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2025: A year in the national spotlight
McCOOK, Neb. - When historians look back at 2025, the shorthand assessment may well be that it was the year McCook found itself in the national spotlight—often unexpectedly, and not always comfortably.
The year began on a positive and forward-looking note. USDA announced a $7.5 million loan to McCook for wastewater treatment, MPCC unveiled the former Elks Club as the new MCC East Campus building, and Governor Jim Pillen used a post–State of the State town hall to honor World War II veterans John Hubert, Russell Eisenhart, and Jerry Uerling.
February brought a mix of civic debate and local change. The City of McCook and MPCC publicly disagreed over ownership of a proposed sports complex, Bartley voters ousted two village trustees in a recall election, and Nebraska Public Media announced expanded local coverage through a new FM signal, KNNE at 90.7.
March was busier still, as the community rallied behind plans for an inclusive playground and the McCook Humane Society began plumbing and kennel upgrades. A one-room schoolhouse found a new home in Indianola, while the McCook Economic Development Corporation hosted an open house at the North Pointe subdivision.
April proved to be one of the year’s most consequential months. Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen and Deputy Secretary Cindi Allen visited the Gazette, where Evnen discussed stabilizing agricultural markets through year-round E-15 and Allen addressed trade relations in the Middle East. The City of McCook announced that its new sports complex would bear the name of a Vietnam War casualty, while longtime county employee and former commissioner Earl McNutt and Red Willow County reached a negotiated retirement agreement.
The YMCA broke ground on a $17.4 million expansion, and McCook Public Schools formally launched a second bond campaign.
May was marked by sorrow, as the community mourned the unexpected loss of longtime McCook businessperson and aviator John Kugler.
In June, Gazette publisher Shary Skiles announced her intention to retire after 37 years. July followed with a surge in residential and commercial construction activity, while Cambridge entered the spotlight with its own school bond campaign.
July also brought national attention of a different kind. Community Hospital became an unwilling political football after announcing the closure of its satellite clinic in Curtis, Nebraska. The timing coincided with federal budget cuts, and national media framed the decision as an example of a “red state” community suffering the consequences of Republican fiscal policy.
August opened with a moment of celebration as the Gazette welcomed the return of N4319M, the Piper Malibu that used McCook Municipal Airport as a critical stop during its 1986 transcontinental record-setting flight. That goodwill was short-lived. Both the McCook and Cambridge school bond measures failed by similar margins, followed by Governor Pillen’s gradual, then definitive, announcement of the Work Ethic Camp’s transition to an ICE detention facility—an issue that would shape McCook’s news coverage and civic life for years to come.
Throughout September, debate over the Work Ethic Camp divided the community and contributed to minor disruptions during Heritage Days. That tension was eclipsed in mid-month when a hailstorm lingered over the city for more than two hours, briefly turning McCook into a boomtown for out-of-town roofers and auto body repair businesses. The month ended on a brighter note with the Fox Theatre hosting Nebraska Public Media’s “Friday Live” broadcast.
In mid-October, thirteen McCook residents joined former State Senator DiAnna Schimek and Nebraska Appleseed in a lawsuit seeking to halt the WEC-to-ICE transition. After a lengthy hearing, District Judge Patrick Heng denied both the plaintiffs’ injunction and the state’s dismissal request.
November brought another widely felt loss with the passing of former Gazette publisher Allen Strunk, who died in Nevada at age 95.
December arrived with the familiar excitement of the holidays, though still under the shadow of the ICE detention facility and the divisions it created. The year closed on a more hopeful note with the opening of Community Hospital’s newly constructed ROOTS residential facility.
Many of these events will be revisited in greater detail in the McCook Gazette’s Progress Editions, to be published in February.