Opinion

Over the last month, I had multiple people question me if this was the right time to merge our local chamber and economic development operations. This is a good thought and both boards had discussions and looked at the pros and cons of a merger. Through our research and conversations we decided it was not in the best interest of the community for a couple of` reasons...

Back in the days when our media options were limited, it was easier to get a message across. When we got all our news from a newspaper a two, a handful of television channels or a favorite radio station, it was impossible to avoid stories we didn’t like, but needed to hear...

We watched with bated breath as the latest hurricane, Dorian, marched up the East Coast. You see we have granddaughter living at Virginia Beach. She lives in military housing, Navy, within walking distance of the Atlantic Ocean not far from the entrance to the large Navy Port of Hampton Roads, Norfolk, VA. ...

If you spend any time online, you probably saw the post over the weekend. An orange T-shirt with a scrawled “U.T.” accompanied a heartwarming story of a young boy who was bullied just because he wanted to support his college football team. Teacher Laura Snyder at Altamonte Elementary School in Florida said her unnamed student want to support his University of Tennessee Volunteers at a “College Colors Day,” but didn’t own an official T-shirt...

While channel surfing DirecTV the other night, I came upon a show I used to watch in my weaker moments called Dog, The Bounty Hunter. It fell out of favor with me after a few episodes and I had not thought anything about it until the news broke that his wife had final stage cancer. So I decided to watch the particular episode I had found...

There’s something about the smell and feel of opening a new book, and the tactile experience involved in reading a well-worn volume can be even more engaging. There will always be a place for the printed word, ink pressed on paper, treasured on a book shelf and accessible for decades without using a milliwatt of electricity...

Now that we are past Labor Day the legislature’s interim hearings start to gear up. Most interim hearings occur here in Lincoln at the state capitol, but as Chairperson of the Natural Resources Committee it is important to me to occasionally have interim hearings outside of Lincoln. ...

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Davis, who recently spoke in Arapahoe about his “Passion Flights for Life” ministry, submitted this story about his experience in the area: Dear Editor, We have all heard horror stories of a stranger a thousand miles from home having their vehicle break down and the repairs costing an exorbitant fee...

I’ve written before about growing up in a society that was essentially politics-free. I was an adolescent during the Eisenhower years and a teenager during the Kennedy years. It was a period of compromise in order to get things done for the people rather than visions of grandeur for the individual politician. And that made for a culture that didn’t argue too much about politics; in fact a culture that didn’t even talk about politics that much...

During my senior year of college, I toured Boston, Mass. It was filled with sights and sounds and intriguing places. I visited Paul Rever’s house that was built in the 1670s. My friends and I toured the Old North Church where two lanterns were hung, signaling Revere’s famous ride to warn the colonists that the British were coming...

Most of us don’t think much about the reason for Monday’s Labor Day holiday, but we should. Especially when we’re thinking about the type of labor tomorrow’s workforce will be expected to perform. Especially when it takes a serious commitment of time and often borrowed money to obtain those skills...

You won’t live longer with a negative attitude, it’ll just seem longer to you and the people around you. New research confirms some Old Testament wisdom, a cheerful heart really is like a medicine. People who have a more positive outlook have an 11 to 15% longer lifespan, and 50 to 70% better odds of reaching 85 years old, compared to those who are less optimistic, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...

“Grow your own” is a good idea, and we’re not talking about any illegal substance. The medical community has long found the strategy to be successful, providing rural students with scholarships and other incentives to return to their home towns or similar regions that are experiencing a shortage of trained professionals...

Grannie Annie was in the store purchasing items to restock her shelves with items to send to “her” Adopt a Chaplain soldiers. She had brought only so much cash and was nearing the maximum charge at the register. The cashier was alerted and stopped the flow of items to ring up. ...

Lorie Prestes has seen a lot of sad things in her years at the McCook Humane Society, but one of the saddest is when visitors pass the cage of an older dog. “‘Oh, that poor boy!’ the visitors say, but then, they’re ‘Oh, look at this puppy!’,” Lorie says. “Puppies go quick.”...

A survey that showed Omaha drivers as the worst in the country — and McCook drivers as among the fifth best in the state, drew some interesting local comments on a Facebook post: -- As soon as mccookites figure out how to use a 4-way stop ... -- In McCook the right lane is for passing .....

For a few lucky people who made the effort, it was three concerts in three days last week. First, there was MNB’s final Hot Summer Nights concert of the year Thursday with the Big Time Grain Company, an up-and-coming country group from western Kansas, performing for a large, relaxed, appreciative audience enjoying the shade of Norris Park...

Careful what you believe! It could be fake news. And it could be threatening our democracy. “Fake news” has become a political weapon, a term of derision. And a meme. No matter how we use it now, the meaning has changed since the term first entered the popular lexicon...

“Always eat avocados ‘cause lions just hate onions.” That was a memory trick one could use to retrieve the arcane “aeacljho” code that it took to log into the Gazette’s computer system late last century. That was before computers went through a transformation, about 30 years ago, when “GUI” or the graphical user interface system became the point-and-click system so familiar to Mac and Windows users today...

I received a note from a friend saying that my messenger account got hacked. What in the world is hacked? Seems that some enterprising (as in crooked!) soul stole access to the addresses I’d used to communicate with friends on the computer application called messenger. Then this scamming crook would make a phone call impersonating me telling whoever answered that they were in line to collect some $40,000 in free money from the U S Government...

In debt because you’re careless with your spending? It’s not your fault, you’re just sick. “Mind Over Money” author Brad Klontz founded the Financial Psychology Institute and says “money disorders” cause recurring and self-defeating issues that people have with money...