McCook Humane Society

100 South Street

345-2372

Hours: M-F: 2-5

Sat: 12-4

LISTEN WEEKDAYS 8:05 AM 12:45 PM ON YOUR

BISON SPORTS STATION

WALK-IN HOURS

7 AM - 5 PM

MONDAY - FRIDAY

8 AM-10 AM

SATURDAY

NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY

1401 EAST H STREET 344-4110

COVID-19 CASES ARE DOWN 17% COVID-19 cases in Nebraska are down nearly 17% over the past week, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention. As of last Thursday, the 7-day average of cases stood at 670. A week prior, the average was just over 800. In the last few weeks, cases in Nebraska have bounced around between the 600's and 800's and it ap-pears cases have now plateaued. The largest COVID transmission lies in mostly rural counties scattered across the state, according to the state’s dashboard. The statewide case rate stands at 435. Five counties Box Butte, Frontier, McPherson, Valley and Wheeler all have case rates above 1,000. As for hospitalizations, they, too, saw a favorable dip last week. At the latest check, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services tallied 407 occupied beds last Thursday, which is about 10.5% of the state’s capacity. A few days prior, nearly 450 beds were filled. The greatest short-age in hospital beds remains in pediatric ICUs; however, there are currently no COVID occupancies, according to the dashboard. Of the 152 available pediatric ICUs, 126 are occupied for non-COVID illnesses, leaving only 26 unoccupied. More than 2,600 Nebraskans get vaccinated each day. In all, 66.5% of the population 12 and older is fully inoculated, and another 5% is partially protected.

EARLY ENROLLMENT AT MPCC Early entry enrollments have hit a record high at Mid-Plains Community Col-lege. Area high school students are enrolled in approximately 5,272 early entry credit hours through Mid-Plains this fall, which accounts for 30 percent of MPCC’s total enrollment. “It’s hopeful,” Paul Knopick, director of early entry and program development for the college, said of the results. “I am happy more students and families are taking advantage of a great opportu-nity that is presented to them by MPCC and their local high schools.” Early entry allows high school students to be accelerated into college without first obtaining a high school diploma. Classes may be taken as dual credit, mean-ing they count toward high school and college credit at the same time, or as a separate course load. “Early entry and dual credit classes offer students a tremendous head start on their education,” said Knopick. “In addition to pro-viding a time and cost savings, it gives them exposure to what a higher edu-cation is, potential career fields and what Mid-Plains can provide.” He said moving the registration process online helped grow MPCC’s dual credit en-rollment and so has an increase in the opportunities for students to take classes from the college’s full-time faculty. However, he believes customer service is the biggest reason for recent success.

BALLOT INITIATIVE TO RAISE MINIMUM WAGE A coalition of Nebraska community organizations and supporters are collect-ing signatures for a ballot initiative that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. Nancy Williams, president and CEO of the group No More Empty Pots, said the measure can directly address poverty, which she believes is at the root of a host of challenges facing Nebraska families – from food and housing insecurity to educational opportunities for youths. “When we have a higher wage for more workers,” said Williams, “that will give them more income to be able to take care of basic needs.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nebraska consistently ranks among states with the highest number of people working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Forty two percent of Nebraska’s lowest-earning families spend more than a third of their income on housing alone. Critics of raising the minimum wage have argued that it could hurt small businesses and claim most jobs paying basement wages are held by teenagers.

STOCKS

DOW 122.56 TO 34,746.81

NASDAQ 234.38 TO 14,735.59

Newsflash openline@highplainsradio.net 308-345-5400 www.highplainsradio.net

THURS

Showers

High

67

WEATHER

TODAY Mostly Sunny

High

90

SATURDAY AT 6:30

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

WED

Chance Tstrms

High

82

TONIGHT

AT 7:10

ON 1300 AM OR 97.5 FM

SPORTS

A number of area cross country teams were in Kearney yes-

terday for the Nebraska-Kearney Invite. MHS junior Saman-

tha Rodewald won the Class B girls division, helping the Lady

Bison to an 11th place overall. Sienna Dutton finished 19th

overall. The Bison boys finished 18th in the Class B team

standings. The Cambridge girls finished sixth in Class D. Ra-

chel Harris lead the CHS girls with a 24th place finish. The

Lady Bison volleyball team will host Cambridge and Cozad at

the MHS gym tonight. The Lady Bison softball team will wrap

up their regular season with home games vs. Minden at the

Jaycee Sports Complex. The Lady Bison golfers are in Gothen-

burg for the Southwest Conference meet.

Nebraska volleyball freshman Lindsay Krause was named Big

Ten Freshman of the Week, the conference office announced

Monday. Krause averaged 3.86 kills, 1.00 digs and 0.43

blocks per set on .500 hitting for the week as No. 12 Ne-

braska went 2-0 with wins over Northwestern and Iowa. The

Papillion, Neb., native matched her season best with 15 kills

on a .500 hitting night with two blocks against the Wildcats on

Wednesday. She followed with her second .500 attacking

performance of the week on Saturday against the Hawkeyes,

totaling 12 kills with just one error. It marks the first weekly

conference honor of Krause’s career. NU has counted two Big

Ten Freshman-of-the-Week award winners this season, as

Krause joins Lexi Rodriguez, who was honored Aug. 30.

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ACROSS 1 Not down

3 Voiced 7 Hag

12 ER task 14 Not life threatening 15 Cain killed him

16 Sego lily’s bulb 18 Rhode Island (abbr.)

19 Fib 20 Fraction 21 Wooden leg

22 Not max 23 Helmet’s plume of feathers

26 Air conditioner, for short 27 Sand pile

28 Hurry 31 Takes a nap 33 Rejected

34 Pancake need 35 Am not

36 Sodium (abbr.) 37 Insane __ (pl.) 39 Short-term memory

40 Disrespect 42 Time period

43 School group 44 Mr. __ (tv horse) 45 Author, Victor

47 Foot contest 49 Former Russian ruler

51 Eliciting laughter 54 Cowboy rope 55 Eden dweller

56 Railroad track

DOWN 1 United States 2 Openly

3 Gawk 4 Sun god

5 Little Rock locale 6 "Jurassic Park" dinosaurs' need (amino

acid) 7 Madagascar franc (abbr.) 8 Rio de Janeiro

9 United Nations, for short 10 Extra

11 Pickpocket 13 Stable gear 17 Airport abbr.

20 Prohibits 21 Insect

22 Collect 23 Baby dog 24 Lower parts of faces

25 Forestall 27 __ ex machina

29 Octopus part 30 Cheese 32 Times

33 The other half of Iwo 35 Dawn

38 Lower limb 39 Jab 40 Valley

41 Whim 43 Formal

45 Hellos 46 Spanish "one" 48 Snake like fish

50 Nova Scotia (abbr.) 52 Ego's partner

53 Book of Samuel abbr.

FOR

CARRYOUT

OR DELIVERY

CALL 345-4150

QUOTE OF THE DAY

A person’s a person, no matter how small

~Dr. Seuss~

TODAY’S PUZZLE HOME OF BISON SPORTS FOR 43 YEARS!

LAND OF THE FREE

BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE

A D D S E G G F E L L

V I E W T O E A R E A

I N C A C E N S O R E D

S T I N K T I M S K Y

S K I N H E A D

P S I D O E L O S E S

A B O U N D A L L U R E

M E N S A A S P B R A

A P O T H E G M

A P T E R A T H E F T

B R O A D A X E O R E O

L A R D L I E U S E S

E Y E S B A G L E T S

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