Legislative session ends on a high note

The longest short session in the history of the Unicameral has come to an end. The second session of the 106th Legislature adjourned sine die Aug. 13, the 60th legislative day of a session interrupted in mid March by the coronavirus pandemic.

A little history on the founding of Hampton, surviving a baby tornado

Greetings to everyone from the community of Hampton. In case you don’t know where “Hampton” is, we are six miles east of Aurora and 17 miles west of York, in the heartland of Nebraska. We were surveyed and platted in 1879 after a Joshua Cox settled in the area and coming from Illinois.

Bergen touts low tax rates as economic development incentive

The new executive director of the Aurora Development Corporation updated city leaders on a number of proposals in the works to create jobs and grow the tax base last week, pointing out how big of an impact lower local tax rates can be in that competitive process.

ANNIVERSARIES

Card shower to honor Randall and Marie Smith’s 50th wedding anniversary Randall and Marie Smith were married Aug. 16, 1970, at the First Baptist Church in Chadron by Pastor Dick Sisson.

Adapting to change

Flexibility. That, in a word, is the name of the game we’re playing heading into a fall season of uncertainty. Unfortunately, it’s not a game, but instead a real-life script for a pandemic drama with no known ending.

Compromise holds key to breaking stalemates

Scanning the newspaper headlines we noticed a word beginning to appear more frequently in them. The word? It is “compromise.” Political divisions have been evident for several months on both national and state key issues and both parties had given no evidence of compromising to reach agreements.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Colorblindness is not enough Dear Editor: I was deeply troubled to read the recent letter to the editor about the Baha’i faith and racism. Expressing our opinions is a privilege we have in this country, and one we should highly value.

Better access to mental health care

The United States is experiencing a mental health crisis, and Nebraska is no exception. In 2016, the University of Nebraska Medical Center announced that one in five Nebraskans had reported suffering from mental illness that year.

Getting back to work in a COVID era

Since the early days of our state when pioneering women and men plowed the prairies and cut grain by hand, Nebraska has been known for its industriousness. Our love of growing things and making things has helped our state power through even the most difficult times.

Susan:‘Moxie’ -- David had it, Goliath didn’t

Good morning! My trees and flowers are thinking about awakening. The leaves are just beginning to move a little and the damp flowers want to greet the sun, but not ready yet to open their tent doors covering their beauty. I hold a mug that my mom “stole” from a hotel in Texas.