President Donald Trump made his first official speech as the leader of the United States on Friday at his inauguration ceremony in Washington, D.C.
He started his speech by thanking now-former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama for their help in the transition and their service to the country. He then quickly turned his attention to the core of his speech, the American people. He talked often about wanting to put the citizens in control of more decisions and giving back to the country. "What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people," he said. He made allusions to the various issues plaguing the United States currently, including poverty, empty factories from companies taking their businesses to other nations and crime in various cities. President Trump vowed to bring back jobs from other countries for Americans and to make American industry a focus of his presidency. "From this day forward, it's going to be only America first, America first," he said. "Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our product, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs." He then turned his attention to rebuilding patriotism across the United States. He stated that, in order to "unlock the mysteries of space, to free the earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow." To do that, he noted that all citizens must regain their American pride and remember that all Americans are together, no matter whether they are born in Detroit of in small-town Nebraska. "And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty creator." He made one final declaration, one that he undoubtedly hopes will give Americans hope for the future. "You will never be ignored again. Your voice, your hopes and your dreams will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way," he said. Considering sending a loved one a card by mail? Be aware, postage prices are going up on January 22. According to a press release published by the US Postal Service, in October of last year the United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of price changes for Mailing Services products to take effect on January 22, 2017, following the end of the holiday mailing season. The new prices include a two cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, returning the price to 49 cents, the price of a Forever stamp before the Postal Service was forced to reduce prices by the PRC as part of the exigent surcharge removal. The last time stamp prices increased was in January 2014. The incoming price increase does not include any price change for Postcards, for letters being mailed to international destinations or for additional ounces for letters. Below is a full list of price changes, as listed by the Pitney Bowes Inc.: Stamp prices have stayed consistent with the average annual rate of inflation since the Postal Service was formed in 1971.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. ![]() Central Valley Ag (CVA) continues to give back to patrons, demonstrating the spirit of the cooperative system. Recently, CVA’s Board of Directors approved the distribution of patronage to its member-owners. A total payout of $8.0 Million was approved based on Central Valley Ag’s continuing success. The amount paid out in cash to CVA member-owners now stands at $62.6 Million over the past five years. “I am proud of CVA’s performance, and our ability to deliver these payments to our patrons,” said Carl Dickinson, CEO of Central Valley Ag. “We truly appreciate the business of our member-owners, and are excited to share in the success of the cooperative.” The success of Central Valley Ag is a result of its member-owners support, Board of Directors vision, and the employee's dedication to great customer service. Central Valley Ag is a farmer-owned cooperative headquartered in York, NE. CVA has locations in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. CVA is an innovative leader providing products and services in grain, agronomy, feed, and energy. You can find more information about Central Valley Ag by visiting www.cvacoop.com. The Niobrara Valley Conference announced their All-Conference volleyball teams on Tuesday and 14 girls from Antelope County made the cut.
On the first team, Elgin Public/Pope John's Liz Selting, Amy Nelson, Baylee Wemhoff and Jordan Mescher were all honored. The Wolfpack also had Grace Henn and Paige Meis named to the second team. Also on the second team was Clearwater-Orchard's JoCee Johnston. Seven girls were named honorable mention. Nicki Payne of EPPJ along with Elkhorn Valley's Alyssa Rood and Amber Miller were named to the team. Chase Vleck and Nikki Grosserode of Neligh-Oakdale and Kylie Thiele and Kinzly Macke of Clearwater-Orchard were also honored. NVC All-Conference Volleyball Teams 1ST TEAM St. Marys – Hattie Blumenstock, Taylor Coleman, Logan Connot EPPJ- Liz Selting, Amy Nelson, Baylee Wemhoff, Jordan Mescher NC- Jaycee Fleming, Rachel Stewart CWC- Regan Dierks, Jacie Laetsch Stuart- Harlee Fischer 2ND TEAM St. Mary’s – Brianna Bauer EPPJ- Grace Henn, Paige Meis NC- Caitlin Orton, Jaydyn Bussinger West Holt- Bailey Kraus CWC – Taylor Peter Stuart- Alison Stracke, Rachel Kaup Ewing- Miranda Summer, Bailey Schindler Orchard-Clearwater – Jocee Johnston Honorable Mention Niobrara-Verdigre- Ashley Guenther St. Mary’s – Hailey Eiler, Breanna Hedstrom EPPJ- Nicki Payne Boyd County – Kelsey Reiman, Rebecca Hiatt NC- Skylar Cosgrove EV- Alyssa Rood, Amber Miller Neligh-Oakdale- Chase Vleck, Nikki Grosserode West Holt- Peyton Randolph CWC- Daneecia Thorin, Aleesha Williams Stuart- Kennison Kunz Ewing- Ashley Koenig, Jodi Fry Orchard-Clearwater – Kylie Thiele, Kinzly Macke Voters decided today that capital punishment will return to Nebraska.
