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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It is mid-April which means the Huskers’ spring game has been played, warmer weather should be upon us soon, baseball has resumed, and of course – tax season. Every year, American families and businesses work to compile all the necessary documents, receipts, and records to file their taxes before the April 15th deadline. Anyone who has filed their taxes knows this is no easy task. The complexity of the current tax code makes it very difficult for the average citizen to file their taxes without assistance. Everyone from the individual taxpayer t...
By the year 2018, it is estimated that nearly 70 percent of jobs in Nebraska will require some type of postsecondary education? To meet that need, Nebraska must increase the number of its citizens who have a college education. I am devoting this week’s column to the segment of Nebraska’s population that could help our state meet future job needs–adults aged 25-64 who went to college but left without finishing a degree. This group of individuals represents over 236,000 Nebraskans. According to 2010 census data, the percentage of working-age Nebr...
The strength of love. I’ve heard many say that they don’t like reading or listening to the news on account of how depressing it is, and many have said that they don’t like to learn about all the bad that goes on in this world. Even though I work in the newsprint business, I am also one of those people. Seeing the tragedy that befell in Boston earlier this week, it may be hard for the sour, sickly feeling in your stomach to disappear. We think of the families of those who perished and those who are injured. We think of how the day had start... Full story
The story sounds almost ludicrous when first told: a suspicious bag left outside of Sen. Deb Fischer’s office in Lincoln was investigated by the bomb squad. They sealed off nearby streets for 15 minutes, only to discover the threatening bag was merely full of garbage. Under normal circumstances it would be easy to poke fun at Fischer’s nervous staff. In the light of the Boston Marathon bombing and other recent tragedies, however, their caution is both understandable and laudable. Any unattended package could prove deadly. During times when the... Full story
Long gone are the days when citizens worked the land to pay their share to the crown before being allowed to keep anything for themselves. I think we can all agree it’s a good thing those days are behind us. But even though Tax Day is in the books, we are still paying the government to cover this year’s tax burden. While April 15 is the national tax payment deadline, April 18 marks Tax Freedom Day, the point at which the total earnings of all Americans since the beginning of the year surpasses the total tax bill for the year. In theory, tha...
On Saturday three of us from this office took a side trip to view Lincoln’s stab at assembling the tallest structure ever built from Lincoln Logs. Yeah, we live exciting lives. A team had reconstructed Nebraska’s state capitol with the famed children’s toy, creating a soaring tower some 12 feet high. More than a simple effort to set a Guinness record, the project was billed—in an otherwise tedious address by Lincoln’s mayor—as part of a campaign to emphasize the youthful vigor of the city. Later that evening, we sat with Merle Baranczk, P... Full story
Reporting on tragedy Three died and near 150 were wound when two bombs exploded during yesterday’s running of the Boston Marathon. With the investigation ongoing at the time of this writing, we cannot comment on the motive. President Barack Obama was justly careful on Monday when addressing the tragedy, not assigning the highly charged “terrorism” label. Other mass killings have been the work of lone mad men with no relation to terrorist organizations here or overseas. At this point, we do not know details of those responsible. However despicab... Full story
Bankers gone wild! Let’s tally some of their crimes: JPMorgan Chase engaged in massive, systematic fraud to foreclose without cause or due process on innocent homeowners, tossing thousands of families into the streets. Goldman Sachs profited by marketing an investment package that was designed to fail, collecting fat fees on each sale to unsuspecting investors who lost millions, while the bank also collected millions more from a side bet it made that, sure enough, its package would be a loser. For years, HSBC has been butt deep in a swamp of d...
On my St. Patrick’s Day “Sunday exploration drive,” I visited Cheyenne. My first stop was the Wild West Museum. All of the carriages brought back memories of one of my grandfathers. He owned a prized horse named Rusty among other horses. He also owned a fancy buggy that he would have a couple of his horses pull into town. I remember these things, and I even rode to town in the buggy a few times. I remember Rusty also, but I was never able to ride on him; he was too big as I was only about three... Full story
I happened to be sitting in the Fox News bureau between “hits” on Tuesday morning, when the news broke about the stabbing at Lone Star College in Houston. Watching it unfold in real time, I couldn’t help but think (as I’m sure all of us did) about the Newtown, Conn., massacre and the families flying to Washington and the fear that the parents of the Texas college students must be feeling. The difference, of course, is that no one died in Texas. The perpetrator had a small knife, not a gun. In interviews being conducted by the local affilia...
The topic of whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to get married has been on the tongues of many people over the past several years; with the conversation taking on a new element of speed lately. There are many opinions from both sides based strictly on feeling or emotion from both sides of the fence. However, I have yet to find an argument against why homosexuals should not be allowed to get married based in fact or even a just argument in which someone hides behind the Bible. As some may remember, some months ago I explained my...
It was a hard snow, the kind that stings your face on its way to burying everything in sight. I stood in front of the kitchen window, warm and dry but for my red, swollen eyes. I wrapped my arms around me and held on tightly as I watched him pitch the shovel into the ground, pound it with his foot and dig up another small scoop of frozen soil. His face was knotted in concentration, and his hair grew whiter with each passing minute. My husband did not know I was watching him. He had no idea I was standing on the other side of that snowstorm...
