Every year in Hastings, hundreds of people celebrate Kool-Aid and its inventor, Edwin Perkins. Yet despite Hastings being over 100 miles away, Edwin’s story has roots in our little corner of Southwest Nebraska, too.

CURTIS - It's been a whirlwind summer for Jeff Paben, who begins the 20242025 school year as a firstyear administrator at Medicine Valley. Paben was officially hired as the PK-12 principal at the Medicine Valley Board of Education meeting in June, which is abnormally late in the hiring cycle for public school administrators.

Early Saturday morning, the Gosper County Sheriff's Office was dispatched to a residential fire at Johnson Lake, where one residence was engulfed in flames and the fire was spreading to a neighboring residence.

The 2024 Frontier County Fair Turtle Race was held Friday, July 26 at 6:00 pm. The race was exciting and competitors brought some fast turtles to try their luck at winning a medal! 28 kids, ages Pre-K through high school, raced turtles in the shade at the fairgrounds in Stockville.

Cambridge City Council met in regular session on Monday, August 5, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Council Member Mike Harris was absent from the meeting. After the Pledge of Allegiance and the Open Meetings Law announcement, the Council approved the Consent Agenda which included the approval of the July 15, 2024, City Council meeting minutes.

Gosper County Fair horseshoe tournament.

Arapahoe Neb., August 1, 2024 – Ag Valley and the Land O’Lakes Foundation are proud to announce a joint donation of $5,000 to the Mission Mall in Arapahoe. This generous conag tribution underscores our commitment to supporting our local communities.

In June, the Wall Street Journal published a sobering review of social media outlets’ content protections for teens. Studies found that Instagram pushed adult content on teen accounts within minutes of their creation. After less than 20 minutes clicking on Instagram Reels with adult themes, account feeds were “dominated” by explicit content.

Everyone we know, meet, or pass in the grocery store has their own set of personal life experiences that are unique from our own. We all come from different places, have our own set of genetics, and have different parents or families, which is part of what makes us unique from each other. We can even have different experiences than our siblings who grow up in the same home as us.

Since their creation, social media platforms have connected people and communities. That connectivity is often positive. High school friends can reconnect after decades. Grandparents can see photos of loved ones who live far away. Yet we can’t ignore the dangers of these platforms, especially to our young people. When it comes to kids, safety should be the default. This week, my Senate colleagues and I passed two bills to better protect children and teenagers from these dangers online. We’ve seen the horror stories. Predators use social media to target kids online. Videos go viral that promote self-harm and eating disorders. Bullies spew hateful comments, destroying the mental health of our children. We must do better.