The Sidney Sun-Telegraph - Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper

Abraham Lincoln faced an absolute calamity on March 4, 1861, the day when Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the oath of office to Lincoln at his inauguration.  Already seven states from the... Full story

Throughout the year of 1864, President Abraham Lincoln believed that he would lose the election in November. He admitted in August, "I am going to be beaten, and unless some great change takes place,... Full story

People burrow into the subsoil, build tunnels, plus storage rooms, and stockpile food and water, for one reason, and that is to stay alive. Atop the ground, in the open air, in the sunshine, they... Full story

What is the good that comes from knowing even a little about the ancient Greeks' religion? I prefer to learn of actual people who once lived in a historical setting, a time and a place. Greek... Full story

Since 2004, radio personality Steve Inskeep has hosted National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” During Covid lockdown in 2020, at home with time to spare, Inskeep researched and wrote a book... Full story

Some people possess a talent to peer deep into the future. In Biblical times people called them prophets. In the Middle Ages, people believed them wizards. Today they are economists who make... Full story

The main highway running east to west across Israel's width is Highway One. It connects Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to the Jordan River Valley, near Jericho. In 2012, highway contractors working five... Full story

The list of banned, censored, and challenged books is long and illustrious.       Decameron (1353) by Giovanni Boccaccio, and Canterbury Tales (1476) by Geoffrey Chaucer were banned from U.... Full story

Popular song writers will, on occasion, dub into their lyrics references to summer. In 1970, Mungo Jerry sang, "In the summertime, when the weather is high, you can stretch right up and touch the... Full story

Last Thursday, July 27, 2023, North Korea's leader Kim Jon Un presided over a military parade that celebrated the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the... Full story

Two trials in American history stand out above the others, the Salem Witch Trials and the Scopes Monkey Trial. Both were of a religious nature.  The two serve as bookends on America's history, the... Full story

This last week I watched the new Lionsgate film, Jesus Revolution. The film did better than expected, grossing $50 million in the first months after its release in February.  The screenplay is based... Full story

In National Geographic's May edition, the writer Suzette Brewer, member of the Cherokee Nation, wrote an article about "the some 500 federally funded boarding schools for Native children opened in... Full story

Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election because of his upbeat creed, his optimism, and his sunny disposition, an attitude that contrasted to Jimmy Carter's beat-down-but-struggling talk. Reagan told the... Full story

William Shakespeare was born close to April 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-the-Avon, in England, 100 miles northwest of London. Roger Williams was born either as early as December of 1603, or as late as... Full story

John F. Kennedy served in the U. S. Congress for fourteen years, from 1947 until 1960. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, JFK was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1946, and he stayed th...

Twenty-eight-year-old Naomi Biden married twenty-five-year-old Peter Neal on the south lawn, at the White House, on Saturday, November 19, 2022, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. Because there... Full story

The United States departed Afghanistan on August 31, after almost twenty years of nation-building, the most recent foreign power to surrender that harsh, cold, Himalayan terrain, “the graveyard of e...

School begins this month, perhaps this week. Teachers again will introduce students to questions on math, science, English, social studies, and foreign languages. I wish them all well. No subject is...

Rarely do men and women seem free, even for a moment, from the evils that have plagued human beings for millennium: war, poverty, famine, slavery, racism, diseases, pestilence, and natural disasters....

In recent days a native Icelander named Egill Bjarnason published a book, “How Iceland Changed the World.” I wonder about that title’s bold claim, but nonetheless he writes well, is...

As the year 1776 unfolded, American colonists were confronted with the question of independence. Some favored it, others rejected it, and a third group remained uncommitted.  This political question...

You and I, and all others who claim American citizenship, now have reason to celebrate a new Federal holiday, Juneteenth, our 12th legal public holiday.  Last week, on Tuesday, June 15, the Senate...

How does one recognize great writing in a novel, a work of history, or a scientific treatise? The typical answers include: if it sells 5,000 copies, if it makes the “New York Times Best Seller...

The 1921 race riot in Tulsa began on Monday, May 30, Memorial Day, when a young black man stepped into an elevator, tripped, and either grabbed a young white girl’s arm to steady himself, or...