A Eustis woman, 19, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vehicular homicide in a plea deal after her can ran a stop sign, slamming into another vehicle and killing a 59-year-old passenger in that car and seriously injuring her husband, 64, the driver. Authorities say the younger woman was likely distracted by a text message moments before running the stop sign...

We’ve called the Iowa Breakfast Study into question because it was funded by breakfast cereal companies, but there’s no doubt nutrition and other physiological factors play a part in mental performance. There’s more evidence of that, and it shows that you might want to consider the season when you send your students off to take the ACT or SAT tests that will determine whether they win scholarships...

After declaring “Islam hates us” during his presidential campaign, chiding his predecessor for avoiding the words “Islamic terrorists,” President Trump told Saudi Arabian and Middle Eastern leaders “Islam is one of the world’s great faiths” and it was up to them to stop supporting terror and banish terrorists from their countries...

A Philadelphia court faces a formidable task today, finding 12 jurors and six alternates who believe they can deliver a fair verdict about the behavior of a man who was once America’s most beloved dad. They must do it while spending at least two weeks 300 miles from their homes in the Pittsburgh, Pa., area...

It’s never easy to tighten one’s belt, but how many notches are too far? We’re about to find out. State Department of Health and Human Services and Medicaid officials told lawmakers in March that Gov. Ricketts’ proposed cuts wouldn’t affect access to services for low-income families, the disabled and elderly...

It’s never easy to tighten one’s belt, but how many notches are too far? We’re about to find out. State Department of Health and Human Services and Medicaid officials told lawmakers Gov. Ricketts’ proposed cuts wouldn’t affect access to services for low-income families, the disabled and elderly...

Legalization of marijuana is the most common topic for people taking part in coffee shop debate over drugs, but a more appropriate substance might be right under their noses. Not the coffee, necessarily, but the caffeine it contains is what deserves another look...

Catherina Hettinger patented a small spinning toy with bearings back in the early 1990s but got tired of paying fees required to maintain her rights to the invention more than a decade ago. Had the Winter Park, Fla., native sold those rights to a major toy company, she might be a billionaire today...

You’ve probably heard about the 22-year-old software engineer who became a hero by accidentally stopping the “WannaCry” cyber attack last week. The man, who lives with his parents in England, spent $10.69 to register and activate a website buried in the “ransomware” software, causing it to shut down...

As we’re going into the hot summer season, it’s more important than ever to make sure your air conditioner is in good shape, but not for the reason you may think. It may be expensive, but if you wait, it may cost even more, and you’ll want some warning if it does...

A McKinney, Texas, woman is being blasted on social media for her post, warning a young burglar that he risked being shot should he break into her family’s home again. After she encountered a young masked man in her home, and he ran off, Maria Luce posted a photo of herself and a shotgun on Facebook...

FBI Director James Comey was speaking to field agents in Los Angeles Tuesday when he noticed television graphics announcing he had been fired. He chuckled, finished the speech, left the room and didn’t return. We assume the FBI paid for his flight back to Washington...

Utility crews are still repairing power lines taken down by the April 30 snowstorm, but the overnight thunderstorm was a reminder that a different type of weather is of a greater concern this time of year. A major storm dropped large hail in the Denver area Monday afternoon, grounding flights out of DIA, destroying the roof on a mall and pounding cars throughout the area...

Community leaders have been justifiably concerned about the loss of a couple of major retailers in McCook, but this week draws attention to one of the sectors of the economy where Southwest Nebraska has a real advantage. Gov. Pete Ricketts has proclaimed May 7-13 Nebraska Travel and Tourism Week, and the celebration will include a visit to McCook by John Ricks, Nebraska Tourism Commission executive director...

President Donald Trump said he was giving churches their “voices back” with an executive order, issued on the National Day of Prayer, directing the IRS to limit restrictions on political activity by churches. The order affects the Johnson Amendment of 1954, sponsored by then Sen. ...

The Legislature has kicked the Whiteclay beer can down the road — to Rushville, Neb., 21 miles to the south, where the neared liquor stores are still open. But that shows at least some movement toward a solution of the alcohol problem that has been plaguing the Oglala Lakota Tribe on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian reservation for generations...

A lot of parents may have mixed feelings about President Trump’s decision to scrap Michelle Obama’s healthy school meals system, dropping sodium limits and requirements for whole grains. There’s no question that kids need to eat more fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods, but lunch ladies know that a lot of those healthy foods wind up in the trash...

Local media like the Gazette put a premium on local news because let’s face it, nobody is more interested in nearby events than our readers. There are times, however, that the lines are blurred, and “local” news is just as interesting to people thousands of miles away as to people within a few miles of the event...

If your radio alarm clock woke you up on time for work this morning, you can probably thank a line worker. If you’re still shivering in the chill, you can be thankful it’s May 1, your power will soon be restored and the snow that caused all the problems will soon be converted to runoff headed toward the nearest river...

Adam Conover, host of truTV’s “Adam Ruins Everything” enjoys poking holes in popular opinion about almost every subject, from herpes to tipping wait staff. Adam might want to look into a move to lower the legal blood-alcohol level for driving to .05 from .08...

To be fair, Gov. Pete Ricketts probably would have faced criticism regardless of his decision on a routine proclamation honoring the Nebraska State Education Association’s 150th anniversary. Had he issued the proclamation, he would have called a hypocrite, honoring an organization that’s been on the opposite side of issues such as school vouchers, charter schools and, most recently, third-grade reading requirements, some positions he has held since before he entered politics...

Gambling such as keno is growing, and the Nebraska Lottery is adding a new game, but problem gambling is a relatively small problem in the Cornhusker State, at least according to the benchmarks used by the personal website WalletHub. Nebraska is the second best state when it comes to gambling addiction problems, but not so neighboring states South Dakota, which is the second worse, Colorado 15th, Wyoming 22, Iowa 24 and Kansas 36...

If you spend much time online, especially on a subpar Internet connection, you know the problem. You’re trying to view a cat video link from your cousin or stream an old Star Trek video, and you see the annoying “loading” message on your screen. Now imagine your computer or smartphone is operating a young child’s brain instead of providing entertainment...

Anyone involved in education can tell you it’s usually the teacher who learns the most. That’s even true when the teacher is the student, according to a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study. The topic of the study was getting children to eat vegetables, one of the challenges facing every parent...

A local first grader was learning about opposites in school — cold? “Hot.” Up? “Down.” His next answer provided the wisdom only a child could offer. Sweet? “Healthy.” The teacher was looking for “sour,” but there’s growing evidence America’s sweet tooth is doing it harm — even if the sweet isn’t provided by sugar...

