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 709 - 733 of 1718
This week we honor and celebrate out veterans. These are the men and women who have put their very lives at risk in order to keep the rest of us safe, to protect our God-given liberties, and to safeguard our American way of life. Every veteran is a highly valued and esteemed American patriot, so today I would like to share a recent story about what it takes to properly honor a veteran. Arthur R. Lewis was a soldier who never earned a purple heart or a silver star. He was a native of...
While President Biden was criss-crossing Europe, Americans have been watching inflation spiral out of control. The cost of electricity has surged to the highest level in decades, and it’s expected to keep going up this winter. Even worse, headline inflation, which includes energy and grocery prices, is rising at the fastest rate in 30 years. That may not matter much for wealthy coastal elites, but for most American families, it does matter. Every dollar counts, and paying more at the pump for g...
She’s a real lady and for as long as men have gone to the sea, they continue to fall in love with her. For quite a number of men she was their first love. She is built. I mean really built! Her pictures grace a thousand museums and thousands of guys’ fondest memories are filled with the times they’ve spent with her. She can be a real tough cookie when she has to be, and still give a man a safe home and a warm bed. She can be fast, and men love fast women. She can be a lot of things to diffe...
Last time in these pages I began a review of a recent book, Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City. Its author, Andrea Elliott, focused on a middle school girl named Dasani, who grew up in a series of New York City housing projects, a step away from homelessness. After Elliott published an expose in the New York Times on Dasani’s plight, the girl was awarded a scholarship to attend Milton Hershey’s middle school, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. She arrived at the private sch...
On November 11, 1918, Ralph Lindsey wrote from his hospital bed in France “Armistice signed at 11 o’clock. Grand celebration all over France. War is at last over and I am still alive!” Later in life if you asked him about the scars on his chest he would simply respond with a shrug and say, “I zigged when I should have zagged.” Ralph was my Great Grandfather, and now, nearly 103 years after he wrote those words our nation once again finds ourselves celebrating the contributions of our Veterans du...
Before I dive in to today’s topic, a bit of background is in order. I’ve been involved in weather on a professional level for more than 40 years. Previous jobs include broadcast, online and print meteorology, fire meteorology, forensic meteorology and expert testimony in meteorology. Critics will point out weather is not climate. Yes, but meteorological education in my case included climatology, and weather over time is climate. I am qualified to speak on this topic. Climate change is a rea...
Allow me to tell a wee bit about the one person I feel was the biggest man in the world. Big, large, great, grand, impressive, distinguished, striking, and exceptional are used to describe people we esteem. From my perspective I can truthfully say that I knew the biggest man in the world. He stood taller than any other regardless of the means of measurement. To me he was the strongest, wisest and gentlest of men. There was none more trustworthy, honest or courageous than this man. When it came t...
As I write this article today the count remains at 26 Nebraska State Senators who are willing to sign the petition to call for a special session of the Nebraska State Legislature to deal with the vaccine mandate problem. Unless seven more State Senators change their minds by November 1, the special session likely won’t happen. The Governor, however, may call for a special session without 33 Senators. Many Nebraskans are now losing their jobs because they cannot take a COVID-19 vaccination s...
“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” – President John F. Kennedy America is the greatest country in the world because our Constitution recognizes God-given human rights and protects individual liberties. Our Republic has endured for nearly two-and-a-half centuries due to the blood, sweat, and sacrifice of our military veterans. Veterans Day is an opportunity for Nebraskans to thank the veterans who’ve heeded the call of...
Behind every agency reaching out to those in need are the costs of meeting those needs. The buildings that house the dry goods and refrigerated products are kept cool by the cost of utilities paid each month. From basic clothes to essential food for the family, Sidney is blessed to have agencies designed to help those in need. We as a community also need to remember to support these agencies, even more so in today’s challenges. Among the outreach programs in Sidney is the Table of Grace. The program has a thrift shop whose revenue supports t...
If you’ve not yet heard, there’s a major push to rid the world of internal combustion engines by the year 2030. You read that right, get as many vehicles powered by fossil fuels off the road as possible in about 8 years. That may seem unrealistic, but General Motors announced in January of this year that it will no long make cars powered by gasoline after 2035. Ford announced in February that 100 percent of its passenger vehicles offered in Europe will be all-electric by 2030, and Volvo ann...
On occasion I’ve watched parts of the Tour de France. It might have been moments of “what if,” but it was just as much curiosity. What does it take to not just race but speed through villages, varying terrain, mountain passes and a pack of cyclists who want the yellow jersey as much as you do. Equally as striking is the roads crowded by spectators. The European two-lane roads frequently looked reduced to a single lane and change because of the number of spectators, hard-core fans cheering on the...
