Opinion

Readers will notice some familiar names help-ing strengthen the McCook Gazette in the weeks ahead. Lorri Sughroue, a longtime Gazette reporter, is returning as a general assignment and feature writer. She also will be helping with obituaries, an important part of the newspaper’s service to local families...

McCook residents do not have to leave town to find a good show, hear great music, enjoy a meal, take in art, learn some history or give children something memorable to do. They can find all of that June 12-14, when the 29th annual Buffalo Commons Storytelling & Music Festival returns to Mc-Cook...

McCook residents do not have to leave town to find a good show, hear great music, enjoy a meal, take in art, learn some history or give children something memorable to do...

Some changes are coming to the McCook Gazette, and we welcome your feedback. We also ask for your patience and grace as our staff works through new responsibilities and new routines. We believe deeply that this newspaper is vital to McCook and the surrounding area. ...

Some changes are coming to the McCook Gazette, and we welcome your feedback...

Although George Washington famously wore his Virginia militia uniform to the Second Continental Congress as a way of saying, “Pick me,” he at least had the decency to act surprised when he was selected to serve as commander in chief of the Continental Army...

Oh, for the big hubbub and uproar of President Trump releasing the classified documents of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). People with long-term access to those files are now reported as mysteriously disappearing. We see all sorts of “experts” getting on TV to relate what they know but can’t explain to the viewers...

On Wednesday, an old friend stopped into my office, and noting a recent news account, he was concerned that Artificial Intelligence could be granted a copyright and inch one step closer to personhood. After a bit of homework, my best answer was, “Not exactly.”...

With McCook’s shiny new Aquatic Park now open for the season, it seems like an appropriate moment to reflect on water safety — particularly for young children who may be drawn to water long before they fully understand its dangers. That thought recently brought to mind the story behind Josh the Otter Water Safety Foundation, a Lincoln-based effort devoted to drowning prevention and early childhood swim education...

At least once a week, I take my two dogs for a walk on the gravel roads near my house. Nothing unique or exciting about that unless you factor in my 14-pound dog thinking it can take down a passing motorist occasionally. But every other month, I take along four or five plastic grocery bags and a pair of gloves on our walk for the purpose of picking up trash along the mile and one-half stretch of road we cover...

I first caught wind of this notion on social media, but it wasn’t long before it found my inbox in a story from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists titled “Your AI chatbot is polluting my backyard.” The article argues that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is creating an enormous but largely invisible industrial footprint that ordinary Americans may eventually be forced to support. ...

Dear Editor, Over Memorial Day this year my thoughts returned to my cousin, Private Gerald Walters, who died in Vietnam. So many years have passed, yet the loss still feels personal and unfinished. As I wrote before, he was more than a soldier’s name on a memorial wall...

The rise of social media has made it increasingly difficult to sort good information from bad. What once required effort—seeking out reliable sources, weighing competing arguments—now arrives in a constant stream, filtered through algorithms that reward emotion more than accuracy. In that environment, even well-intentioned voters can struggle to separate fact from persuasion...

The American Automobile Association, as of Thursday morning, tells me that the average price for a gallon of gas in Nebraska is $4.28. Does that reflect your experience at the pump? How is that affecting you? Are you spending discretionary dollars? I only drive a few miles each day and seldom venture more than a few blocks from Norris Avenue, but I sympathize with those in our outlying areas who must drive 20 miles just to buy a gallon of milk. ...

Recently, I attended Civic Nebraska’s conference on the State of Civic Life and came away with more ideas than I could possibly suggest or carry out…but I’ll try. Civics is a topic that I have covered before because it is something I am passionate about and because it really does affect each and every one’s lives, whether they realize it or not...