Something about the word “high” seems to create controversy. Today is “National High Five Day,” which was invented, depending on whom you believe, by Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 2, 1977, by Wiley Brown and Derek Smith of the Louisville Cardinals men’s college basketball team during the 1978-79 season, or by ancient Egyptians...

After reading his premature obituary, Alfred Nobel felt so guilty about being remembered only for inventing dynamite that he gave his fortune to found the Nobel Prize. He might have consoled himself with the knowledge that explosives have done much for mankind, in mining, construction and building demolition, but like most technologies, man immediately found ways to use the invention to kill fellow human beings...

As we approach Saturday’s Earth Day, a study shows Nebraska, like most “red” voting states, isn’t very “green.” A study by WalletHub.com shows the Cornhusker state ranking far below “blue” states like Oregon and California in conventional measurements of environmental progress...

Most Nebraskans list “Going to church” as their favorite Easter tradition, although the crowd in Norris Park for the annual MNB Sparky’s Kids Club Easter Egg Hunt Thursday evening shows that activity is a close second in McCook. Offers.com found that Easter Egg Hunt was the leading Easter tradition nationwide, 33.1 percent, followed by going to church, 32.7 percent, Easter baskets 29.9 percent, dying Easter eggs, 29.8 percent, confetti eggs, 6.0 percent, photos with the Easter Bunny, 5.7 percent, and “other,” 4.2 percent.. ...

With the advent of spring comes farming operations, and, unfortunately, an uptick in collisions involving agricultural implements traveling to and from the field. It’s more important than ever for those of us driving faster conventional vehicles like cars and trucks to commit our full attention to the road...

The teen years are always difficult, but the advent of electronic communication has ramped up the potential for accidental or deliberate harm. A 13-year-old girl faces criminal charges after she allegedly faked her own death via a text, causing her 11-year-old boyfriend to kill himself...

We haven’t seen one yet, but it’s probably only a matter of time before you can buy locally one of the fastest-growing categories of desserts — a divorce cake. We do mark milestones like birthdays, weddings are retirements with cakes, so it was probably inevitable that bakeries around the world have begin offering “divorce cakes” to help ease the pain of a breakup by taking in some calories with our remaining friends...

Easter means colored eggs, new dresses and bunnies for most Americans, but the faith of at least 45 Christians in two Egyptian cities cost them their lives. Islamic State suicide bombers killed at least 17 people in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, the place where Christianity started in Egypt, and at least 28 died at St. George’s Church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta...

Smile, you’re on camera! We won’t say “Candid” Camera like the old television, because there’s nothing unusual about being photographed at any time or any place, from walking along the street, to shopping to our own homes. And these days, that image is just as likely to be broadcast over the Internet as stored away for later viewing by a few people...

Over the past 20 years, the U.S. suicide rate has been increasing to the point that it’s one of the leading causes of death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reports the suicide rate is up among every age group under 75, but as tragic as that is, worse is the fact that it’s tripled among young girls between 10 and 14...

Area residents enjoy their live music, as evidenced by expanding local nightlife offerings, but more traditional types as well, as evidenced by Sunday’s “Folk Songs and Fiddle Tunes” concert at the Fox Theatre. Congratulations to everyone involved in the Simply Strings organization, such as director Charles Coleman, soloists Elizabeth Knedlik and Leanne Miller, and it was touching to see a tribute to the late Maribeth Augustyn, who probably played an important part in the lives of the majority of the musicians on stage Sunday afternoon.. ...

The announcement that McCook’s JCPenney store will close next month has put new emphasis on the loss of shopping opportunities and the need to support local businesses. Yes, it’s important to do what we can to keep our friends and neighbors in business, but it’s good for the economy in general, not just the local business climate. Our total U.S. economy depends, in large part, on small mom-and-pop ventures. The U.S. Small Business Administration defines a small business as an enterprise having fewer than 500 employees. There are almost 28 million small businesses in the U.S. and more than 22 million self-employed workers with no additional payroll or employees — mom-and-pop businesses with annual receipts of $1,000 or more and subject to federal income taxes. More than half of the working population, 120 million of us, work in small businesses, which have generated more than 65 percent of the new jobs since 1995. It’s not an easy task to start a small business; some 543,000 owners try every month but more than that shut down. Seventy percent of new firms with employees survive at least two years, half at least five, a third at least 10 years and a quarter stay in business 15 years or more. More than half of all small businesses are home-based, and there were 22.5 million nonemployer firms in 2011, up almost 2 percent from the year before, according to the SBA. About three-quarters of all U.S. businesses are nonemployer businesses, 19.4 million of those are sole proprietorships, 1.6 million are partnerships and 1.4 million are corporations. The latest figures show the fastest type of freelance business is auto repair shops, beauty salons and dry cleaners. “Nonemployer” business people aren’t getting rich; the average revenue is $44,000, but many Southwest Nebraska residents would be happy to establish that sort of enterprise. So while we mourn the loss of a landmark downtown retailer, and work to maintain and cultivate local business activity, let’s make sure we at least do as little as possible to hinder local entrepreneurs and all we can to encourage them.

Get a better education, and have a better life, goes the oft-repeated mantra. Now you can add “have a longer life” to the advice young people should heed. Unfortunately, according to research by two Princeton University economists, lack of education can lead to early death...

Do you have a young person trying to choose a career? Looking to change careers yourself? If you have the aptitude, you’ll find yourself in demand if you can become a doctor or pursue many other types of medical careers. Thanks to aging baby boomers requiring more medical care, and an increased number of retirements, the demand for physicians and other health-care workers is expected to boom...

If you haven't filed your tax return yet, perhaps it's because you know you'll have to pay the IRS instead of collecting a refund. While you're collecting forms and thinking about your financial situation, we've got one more chore you should add to your list...

It was not that long ago, it seems, that businesses and organizations were debuting their first websites in a nod to the changing times and widespread availability of Internet access. Too many websites are zombies, living on in web surfers' browsers despite being devoid of content rarely if ever being updated...

The idea of eliminating daylight saving time in Nebraska seems to be gaining traction. Friday, four people spoke in favor of LB 309, which would eliminate daylight time, four against and two letters in support were submitted to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee's hearing on the subject...

Have you received one of those "can you hear me now?" calls? Scammers, supposedly, want to have a recording of you saying "yes" so they can bill you for a product or service you really didn't order. So far, there are no confirmed cases of that actually happening...

On the 150th anniversary of a state named after a Native American term for "flat water," Nebraska leaders are celebrating President Trump's move to direct the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Obama Administration's controversial "Waters of the United States" rule...

