The Area 17 Cattlewomen would like to congratulate Julie Battershaw, Carol Earl, Viola Coleman, and Monte Krueger as their winners of $25 each in Beef Certificates from Henderson's IGA and Scottys Ranchland Foods.  The promotion included asking trivia questions through the week prior to Fathers Day and giving away meat thermometers to the winners.  Of those winners, 4 names were drawn for the beef.  Congratulations to everyone who won, and good luck to everyone who will be trying again next year!

(AP) - Improvements have been completed on docks and boat ramps at the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in Cherry County. A sand and rock boat ramp at Clear Lake was replaced with a concrete ramp extending into the lake. A concrete boat ramp was built at Pelican Lake's shore. Two other projects were completed as well.

Several local area veterans organizations are working together to pay tribute to Vietnam War Veterans on July 27th in Valentine. According to organizers, Legion and Legion Auxiliaries from Wood Lake, Cody and Valentine plan to hold a parade and luncheon on July 27th to honor those who served in the Vietnam War. The parade will be held at 11am with a luncheon and program held afterwards. Organizers are currently compiling a list of area veterans who served in the war to send a personal invitation for them and their spouse to attend the event. If you know of a Vietnam War Veteran please call Bonnie Phillips at 376-5139 or Donna Blocker at 376-6832 to check and make sure their name is on the...

Charles Colombe, 75, died Sunday, June 9, 2013, at Sanford USD Medical Center.
Survivors include his wife, Vi Colombe, Mission; sons, Wes Colombe and Ty Colombe, both of Mission; daughters Sid Colombe, Fairland, Okla., and Codi Colombe, Lyndale, Texas; brothers Robert “Bob” Colombe, Dallas, Texas, and Richard “Skinny” Colombe, Wayne “Red” Colombe and Jim Colombe, all of Mission; and sisters, Elaine Jones, Los Lunas, N.M., Patty Mench, Winston-Salem, N.C., and Barb Bordeaux, Mission.
A Celebration of Life service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 13, at the Sinte Gleska University Center in Antelope. .
Rooks Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

At the June school board meeting at the Valentine High School, about 25 adults and countless kids were in attendance for the purpose of requesting that Valentine Community Schools allow 7th and 8th grade students from Zion Lutheran School to participate in school sports. The school board weighed several issues, and took comments from the public as well as representatives of both schools, and voted to allow the Zion students to participate. The lone dissenting vote came from Kort Dewing. The Zion Lutheran School provides schooling for preschool through grade 8.

The Nebraska corn crop is faring far better than some other states including neighboring Iowa with 75 percent of the crop in good or excellent condition. Just 2 percent is rated poor.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says in its weekly crop report released Monday that Nebraska's corn is 100 percent emerged in line with the normal average.

In Iowa where soggy fields have hampered planting, 12 percent of the crop is in poor condition, worse among the 18 leading corn growing states, 4 percent is very poor and 6 percent hasn't been planted yet.

Nebraska's soybeans are 77 percent good or excellent, 21 percent fair and just 2 percent poor. Ninety percent has...

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing arguments in a lawsuit stemming from a 4-H cheating scandal in South Dakota.   The family of White Lake teenager Bayley Kroupa says she was humiliated and denied due process when she was banned from 4-H competition in 2011 for an alleged ethics violation. They're suing and seeking $850,000 in damages.   4-H officials have appealed a federal judge's ruling that Bayley can participate in 4-H competitions while the lawsuit proceeds. The Daily Republic reports appellate judges heard arguments in the case in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday and will rule later.   The Kroupa family attorney says Bayley has been denied the opportunity to win...

A federal judge has moved a South Dakota beef processing company's lawsuit against ABC News for defamation back to state court.  Beef Products Incorporated sued ABC News for defamation over its coverage of a meat product that critics dub "pink slime." The company is seeking $1.2 billion in damages.  ABC argued that two of the companies listed in the lawsuit, BPI Technology Incorporated and Freezing Machines Incorporated, are not true parties and the case should be thrown out.  But BPI argued that all three companies have a stake in making the product called lean, finely textured beef.  Judge Karen Schreier on Wednesday ordered the case back to the circuit court in Union County.  

  Authorities have raised their forecast for Nebraska's winter wheat crop, but the harvest still is expected to be the lowest since 1944.   The U.S. Department of Agriculture's statistics service says that, based on June 1 conditions, Nebraska's farmers are expected to harvest 45.5 million bushels. That's up 6 percent from the May 1 forecast but down 15 percent from last year's crop.   The yield forecast is 35 bushels an acre. That's up 2 bushels from May but down 6 bushels from last year.   The acreage to be harvested for grain is estimated at 1.3 million acres, the same as last year.

Nebraska landowners now have until Friday to enroll in a program that pays them up to $10 an acre for keeping their wheat and mill stubble 14 inches or taller during this year's harvest.   The program deadline to join the Crop Stubble Management, Wildlife and Water Conservation Program has been extended. The program is being offered through eight natural resource districts in southern and western Nebraska.   Participants must leave the tall stubble undisturbed until April 1. Eligible producers may enroll up to 320 acres per year per crop type for two years. Post-harvest chemical applications are allowed, but other disturbances - such as disking, grazing or haying - are not allowed before...