During their regular meeting on Monday, August 15th, members of the St. Paul City Council heard from South Central Economic Development District, Inc. (SCEDD) Executive Director Sharon Hueftle about potentially creating a Needs Assessment Survey, which she said the council could use to “arm [themselves] with current and accurate citizen feedback” when voting on “tough decisions.” The low turnout at city council meetings in general, she said, was both “good and bad” from the councilmembers’ perspectives.

Despite sustained drought conditions, the Loup River system as a whole has remained “surprisingly resilient,” according to Lower Loup Natural Resources District (LLNRD) Assistant General Manager Tylr Naprstek during an interview last week. “The whole state, pretty much, is in a state of drought; our flows are okay,” he said. While readings from the North and Middle Loup branch gauges in St. Paul are currently coming in “below where they should be as far as the normal median,” there is, noted Naprstek, “still flow.” At least speaking relative to the Platte, which reportedly went dry in July near Columbus, the Loups are “doing okay.”

Last Friday, August 12th, members of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission met in the state capitol building to select three finalists from among the eight nominees for induction this cycle to the Nebraska Hall of Fame. The meeting followed three public hearings regarding the nominees held in the state’s three congressional districts last month. This induction cycle, Howard County’s native son, Grover Cleveland Alexander, joined a field of seven other nominees up for the honor: Elzada Urseba Clover, botanist; the Reverend Hiram Hisanori Kano, Japanese-American priest; Ernst H. Herminghaus, landscape artist; Calvin Chapman, supporter of the Nebraska City branch of the Underground Railroad; Howard Hanson, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and musician from Wahoo; Emma Louise Pound, linguist and folklorist; and Malcolm X, human rights activist. Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission Chairman Dr. Ron Hull called the meeting to order at 2:00 in the afternoon before explaining the procedure of the commissioners.

The Howard County Board of Commissioners tackled a full agenda during their regular meeting on Tuesday, August 9th. Some familiar topics and a number of new ones came before the commissioners in a meeting that stretched well into the afternoon.

When St. Paul Elementary School’s longtime guidance counselor Brenda Starkey walked out of school and into retirement last May, she thought that her career in education had come to an end. Little did Brenda know, her retirement would be short-lived. Last Monday night, during the St. Paul Board of Education’s August meeting, members of the board approved a contract to hire Starkey as a parttime elementary guidance counselor, the same position that she had held for the past twenty-four years.