We got a letter from the lawn service the other day and you can see the bags of garden soil and mulch piling up outside the garden departments -- can spring be far away? While we're getting soil ready to plant some tomatoes, we'll also want to think about where we want to spend our summer vacation...

Never mind the "bear in the air," watch out for the "seat cover" in that truck behind you. In case you weren't around in the in days when CB radios were the fad, the first refers to state troopers catching speeders and the second to the person in the truck driver's passenger seat...

Lawmakers wrangling with fiscal issues and public health might be keeping an eye on the Philadelphia situation. That's especially true in the Obamacare era, with the government involved in health care to an unprecedented degree, but President Trump's election throws that into question as well...

Faced with potential state funding cuts, Mid-Plains governors will discuss raising tuition and fees at their meeting today, but regardless of their decision, the local community college will remain a bargain. In-state tuition is $84 per credit hour for the 2016-17 year, and that includes the adjoining states of Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming as well...

The largest Powerball jackpot in history was drawn more than a year ago, Jan. 13, 2016, with a number worth $1.6 billion was split three ways. Two of the winners came forward almost immediately, but the third, a Chino Hills, Calif., couple, claimed their prize six months later, after they had assembled a team of advisers...

A particular diet has been enjoying some popularity over the past few years, but there's new information that may extend the cuisine beyond fad status. It's long been believed that the Mediterranean diet can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, joint diseases and cancer, but a new study found that it can also help prevent brain decline in elderly people...

A particular diet has been enjoying some popularity over the past few years, but there's new information that may extend the cuisine beyond fad status. It's long been believed that the Mediterranean diet can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, joint diseases and cancer, but a new study found that it can also help prevent brain decline in elderly people...

Opponents of President Trump have long been critical of his continuing ties to the family business, most recently adviser Kellyanne Conway's endorsement of Ivanka Trump's line of clothes. For a look at what can happen when business and government mix, check out recent events in South Korea...

On the surface, national security adviser Michael T. Flynn's resignation seems cut and dried. In the cold war years, any hint of collusion with Russia, then the Soviet Union, would have resulted in the immediate death of an American political career, if not a prison sentence or worse...

On the surface, national security adviser Michael T. Flynn's resignation seems cut-and-dried. In the cold war years, any hint of collusion with Russia, then the Soviet Union, would have resulted in the immediate death of an American political career, if not a prison sentence or worse...

When the going gets tough, the tough tend to look out for number one. Experience seems to confirm that twist on an old adage when it comes to people. We've noticed that crimes like embezzlement and Ponzi schemes like Bernie Madoff's seem to turn up when the economy turns down...

The old adage that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" used the "Iowa Breakfast Study" of the 1950s as supporting evidence. The saying lost some credibility when it was noted in the 1980s that the study covered only a small number of students -- and was financed by the Cereal Institute and included only 50 people, age 12 to 83...

California officials have their fingers crossed as they keep an eye on the nation's highest dam, where erosion damaged one spillway and threatened to wash out an emergency spillway, sending a 30-foot wall of water toward the homes of at least 188,000 people...

It won't be anything spectacular, but sky watchers are in for a treat as today's spring-like weather is followed up with a chance for some astronomical observations. Tonight's full moon will rise under a "penumbral eclipse," when it passes through a partial shadow from the earth...

It's the time of year when those of us in a relationship, be it long- or short-term, can find ourselves in a struggle -- is a card enough for a long-term spouse? Is jewelry too much for a new crush? Judging from the numbers, more of us seem to be giving up rather than risking a wrong move...

Lucas Kotschwar is to be commended for his effort to turn a close call for himself and the tragic loss of his dog into something positive. Kotschwar risked his own life to try to save his dog after it fell through thin ice in Barnett Park. The McCook Fire Department used a ladder truck to try to rescue the dog, but it was too late...

Motorcyclists love the feeling of freedom they get when they take to the open road, and naturally resist anything that takes away from it. There are stories about helmets littering the roadsides every summer, when riders no longer need their headgear when leaving the Cornhusker state on their way to the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally...

One of President Trump's first executive orders was to begin construction of a border wall with Mexico, but exactly how the relationship between the two countries plays out is anybody's guess. There's a near 100 percent consensus when it comes to one commodity from Mexico -- illegal drugs -- but a trade war with our neighbor to the south would affect all of us in ways we wouldn't like...

"Go outside and play!" Your mom's advice was good when you were a kid, and there's even more evidence it is good today. That comes from a study at King's College in London, which found that the more time young people spend outside, the less likely they are to develop nearsightedness...

It's a tired old adage, but as true as ever: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. The latest to learn the hard way are customers of Creative Creations, which got a little too creative with travel packages back in 2014 and 2015. PatriciaUrbanovsky of Omaha, 31, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $4.7 million in restitution...

We've been complaining "It's 20_ _ (fill in the blank with the current year) where's my jet pack?" for at least 17 years, and the unfulfilled dream of a practical flying car has been around almost as long as airplanes themselves. A nexus of technological advances promises to make the dream a reality -- for those who can afford the luxury, at least...

A "phishing" scam reportedly played a part in this year's election by exposing thousands of internal Democratic National Committee emails to public scrutiny. The actual results are debatable, but there is no question that identity theft will be devastating to individuals. Even after you find out your identity has been compromised and take the proper steps, "you have a new hobby," according to one famous financial adviser...

You should always have a plan in mind, even when you can't immediately see a way to accomplish it. Gov. Pete Ricketts has proposed a 3 percent cut in funding to community colleges, but that doesn't mean officials and the communities they serve should stop planning for the future...

A bill that would prevent known drug users from collecting welfare payments has been proposed in the Legislature, and regardless of whether it becomes law, we're going to be dealing with the drug testing issue for a long time. Living near Colorado, Southwest Nebraskans should be concerned about the topic, especially if we are subject to drug testing at our place of employment, as many of us are...

We mentioned Madonna's admonition to get more involved in the political process, but we didn't include another of her statements at an anti-Trump rally. She said she had thought about blowing up the White House, which has reportedly piqued the interest of the Secret Service...

Not to contradict Bob Dylan, but you might need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. If the weather service issues a warning, it's a good idea to pay attention. We received several tragic reminders of that this weekend. On Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons won a chance to play in the Super Bowl, but while that game was going on, four people were killed at Albany, Ga., bringing to 19 the number of people who died in two days of tornadoes across the South -- 15 in south Georgia alone...

You won't find many Red State voters agreeing with Madonna much, but we've found a point in common. Dressed in black with a shirt reading "Feminist," the Material Girl told an anti-Trump audience they should read the Constitution and get more involved in the political process...

