The Brown County Sheriff Department investigated a car/deer accident on November 29th. Anna Marie Maas of Valentine was eastbound on Highway 20 and struck a deer standing in the roadway. The 2011 Honda Odyssey Mass was driving was considered totalled by the investigating officer. Mass was not injured.

“Annual Christmas Pageant” Sunday evening, the annual Christmas Pageant was held at the Learning Center. Once again all the volunteers did an outstanding job in helping us all get in the spirit of Christmas.

As my final session in the Nebraska Legislature looms large on the calendar, my office is busy preparing proposed legislation for introduction in January. One of the projects that I hope to complete before leaving office is reforming how we approach school security in Nebraska. In order to draft the best bill possible, I introduced an interim study resolution, LR 220, so that we could look into this issue with the help of the Education Committee.

Governor Jim Pillen wants all state government employees at their desks in their assigned departments beginning next month. He said the pandemic-era remote is over, although both empirical and anecdotal evidence nationwide show a workplace change that was pandemic caused has become the new normal.

The Long Pine Bridge repair project has been awarded to Iowa Civil Contracting, Inc., of Victor, IA. Work will include reconstruction of the bridge abutments, new guardrail, bridge deck overlay, along with other minor repairs needed to preserve the structure.

Time is quickly running out for the public to submit nominations for the 2024 Nebraska Sandhills Cowboy Hall of Fame. Nominations are due by December 31, 2023.