By Ozenbaugh

As I write this on Sunday, March 26, I'll share a Postal tidbit that today is the tenth anniversary of the Forever stamp. Forever Stamps are first-class stamps that you can buy at the current first-class postage rate, and they remain valid even if that rate rises in the future. The design for the Forever Stamp, an image of the Liberty Bell, was unveiled by the U.S. Postal Service on March 26 in 2007. It officially went on sale on April 12, and sold for forty-one cents each. In the first year, the USPS sold more than six billion Forever stamps.

In the last ten years, the Forever stamp has changed prices eight times--from .41 in 2007, to .42 in 2008, to .44 in 2009. It then did not change until 2012, to .45, to .46 in 2013, and to .49 in 2014. It went down to.47 in 2016, and back to .49 in 2017.

Tuesday, March 21, the Clay County Extension Office hosted a 4-H open house for those currently involved in 4-H, and for those who are wanting to go into 4-H. A number of exhibits were open for kids and families to stop at and participate in. There was also a selection of farm animals for the attendees to visit.

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An overflow crowd of over 300 supporters of the Rainwater Basin Pheasants Forever annual banquet, the committee of the event, in its 27th year, filled the Sutton Community Center Saturday, Feb. 25, which nearly busted the seams of the banquet hall. According to Chapter President Corey Ebert, the event continues to amaze him and the committee with the annual support given year in and year out. “We planned for around 270 people this year and we’re estimating that around 320 or so showed up for this year’s banquet.”

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A smaller meet greeted the Harvard speechletes Wednesday, Feb. 22, during the TVC speech meet in Deshler. Walking away with medals would be Kylie Doupnik, who earned first in Poetry and second in Serious Prose; the duo of Adi Ramirez and Brizeth Medina, placed fourth in Duet; and Lynnae Bennett, earned a fifth place medal in Humorous Prose. A tough competition was in store for Sutton and Sandy Creek speechletes during the SNC competition on Saturday, Feb. 25.

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For 23 years, Joe Svoboda has been bringing Nebraska Husker players to Fairfield for the fire department’s annual fund raiser. That fact brought the crowd to their feet at this year’s event, to say thanks to Svoboda. Many football and volleyball players have come to town to sign autographs, take pictures and even participate in the auctioning off of items.

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Ask Butch Bauder what hunting has been like since he gained the passion of hunting and you’ll get a wide variety of responses. Mention the involvement in the sport of upland bird hunting with his grandsons Drew Steinhauer and Griffin Bergen, along with his son-in-law, A.J. Bergen, as well as hunting partner Noah Johnson, and Bauder’s face lights up. “It’s not just about the hunting,” Bauder says. “When I was a kid, we had pheasants everywhere; you’d fill your limit in no time. Now, you have to work harder to fill your limit.”

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Mikaela Shaw has, without a doubt, left her mark and positive impressions on the University of Nebraska-Omaha women’s basketball team throughout her career with the Mavericks. This week, March 4-7, Shaw and UNO will embark on the 2017 Summit League Conference tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D., where the Mavericks (15-14, 8-8 Summit League), and the tournament’s fifth seed, will make their second Summit League Tournament appearance when they face No. 4 seed South Dakota (22-7, 11-5 Summit League) on Sunday, March 5, beginning at noon. The game will be broadcast live by Midco Sports Network and ESPN-3.

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By Keuhn

There are multiple steps in the Appropriations Committee budgeting process. First, agencies submitted budget requests through the budget office last fall. Next, Governor Ricketts introduced his recommended budget when he addressed the Legislature in his State of the State address. Then, the Appropriations Committee worked with legislative fiscal analysts to comb through agency requests and developed a preliminary budget. This past week, we began the next step of the process, which is four weeks of public hearings, where we will hear from state agencies, stakeholders and citizens about proposed funding.

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By Ricketts

Broken Bow is nestled in the foothills of Nebraska’s picturesque Sandhills in the middle of everything our state and our country. In many ways, it’s a community that represents a cross section of the Cornhusker State. It’s a rural town where Main Street is thriving thanks to the state’s largest industries: agriculture and manufacturing. Employers, ranging from feedlots to a major medical supplier, provide good-paying jobs for families in Broken Bow and the surrounding area.

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Holli Weber, with the Clay County Extension Office, had one task for the young entrepreneurs at Sandy Creek and Harvard—make something that made a difference. At Sandy Creek, she told the kids to invent a product that could be used for a game in which two players had broken arms. At Harvard, she told the kids to invent a product that could be used by any animal so that the pet could get exercise.

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