A day before the first African American president leaves office and Donald Trump checks into the White House, there are few things less important than daylight saving time. That's especially true in Nebraska's capital, where Gov. Pete Ricketts, in response to projected budget shortfalls, is proposing sweeping changes to the state's property tax system as well as agency reform and spending cuts finding opposition in from many quarters...

Perhaps we should be outraged by the Oxfam report that the six richest people on earth own as much combined wealth as the poorest half of the earth's population. Outraged, but not surprised. According to a 2014 World Bank study, while poverty is on the decline globally, two-thirds of the world's poorest people live in India, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo...

The weekend brought a couple of reminders of how our attitudes have changed about space exploration. One prompted images of just how much history we are losing as the prior generation of explorers leaves the earth. The other shows possibilities for the future...

Winter Storm Jupiter (the Weather Channel's name) turned out to be somewhat of a bust in McCook, but there were scattered power outages in the area and a few non-injury accidents reported around McCook. The latter is probably true because many businesses, including the Gazette, chose to close their doors Monday rather than risk the safety of their employees and customers on the icy streets and highways. ...

Gov. Pete Ricketts' budget proposals were just as predictable as the response. Faced with a projected $267 million shortfall in the current budget and the potential for a $900 million gap through 2019, Ricketts did what most of us do when our paychecks won't make it to the end of the month...

Protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline picked up, with gusto where the Keystone XL protests left off, only backing off slightly when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a construction easement under the Missouri River in the final months of the Obama Administration...

There was a day when you couldn't post pictures of your breakfast to hundreds of friends, share a Tweet from the president-elect or berate officiating in front of thousands of football championship game viewers. In those days, one had to be a professional journalist, dedicated to getting the story first, getting it right, and getting it past your editor before anyone could read a single word of your report...

McCook has been an area trade center since before the time the Newsboy plied the skies of Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas delivering the Gazette. Generations of area high school students have traveled to Nebraska's oldest two-year college for events like Band Days and Inter-High Day, many of them returning after high school graduation once they got a taste for the quality education it could offer on one of the most attractive campuses around...

We've know or have heard of people who have contracted lung cancer, "but have never smoked a day in their lives." We've also heard anecdotal evidence, and some empirical as well, of high cancer rates in Nebraska. The answer could lie with radon, which health experts know is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, and the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers...

If you were still awake, or not too busy celebrating, you might have caught Mariah Carey's botched performance in front of a billion people on New Year's Eve. We tend to believe her producer's story, that she repeatedly complained about faulty earpieces before ever going on stage. Her dancers, however, didn't seem to have any trouble following the music...

If you're like most of us, you've gained a few pounds over the holiday season, and taking them off may be a high priority. When it comes to our bank account, however, excess probably isn't the problem. Like many things in life, less is more where finances are involved...

The supply of ammunition seems to have improved and not everyone was clamoring to buy guns following the November election, thanks to the perception that Trump was less likely than Hillary Clinton to push for gun control. That's not the case in California, where sporting goods stores have been struggling to supply semi-automatic rifles ahead of a new law which bans certain features...

It's been quite a year if you follow celebrity deaths, and 2017 promises to be even more "interesting" as the Trump administration takes power. It's always best to practice moderation when marking the end of one year and beginning of a new one with celebration and/or dread, but if you've succumbed to temptation, there are some steps you can take to make New Year's Day a little more tolerable...

Montana's motto may be "Big Sky Country," but there's plenty of "big sky" in our neck of the woods as well. We've always enjoyed stargazing, especially in the countryside away from the city lights, and we were pleased when Vernon Whetstone, then of Benkelman, offered to add us to the list of papers carrying his "What's Up?" column...

We wrote about a study linking heart attacks and the holidays in Friday's weekend edition and almost on cue, three celebrities died of heart attacks, one despite the quick actions of passengers and crew of the airliner on which she was a passenger. The first was Alan Thicke, who died from a ruptured aorta three hours after suffering a heart attack, according to his death certificate...

If you have a heart attack at Christmastime, it might not be because of shoveling snow in the cold weather. With temperatures expected to be in the 40s and 50s over the holiday weekend, we're not likely to have much of a white Christmas. It's the holiday itself that stresses the heart, not the weather, Australian researchers have concluded...

Many of us are basking in the pre-holiday glow, feeling comfortable and charitable, watching "It's A Wonderful Life" and attending children's Christmas programs. The stock market is ready to top 20,000, an all-time high, unemployment is at a nine-year low, and consumers are spending like it's 2007 -- just before the 2008 meltdown...

It's always fun to try to figure out what's hiding under the Christmas tree, but there are some gifts that shouldn't be a surprise. One of those is a firearm, and that's a popular category of gift, according to FBI statistics. More gun background checks were conducted on Black Friday than any other day in history, the federal agency said...

If you've flown recently, you know the drill; take off your shoes, pack all your liquids over 3.5 ounces in your check-in luggage, take off your shoes and subject yourself to a full-body scan. All because of the 9-11 terrorists, and others, who sometimes choose to use loaded airliners to make a political point...

John Glenn was an inspiration to the generation of Baby Boomers now moving into their retirement years, from his initial exploits as America's first astronaut in orbit, to his political career in the U.S. Senate, to his return to orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery at the age of 77...

The late Gov. Frank Morrison once mused that there was something in the water that caused so many residents to seek political office. Storyteller Garrison Keillor once observed that the nearby Republican River was shallow, winding to and fro, "following the most expedient path."...

It's always big news when the president travels, but the subject has drawn more than it's share of attention this week. President-elect Trump, Time Magazine's Man of the Year, found time to tweet about the price of a couple of new Air Force Ones. "Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump" tweeted...

The U.S. military has 1.3 million troops on active duty, the fewest since before the Pearl Harbor attack 75 years ago Wednesday. Yet it has more full-time employees involved in logistics or supply chain jobs than the entire United Parcel Service workforce, and its purchasing bureaucracy would rank among the top 30 private employers in the United States...

Technically, it's nearly three weeks until winter arrives, but we've already found our heavy coats now that "meteorological" winter arrived with Dec. 1. Cold winds can be dangerous out here on the Plains, but they're nothing like conditions thousands of feet above our heads, where jet streams can bring in snow, ice and whiteout conditions at 200 mph...

We've got a few weeks until the end of the holiday overindulgence season, but it's not too early to think about burning off those extra calories stored as body mass. The popularity of racquetball ebbs and flows, less demanding pickleball is gaining popularity and tennis seems to hold steady...

We've made great strides in modern public health, but it's easy to take it for granted. Unfortunately, old diseases like measles and polio are still around, decades after they should have been wiped out -- perhaps we mean centuries -- bubonic plague bacteria is still being detected in squirrels in the California mountains...

