Lincoln, Neb., September 4, 2026 —2026 was the largest wildfire year on record in Nebraska, with over 1 million acres of rangeland burned. The Morrill Fire, which occurred in March in the southwestern Sandhills, was the largest single fire event on record for the state. As the growing season has progressed, perennial vegetation has begun to recover over much of the area, even with limited rainfall reducing the amount of plant growth and delaying growth of the native plants until later spring.

.

The results for our Ainsworth meet held Thursday, September 3, 2026 are as follows: Varsity boys - 10th place, Deklin Titus, 20:37.33 SB; 17th place, Reed Greenough, 21:18.42 PB; 19th place, Trevor Burdick, 22:10.73 PB; 20th place, Duncan Mosner, 22:25.69 SB; 22nd place, Jason Manewal, 22:26.42 PB; 32nd place, Kyan Carlsen, 4:52.42; 43rd place, Owen Moosman, 37:54.11.

The Winner Warriors volleyball squad of Winner, SD, dropped 3-0 in Thursday’s non-league battle with the host Valentine. With the win, Valentine improves its record to 1-1 on the season.

request gunship cover in an attempt to protect both us and our patients. Sometimes they weren’t available and we’d have to go in alone by ourselves. And often having gunships along wasn’t always enough to keep us from being shot up or shot down. Since the other side wasn’t bound by the same international warfare restrictions as we were, it was mostly open season on medevac aircraft and personnel. The large red crosses on our birds could often turn into major targets and aiming points if the enemy so chose...and they chose a lot. That’s why so many of our evacuation missions were reminiscent of the Wild West on steroids. Taking ground fire and confronting death in close combat on a daily basis, for our flight crews and patients, was as common as a pencil point breaking. Our unit personnel still acknowledged, among ourselves, that “grunts” on the ground had it the toughest of all due to how they were forced to live and endure “humping the boonies,” day after weary day, in every kind of weather, terrain, and environmental circumstances imaginable.

The hard days - there have been plenty of them. Mary doesn’t believe there is such a thing as bad weather only bad clothing. But even the right clothing couldn’t completely eliminate the fear of a storm. One day, she realized the weather was building around her. Lightning was approaching, fierce winds were pushing her bicycle around and she knew she needed shelter. She came upon a farmhouse and waited out the storm.