Curiosity led Dr. Lane Handke to try the pay phone outside the Pierce Telephone Co. in Pierce. He asked Jeff Kesting, the phone company’s plant manager, why it wasn’t working. Kesting fixed the problem and encouraged Handke to try again. The pay phone is one of only 81 still in operation in Nebraska.

Katie Muilenburg (center) is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research in Bethesda, focusing on liver cancer research. Pictured with Muilenburg from left are her brother Nathan, father Jeff and mother Cyndi.

Aurora Boardworks is applying for a $420,000 CDBG grant to expand its employee base

The Specialty Ag Formulations facility at Mission Critical as it looked while under construction last year.

Mike Herman served as farm manager at Grain Place Foods near Marquette for more than 30 years, beginning in 1985. He is pictured here in 2015 with a photo that was appropriately labeled: “Outstanding in his field.”

When his body started to tell him he could no longer keep up the long hours and physical demands of farming, Mike Herman shifted gears. For the last seven years, he has served as a driver for Ryde Transit.

Dean Klute stands in the Bullet in Hampton where he has displayed his collection of trophy animals taken in locations ranging from Wyoming and Montana to New Zealand. He hopes to soon add mounts of the four animals he harvested in South Africa.

Phil Esslinger pauses with sons Easton and Oakland to capture a photo with a bull elk harvested in a hunting unit where 155 elk tags are issued each year. Esslinger’s name was one of few drawn for out-of-state participants to hunt during a 13-day archery season, which ran Sept. 12-25.

The Hamilton Pheasant Forevers Chapter brought back its annual youth hunt on Saturday, Oct. 11 after being on hiatus for three years. Students from Hamilton, Hall and Merrick counties participated in hunter safety sessions before practicing their trap shooting skills and hunting pen-raised pheasants offered by Pheasants Forever.