Schools should be a safe place, but they can also be a "soft target" for someone with evil intent. One side thinks there are already too many guns in circulation, while the other is fond of the quote "the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."...

Will you dread opening your credit card bills come January? If you're concerned, you might want to turn off your "one-click" purchase button on your favorite online shopping account. If it really gets out of hand, say you're considering a consolidation loan to clean up last year's Christmas credit card bills, you might want to get professional help...

If you survived your Black Friday shopping excursion (that started Thursday afternoon) you and your family may not be in the clear yet. If you already bought toys for the kids on your shopping list, you might want to check with the safety experts before putting them under the tree...

During the presidential campaign, President Obama voiced concern about his legacy -- unless Hillary Clinton won, his achievements would be lost to posterity. He probably didn't expect it to begin before he even left office. Businesses across the country were struggling to comply with a regulation going into effect Dec. 1, that would require them to pay overtime for salaried administrative or professional workers who make less than about $47,500 a year...

They say one lawyer will starve to death in a small town, but two lawyers will each be able to make a living. There are better lawyer jokes, but it's true that lawyers are becoming a rare commodity in many rural Nebraska communities. That puts rural residents at a disadvantage, should they need legal help...

A neighbor in trouble seems to bring out the best in small-town Nebraska, and Sunday morning's fire in Cambridge was no exception. Someone who stopped at a convenience store about 5:30 a.m. turned in the fire, and volunteers from at least seven neighboring towns were on scene or on the way within a few minutes to help out Cambridge volunteers...

Many a stand-up routine and more than one movie have created around the personal interactions that accompany the Thanksgiving holiday. Traveling on a tight schedule, as demanded by a Thursday holiday, dining with relatives who may have differing political views (horrors!) and seasonal illnesses can take their toll on what should be an enjoyable day off...

We recently saw an Internet meme about all the things a high school graduate should know how to do, like drive a stick shift and balance a check book. Good luck finding a stick shift; only 10 percent or fewer of American cars are sold with a clutch pedal these days...

If the election didn't go your way, and you decided Canada is too cold and you couldn't get the immigration website to work anyway, there's another place you might consider moving. A Hungarian parliament committee has given initial approval for the country to remain on daylight saving time all year around...

Kudos to the groups organizing the Buffalo Jones Outdoor Festival, set for next June in Barnett Park. Inspired by this year's HEAR Nebraska event, The McCook Area Chamber of Commerce, McCook Economic Development and McCook/Red Willow Visitors Bureau got together to plan a festival honoring the bison conservationist while filling out a busy Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival weekend...

Health insurance and immigration are the first things to come to mind when the subject of Donald Trump's election comes up, but no issue is off the table when it comes time for the new administration to take over the reins of power. The Dakota Access pipeline was the current flash point, drawing protests before and after the presidential election...

Demonstrators are protesting the election of Donald Trump and some schools, where teachers have been seen crying, are offering counseling for students who are afraid how the results of the election will affect them. You won't see much of that in Nebraska, especially in our end of the state, but that doesn't mean we're immune to effects from changes in Washington leadership...

The voters have spoken. They wanted the death penalty back, and they were willing to go over the heads of the Legislature to do so. Perhaps turnabout's fair play, since the Legislature went over the head of a veto by Gov. Pete Ricketts to abolish capital punishment in the state...

We were little surprised when a mock election at Central Elementary this week went for Donald Trump. Such votes have been very accurate over the years, in our recollection, and all the polls indicated that Hillary Trump would win. Score another one for the kids...

There's an Internet meme going around that would be funny if it weren't so true. Me: I don't like Trump. Everyone: "So you support a liar like Hillary? She should be in jail!" Me: I don't like Hillary Everyone: "So you support a racist like Trump!? He doesn't stand for American values!"...

Most of us need all the friends we can get, but how strong is "friendship" in this day of social media? The 2016 election has provided an answer: Not very. Facebook says the election has generated over 5.3 billion posts, likes, comments and shares, with nearly 110 million Americans taking part in the online debate between January and October this year...

Looking forward to an extra hour of sleep this Sunday? You might want to rethink that strategy. Sleeping in seems nice, but the abrupt change can throw off your body's internal biological clock, or circadian rhythm. That can lead to sleepiness in the day, accidents, depression, migraine headaches and other health problems, according to some studies...

Cynics see U.S. elections as a contest between politicians to see who can bribe the most voters with handouts and other goodies. They are not without a certain amount of justification in their beliefs -- although some Republicans might be shocked to learn that the promise of "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage" originated with one of their own, Herbert Hoover, in 1928...

Somebody should do something about that. How many times have you thought that after you saw someone suffering through an injustice, abuse or neglect? Someone in need or with a potential unrealized? Many are quick to act on their own, and we're grateful people like them...

It's almost boring to watch television shows about fictional political intrigue -- it can't hold a candle to the real thing this election year. Despite the controversy over both candidates' character issues, way too many of us don't care enough to vote...

We all remember the true-life Halloween scares over the years of children finding razor blades and other objects in the treats they going door-to-door. Fortunately, most of the stories turn out to be false and dental cavities and obesity are more realistic Halloween hazards...

Are the PC police fashion police as well? Apparently they are, in the tiny town of Bulverde, Texas, 30 minutes north of San Antonio. Brett Bartlett Mauthe arrived to vote wearing a hat supporting Donald Trump and a "basket of deplorables" T-shirt -- a reference to Hillary Clinton's remarks that half of Trump's supporters were "a basket of deplorables" such as racists, sexists, homophobes or xenophobes, a generalization she later said she regretted...

It's every reporter's nightmare. No, not making a mistake in a story, that's a serious issue, but something that can usually be corrected in the next news cycle, if not sooner. This is something worse: Becoming part of the story. That's the situation NTV News found itself in this week, when a mistrial was declared after the Kearney television station inadvertently aired video footage of potential jurors in a Norton County murder trial...

"Spooky" season will soon be over and we'll be on the slippery slope toward Christmas, with only a brief pause -- for Thanksgiving. We'll get together the last Thursday in November, but just how thankful are we? It feels good to give to a worthy cause, not only for the affluent but for those who may have received help from a charity in the past, who are often among the most generous...

Despite America being involved in foreign conflicts for decades, the war protests that marked the 1960s are absent for the most part in the 21st century. What's the difference? We'll leave it to sociologists, psychologists and other academics to answer that question, but the obvious answer is the simplest:...

If you're one of those who can't resist posting a picture of your lunch on Facebook or your cat on YouTube, you might be surprised to learn you might be subject to a fine for taking a selfie during a patriotic activity. Until this year, you could have been fined $100 for sharing a photo of your market ballot in Nebraska...

