Mathew Sample, who joined the St. Paul Police Department in June and was sworn in as a non-certified officer (NCO) in July, returned to St. Paul this month as a certified officer, ready to serve the city he and his family call home.

The twenty-sixth year of Heartland United Way’s annual Toys for Tots program was not without its difficulties. An increase in demand and a shortage in donations led the local branch of the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program, which provides gifts to about 3,000 children annually in Howard, Hall, Merrick, and Hamilton counties, to extend its donation deadline by four days, from December 8th until December 12th this year.

St. Paul’s mayor has resigned.

In one week’s time, on January 3rd, state senators from each of Nebraska’s forty-nine legislative districts will convene in the capitol for the second session of the state’s 108th Legislature. Over the course of sixty days between January 3rd and mid-April, the representatives will work to try to see their legislative priorities become law.