After two years on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nebraska Library Commission reinstituted its Public Library Accreditation program in 2022. According to a press release issued by the commission last Thursday, twenty-nine libraries across the state were accredited at the end of December 2022.

The board’s annual reorganization took up the bulk of the Howard County Board of Commissioners’ first regular meeting in the new year on Tuesday, January 10th, but several other items also appeared on the commissioners’ docket.

U-Betcha Auto, a car dealership that’s long served St. Paul and the surrounding communities from its home at 414 2nd Street along United States Route 281, expanded its operations on Friday, January 13th.

Over the course of 2022, its 135th year of dedicated volunteer service to the City of St. Paul, members of the St. Paul Volunteer Fire Department and EMS responded to 105 fire calls and 282 ambulance calls according to internal records kept by department Training Officer and Vice President Nathan Becker. The year’s totals mark a notable increase from the seventy- four fire calls and 260 ambulance calls recorded in 2021.