It's impossible to read the story of a family of six, including four little girls, killed in a farmhouse fire in southeast Nebraska without shedding a tear. We can only imagine how the friends, family, neighbors and firefighters who responded to the scene in rural Nehawka early Thursday...

Major outlets seized on Donald Trump's offhand remark that he would cross the concession bridge when he came to it, leading nearly every story this morning with speculation over a possible coupe. We're involved in a land war in Iraq to retake Mosul from ISIS forces, and Turkey just killed 200 of our Syrian Kurdish allies north of Aleppo...

Journalists often hear charges that their stories are biased, but if they're doing their job, what the critics are more likely saying is that the story isn't slanted in the direction they would like it to be. Occasionally, they hear complaints from both sides of an issue, which many writers wear as a badge of honor...

Spend time talking to the servers or clerks in a resort town and you'll probably hear stories about one or two of their other jobs. It's expensive to live in a ski resort town, so it takes several streams of income to make ends meet. More and more, however, holders of multiple jobs are living in everyday American communities...

Spend time talking to the servers or clerks in a resort town and you'll probably hear stories about one or two of their other jobs. It's expensive to live in a ski resort town, so it takes several streams of income to make ends meet. More and more, however, holders of multiple jobs are living in everyday American communities...

Officials have been hammering drivers of all ages with the message for years. Be sober, rested and pay attention to your driving. Mobile devices have added to the distractions, with more restrictions put in place to deal with them, especially on younger drivers...

Not that many years ago, it wasn't that unusual to read on these pages stories about "meth labs" being broken up around our area. Laws were passed to make it more difficult to obtain the cold medicine necessary to manufacture methamphetamine -- be prepared to spend extra time at the pharmacy counter and have your ID handy if you're looking for effective relief from sniffles and coughing of the common cold...

Too late for an October Surprise? Politicos often talk about incidents like the release of Donald Trump's "locker room talk" video as "October Surprises," but any campaign counting on just such a game change may be in for a shock. It's already too late...

Think you have problems? You could be the CEO of Samsung Electronics. The South Korean company has halted entirely production of its best smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, after a number of battery fires were reported in the phones, as well as fires in the supposedly safe replacement phones sent to consumers...

The issue of immigration came up in Sunday night's presidential debate, as it has throughout the campaign and as it no doubt will in the administration of the next president. It's also a topic of discussion this week, with governmental offices observing Columbus Day today while the traditional holiday was Wednesday, Oct. 12...

Few issues are more divisive or generate more controversy than abortion, legalized on a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 1973. "Pro-choice" women and men took to the streets in Poland Monday to derail a complete ban on abortion that was making its way through the national legislature...

Check out almost any governmental budget, and you'll see the largest line item is salaries. Paying people is the most expensive part of almost any enterprise, and it's the obvious choice when budget cuts are needed. What happens, however, when you don't have people to do important jobs like deposit checks and reconcile accounts?...

In 1961, Dick Cabela started selling fishing flies by mail from his kitchen table in Sidney, Neb., with the help of his wife, Mary and brother, Jim. Today, the company he founded has 85 retail stores, primarily in the western United States and Canada...

We've mentioned a greeting before that might be called the Nebraska "aloha." "Watch out for deer!" We've heard of many collisions and near-misses with deer and other animals recently, thanks to a combination of the time of year, human and animal travel habits and longer nights that come along with the fall and winter seasons...

News outlets like ours are proud to report on the achievements of our youth on the school and sports pages, but too many young people, unfortunately, appear in the crime and court reports. We have a choice to make. Will we just wring our hands and lament the direction the next generation is headed?...

One hundred sixty more people opposed than favored giving Red Willow County power to levy taxes for Hillcrest Nursing Home, according to unofficial results from the mail-in ballot. The ballot question, which would have raised Red Willow County's tax levy slightly to target the nursing home's roof repair needs, was rejected by 1,292-1,136, according to Tuesday night's count...

Cornhusker senior linebacker Michael Rose-Ivey says he's criticizing America because he loves it more than any other country in the world. Rose-Ivey should receive credit for informing his coaches of his intention to kneel for the National Anthem before Saturday's football game...

The chances of anyone "winning" tonight's presidential campaign are extremely thin, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. At best, performances by Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will make most of their supporters feel less negative about their candidate...

Announcements Thursday in Lincoln and Friday in North Platte illustrate just how long major public works projects can take and how many people need to be involved. Benefits of the highway projects announced will be felt for multiples of years by millions people more, however...

Announcements Thursday in Lincoln and Friday in North Platte illustrate just how long major public works projects can take and how many people need to be involved. Benefits of the highway projects announced will be felt for multiples of years by millions of people more, however...

On the eve of the annual Heritage Days celebration, McCook Mayor Mike Gonzales received a reminder of a key part of his community's history. Besides being home to a major air base, McCook did its best to make thousands of troops feel at home, if only for a few minutes, when troop trains stopped here during World War II...

Local governmental bodies have been taken to task on this page many times over the years, including recent weeks when budgets for the coming years have all seemed to include levy hikes as well as the usual real spending increases. Speaking in McCook this morning, Jamie Karl of the state chamber of commerce made a good point, that it does little good to complain to state legislators about property taxes which are levied by local governments, mostly in support of schools...

Summer officially ends Thursday, and it seems to be hanging on to the very end with temperatures in the 80s and 90s this week. Some local health officials, however, wouldn't be disappointed to have an early freeze. Not that they want crops or gardens to be ruined, but they are concerned about the human population of Southwest Nebraska...

Local economic development efforts often concentrate on attracting young families back to small towns, and rightfully so. Young families are a vital component of any thriving community, filling classrooms and athletic teams with young people, providing dedicated employees and stepping in as leadership for local organizations, churches and government...

Nebraska and adjoining states have had to take a whole new look at the issue since Colorado legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. A couple of groups are forcing the issue, collecting signatures to place a couple of different issues on the 2018 ballot...

The nexus of science, politics and commerce has been in the news recently with topics like global warming, EpiPen pricing and even flossing of teeth pushing it to the forefront. The EpiPen manufacturer backed off somewhat, offering a generic version and offering discounts after it political maneuverings and huge management bonuses were revealed...

If you haven't detected a trend in recent budget stories, here it is. They're all going up. After approving a 1.5 percent sales tax for 15 years, with part of that for economic development, local voters were rewarded with increases in the city, county and school levies in recent weeks...

Other issues have come to the forefront in this year's presidential race, but gun control is never far from the surface. The Black Lives Matter group focuses attention on officer-involved shootings, while the other side points out that the majority of African Americans who die from gunshot wounds are killed by other blacks...

