
Recently, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced plans to overhaul the organization due to major public mistakes it made throughout the days of the COVID-19 pandemic. This upheaval at the CDC comes as no surprise to me, because many of the truths I have shared with my readers about COVID-19 and the vaccinations over the course of the past three years were falsely rejected by the CDC even though the facts said otherwise. The CDC has been proven wrong on so many...
Several years ago, I was scolded by a friend when I did a u-turn on a street I thought was empty and he didn’t see my bike. Oddly enough, some time later, I almost laid down the same bike to avoid a collision in a very touchy intersection. No, it wasn’t a motorcycle. It was the other two-wheeled variety. It wasn’t clumsiness. It was the risk of riding on a city street. (P.S.: I don't ride that bike much anymore.) Not long after that I heard a proposal for cyclists to have softer rules at an in...
With the permission of my wife, of course. So buckle up and prepare for another series of politically incorrect articles. After watching the serious over reach of the enforcement arm of the Democratic Party In Power, aka FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a Lago residence, I can not remain silent. Yes, this might be dangerous as it could induce the radical left into requesting their army of political correctness enforcers to raid my home, subject me to a strip search and put me...
The following words were written on the wall of an insane asylum: The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair, bowed down with care God gave His Son to win. His erring child He reconciled and pardoned from his sin. Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made. Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above would drain...
These are now the dog days of summer and that means that it is also time to go to the fair. For the past three weeks fairs have been going on all throughout the nine counties which comprise legislative district 47. When our boys were growing up, the county fair was always a highlight of the summer. The county fair presents young people with great opportunities to put their various talents and abilities on display. Those in 4H and FFA can enter the animals that they have fed and groomed all year...
When I was much younger, I read a book about a future where the ratio of workers to available positions was so upside down, workers committed an hour per week, not the 40 hours that’s the standard now. It was also a time when that $600 weekly paycheck took care of most of a person’s obligations. The story line also included, shall we say, social identity that allows a person to enter a store or travel out of his or her community. It almost sounds familiar. Prior to that there were the books “19...
Three weeks ago, on July 31, 2022, the former Boston Celtics’ imposing center, Bill Russell, passed away, at age eighty-eight. Over thirteen seasons at Boston, from 1957 to 1969, he collected a total of eleven championship rings, a record never since eclipsed or matched. When he retired in 1969, he moved to Mercer Island, in Seattle, Washington, and it was there he passed away. For fifty-three years, he enjoyed a well-deserved retirement in the cool Pacific Northwest, although he coached s...
Nebraska is experiencing terrific growth. We’ve seen big success creating jobs, cutting taxes, and attracting investment to our state. This week, I’m hosting Nebraska’s Ag and Economic Development Summit in Kearney. The Summit convenes key leaders from across the state to discuss how to build on our strong momentum. Over the course of the Summit, we’ll dive into the challenges and opportunities we face as a state. Some topics are familiar: developing our workforce, opening new markets for Nebras...
The Love Life is not Pollyanna or wimpy. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7 Holy Spirit is power. God IS love. Jesus, the Master of self. Without Him we can do nothing, but with Holy Spirit guidance, Father’s love and Jesus’ example of self-mastery we are more than conquerors by the Anointing of the Anointed One (Messiah/Christ). Loving as Jesus loved takes authority over one’s spirit, self and circumstances of the day. Mark 4:17-19 r...
If you or a loved one has traveled recently, you’ve likely experienced flight delays or cancelations. A combination of factors has disrupted our air travel system. According to the latest federal data, an astounding 88,161 flights were canceled from January to May this year. But it’s not just the inconvenience of cancellations or delays that are concerning. One factor contributing to the travel difficulties is the lack of available pilots, which has forced many airlines to reduce the volume of...
There’s kind of a uniqueness in small towns that is too often overlooked. It isn’t the cafe that everyone flocks to because the cook/owner is also the founder from 50 years ago. It isn’t that kids can generally walk the neighborhoods without fear, or that they can leave skateboards and bicycles in the yard without them being taken. It is the paradox. There are organizations that are vital to making a town home that are constantly running into roadblocks. The roadblocks are not physical or polit...
