This week's top stories

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  • The buildings and house in the background are 14th Street lots rezoned last week by the Aurora City Council. The Aurora Cooperative has announced preliminary plans to expand operations from across the street, where the service center is now located.
    The buildings and house in the background are 14th Street lots rezoned last week by the Aurora City Council. The Aurora Cooperative has announced preliminary plans to expand operations from across the street, where the service center is now located.
  • News-Register/Cheyenne Rowe The fifth flight of the Aurora High School ‘Heroes and Huskies’ project spent Friday getting to know each other with a tour of the SAC Museum, the Omaha National Cemetery and Offutt Airforce Base. They are, front row from left: Aidan Feely, Rylee Olsen, Carrie Brosman, Bailey Howland and Zarian Arends. Back row: Aaron Nilson, Abby Thomsen, Keith Wasem, Colin Kennedy, Mike Irons, Adrew Timmons, Darcy Greenough, Taryn McKinney, Roger Salmon, Jeff Wilson and Brett Mitchell.
    News-Register/Cheyenne Rowe The fifth flight of the Aurora High School ‘Heroes and Huskies’ project spent Friday getting to know each other with a tour of the SAC Museum, the Omaha National Cemetery and Offutt Airforce Base. They are, front row from left: Aidan Feely, Rylee Olsen, Carrie Brosman, Bailey Howland and Zarian Arends. Back row: Aaron Nilson, Abby Thomsen, Keith Wasem, Colin Kennedy, Mike Irons, Adrew Timmons, Darcy Greenough, Taryn McKinney, Roger Salmon, Jeff Wilson and Brett Mitchell.
  • Laura Wilson sits atop this brand-new Fendt tractor, given to her by the company to demo on her YouTube channel, Laura Farms.
    Laura Wilson sits atop this brand-new Fendt tractor, given to her by the company to demo on her YouTube channel, Laura Farms.
  • Aurora’s Ethan Shaw shot a four-over 74 to win the York Invite Thursday by three shots over the field.
    Aurora’s Ethan Shaw shot a four-over 74 to win the York Invite Thursday by three shots over the field.
  • Deryl Hilligas helps attendees at Saturday’s Hearts For Jesus fundraiser place their bids via phone as part of Hampton Lutheran’s new online auction format.
    Deryl Hilligas helps attendees at Saturday’s Hearts For Jesus fundraiser place their bids via phone as part of Hampton Lutheran’s new online auction format.

    Council approves zoning change to allow Aurora Co-op expansion
    The Aurora City Council approved a rezoning request last week, allowing the Aurora Cooperative to move forward with plans to expand its service center operations across 14th Street to the east.
    Bill Gowen, the company’s vice president of energy, addressed the council briefly during a public hearing April 13, explaining the overall goal of the project.
    “Our request is to rezone and potentially do improvements in that area,” he said. “We’ve always tried to support the downtown area and look forward to doing that here.”

    Laura (Farms) looks back on the best year yet
    So many things in Laura’s life have changed since she stepped foot into the farming world last year. But, at the same time, so many things are still the same.
    Smiling brightly, Laura Wilson dusted off a few chairs in father Cale’s shop on the Carlson family farm, but not before checking with the boss man and grabbing a radio. 
    “I feel like I’m a completely different person,” she joked. “In good ways. I was perfectly fine back then, but I feel like I’ve grown and changed in so many good ways.” 
    It was far too cold and windy to be out in the sprayer, which was the original plan for the day. She’s had a good year, she added. 
    “I know everyone said 2020 was like the worst year of their entire lives, but I think it is probably the best one to date of my life,” she said. 

    Heroes and Huskies together again
    The fifth and most recent corp of the Aurora High School Heroes and Huskies project has come and gone, with a semester’s worth of hard work coming to a celebratory plateau on Friday. 
    The group, comprised of nine student and veteran pairs (minus a few the day of) took to the road, with a domestic trip made up of stops at the SAC Museum in Ashland, the Omaha National Cemetery and Offutt Air Force Base. 
    “Heroes and Huskies was obviously different this year due to the COVID restrictions,” class sponsor Tim Elge noted. “So far the only part that has been affected is the trip. Hopefully the rest of the project will continue like the previous projects.”

    Shaw wins York Invite
    Even with a logjam of competitors behind him, Ethan Shaw remained poised in the final holes. A birdie on 15 was a big help, too. 
    The Aurora senior held his distance, winning the highly-competitive York Invite with a four-over 74, finishing three strokes clear of the field Thursday at York Country Club. 
    The win for Shaw was the second of his high school career and could be the start of a big run, Aurora coach Craig Badura explained. 
    “That’s a huge win for him because that’s a district preview for us and there were some really good teams there,” Badura said. “To pull out a win with 19 teams there is a cool moment in his career.”

    Hearts for Jesus debuts new auction format
    Hampton Lutheran School supporters enjoyed the new look and feel of a revamped annual event Saturday, raising more than $18,000 with a first-ever live and online auction at The Leadership Center.
    “We decided to change formats to include a sit-down dinner and an online silent auction,” explained Danielle Bamesberger, event coordinator and treasurer of the Heartland Lutheran School Board. “Some of our changes came about due to COVID, but this is something I have been wanting to work into the system the last few years and it just worked out this year to change the format.”
    The revised format went off without a hitch, Bamesberger reported, with more than 100 people enjoying an evening meal and more than 60 bidding for items. 

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