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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WASHINGTON (AP) — An ax is scheduled to hit the federal budget Friday: Unless the White House and Congress reach a budget deal by then, automatic cuts will carve $85 billion out of the budget through Sept. 30 and $1.2 trillion over the next decade. The cuts in defense spending, unemployment benefits and other programs could slow an already struggling economy. And they would leave unaddressed the biggest long-term threats to the government’s finances — rising bills for Medicare and Social Security. Economists say there’s a better way. Shrinki...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate, several hours past the deadline for averting automatic budget cuts, to discuss how to proceed on divisive tax-and-spend issues. Because the meeting is set to take place well after Friday’s deadline for the so-called sequester to kick in, it appears both sides are operating under an assumption that a deal to avert the cuts ahead of the deadline is now out of the question. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the session will foc...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wal-Mart is putting special labels on some store-brand products to help shoppers quickly spot healthier items. Millions of schoolchildren are helping themselves to vegetables from salad bars in their lunchrooms, while kids’ meals at Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants automatically come with a side of fruit or vegetables and a glass of low-fat milk. The changes put in place by the food industry are in response to the campaign against childhood obesity that Michelle Obama began waging three years ago. More changes are in...
“People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses” —Juvenal Isn’t it grand that we have such a cool couple in the White House? Hollywood would never have deigned to invite any other First Lady to present the award for best picture at its annual self-worshipping soporific. Mrs. Obama knew just how to flatter the nearly inexhaustible vanity of people who sell tickets to shows. “I am so honored to ... help celebrate t...
We all have those little things in life that we dread but have to put up with anyways. I asked my dad what I should write about this week and he answered simply, “dentist visits.” I inquired as to whether he had had one that day and he replied that he hadn’t but that he just hated them. He then continued, “we all have those things in life that we despise, but those little things are also what balance us.” I agreed with him. I think knowing that life isn’t always perfect oralways happy is good for us in a way. We live for the moments that are go...
LINCOLN – A bill that would help ensure reasonable fees for public records requests advanced in the Nebraska Unicameral on a 35-1 vote Monday. LB363, introduced by Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln, would close a loophole by which some state agencies and public entities have taken advantage of people by charging large amounts of money for public records, Avery said. Sen. Scott Price gave the example of a person in his hometown of Bellevue being charged more than $600 for 14 pieces of paper because of the legal costs that the entity said would be r...
Margaret B. ‘Bonnie’ Shook 1921 to 2013 Margaret B. ‘Bonnie’ Shook, 91 of Sidney, passed away Monday afternoon, Feb. 18, 2013, at the Golden Living Center in Sidney. Graveside services were held in the Olinger-Highland Cemetery in Thorton, Colo. Gehrig-Stitt Chapel & Cremation Service was in charge of Bonnie’s care and local arrangements. Margaret Bonita “Bonnie” Shook, the daughter of Paul R. and Della (Bushong) Clark, was born on June 8, 1921, at Bluffton, Ohio. She attended the Bluffton Scho...
Susan Kay Devier Shaver 1947 to 2013 Susan Kay Devier Shaver, 65, of Kingwood, Texas, passed away peacefully on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Susan was born May 1, 1947 in Torrington, Wyo. She attended Sidney High School where she was well liked by her classmates, who voted her homecoming queen her senior year. She was an active member of her class, participating in band, cheerleading, student council and more. She attended the University of Nebraska where she enjoyed becoming a member of Delta Gamma...
LINCOLN – Hot, dry, windy weather and too many eastern red cedar trees made 2012 the worst year for wildfires in Nebraska, said Sen. Al Davis of Hyannis during a Natural Resources Committee hearing Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Davis sponsored Legislative Bill 634, the Wildfire Control Act of 2013, to address a trend toward “mega fires” in Nebraska. Fires increased in frequency and size starting after 1989, said Nebraska State Forester Scott Josiah. “We have to keep the fires smaller and hit them harder early on,” he said. LB634 would contract...
LINCOLN – After three hours of discussion, one of three amendments proposed by Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha to a bill dealing with prison labor was passed Tuesday. “I intend to take all the time that is necessary to kill this bill,” Chambers said. The bill (LB52) would allow nonprofit organizations to hire prisoners for labor with no pay. Chambers proposed amendments to eliminate nonprofit organizations from the proposed program and to eliminate the requirement that the labor would pay for the operating costs of the penitentiary. Both faile...
Holyoke, Colo. native author Stephen L. Wood is set to hold a book reading and signing of his work Blizzard of ’77 this Saturday, March 2 at the Sidney Pubic Library. The reading and signing will go from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and his work features some local Cheyenne County residents within its pages. Wood’s book is a collection of stories gathered through three years of research on those impacted by both the 1949 and 1977 blizzards that hit the Great Plains. He has also included archived local newspaper accounts as well as personal accounts fro...
Shelby Roelle and her business associates celebrated their 10th year anniversary of buying House of Flowers this Feb. 4. Roelle is a Sidney native and lived in the town most of her life.She graduated from Sidney High School before attending the University of Northern Colorado. “The House of Flowers has been around for a long time and the name is at least 40-yrs-old,” said Roelle. The owner said that she has always wanted to own her own business and that after graduating college with a deg...
WASHINGTON — Chuck Hagel was sworn in Wednesday as defense secretary — President Barack Obama’s third in just over four years — and said that one of his highest priorities will be ensuring fair treatment of troops, veterans and their families. He called the automatic budget cuts due to take effect on Friday — to include $46 billion in Pentagon reductions — “a reality” that “we need to deal with.” In 15 minutes of remarks to Pentagon employees shortly after becoming the nation’s 24th secre...
Below are backgrounds on the professionals scheduled to light up the stage during the Heritage Chorale and Orchestra’s debut performance of Cantata No. 140, Sleepers, Wake by Johann Sebastian Bach at the First United Methodist Church Saturday, March 2. Keith Miller – Bass singer “Keith Miller’s story is that of the local kid who made good,” said Jordan Ball, the director of Saturday’s performance. Miller grew up in a town 10 miles south of Chappell, Neb. in the small town of Ovid, Colo. With...
SUTHERLAND — Brennen Cruise stood in front of his team’s bench Tuesday night, his maroon uniform drenched in sweat from a long, difficult night of playing basketball. “We were in deep trouble,” the junior center said. “This was the hardest game I ever played in, and it didn’t look good.” But appearances can be deceiving, particularly when heart and desire are involved. Twice, Cruise and his Leyton High School boys basketball teammates stared the brink of elimination dead in the eye, using a...
Bryant Knigge scores two of his team-high 14 points as Paxton’s Jaron Bricker gives chase during Tuesday night’s 94-37 loss to the top-ranked Tigers in the Creek Valley D-6 District finals. The defeat ended the Coyotes’ season at 9-14....
