Hands shot into the air and bids echoed across the room - but this was no ordinary auction. The energy-filled evening marked the annual Valentine FFA Hired Hand Auction, a unique fund raiser where local chapter members auction off hours of their labor to supportive community members.

Perfect attendance for the 3rd quarter at the Cody-Kilgore Elementary School. Pictured are back row, L to R: Zoey Johnson, Maya Burress, Grady Rahn. Front row, L to R: Christian Hendrix, Henry Heinert. Not Pictured: Sawyer Galloway.

Big Congrats to Kaylee Luthy for earning second place in the VFW Patriot's Pen Essay Contest. Mrs. Thorpe’s sixth grade English students competed with over 60,600 students in sixth through eighth grades to enter the VFW’s Patriot’s Pen annual youth essay contest for a chance to win their share of nearly $1 million in state and national awards. Each first place state winner receives a minimum of $500 at the national level, and the national first place winner wins $5,000.

All was quiet along the Niobrara River until an electrical pole snapped just above Assistant Fire Chief Mark Johnson’s home near Kilgore. At approximately 3:30 p.m. Mountain Time, a fire ignited on the ridge near Anderson’s Bridge.

by Laura Vroman What started out as a wonder by Pastor Scott McClellen of Berean Bible Church has since been blessed by the Lord and a new worship center is now located at 706 East 7th Street in Valentine. They held their open house Sunday, March 15, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.

When I headed home on Thursday afternoon, I thought that the focus of this week’ss column would be the budget battle taking place in Lincoln. That’s what I was prepared to write about. Somewhere between Broken Bow and Dunning late Thursday afternoon, the focus for not just myself but thousands of other Nebraskans changed. Fires began to break out across the state, the largest being in western Nebraska.