While results are unofficial and not all of the ballots have been counted, voters have repealed a law enacted by state lawmakers to allow the death penalty. The item was placed on the ballot after a petition by Nebraskans for the Death penalty collected more than 166,000 signatures, far more than the 57,000 necessary to put the initiative on the ballot. One of the most vocal proponents of the initiative was Vivian Tuttle of Ewing. Tuttle logged more than 9,000 miles since 2015 as she collected signatures and spoke in support of the repeal. The reason for her dedication was personal and well documented. Vivian's daughter, Evonne, was killed in the 2002 U.S. Bank murders in Norfolk. "My daughter was killed in U.S. Bank in 2002. She left a 3- and 5-year-old," Vivian said as she collected thousands of signatures. Vivian said time and again that she felt Nebraskans should decide if Nebraska had a death penalty, not the state senators. "We've got the film. We know they're guilty, and I don't think the legislature of Nebraska has the right to take the away. I want justice for all of the people who have suffered because of the crimes that have been committed," she said. Current results show the repeal passing 56 percent to 43 percent. UPDATE
Police say the suspect who shot and killed two police officers this morning is in custody. Scott Michael Greene was captured alive in Dallas County around 9 a.m. on Wednesday. He is believed to be the suspect in the ambush style murder of two police officers. PREVIOUSLY The Des Moines and Urbandale Police Departments have identified a suspect in the murder of two police officers this morning. Urbandale resident Scott Michael Greene, 46, is being sought by investigators. Greene is 5’ 11” / 180 lbs with brown hair and green eyes. Greene was last known to be driving a blue 2011 Ford F-150 with Iowa license plate 780 YFR. The truck has a silver colored topper with a ladder rack. Greene is believed to be armed and should be considered dangerous. If seen, please do not approach Greene, but call 911 and report his location. ![]() Two children who were abducted at Baker’s Supermarket in Omaha, have been found safe. Officers responded to the Baker’s Supermarket for an abduction call at 8:02 p.m. Thursday. Upon arrival, a female victim told officers that she put her two 8 month old female twins in the back of the car and putting groceries away in the trunk. At that point someone jumped in the driver’s seat of her vehicle and drove off with the vehicle and the two children inside. ![]() A Niobrara woman remains missing with multiple efforts to this point unsuccessful in locating her. Boyd County Sheriff Chuck Wrede says in a news release that 37-year old Amy Heiser has been missing since September 25. The sheriff’s office located her black 2000 GMC Yukon Denali at the public landing of Sunshine Bottom on the Missouri River on September 26 at approximately 12:30 p.m. Heiser was not found near the vehicle, but the sheriff’s office says that items obtained in the vehicle lead authorities to believe she may have gone into the river. The Boyd County Sheriff’s Office then contacted numerous other agencies to assist in the search for Heiser, including the Nebraska State Patrol, who lists Heiser as a missing person with an active search out to locate her. Over the past week, over 2,000 man hours, 120 people, and 12 agencies in total have joined the search to locate Heiser without any success to this point. Four air patrol units and ten water units have also assisted in the search of the area from the Sunshine Bottom public landing northeast of Lynch to an area near Verdel in northwestern Knox County. The 37-year old Heiser is described as 5’3″, 98 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. She has a number of tattoos, including two crescent moons on her upper right arm, a Chinese symbol on her upper left arm, and a soldier memorial tattoo with the initials “AJB” on her left inner lower arm. Heiser was set to appear in Holt County District Court on September 29 on a charge of possession of a controlled substance. Sheriff Wrede says investigation into Heiser’s disappearance continues and still consider her a missing person at this time. Anyone with information about Heiser’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Boyd County Sheriff’s Office at 402-775-2331. Agencies that are assisting in the investigation include the Boyd County Sheriff’s Office, Holt County Sheriff’s Office, Nebraska State Patrol, Nebraska Game and Parks, Lynch Fire and Rescue, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Region 24 Emergency Management. by Dylan Widger