What was that I just heard, a complaint about rain? Most long-time Nebraskans would bite their tongue rather than mention something about there being too much rain. Weekend rains of as much as 8 inches left us more than 5 inches ahead of normal precipitation for the year and nearly that for the month alone, however, and we've been reminded that too much rain can, indeed, be a problem...

One of Gazette founder Harry Strunk's lasting legacies is the lake north of Cambridge that bears his name, honoring his efforts to create irrigation and flood control dams on the Republican River. Those dams have helped prevent a repeat of the 1935 flood that killed 110 people and 20,593 head of livestock and damaged 275,000 acres of farmland...

Where were you on Sept. 11, 2001? It was a beautiful clear Tuesday morning, and there's a good chance you were doing the same thing you did this morning, provided your circumstances haven't changed much in the past 16 years. In the interim, those who were directly involved in the aftermath have had plenty of time to experience the aftereffects of the trauma, and few groups have provided more fodder for researchers...

Kelley, Barnett, Norris, Weiland, Elks, Russell, Karrer, Jaycees. They're local parks and ballfields that bear the names of individuals and groups that could see beyond themselves to make things better for generations to come. They've provided settings for thousands of memories and life lessons that sports can provide...

After spending the primaries touting a "deportation force" and vowing to have Mexico pay for construction of a wall on the U.S. southern border, Donald Trump is reconsidering his stance on illegal immigration. He made a quick trip to meet President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico today in preparation for a major immigration speech in Arizona...

How much of a sex scandal does it take to force a politician out of office? That question is playing out in Lincoln with State Sen. Bill Kintner given until Friday to resign or face the consequences for his admitted sexual encounter through the use of a state laptop computer...

Our thanks to the Upper Republican Natural Resources District staff for shedding some light on the new agreement signed by Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska that everyone hopes will put an end to the conflict over the river's water supply. While officials like Gov. ...

The company that purchased the rights to a device used in emergencies to treat anaphylaxis, then raised the price by more than 500 percent, has bowed to public pressure somewhat. Mylan announced today it would cover up to $300 of what people pay for a two-pack of EpiPen, provided they were previously paying the full amount of the company's price...

The rising price of a life-saving injection device is getting the attention of consumer advocates and members of Congress. EpiPens are used to treat food allergy reactions in what can be life-or-death emergencies. There's no generic version of the device, and no direct competitor...

We've watched with interest Lincoln's project to recover methane gas from the city's landfill and turn it into electricity. It seems like a good idea since the federal Clean Air Act requires the gas to be collected from a series of wells and purified anyway. The recovered methane is then sent to the Terry Bundy Generation station, where it's turned into power for Lincoln Electric System customers...

McCook's junior college is celebrating its 90th year next week and there's plenty to celebrate, but the college has plenty to look forward to, as well. The Mid-Plains board of governors are expected to approve the purchase of four small homes in eastern McCook this week to be used for student housing, and to approve more bids for work associated with construction of an extended campus location in Valentine...

Remember when President (Bill) Clinton tried to explain away his lies about Monica Lewinsky thusly: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." The same type of parsing reveals some insight into lawmakers' thinking when it comes to budget discussions...

The Nebraska Attorney General is taking issue with a study that concludes the state would save $14.6 million a year by doing away with the death penalty. Dr. Ernie Goss of Creighton University, who issues regular reports on the Midwest economy and does studies for a conservative think tank, said he was surprised by the results...

Donald Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly called for the repeal of Obamacare, but it looks like market forces might do that job for them. What isn't clear is what Republicans or Democrats will come up with to replace it. Is a Canada-style single-payer system as inevitable as many believe?...

Local athletes, family and friends got together for a touching tribute run Saturday to honor Michelle Walters, tragically killed during the bicycle portion of a Boulder Ironman triathlon a week earlier. It was an appropriate way to remember a young fitness enthusiast taking part in only the latest challenge she took on with determination...

"He'd like us to mention his name," the late radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say, while reporting on someone who committed a mass murder or some other atrocity in an effort to gain notoriety. "We won't" was always his next sentence. The attraction of fame for warped minds has only grown stronger with the growth of social media in the years since Harvey's death...

Nebraska is pretty tough on drunk driving, according to a WalletHub analysis, but the available numbers don't tell the whole story. Drunk driving results in more than a million arrests, nearly 10,000 deaths and more than $40 billion in economic damage each year, and Nebraska lawmakers have responded appropriately...

Americans enjoy some of the cheapest and most abundant varieties of food in the world. Some question the production methods that are used to provide that abundance, however, and a GMO labeling bill recently signed by President Obama is controversial because it allegedly overrides state laws requiring labeling of genetically engineered foods...

Barnett Park was revived as a great events venue with Sunday night's Hear Nebraska/Good Living Tour/Prairie Roots Festival, when the stars aligned just right for what should be the first of a successful series of community gatherings. This one differed from other traditional events in that it was initiated and carried out by young people who have the most to gain and the most responsibility for providing nourishment for community growth...

With Donald Trump's runaway mouth and Hillary Clinton's character questions, the future isn't looking good for America's two-party system, let alone the country's fate in general. A new GenForward Poll at the University of Chicago is bad news for both parties, regardless of demographics...

Heritage Days is always a busy weekend, but this weekend promises to challenge its status as the biggest in McCook's yearly calendar. We'd better hope it arrives soon, or someone will add so many events there will be no hope of keeping track of them...

Any traffic death is a tragedy, but the news from the Interstate 80 crash Sunday seems to get worse. A sixth victim was declared brain dead Monday, but his body was being kept on life support so that organs could be harvested to keep others alive. The man, Terry Sullivan, 56, was in a minivan struck by a van carrying a family of five from St. Paul, Minn., which was struck by a semi that failed to slow for a construction zone in Keith County...

The Nebraska State Fair is expecting its 2 millionth visitor this year in the Grand Island site it has called home for the past seven years. Fairboard member Bob Haag of Indianola joined Executive Director Joseph McDermott and Marketing and Sponsorship Director Shaun Schleif on their annual promotional swing through Southwest Nebraska, but they had no trouble finding something new to talk about for Nebraska's big party...

Pokémon Go players tend to be younger and perhaps less wise in the ways of the world, so it's not surprising that there is no shortage of criminals willing to take advantage of them. We saw a recent YouTube video of how easy it was for one man to lure two teenage girls into his car under the guise of capturing a popular character...

Cynics will find some way to connect the release of the man who tried to killed the Republican Party's icon Ronald Reagan and the Democratic Party's national convention but it's only the latest twist in a process that started 35 years ago. John W. Hinckley Jr., 61, who shot the president and three others outside the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981, no longer poses a danger to himself or others, according to a 103-page court order issued by U.S. ...

