News

McCOOK, Neb. — The City of McCook has been informed by the contractor that the armor coating of city streets will begin Monday, Sept. 16. The city requests that citizens who live in these areas remove all vehicles from the streets listed below. Once the oil and gravel are applied on your street, the street will be opened for use...

McCOOK, Neb. -- The McCook City Council will be asked to approve the 2019-20 salary for the city manager on its first reading, at the regular meeting Monday night, 5:30 p.m., at city council chambers at the McCook Municipal Building. The council will also be asked Monday night to approve on its final reading the city budget for 2019-20, and suspending the three-reading rule, increased rates for trash collection...

McCOOK, Neb - The McCook High School Art Club is selling raffle tickets at the MHS football game for Bison Cornhole Boards. The proceeds will help fund a field trip to the Denver Art Museum. The drawing will take place after halftime of the football game this Friday. You do not have to be present to win...

McCOOK, Neb. — If you ever question whether God answers prayers and provides signs of what He wants done, just visit with Annie Trail. She doesn’t have the same doubts. Annie had coordinated McCook’s and Southwest Nebraska’s “Adopt-a-Chaplain” program for 14 years, sending 2,572 boxes to 62 chaplains serving with American troops oversees over the years. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — The percentage of students in McCook Public Schools eligible for free or reduced meals jumped to almost half of the district population, at 45.96% last year. In 2018, the percentage of students qualifying was 38.92%. The percentages were noted in the 2019-20 budget summary, compiled by MPS business manager, John Brazell...

HAYES CENTER, Neb. — It was still, and then it wasn’t. “We got one storm warning, and then the wind blew,” Connie Brott of rural Hayes Center said this morning, after surveying the extensive damage caused by the severe thunderstorm that roared through parts of Southwest Nebraska Wednesday evening...

Ace Hardware customers contributed $663.15 to the McCook Art Guild’s educational activities by “rounding up” purchases to the nearest dollar. Taking part in the check presentation are, from left, Ron Evans, Monte Rogers, John Clesson, Rick Sinner of Ace Hardware and John Anderson...

McCOOK, Neb. — During McCook's Heritage Days celebration at the end of the month, the Museum of the High Plains in downtown McCook will host a special viewing of memorabilia highlighting the boxing career of Wayne Bryant. Bryant's family has donated to the museum a 50-year collection of boxing gloves, photographs and newspaper clippings that illustrate Bryant's career as a boxer, coach, promoter and official. In 1952, Bryant qualified as an alternate to the United States' Olympics boxing team...

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Bridget Matson, a chemical dependency supervisor at the Work Ethic Camp (WEC) in McCook, was arrested by the Nebraska State Patrol on Tuesday for unauthorized communication with a prisoner (Neb. Rev. Stat. 83-417) and sexual abuse of an inmate (Neb. Rev. Stat. 28-322.02)...

McCOOK, Neb. — The shortage of substitute teachers locally and statewide hasn’t abated. The McCook Board of Education unanimously approved local substitute certificates Monday night at the regular board meeting, with Superintendent Grant Norgaard commenting on the shortage of substitute teachers in Nebraska...

WAUNETA, Neb. -- The primary goal of the 2019 Cattlemen’s Ball was to raise money to “Round Up a Cure” for cancer research. When the communities of the golden plains of Southwest Nebraska rally together, of course great things can happen, and they did. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — The property tax levy for the McCook Public School District has been revised slightly from original numbers. The four cent increase from last year’s tax levy originally quoted by McCook Schools business manager John Brazell was inaccurate due to new forms being used by the district, he said Monday night at the regular school board meeting...

McCOOK, Neb. — At their weekly meeting Monday morning, Red Willow county commissioners approved a total county operating budget of $18,604,853, a property tax request of $4,058,114 and a tax levy rate of $0.320068 per $100 of property valuation for 2019-2020...

A record number of non-profit organizations will be part of the fourth annual Big Give McCook on Thursday, Nov. 7. Since originating in 2016 with just over a dozen organizations participating, Big Give McCook has expanded ever year in the number of non-profits which will benefit from the one day fund-raiser...

