This week's top stories

construction
building permits
Loves
Adopt-A-Pet
Aurora
girls
wrestling
Penner
  • Aurora fifth grade students in Lori Brechbill’s class have been donating from the heart for 18 years now.
    Aurora fifth grade students in Lori Brechbill’s class have been donating from the heart for 18 years now.
  • A $600,000 renovation project currently under way at Love’s Travel Stop was the largest single building permit issued during 2021.
    A $600,000 renovation project currently under way at Love’s Travel Stop was the largest single building permit issued during 2021.
  • Aurora’s Tia Teigre was a runner-up finisher for the Lady Huskies in the 235 division at Thursday’s Norm Manstedt Invite, the first-ever girls tournament at the prestigious wrestling event.
    Aurora’s Tia Teigre was a runner-up finisher for the Lady Huskies in the 235 division at Thursday’s Norm Manstedt Invite, the first-ever girls tournament at the prestigious wrestling event.
  • Kirk Penner
    Kirk Penner

    Adopt-A-Pet donation marks milestone year
    Aurora fifth grade students in Lori Brechbill’s class have been donating from the heart for 18 years now, evident by the photos found in the teacher’s classroom that feature students now grown and teaching on their own. This year the class was joined by Adopt-A-Pet volunteers Kathy Pollard and Butch Furse, as well as a few cute kittens, who accepted the $500 donation with much gratitude. 

     

    Construction hits 10-year low
    Construction activity in Aurora hit a 10-year low in 2021, though community leaders are quick to point out that legwork completed last year offers positive signs for a surge of housing and commercial building projects in the year ahead.
    The year-end tally of building permits issued at City Hall added up to $5.7 million, just over half of the $10.2 million reported a year ago. The number of permits dropped from 155 to 122, though the biggest differential was the lack of $1 million+ projects in 2021.
    “I would say there are several things that are at play,” noted Kelsey Bergen, executive director of the Aurora Development Corporation. “One aspect is that you kind of have a two-year building process, so you have one year to kind of make your plans or decide what you’re going to do and then the second year is when your building happens.”

     

    Penner plans motion to reject health standards
    Kirk Penner of Aurora began his tenure on the Nebraska State Board of Education last week announcing his plans to introduce a motion to permanently reject health standards as presented by the board earlier in the year.
    “I’m adamant about local control and parental involvement,” Penner explained. “We need decisions like health standards to be left to our local school boards, the parents and professionals. You’re going to hear this a lot from me on this board. My focus will be local control and parental involvement.”

     

    Ladies get their moment at the Manstedt
    The Norm Manstedt Invitational has been a staple in Nebraska high school wrestling for more than 50 years. 
    One of the most prestigious wrestling tournaments in Nebraska added a new tradition in 2022. 
    For the first time in its 53-year history, girls took center stage at the Norm Manstedt Invite, an event put on by the legendary former Clarks and High Plains coach and the current HPC Storm staff. 
    While the boys tournament went on as scheduled for a two-day event, the girls wrestled in its own format the Thursday prior. 
    High Plains coach Martin Phillips was happy with how the tournament played out, which included more than 200 girls in action.

     

    To read more of any of this week's top stories, please see this week's print or e-edition.