[email protected] Middle-class and lower-class Americans enjoyed their best year of economic improvement in decades this past year, according to a recent Census Bureau report. Jason Furnam, the Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, discussed the numbers with the media during a recent press call that included the Antelope County News. These findings show an increase of household income and a decrease in the poverty rate in the US, which broke a multi-year low for American workers and industry that stemmed from damage caused by the Great Recession in 2008. When discussing the data, Jason Furnam said, “I’ve been reading this report regularly for the past 21 years, and this year’s report was far and away the best I have ever read in terms of economic improvements documented for the American people.” According to data released by the Census Bureau, median household income nationwide went up $2,800, or 5.2 percent in 2015, the fastest growth on record since the start of the data in 1968. Household income grew across the board, with the greatest and fastest growth seen among lower and middle-class households. 3.5 million people rose above the poverty threshold which was the fastest increase since 1968. That number included people from all ethnicities, the most improvement coming from African American and Hispanic American households. Also, every state has seen declines in the number of uninsured Americans since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2013. Now, how does Nebraska compare to the national average in 2015? In Nebraska, the number of uninsured Nebraskans fell due to the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. From 2013 to 2015, the Nebraska uninsured rate fell from 11.3 percent to 8.2 percent. The median household income has risen by 4.3 percent, or $2,244. The greatest gain in Nebraska’s median household income were seen in the metro areas of Omaha and Lincoln, with 5.9 percent and 3.6 percent respectively. This helped to further fix the damage to Nebraska’s economy caused by the Great Recession. However, much of the improvement came from widespread job creation across Nebraska, especially rural areas. Since 2010, Nebraska’s state economy has added 75,600 jobs. To put that into perspective, the number of jobs created is almost equal to the total population of Grand Island and Kearney combined. Nebraska’s unemployment rate has fallen as a result, dropping from the peak of 4.8 percent during the Great Recession in 2008 to 3.2 percent in August 2016. When reflecting on the data, Furnam stated: “This progress is really important. It is what is going to come as the economy starts growing, employers get the confidence to open more jobs, and the market gets tight enough that people start to get raises. “ He added, “This it was we like to see in our economy, but there is a lot more progress we need to make to supplement our growth.” It is a Tuesday afternoon practice at Winside High School and everything seems normal in the small northeast Nebraska town, however, it is anything but.
The Class D-2 eight-man football squad is down to just 11 players, including three freshmen, thanks to a rash of injuries. The most recent one, to junior fullback Trey Meis, was devastating. Head Coach Kent Lawson remembers the play vividly. “As he slipped out of the backfield he was caught there and wrapped up,” Lawson said. “In kind of a swinging motion, contact to the front part of his hat and the ground was shortly thereafter.” Trey was out with a severe head injury. He hobbled to the sideline before losing consciousness. Play was halted and eventually the game was called as Trey was life-flighted to a Sioux City hospital. The situation was tense. “It was frightening,” Lawson said. “Not so much the symptoms, but the rapid nature in which they started to take place that was what was frightening especially.” It was over an hour before the life-net helicopter took off. After that, it was time for Winside to regroup. “You know, it had a tremendous toll on a few of them. We have a couple of young men who are very close friends,” Lawson said. “We still had, after an hour and 15, we still had a number of young men who were hurting and hurting through the weekend.” Trey suffered a subdural hematoma, a form of brain bleeding. His condition improved through the weekend, with the team getting updates via a Go Fund Me page set up for the Meis family. Then came Monday and another blow. School administration and Coach Lawson decided it was best the Wildcats forfeit this Friday’s contest against Emerson-Hubbard. “I think for them it was a little bit of relief because they have time to continue to regroup and get Trey home and get normalcy back. For others there was some frustration, you know they’re competitors and they want to play,” Lawson said. The latest update from the Meis family stated there was a setback and Trey wasn’t expected to leave the hospital until Wednesday. So with that news and no game to prepare for, the team plodded through practice on Tuesday. Only an appearance from an unexpected visitor could cheer them up. Coach Lawson stopped practice with an announcement. Trey was back. After four days of uncertainty, the team crowded around the Meis family’s F-150 and greeted their friend. Football players reunited with their fallen teammate and a coach with his player. Winside could feel normal again. _____________________ The Meis family’s Go Fund Me page can be found here. By News Parter News Channel Nebraska |
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