News

This week of the first session of the 107th Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, three bills of local interest garnered elevated attention through their Feb. 1 committee hearings:

LB164 would allow city and village councils to adjust speed limits without engineering or traffic studies. The bill’s hearing took place in the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee.

Current law allows cities with at least a 40,000 population to lower speed limits on highways within their city limits if the council determines that hazardous conditions exist. LB164 would extend this option to communities with populations as low as 500.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

The Sutton City Council shut down any immediate hopes for the start of the initial plans to begin working on the downtown revitalization plan (DTR), as the implementation project to improve curb and gutter, along with sidewalk improvements failed to gain a second, after councilman Mike Newman moved to approve taking the DTR project to bid.

After a lengthy discussion, lasting nearly 30 minutes, Newman’s motion to approve going to bid on the initial project phase of the project, which would have replaced sidewalks and added bumpouts to the south end of Saunders Avenue’s downtown business district, located between East Grove St. and the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe rail line, had no second obtained after mayor Todd Mau called for a second three times.

Winter in Nebraska can mean snow, cold, 40-degree weather and everything in between, but chose bitter cold temperatures and more snowfall this past week.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

Looking back on what will become a most unique moment in United States history, Father Michael Zimmer, priest of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Sutton, and St. Helena’s Catholic Church in Grafton, has ongoing thoughts that he continues to soak in and think through.

Zimmer and 280 Nebraska Air and Army National Guard members were part of 25,000 guard troops that descended on the District of Columbia to support the inauguration of new President Joesph Biden.

That alone, according to Zimmer, is amazing, but his familiarity of the Washington D.C. area takes this special deployment to much greater depths for Zimmer.

“When we landed the Saturday before the inauguration (Jan. 16), I clearly remember feeling this very quiet feeling. The lack of people, the amount of security checkpoints, especially in and around the capital areas of DC, the only word that comes to mind to describe that initial feeling is surreal,” Zimmer noted.

In the spring of 2018, the Nebraska Legislature passed Legislative Bill 256, enabling municipalities to pass a Vacant Property Registration Ordinance.

The purpose of the bill was to assist local governments with addressing properties that remain vacant for prolonged periods of time (six months to 30+ years). The City of Sutton Council adopted a Vacant Property Registration Ordinance at their regular council meeting in December 2020.

The Oordinance establishes a Vacant Property Registry Program that covers all properties within the city’s corporate boundary.

Under the ordinance, properties that are vacant for six months or more will be entered onto the City’s Vacant Property Registry. Once a property has remained on the registry for six months, a fee of $250 will be assessed for residential properties and $1,000 for commercial properties.

Heavy, thick fog has been abundant in the county and surrounding areas off and on throughout last week and Monday and Tuesday. Less than a half-mile visibility is demonstrated in this photo near Highway 41, east of Clay Center. A dense fog advisory was in effect until noon Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service-Hastings. On Tuesday, Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil predicted another six weeks of winter after he saw his shadow. ASHLEY D. SWANSON | CLAY COUNTY NEWS

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

Governor Pete Ricketts announced that Nebraska is moving from the “blue” to “green” phase of its coronavirus pandemic response plan.

As a result, the State of Nebraska is issuing new Directed Health Measures (DHMs) which went into effect 12:01 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 30.

The new DHMs change some of the restrictions put in place to help manage the coronavirus pandemic.

Nebraska’s pandemic response plan links DHM restrictions to the percentage of staffed hospital beds in Nebraska filled by coronavirus patients. The percentage is below 10 percent (seven-day rolling average), which is the threshold for the state moving to the “green” phase of its pandemic plan.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

South Heartland District Health Department (SHDHD) officials announced the district will start offering COVID-19 vaccine to priority age groups in Phase 1B as soon as vaccine is available.

SHDHD, executive director, Michele Bever said this phase of vaccine roll-out will incorporate assistance from certain health care provider offices.

“Within South Heartland’s four counties, we hope to have a total of 14 provider facilities approved by the DHHS Immunization Program to help administer COVID-19 vaccine to individuals age 65+ and adults with high-risk medical conditions,” she said.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

Several inches of snow fell over the Clay County area, as a strong winter storm system moved across Nebraska.

The storm began after midnight Monday, Jan. 25, continuing until late evening on Monday. According to the National Weather Service in Hastings, about nine inches fell on the area.

Blowing snow backed by wind speeds of 23 mph and wind gusts of 30 mph, created low visibility.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

Each year, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature convenes to sort through and debate hundreds of potential new laws or changes to existing state law. Since Jan. 6, a total of 684 legislative bills have been introduced in this first session of the 107th Legislature.

Proposals range from simple word clarification to program overhauls, to hopeful solutions for pandemic challenges. I’ve combed through this year’s introduced bills and selected many with the potential to impact Clay County in various ways. I’ll be following these proposals, providing updates as they move through the legislative process.

In each section, there are plenty more introduced bills that may interest readers. Let Clay County News know if you’d like to add a bill to this list of weekly updates:

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/