McCOOK, Neb. — An uptick in passengers was seen last month flying Boutique Air at the McCook airpot. According the enplanement/deplanement numbers for August at the McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport, 240 passengers flew to Denver in August, a 9.59% increase from August 2018 at 219 passengers...

Bob Jones of Jennings, Kan., third-generation antiques appraiser and auctioneer, inspects "Yvonne," also known as "Child with Cherries," a framed halftone print of a painting by French artist William Adolphe Bouguereau in 1896, at a previous antiques appraisal fair in McCook. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — Open auditions are tonight and Tuesday for McCook Community College Theater Department’s Dylan Thomas-inspired performance piece based on “A Welsh Christmas.” Auditions are at 7 p.m. each night at the Weeth Theatre in Tipton Hall. The production will run Dec. 6 and 7...

ATWOOD, Kan. — Tall corn blocked visibility near the intersection of county roads northwest of Atwood where a Trenton man died Saturday afternoon in a collision of his pickup and a semi-truck. The Kansas Highway Patrol reports that 50-year-old Derrick Bassnett died at the Rawlins County Health Center in Atwood. The driver of the truck, 29-year-old Joshua Joe Friemel of Colby, Kan., was also transported to the Atwood hospital, but had no apparent injuries...

LINCOLN, Neb. - The Nebraska State Penitentiary is moving off lockdownstatus, but will remain on modified operationsat least through the weekend. Scott R. Frakes, director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS), says outside visits to the facility will continue to be canceled during that time, but the step down to modified operations will allow inmates to have some controlled movement outside of their cells...

Peace Lutheran Church’s third annual 4-Person Community Outreach Tournament Aug. 3 at Heritage Hills Golf Tournament raised $6,650, split between the McCook Pantry and the TeamMates Mentoring Program. Peace Lutheran Church votes every year on which non-profit to help, and so far has raised $18,295 for local non-profit entities. Organizers expressed gratitude to all the local businesses and individuals who donated funds, food and participated in the event...

McCOOK, Neb. — Outlaws 1882 Saloon in McCook will host a poker run and benefit Saturday for radio personality Cyndi Stratton, injured in a car accident July 15. The poker run starts at 11 a.m. at Old Sarge's Bar in McCook, and will make stops at Amateurs in Cambridge, the 110 Sports Bar & Grill in Norton, the Reload Bar in Oberlin and Outlaws in McCook. Cards will be drawn at each stop. The cost is $20 per person and $25 per person...

McCOOK, Neb. — Red Willow County Commissioners will take a number of steps connected to the annual budget Monday. After acting as a board of equalization, the commissioners will vote on increasing the base of restricted funds by an additional 1%, conduct a public hearing and consider adoption of the fiscal 2019-20 budget, and take action concerning the final tax request, transfer of 2019 levy taxes from the general fund to the road/bridge fund and self-insurance fund and transfer of $500,000 from the inheritance fund to the general fund as needed.. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — The tax levy rate for the McCook School District will go up by 4 cents next year, from $1.08 to $1.12 per $100 of assessed valuation. The McCook School Board will be asked to approved the tax request resolution and budgets for all funds for the 2019-20 school year, at the regular McCook Board of Education meeting on Monday, 6:30 p.m. at the junior high conference room...

McCOOK, Neb. — The city has signed an engineering contract to address repairing the air conditioning at the city library. Councilman Jerry Calvin asked at Tuesday night’s regular City Council meeting, during the budget review, as to the status of the library’s air conditioning.The library has been without air conditioning since June, when the system quit working. ...

Dear Editor, On behalf of the Medicine Creek Trail 1 cabin owners I would like to bring to your attention a situation at the lake that will potentially affect you. Approximately 50 families have cabins at the Medicine Creek Reservoir, Trail 1. Cabin owners are a cross section of the local community; Veterans, Disabled Veterans, Military Retirees, Senior Citizens, Farmer/Ranchers, Agriculture, Small Business Owners, Students, Day laborers, Teachers, Retired School Administrators, Doctors, Bankers.. ...