Spring has sprung, temperatures have warmed, and plants and animals have revived again after another winter. This all happens without human direction. No one tells the grass that now is the time to green up, or that trees should sprout leaves, or that pheasants should produce chicks. We call it Mother Nature’s invisible hand. The ancient Greeks had their own myth, that Hades forced Persephone, Zeus’s daughter, to live in the Underworld for six months every year, and then he released her in the...
I want to share an update on the expected weather conditions we are facing as a state, in particular so our farmers and ranchers can make the best decisions for their businesses and families in the upcoming seasons. In 2012, Nebraska experienced record-setting heat and dryness. We would like a return to normal weather pattern in 2013, but as spring approaches, it is apparent that conditions have not improved. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, most of Nebraska remains in the “exceptional” drought category. Unfortunately, we are act...
I received an anonymous envelope yesterday filled with cutouts of my articles. The articles were filled with red marks either circling commas or “ands.” Red words written on the pages depicted that I do not know how to use either of those grammatical staples and that my articles are filled with mistakes on the daily. My boyfriend read the clippings and red words over with me, and his response after we were finished really got me thinking. “Sometimes commas come into your life and you just have to deal with them.” It’s true. Sometimes commas or... Full story
Kim Jong Un is no fool. Yeah, he looks foolish to the modernized world, strolling with a Napoleonic hand thrust inside his coat or posing at the controls of a Pong-era computer—although, to be honest, I’m pretty much in the same situation when it comes to hardware. Bellicose bluster from a baby faced pudge educated in Switzerland seems comical, at best. And there is that little problem of all out war if he gets a little carried away. But few dictators wield absolute authority these days. They must placate edgy generals, appear heroic to the... Full story
Summer after hot, dusty summer, many of our parents and grandparents worked in the fields, raising their crops. Winter after icy winter, they braved frigid corrals, helping to grow their herds. They often worked the same ground for decades—first as children, learning the trade. Over time, they may have added new land and new equipment here and there—whenever they found an opportunity to expand their life’s work. It takes a lifetime to grow a farm or ranch. These stories are bountiful in Nebraska. But not all of them have a happy ending. Farme...
Wall Street is a beast. And proud of it! In fact, a pair of animals are the stock market’s longtime symbols: One is a snorting bull, representing surging stock prices; the other is a bear, representing a down market devouring stock value. But I recently received a letter from a creative fellow named Charles saying that we need a third animal to depict the true nature of the Wall Street beast: a hog. Not just a little piggy, writes Charles — but a HOG, a really big one. Yes! And we could name it “Jamie.” Jamie Dimon — I mean the multimill...
Two of the events I covered this week involved the heroes of the local fire departments. On Thursday, I took pictures at the presentation of the Heroes Among Us award to the Dalton Volunteer Fire Department. On Friday, I attended the Fireman’s Ball. These brought back fond memories for me about some other heroic fire fighters that I met a couple of years ago. It was a slightly darker time in my life. After being unemployed for two years, I had to move in with family when my job ended at the same time as the lease on my apartment. I found p... Full story
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is widely considered the second most powerful court in the land because, among other things, it is the court that reviews decisions of key government agencies, from the Federal Trade Commission to the Federal Communications Commission. It is the court where key challenges to federal law are often brought and where knotty issues of executive privilege and constitutional law are decided. And among judges, it has long been the “feeder” court to the United States Supreme Court....
Everyone wants to be loved for who they are, right? If that’s so, then why do so many people portray different sides of themselves depending upon who they are with? It would be more accurate to say people want to be loved for who they show the world – which ever part of society they are trying to emulate. Everyone at some time in their life wears a mask, whether it is to protect them from hurt; while feeling out people and new situations; to shield themselves from detection so they are more accepted into society; or so they are more acc...
At the risk of sounding like someone who “can’t let it go” — a feminist’s badge of honor if ever there were one — I’d like to offer a few tips on how to write obituaries about accomplished women in America. It’s a short list really. 1) Take a moment to read the March 30 New York Times’ obituary for rocket scientist Yvonne Brill, in which she is celebrated first and foremost for her cooking and years of tagging along with her husband. 2) Vow never, ever to do that. That pretty much covers it. Otherwise, you’re going to be on the receiving end o...
Few Americans will ever forget being told Congress had to first pass the healthcare law “to find out what is in it.” Well, almost exactly three years ago, the bill was passed and now we know the secret ingredient: 20,000 pages of new federal regulations, amounting to a towering stack of paper 7 feet 3 inches tall. This is just one example of the endless amount of red tape coming out of Washington. Though some regulation is necessary to ensure health and safety, overregulation places unn...
The Nebraska National Guard had earned several significant national awards in recent months and I would like to talk more about these awards as well as several other significant events involving the men and women of our Nebraska National Guard. Members of the Nebraska National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters air staff learned they had been awarded their second-consecutive U.S. Air Force Organizational Excellence Award while the Nebraska Air National Guard’s 155th Air Refueling Wing had been awarded its 11th Outstanding Unit Award since its...
We are all born with our own special and unique strengths and weaknesses that we will uncover later on in life. Whether we are born male, female, destined to be tall or short, born with hair or without it – we are all different. Some see our more struggling “differences” as flaws, while others may see them as gifts. But to me, what some consider flaws can be eccentric, and in there own ways, beautiful. Some of us our born with what are considered “physical and mental disorders.” Whether someone is born without a limb or with a confused... Full story
