Opinion

If you’re a father who was treated to an extra helping of steak or cheese cake Sunday, you no longer have to feel like a fitness failure. In fact, you might find a little more success with the woman in your life. More and more women are turned on by a “dad bod,” according A Planet Fitness survey (http://bit.ly/2ZvOUGi)...

Millions of travelers have passed through Nebraska on their way somewhere else, from early Spanish explorers looking for the fountain of youth to French fur traders, 49ers, Mormons on their way to Utah and wagon trains en route to Oregon and California. Many of those who chose to live on the Plains have tried to find ways to profit from the traffic, building trading posts, road ranches, Pony Express stations, Stuckey’s franchises and Kearney’s Archway Monument...

Sometimes I find myself ahead of the news with my columns instead of behind it and that has happened again in regards to my column about UFO’s and the like. The lead story in this week’s edition of “The Week” is all about taking UFO’s seriously. In a nutshell, here’s what the story had to say...

The problem is far from solved, but Nebraska nursing homes will get a little more funding for their residents on Medicaid. A story elsewhere in this issue explains that the Department of Health and Human Services completed “rebasing” that will increase the average per diem base rate for 202 to $190.51, up less than $11 from the previous rate...

I would like to see the US Congress pass a new program into law which would replace the former "Aid To Families With Dependent Children" program which was passed under FDR in 1935 and abolished in 1996. Ever since its abolition, there has been a large increase in the number of people (especially children) living in "extreme poverty" (meaning living on less than two dollars per day) and "deep poverty" (meaning at a level half of the official poverty line)...

Nebraskans have always had a bit of an inferiority complex about the flatwater state. We’re four-lane desolation to be endured on the way to the spectacular Rockies or lush croplands of Iowa and Illinois. Sure, we’re not as flat and boring as eastern Wyoming, but that state rewards hardy travelers with Yellowstone Park...

We went to a place where “all the women are strong the men good-looking and all the children above average”! Oops that is Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon. No we went to the Cattlemen’s Ball and all the men were tall muscular and lean, the women lithe and pretty as a picture and few children to be seen. ...

The rising tide of history seems to be carrying a raft of legal marijuana to America’s shores. Illinois is the 11th state to legalize recreational cannabis for adults over 21, awaiting only the governor’s signature to become law. While prohibition of alcohol ended in every state more than 85 years ago, using weed to get high will now be allowed in the Land of Lincoln as well as Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia as well as the U.S. ...

Hopefully, fishermen can return to our manmade reservoirs here in Nebraska after our tornadoes and other serious weather problems. Recently, I read a story about how fishing was done on the Sea of Galilee at the time of Jesus Christ. Generally speaking four or five people fished in one or more boats. They fished at night so the fish could not see their nets and be scared away...

Remember the good old days? When that 20-pound, black, rotary-dial hard-wired telephone in the den rang, the family rushed to answer it. Today, when you feel your smartphone vibrate, you’ll check out the caller ID before answering, if then. More and more of us are ignoring calls altogether, checking voicemail later at our leisure...

This year’s legislative session came to an end on day 84 of the possible 90 day session. Of the more than 700 bills which were introduced and heard in committee hearings this year, more than 200 bills will become law. Some might say the legislature failed to solve the most pressing issues facing the state of Nebraska, and in my opinion they would be correct. ...

“She can’t take much more of this, captain!” It turns out the traditional Scots engineer transported to the 23rd century for the original Star Trek series could take quite a lot, himself. Seventy-five years ago today, future “Scottie” James Doohan stormed Juno beach with the Royal Canadian Artillery, taking out two snipers before being wounded with six bullets from a German machine gun. He lost part of a finger, but a silver cigarette case in his pocket stopped a bullet from piercing his heart...

Now that commercial hemp production has been blessed by the federal and state governments, it’s time find out how much of a market there really is. Most of the attention goes to CBD or hemp oil as a health aid for humans or animals, but the crop has a wide range of other uses, from textiles, food and beverages, paper, automotive, construction materials, furniture and many others...

It was only a little morning argument, the usual misunderstanding. I made a statement repeating an announcement printed on a pill bottle that there was no refill and that an Rx was required. Grannie Annie my pill supervisor disagreed and figured the old guy was all wet and probably wrong. Each of us got all puffed up concerned the other was wrong. Went back to the source and mentally noted that action needed to be taken to keep the prescription current...

Any one of the four headliners at this weekend’s Buffalo Commons Festival would have been enough to carry off a successful event, but as it was, attendees were treated to a feast of history, music and storytelling, often all in one package. Sure, if we’re honest, Nebraska may not be for everyone, but we can’t imagine anyone who would not find something intriguing in the many sites and stories relayed by Alan Bartels, assistant editor of Nebraska Life Magazine, assembled from his years at The Grand Island Independent and subsequent career roaming the state for his current gig. ...

Every year the Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce travels the state talking about their priorities for the state legislature. Every year that I’ve attended, the message has been the same on the need to lower our state taxes. When they came to McCook last fall, I was ready to hear the same message. I was surprised. New State Chamber president Bryan Sloan said the lack of a qualified workforce is now the most pressing economic issue in the state...

I was finishing my first year as a police officer in Tulsa and had recently gotten married when I received my letter from Uncle Sam. It was the summer of 1968, one of the most active and violent years of the Vietnam War and he thought it was my time to serve. ...

People with college degrees make more than those with a high school diploma or less. The conventional wisdom is true for the most part; a college degree will help you earn twice much as someone without one, which you’ll need if you rack up significant college loan debt...

Last week we had multiple late nights, staying past 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22nd. These late nights were not as productive as they could have been. We did not accomplish my main priority, property tax relief, this session. I am disappointed that disagreements on the strategy for accomplishing both business incentives in LB720 and property tax relief in LB183, distracted and divided the body...

Dear Editor, I would like to know more about the selling of barracks after the 1945 closing of the base in McCook (Walt Sehnert column http://bit.ly/2Xb4Blo) I was born in North Platte and have vivid memories of being with my parents, sister and brother at the base. My parents had bought a barracks and were tearing it down...

Perhaps it was fitting that we started this week with Memorial Day, when we remember those who gave their lives so that we could enjoy our way of life — and remind us of our duty to make our country a place worthy of their sacrifice. There was a good crowd in attendance at services at the veterans’ memorial in McCook’s Memorial Park Cemetery, a good crowd, yes, but smaller than it should be...

We met a most accommodating friendly gent along the highway just west of McDonald, Kansas. It said “Sheriff” on the front of his cap and he told me that he liked the red MAGA hat that I was wearing. Seems he wanted to visit about a little extra speed through his small burg. ...

Dear Editor, I always enjoy both Dick Trail's column and Mike Hendrick's column. Dick mentioned that not many people know Robin Stevens, our state school board representative. Robin and his wife Lynette were employed at the Benkelman school system in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many people here remember them and their involvement in our community...

My first job out of college was teaching social studies at South Platte High School in Big Springs. The job came open when the former social studies teacher, Virginia Krajewski, was killed in a car accident. From looking through her notes and visiting with the other teachers and students it was easy to see she was an amazing teacher. I learned more from her notes than I did from my undergraduate studies...

When I was a kid growing up in Atkins, Arkansas, there were two state newspapers operating daily, both from Little Rock. The Arkansas Gazette ran in the morning and the Arkansas Democrat ran in the afternoon. We only subscribed to the morning paper and I remember reading it was the first thing I did after I got up in the morning. ...