This week's featured stories

  • Emma Ellis-Sack, center, and Kash Majerus, right, have both been named recipients of the Nebraska Elite 11 Veterinarian Program scholarship. Pictured at left is Dan Pachta, owner of the Aurora Veterinary Clinic.
    Emma Ellis-Sack, center, and Kash Majerus, right, have both been named recipients of the Nebraska Elite 11 Veterinarian Program scholarship. Pictured at left is Dan Pachta, owner of the Aurora Veterinary Clinic.
  • Shown here is a graphic illustration of the four town homes Casey Nunnenkamp will be building on 12th Street. He noted that the units appear to be built as one structure, but in fact have two-hour firewall separation, which means they are each considered their own structure.
    Shown here is a graphic illustration of the four town homes Casey Nunnenkamp will be building on 12th Street. He noted that the units appear to be built as one structure, but in fact have two-hour firewall separation, which means they are each considered their own structure.
  • Morgan Bonifas started her Morgan’s Mums business as a high school freshman at Aurora in 2020 with 50 pots of mums. This summer she plans to raise nearly 200 pots as her business continues to grow with the help of FFA grants she has received.
    Morgan Bonifas started her Morgan’s Mums business as a high school freshman at Aurora in 2020 with 50 pots of mums. This summer she plans to raise nearly 200 pots as her business continues to grow with the help of FFA grants she has received.
  • HPC’s Haden Helgoth hands off to fellow senior Gage Friesen for the anchor leg of the 400 relay at last week’s High Plains Invite. The Storm ended up second to Aquinas in a photo finish.
    HPC’s Haden Helgoth hands off to fellow senior Gage Friesen for the anchor leg of the 400 relay at last week’s High Plains Invite. The Storm ended up second to Aquinas in a photo finish.
  • This historic photo looking south on Hampton’s 3rd Street in 1915 shows the IOOF Opera House at right towering over the other buildings. It that time it was a bee hive of activity, hosting theatrical performances, concerts, lectures, dances and many other community events.
    This historic photo looking south on Hampton’s 3rd Street in 1915 shows the IOOF Opera House at right towering over the other buildings. It that time it was a bee hive of activity, hosting theatrical performances, concerts, lectures, dances and many other community events.
  • Kids in grades 3-5 scramble across the north lawn of the courthouse on Saturday looking for Easter eggs
    Kids in grades 3-5 scramble across the north lawn of the courthouse on Saturday looking for Easter eggs

    Two Aurora seniors have a running start toward their goal of becoming veterinarians as recipients of this year’s Nebraska Elite 11 Veterinarian Program scholarships. Emma Ellis-Sack and Kash Majerus both have a passion for animals and have expressed interest in the veterinary field, which prompted them to apply for a new scholarship program supported by Gov. Jim Pillen. As a veterinarian himself, Pillen understands the need for young people to enter the field, especially in rural areas of Nebraska.

    Prep work has begun on a 12th Street site which will soon be home to a four dwelling unit town home expected to help diversify the community’s rental properties. Casey Nunnenkamp purchased side by side lots a block and a half north of the downtown square recently and is excited to begin construction on the new Kamp Subdivision. “Technically it’s going up as one structure, but they’ve got two-hour firewall separation so they’re each considered their own structure,” he explained. “It will kind of look like single-family houses going up, but it’s designed in a strip housing style.”

    What started partly as a way to beat the boredom of the COVID lockdowns of 2020 has grown into a full-bloomed business for Aurora’s Morgan Bonifas, one that she has dreams of turning into a full-service greenhouse some day. Over the years since Morgan’s Mums and More was started by Bonifas as a high school freshman for her FFA Supervised Ag Experience (SAE), the News-Register has followed her colorful journey. And now, as an ag communications major at UNL, Bonifas is growing her business even more and communicating with some of FFA’s biggest donors about the impact the organization has had on her life. 

    How long does it take about 100 children to find more than 3,000 colored plastic Easter eggs scattered across the courthouse lawn? Not all that long, as it turns out. The first annual Ultimate Easter Egg Hunt, which brought egg hunting back to the courthouse square for the first time in a number of years, started at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon and was all over, but the candy munching, by 2:30. The event was sponsored by the Hamilton County Youth Center with the aid of Aurora 8th graders and other high school and adult volunteers.

    If a proposed plan to save and restore the Hampton IOOF Opera House is successful it will mean the preservation of a structure that has been a part of Hampton’s history and culture for more than 130 years. More recently the building has been known as the home of a bait shop and insurance office, but for the first nearly 40 years of its existence it served as the cultural hub of the community, playing host to concerts, lectures, political events, theatrical performances and community dances.

    For the first time this spring, High Plains, Giltner and Hampton all competed in the same event. On a picture-perfect day, High Plains hosted its annual invite at the Osceola track April 16 as the Storm put together some impressive results. One of those highlights came in the boys 400 relay race as the Storm foursome of Levi Russell, Brodey Spurling, Haden Helgoth and Gage Friesen found themselves in a photo finish.
     

    Get all the details on these stories and much more in the print or e-editions of the Aurora News-Register.