After watching evening news commentators from both sides of the fence, I’ve concluded that few, if any of them really know what kind of national governmental system we have in this country. Far worse than that is the seeming lack of knowledge by our nation’s elected officials. Or, it might be a deliberate distortion of the truth by the liberal media and ignorance on the minimally conservative media. In truth I think the last sentence is most accurate. In order to give you a better und...
During the month of October, Americans from across the country come together to raise awareness about a disease that will affect one in eight U.S. women at some point in their lives: breast cancer. This year alone, nearly 300,000 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. It’s the most common form of cancer among American women, with a new diagnosis turning a family’s life upside down once every two minutes. Because it touches the lives of so many women, chances are you know som...
It’s alarming to see half-built, new farm equipment sitting idle, car dealerships vacant, and store shelves empty, but this is the harsh reality behind President Biden’s current supply chain crisis. Across the country we are seeing bottlenecks and cargo backups at ports and terminals, as well as an abundance of workforce shortages causing massive delays throughout our supply chain. It is critical we take action now to address the stalemates preventing American products from both being produ...
Earlier this month, a New York Times reporter named Andrea Elliott published a book, Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City. In the book, Andrea delves into the life of a family: Chanel, the mother; Supreme, her husband; and her seven children. In 2012, the family resided in a single room in the Auburn Family Residence, in Brooklyn, New York. Andrea started her investigative reporting on the city’s poor and destitute by drifting around the Auburn’s front door. In Oct...
“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” Revelation 13:16-17 Christians have been looking for signs of the “End Times” ever since Christ ascended to heaven, but, as a pastor, I’m seeing increased discussions about the subject in recent months. Astute believers are noting things happening in the...
We are hearing a lot these days from a certain boisterous and routinely violent segment of our nation about how privileged a certain portion of us are. These claims of privilege are based strictly on the color of one’s skin. Excuse me, but isn’t that being racist? I don’t know about you, but it sure would have been nice to have been born into a privileged family! My parents were survivors of the Great Depression and both of their families were poor, and I mean poor, having little with which...
Once in a while, there is a glimmer of reality in our trip on this crazy ride. There is a sitcom recently introduced that plays with the concept of an Afghan interpreter moving to the U.S., and living with a soldier who served there. I’m leaving out some of the details, but the story line often involves his adjustment to American society, the soldier adjusting to stateside society and the two often acting like brothers from different mothers. The story had the opportunity to borrow from h...
The Nebraska State Board of Education has lost all credibility with the people of Nebraska. On August 6, 2021 I called for all of the members of the State Board of Education, including the Education Commissioner, Matthew Blomstedt, to resign. Last week Patricia Timm who represents district 5 in southeast Nebraska did the right thing by announcing her resignation. I am still waiting for the other seven members of the State Board of Education and the Commissioner to resign. The Education...
The last 18 months have been a roller coaster for the entire world. While many places have struggled, even in America, Nebraskans have come together to power through the pandemic. Our healthcare professionals have worked with compassion and skill to care for Nebraskans. Communities have supported their local businesses throughout the pandemic. Employers have overcome market disruptions to preserve and create jobs. Parents and schools worked to get kids back in the classroom. Our ag producers onc...
Sorry folks, I wish I could write numerous articles full of laughter and fun, but I can’t. After watching the evening news and comparing the way various news channels handle reporting the same event I usually end up shaking my head in sorrow. One gives a positive spin on everything that is wrong while another spins the good as something bad. The national news networks seem to have become aligned with one or the other major political movements. And another tries to hold the other major networks t...
Talk of a cashless society has been around for decades, but the explosion of interest and participation in cryptocurrency markets, coupled with better and faster computing power, has moved such talks from theoretical to nearly inevitable. Those in positions of power among the elites in global banking and finance are openly advocating for conversion of the world’s currencies to digital. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are digital versions of money circulated by central banks such as t...
Twice in a short period of time I’ve heard the phrase “be fiercely kind.” It sounds like the craziest of oxymorons. Be fierce, and be kind. Kind, fierce. Opposite ends of the spectrum, or complimenting sides of the same coin? The most recent time I heard this was in a memorial. A friend of mine left this earth. His wife, children early in their adulthood, and his friends are left to move on. During the celebration of life service, many talked about how he was such a “get-it-done” kind of guy, a...
The withdrawal from Afghanistan is the biggest U.S. foreign policy blunder in decades. We left hundreds of American citizens and thousands of our Afghan allies at the mercy of the Taliban, the same group that gave safe haven to al Qaeda as it planned the 9/11 attacks. A suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed 13 American servicemembers, including a Nebraskan, Marine Corporal Daegan Page, making it the deadliest day in Afghanistan for the United States since 2011. The American people deserve...