Summer was fun while it lasted, but you can now count on one hand the number of weeks until school starts again. With school opening comes the chance to meet new friends and become reacquainted with old ones. But while kids' minds are adjusting to the new social situation, their bodies are reacting to new microbes those interactions bring along...

If you're tire of convention coverage, you might be tempted to binge watch those old episodes of "Orange is the New Black" or "House of Cards." You might want to go for a walk or play a round of golf instead, according to some studies. First there was a University of Texas at Austin study that found a connection between binge-watching and depression, lack of self-regulation or loneliness...

Despite the Republican Party's selection of a sometimes belligerent nominee and Cleveland residents open-carrying assault-type weapons -- or perhaps because they were -- the GOP convention came off relatively smoothly. This week's Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia is shaping up to be entirely different...

Troopers would be the first to say they didn't deserve all the credit, but local troopers certainly deserve their share for helping prevent needless traffic fatalities last year. The McCook Sergeant Area was the only Nebraska State Patrol work area in the state to record zero fatality accidents during the 2015 calendar year...

"Team Henry" rolled through McCook this week with the message that kids can overcome obesity with an active lifestyle and healthy eating habits. You can read about Dr. Pierre Rouzier's cross-country bicycle trip on mccookgazette.com or in Wednesday's Gazette, where a story and pictures about his visit to the McCook Public Library were printed on page 7...

If you were around in 1936, this weather may feel familiar. Nebraska's all-time highest recorded temperature was 118 °F on July 24, 1936 in Minden. That was just one of many days and weeks of weather over several years that led to vast dust storms, crop failures and depopulation of parts of the Plains and migration to California during the Depression...

The quote "good artists imitate; great artists steal" has been widely attributed to Pablo Picasso. It's also been credited to everyone from Steve Jobs to T.S. Eliot and Igor Stravinsky. When it comes to speech writing, however, Melania Trump's scribes are not being praised as great artists following her speech Monday night to the Republican National Convention...

We read about prostitution stings each year in Nebraska - usually around major events such as the College World Series when law enforcement conducts stings, but most of us like to think "The Good Life" doesn't include "great" opportunities like that, especially in rural Nebraska...

Internet wags were quick to call on authorities to ban trucks following Thursday's terrorism in France, but the truck attack shows just how difficult it is to fight an enemy that will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who disagrees with their religion and are only too happy to kill themselves in the process...

Southwest Nebraskans joke about traffic jams, but dangerous conflicts arising from road disputes are not unheard of, even in our sparsely populated corner of the state. Wait at the corner of West Fifth and J on a busy school morning, and you'll agree that road rage is possible anytime motor vehicles and time schedules are in use...

We haven't made a study of it, but a couple of innovative ideas have caught our eye in recent days when it comes to streets and highways. A television report Tuesday how injected foam was being used to repair a major traffic artery in Grand Island, which apparently was improperly constructed in the first place...

Rather than let Vermont dictate GMO food standards for the country, the Senate passed a labeling law last week and the House will take up the issue in short order. There's no guarantee the House will go along with the requirement. While humans have been modifying their foods for centuries through selective breeding, it's only been a few years that they've been able to manipulate DNA directly, by inserting a gene from one plant or animal into another...

On one hand, the newest video game craze encourages exercise. On the other, it can have dangerous consequences. If you see someone staring at their screen and walking down the street, they may be playing a new "augmented reality" game. The game, Pokemon Go, has exploded in popularity since it was released Wednesday, sending players out into the real world to find online "pocket monsters" -- Pokemon. ...

Many have dangerous jobs, and we're wise not to take our loved ones for granted when they head off to work. Even so, it's shocking and outrageous to hear that five police officers lost their lives Thursday night as they were working to protect the rights and lives of peaceful protesters only a few blocks from where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963...

If you're disappointed that it's 2016 and you still don't have a jet pack, you might have consoled yourself by riding your hoverboard. Sorry about that, but you'd better pay attention to a notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Basically, if you've got a hoverboard more than a couple of months old, you should send it back, including those received as Christmas presents...

Oil has always played a pivotal role in wars from the B-24 raids on Hitler's refineries in Ploiești, Romania, the Imperial Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) to Dick Cheney's contention that the invasion of Iraq could be paid for with oilfield proceeds...

One of our staff members at the Gazette who has O negative does his best to show up for local blood drives, but he has selfish reasons. Yes, O negative blood is much in demand because it can be given to anyone who needs it. But when someone with O negative blood needs a transfusion, it can't come from just anyone. It has to be O negative blood...

It could be a great weekend if you plan to travel, but it could also be one of the worst, according to AAA Nebraska. Starting today and extending through Monday, July 4, nearly 43 million Americans will be traveling 50 miles or more away from home. It will be the cheapest travel in years if gasoline prices are taken into account, with U.S. drivers saving about $20 billion on gasoline so far this year compared to the same period in 2015...

They say my freedom to swing my arm ends where your nose begins. The same could be said for my freedom to celebrate the Fourth of July. That freedom ends where my neighbors' peace, quiet and safety begin. Tuesday night's thunderstorm put an end to the pre-Fourth reverie, nature's fireworks making the best Nebraska-legal firecrackers sound puny by comparison...

We'll have to wait to see how the arbitration turns out, but the company that thought it was going to be able to build the Keystone XL pipeline wants to be paid $15 billion because the Obama administration rejected the plan. TransCanada Inc. planned to spend $8 billion to connect Hardistry, Alberta, Canada, with a point in Steele City, Nebraska, where 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day would be routed into existing pipelines to Gulf Coast refineries...

The onlyinyourstate.com website cited some history about Oxford, Neb., that is shared by many towns along the railroad and contrasts with today's conditions. Once a division point for the old CB&Q Railroad, Oxford had a large roundhouse and, nearby, a high river bank that quickly became a "hobo haven" for men who were down on their luck...

In Scotland to visit one of his money-losing golf courses, Donald Trump congratulated Britain on its vote to leave the European Union, saying he was happy to see people take their countries back. Stock markets weren't so sure about the Brexit vote. The U.S stock market dropped about 2 percent on open but was coming back at press time...

Nebraska is sometimes derided as a "flyover state" for politicians seeking votes from the major population centers on the coasts, but it hasn't always been that way. Summertime brings reminders of earlier times when trappers, "49-ers," longhorn drovers and travelers on the Mormon and Oregon trails spent long days traversing our loess hills on the way to their final destination...

One measure would ban gun sales to suspected terrorists. Another would deny gun sales to known or suspected terrorists as long as a judge agrees within three days. A third would expand background checks to private gun sales and a fourth would encourage states to share more information on suspected terrorists with the FBI...