News

McCOOK, Neb. -- With McCook Community College restricting public access to college facilities most activities and events at have been cancelled. However, one annual event is continuing this spring – albeit in a new “virtual” format. The MCC annual paint-in exhibition is up and running on Facebook, with more than 300 pieces of art from area high school students...

McCOOK, Neb. -- People looking for a Good Friday church service on April 10 will likely find locked doors, due to the coronavirus. But one church in town will have a special Easter experience for those who drive by the church. McCook E-Free Church is joining a nationwide effort to invite people into the Resurrection story with an Easter Bible Drive-Through. Maintaining social distancing, each driver will be offered a free Jesus-Centered Bible (Group Publishing)...

McCOOK, Neb — After postponing the request from a March meeting, the McCook City Council approved Monday night $200,000 in tax increment financing for a local developer who plans to upgrade a vacant building on B Street to be used for various businesses...

McCOOK, Neb. — With one dissenting vote, the McCook City Council approved an amended agreement with an insurance brokerage firm for city employee health insurance. Councillor Janet Hepp cast the lone nay vote, with Councillors Gene Weedin, Jerry Calvin, Mayor Mike Gonzales and by a teleconference call, Councillor Jared Muehlenkamp, in favor of a two-year, instead of the proposed three-year, agreement with Hays Companies Inc...

Miles Morgan, civil engineer with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation office in McCook, discovered an aerial photograph of the city, taken in 1965. "It's pretty cool how things have changed since then," he said. Of particular interest are areas like the "Reservation' in north McCook, and much of western McCook where building was underway...

McCook firefighers were among the well-wishers who drove by Max Butterfield’s home in McCook Saturday to wish him a happy 10th birthday while maintaining social distancing and limiting the size of crowds. Friends and neighbors were urged to drive by and honk, which was greeted with a loud “Thank You!” shouted from inside...

Caution tape keeps kids off playground equipment in Norris Park, and traffic cones keep most RV’ers out of Karrer Park now that the city has imposed new restrictions because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Playground equipment in all city parks, including disc golf goals in Kelley Park, are closed to avoid the spread of contamination. ...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Chaos in the financial markets means Red Willow County taxpayers may not see savings from paying off jail bonds early, at least for a while. While county commissioners had hoped to save as much as $240,000 by paying off jail bonds a year early, the drop in the stock market and reaction in the bond market has made that saving less likely for the time being, board members learned in a teleconference with representatives of the D.A. Davidson Co. Monday...

McCOOK, Neb — The McCook City Council unanimously approved Monday night to temporarily give City Manager Nate Schneider the authority to manage disaster operations under the city’s emergency operation plan. The City of McCook’s Local Emergency Operation Plan names the mayor as the emergency management director; state statute allows the city council to appoint an emergency management director. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — For customers affected by job loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, city staff is looking at options of waiving or postponing payments for water, sewer and trash bills, according to the McCook City Manager. Nate Schneider told the McCook City Council Monday night at the regular meeting that staff is “reviewing where we are” concerning the water/sewer/trash bills and the payment ability of customers who have lost their jobs or working reduced hours due to the pandemic...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The City of McCook has closed playground equipment in all city parks and reserved a city RV park to medical personnel and first responders who are working and required to self-isolate. The steps are being taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. City parks themselves will remain open for citizens to use for walking and runnng...

McCOOK, Neb. -- Authorities are seeking the public’s help in connection with a burglary at McCook Senior High. Sometime Thursday or Friday, someone broke into the school, stole a bluetooth speaker and money from several locations, as well as damaging the building...

McCook Gazette McCOOK, Neb. — As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the world, Teresa Erickson’s sixth grade English students at McCook Junior High have been recording their own experiences as part of their e-learning assignments. Erickson said the first-person narratives are based on the “I Survived” series of children’s books that feature real children describing how they survived disasters, including recent events, like “I Survived the Joplin Tornado” and historical ones, such as the Blizzard of 1888. ...

KEARNEY, Neb. — Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) have arrested a York man following a pursuit on Interstate 80 that began near Lexington and ended near Kearney. At approximately 8:45 a.m. Sunday, NSP received a call from a motorist regarding a dangerous driver traveling eastbound on Interstate 80. A trooper was able to locate the vehicle, a Mercury Mystique, in Dawson County and observed it speeding at 102 miles per hour and passing another vehicle on the shoulder...

McCOOK, Neb. —Students' belongings at the McCook Junior High will be bagged and ready for pick-up in the gymnasium beginning Tuesday, April 7. All students will enter and register at the north Sunset Road entrance (entry number 9) and will exit from the north gymnasium doors (entry 8). Only current junior-high students will be allowed to enter...

Few of us anticipated the disruption created by the COVID-19 outbreak, but even fewer could have anticipated the way we’ve been able to adapt, thanks to electronic systems already in place. Walmart’s new grocery pickup service was in place just in time to be operating smoothly when the coronavirus pandemic struck, and Gary’s Super Foods is offering a delivery service on Mondays and Thursdays...

McCOOK, Neb. — Meals will be available for pick up from the McCook Public Schools food service program on Good Friday, April 10 and the Monday after Easter, April 13.  Also starting on Good Friday, April 10, weekend meals will be provided. Friday’s meal package will contain three breakfast meals and three lunches.  Weekend meals will continue on each Friday until the end of the program...

To reduce spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department (SWNPHD) announces the implementation of Directed Health Measures (DHM) under Executive Order by the Governor of Nebraska. These DHMs impact the counties of Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Hayes, Hitchcock, Keith, Perkins and Red Willow, as well as all additional Nebraska counties which were not currently under DHM. ...

COLUMBUS, nEb. – The April meeting of the Nebraska Public Power District Board of Directors will be conducted by electronic means this month due to the emergency conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.. The virtual monthly meeting will be conducted on Thursday, April 9, 2020, beginning at 10 a.m. ...

Seth Alberts, a Great Basin smokejumper with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management based in Boise, Idaho, was named the BLM "Al Dunton Smokejumper Leadership Award" recipient for 2019. The award is presented annually to one BLM and one U.S. Forest Service smokejumper who goes beyond the requirements of the job and demonstrates excellence in leadership. ...

Several days ago, Sharleen Riemenschneider’s devotional reading struck a chord. It asked, “Are you weaving into yourself the fibers that make you a better Christian?” As she witnessed the devastation that the coronavirus and social distancing was causing for the restaurant industry in McCook, she felt called to take action...

McCOOK, Neb. — Social distancing can be tough on everyone, but especially for small businesses and groups that rely on it exclusively. State and federal guidelines are recommending that people limit social contact to contain the spread of COVID-19. More than half of Nebraska’s 93 counties, or 56, have directed health measures mandated by Gov. ...

The McCook City Library is offering curbside service, but kids in some neighborhoods don't even have to go that far. Kids little libraries like this one shared by Starla Werkmeister and Peggy Dueland on West 12 is one of several around town that have sprouted up, so kid-friendly books can be exchanged to help ward off cabin fever...

McCOOK, Neb. —New building in the City of McCook is inching toward the million-dollar mark, with $529,538 recorded for the month of March. Year-to-date, $710,888.50 in estimated construction costs of new building has been recorded, according the City of McCook’s monthly building permit report. A total of $920.89 in permit fees were collected by the city in March, with $1,467 collected year-to-date...

McCOOK, Neb. — Weather permitting, a crack sealing project will begin April 8 on US-6/US-34, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation. Crack sealing is a process of cleaning and filling open joints and cracks in the surface with sealant to prevent entry of moisture and...