News

Creating a vision for future housing and business development in and around Aurora will be the focus of an open house Jan. 22 at City Hall, where local residents are invited to share their thoughts and perspective.
Members of the Aurora Planning Commission have been working with a planning consultant since October, with a goal of updating the city’s comprehensive plan by the spring of 2020. The document was last revised in approximately 2010 and is traditionally updated every 10 years.

Read more in this week's print or e-editions.

Aurora 4R Supt. Damon McDonald announced Monday that he has accepted superintendent position in Deshler and will end 9-year tenure in Aurora at the end of June. Full story in this week's ANR.

Lee Danhauer heads from his home in Aurora around 11 a.m. most everyday and for the next five hours can be found designing and building unique pieces of furniture, wall art and picture frames in his shop.
This has become the routine for the retired craftsman who has rarely gone a day in his life without having a wood shop to work in. Full story in this week's ANR.

At the beginning of each new year, the Aurora News-Register publishes a complete listing, including photo, of all sex offenders currently posted on the Nebraska State Patrol website who reside in Hamilton County.
Nebraska law provides public access to information about all offenders convicted of a sex crime which requires registration on the sex offender registry.
The duration of the registration is based solely on the convicted offense(s).
• 15-year registration for offenses punishable by less than one year imprisonment.
• 25-year registration for offenses punishable by imprisonment greater than one year.
• Lifetime registration for offenders with prior sex offense convictions, aggravated offense or lifetime registration required by another jurisdiction.
Fourteen area residents are currently registered in Hamilton County. They include:

As the pages turn on 2019 people plan for the changes and goals that they will have in the new, upcoming year. Those that own and operate their own business, like many local farmers, are also taking a moment to reflect on last year’s finances and create a budget for the next.
Searching for a way to lend a hand to what can be a confusing and sometimes overwhelming process, the UNL Extension has created a new interactive budget tool. This new program was showcased at the Nebraska Farm Power Show Dec. 10.

Read more in this week's print or e-editions.

A new year has officially arrived, but before we close the book for good on 2019 we look back at the events that made headlines on the local front. See the week-by-week capsule summary of the past 12 months in this week's print or e-editions.

Lee Danhauer heads from his home in Aurora around 11 a.m. most everyday and for the next five hours can be found designing and building unique pieces of furniture, wall art and picture frames in his shop.
This has become the routine for the retired craftsman who has rarely gone a day in his life without having a wood shop to work in.
“The last 50 years, other than the time I spent in the military, I always had a shop,” Lee said. “I mainly make things for us and the family, Zach and Anne Danhauer.”

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One day after county commissioners voted to deny Bluestem Energy Solutions’ request to build a four-turbine commercial wind farm, county planners began reviewing a proposed amendment that would tighten wind energy regulations with a goal of further “protecting Hamilton County and its residents.”
Pat Anderson, speaking on behalf of a new grassroots organization called Preserve Hamilton County Horizons, explained the details and rationale behind a proposed text amendment during a public hearing Dec. 17 at the fairgrounds.
“We feel planning and zoning regulations now are too lax and don’t protect the people of Hamilton County or Hamilton County itself,” Anderson told members of the Hamilton County Joint Planning and Zoning Commission.
Anderson read through the proposed amendment point by point, stirring discussion among commissioners and also drawing input from several others in a crowd estimated at 35 people.

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The Edgerton Explorit Center’s Christmas-themed escape room is back in action for the holiday season, testing locals with puzzles and games.
“Doc’s Reindeer Debacle Escape Room was designed especially for the Edgerton Explorit Center,” Executive Director Mary Molliconi said. “Everything in the escape room is new and completely unique to the Edgerton Center. We are very excited to have partnered with Escape Aurora to bring this unique experience to our community and guests.”

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It’s been an up and down year on the local business front.
Flipping through the News-Register’s weekly business page, we found numerous stories of business start-ups and expansion, as well as a few setbacks. As always, the one constant is change, and we recorded plenty of that in 2019.

Read more in this week's print or e-editions.