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A place where creativity, culture, andconnectioncometogether, the Heart City Creative District is a growing initiative that celebrates everything that makes the Valentine area unique while inspiring new opportunities for residents, artists, entrepreneurs, and visitors alike.

LINCOLN, NE – A missing Lincoln juvenile was safely recovered in Texas on Thursday. A woman suspected of taking the juvenile was also arrested.

July 8, 2026 ~ Ainsworth, NE — Weather permitting, work will begin July 10 on Nebraska Highway 11 (N-11), north of Atkinson, from reference post 155.5 to reference post 171.3, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

LINCOLN, NE — Governor Jim Pillen joined Metropolitan Community College, the Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL), the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS), employers, and student trainees to announce the launch of Nebraska’s Workforce Pell Grant Program. The program allows federal Pell Grant funding to be used for short-term job training programs leading to high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand occupations across the state. Metropolitan Community College is the first institution in Nebraska to establish Workforce Pell programs, offering programs in CDL, CompTIA Tech + with Google IT Support, Pharmacy Technician, and Phlebotomy Technician.

During the week of July 5-11, four arrests were reported by the Valentine Police Department: • At 9:25 p.m., on July 5, a disturbance was reported at the Cowboy Trail Pavillion on Main Street. Officers responded, and a 19 year old Nebraska woman was arrested and charged with Terroristic Threats.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of the Interior celebrated the opening of the new Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum, unveiling a 15,000-square-foot immersive museum beneath one of the nation's most iconic memorials. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum joined the National Park Service, National Park Foundation and project partners to officially open the new experience to the public.

On May 1 st Rock County Hospital initiated a fund drive for wildfire victims in Nebraska. Utilizing their “Partners in Life” program, they partnered with the Brown County and Cherry County Hospitals in a friendly competitive fund raiser.

JULY 9, 2026 ~LINCOLN, NE — Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol removed 35 impaired drivers from the road over the Independence Day Weekend. “As America turned 250 this Independence Day weekend, our troopers and dispatchers remained vigilant to keep Nebraskans safe,” said Colonel Bryan Waugh, superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol.

Fort Robinson State Park is ushering in what is sure to be among its most popular summertime attractions. The park introduced its new state-of-the-art aquatic facility with a “soft open.” It had been expected to be a busy place during Crawford’s annual Fourth of July celebration.

Perhaps it was the unusually warm weather in March - 90-plus degrees, but some of the eastern bluebirds using the nest boxes on Fort Niobrara NWR were off to an early start in their nesting efforts this year. On April 4, the first time the boxes were checked, four of 15 were already in use by bluebirds, two of which held full clutches of eggs; five in one case and four in the other. That means these two nests were initiated (the first egg laid) before the end of March. Since some bluebirds winter in the area, ap p a re n t ly they just awaited sufficiently warm weather to initiate nesting. Of the other two nests, one had two eggs, and the other held nesting material (fine grass). All of these nests were very probably ultimately successful, fledging 18 young. Since boxes are checked once a week, the moment of fledging is seldom observed, and there exists the possibility that a snake predated the nest just a day or so before fledging. But usually a few droppings inside the nest indicate success since the parents remove them from the nest right up to the time of fledging.