This week's top stories

Back to the finals (again)
For the third year in a row and the fifth time since 2015, Aurora will play for a football state championship following a 40-19 win over Boone Central in the Class C1 semifinals. The 12-0 Huskies will clash with fellow C1 unbeaten Pierce, a matchup football fans have raved over since the preseason. The Class C1 final is Tuesday at 2:45 p.m. from Memorial Stadium. For a preview on the finals matchup and a recap on the Boone Central victory, see last week’s ANR. FYI: The News-Register will delay printing of this week's edition in order to provide timely coverage of Tuesday's state championship game.

Luebbe earns pageant success, crowned with family 
An “amazing” star has been born in the form of sophomore high school student Kadee Luebbe, who was crowned Junior Teen Queen from the 2022 Nebraska Miss Amazing pageant Oct. 29. 
The journey to the crown has been enthusiastically supported by her family, including mother Heather Reisbeck, her mother’s boyfriend Travis Blase, sister Khloe and brother Kyler. The group has been behind Kadee every step of the way.
To Heather, that is what families are supposed to do.
“The meaning of family is unconditional love and support,” she said. “I think that you’re not gonna find anybody that loves you as much as your family. And it’s really important to support each other and nobody’s gonna support you more than your family does. That’s one thing I can say about my family is they all love each other and we all support each other so much, no matter what we’re doing.”

Aurora pays tribute to those who served our nation
The Aurora High School Veterans Day program for 2022 was celebrated Friday, for the first time in the middle school gymnasium, and was well-attended by local community members, staff and students.
“We thank you all for joining us to pay tribute to our veterans,” announced Ron Paider, commander of American Legion Post No. 42. “On the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month, the fighting of World War I ended in 1918. Due to the conclusion of the war to end all wars, November 11th became a universally recognized day of celebration.”

A tribute to ‘The Old Guard’
Both young and old came to a packed Giltner Public Schools’ high school gym to celebrate the  Giltner Veterans Day program Nov. 9, giving thanks to those who served in the armed forces. This year’s theme “The Old Guard” centered on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The program’s highlights consisted of Giltner students explaining the history of the monument and guest speaker Robert Briseno, who trained to guard the Tomb.

Brett Mitchell: Military ‘the ultimate team’
Describing the U.S. military as “the ultimate team,” US Navy Lt. Brett Mitchell told a Veteran’s Day crowd in Hampton Friday that he was humbled by the opportunity to serve as a fighter pilot, realizing that he couldn’t do his job if thousands of other people didn’t do theirs.
“No two veterans served in the same way, but all veterans made sacrifices in their lives for the sake of others,” he began. “Being separated from your family for months at a time is a sacrifice. Moving away from your hometown or your home state to an undesired location across the country or across the world is a sacrifice. Knowingly performing a dangerous job every day is a sacrifice. Going into combat is a sacrifice, you just don’t know how big your sacrifice will be.”

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