We’re less than a month away from our state’s biggest annual celebration — the Nebraska State Fair. From August 26th through September 5th, Nebraskans from across the state will gather to share all that Nebraska agriculture has to offer. It will be the 153rd time we gather for this time-honored tradition. Last year, the State Fair attracted more than a quarter-million attendees to Grand Island, including visitors from 10 countries and 43 states. This year, we’ll be ready to welcome even more gu...
The role of religion in our public schools has taken center stage once again. In June the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Joseph Kennedy, a football coach in Bremerton, Washington, had a constitutional right to pray with his players on the 50-yard line after high school football games. Coach Kennedy had been fired from his coaching job for doing this very thing under the rationale that he was imposing his religious beliefs on the players, but our nation’s highest court disagreed. The U.S. S...
“These [words of God] are seeds sown in good ground: those who hear the Word, accept it, act on it and bear fruit some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.” Mark 4:20. Faith-SEED is over and above the tithe for a specific vision or dream. Ask for seed to sow. 2 Corinthians 9:10. Sow any percentage of NET increase. Choose the time, place and purpose. God is looking for your plan. Every seed has a harvest date. Genesis 9:22 “While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest ... shall...
Earlier this month I wrote an article on how the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services has been unable to account for $10.5 billion in State expenditures. $10.5 billion is more than the State’s annual budget for two whole years. One of the major players in this accounting fiasco has been the Nebraska Department of Labor. So, today I would like to show you some examples of how the Nebraska Department of Labor accounts for the way it spends your taxpayer dollars. On April 28, 2022 C...
In the early days of World War II, 1939 to 1940, the Nazi German war machine advanced across eastern Europe, until its soldiers stood on the outskirts of Moscow, deep into the Soviet Union, poised and ready to attack the Russian capital city. However, the Battle of Moscow stalled when the Soviet’s Red Army found sufficient strength to initiate a counter offensive, at Joseph Stalin’s insistence, that pushed Germany’s 9th Army west, some distance from Moscow. The counter-offensive worked for a...
Over time I’ve heard people criticize different restaurants on their first day out. The food wasn’t right. The delivery was slow. The lights were too soft. We’re all good at fifth-quarter criticism. The media is good at that. For as humbling as it is, being human means mistakes happen. We owe it to the restaurant, retailer, or media office, the chance to correct mistakes. That chance isn’t always available when the supplier of those services are removed from the discussion table. Small towns a...
This month, I issued a proclamation declaring July 2022 as “Victims of Communism Month” in Nebraska. This is the second year in a row that I’ve issued this proclamation as a way to highlight the atrocities committed by Communist governments. There’s no clearer example than the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), whose regime is a human rights abuser to its own people. In recent years, the CCP has ruthlessly crushed dissent in Hong Kong. It has committed genocide against ethnic Uighurs. And it is o...
“These [words of God] are seeds sown in good ground: those who hear the Word, accept it, act on it and bear fruit some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.” Mark 4:20. Faith-SEED is over and above the tithe for a specific vision or dream. Ask for seed to sow. 2 Corinthians 9:10. Sow any percentage of NET increase. Choose the time, place and purpose. God is looking for your plan. Every seed has a harvest date. Genesis 9:22 “While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest ... shall...
Earlier this month I wrote an article on how the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services has been unable to account for $10.5 billion in State expenditures. $10.5 billion is more than the State’s annual budget for two whole years. One of the major players in this accounting fiasco has been the Nebraska Department of Labor. So, today I would like to show you some examples of how the Nebraska Department of Labor accounts for the way it spends your taxpayer dollars. On April 28, 2022 C...
It is often noted by counselors that one of the most important parts of life is finding importance. There is Robert Fulgrum’s book “What on earth have I done with my life?” There is the thought that in some definitions of depression, the client feels life is meaningless. What if here, like many other chapters in life, we overthink the equation? What if the challenge is finding your niche? I’ve traveled. Compared to some I’m still in the starting block, and in other stories I could write boo...
Reducing the number of people who return to prison is a key goal of any criminal justice system. In Nebraska, more than 70 percent of those discharged in 2019 have not returned to the custody of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) – a significant benchmark. Recidivism is typically measured in three-year increments. Based on just released data, Nebraska’s recidivism rate has dropped to 29.8 percent. This is the third year in a row that recidivism has trended downward in Nebraska. In comparison to publicly available data for...
