LINCOLN —  It may be a little more difficult for Northeast Nebraska residents to understand the bills and new laws coming out of the Legislature from now on.
Long-time Cedar County News legislative reporter and columnist Barb Burbach died Friday in Lincoln.
Burbach, 46, covered the Legislature for the Cedar County News since 1997. She worked for the News right up to her death. Her final article appears elsewhere on this page.
Her efforts were appreciated by both local residents and state lawmakers.
“Barbara had a genuine interest in the legislative process and especially issues affecting agriculture and northeast Nebraska,” said former Dist. 40 Sen. Doug Cunningham. “She loved the community she worked for. She loved Wynot, agriculture, and small farms. She cared about these issues and asked questions and reported on issues that the big papers didn’t seem to care about.”

This week’s Chamber Coffee will be held at Insurance and Wealth Strategies — the Paul Steffen and Matt Dresden office in downtown Hartington.

WAUSA — Wind turbines are becoming a familiar sight in Nebraska.
Midwest Wind Energy, which is the first private company to develop a project in Nebraska, has become a leading developer of wind power in the Midwest.
Midwest Wind Energy, which is a subsidiary of Edison International, is based out of Chicago.

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HARTINGTON — A plan is in the air to harness the wind that blows across Northeast Nebraska in Knox and Cedar Counties.
Close to 250 people showed up at a meeting in Wausa Thursday to learn about a proposed mega wind farm that could be located in eastern Knox and southwest Cedar counties.
Midwest Wind Energy is looking at a ridge line with a good wind source that stretches from Bloomfield to Magnet to Randolph with fingers that could go out to the Hartington and Coleridge areas.

HARTINGTON — Wynot placed three girls on the All Conference honor team last week, while Hartington had two players named to the post-season squad.
Wynot’s Sarah Schulte earned a spot on the elite Lewis and Clark Conference All Conference First Team. Read The Full Story…

WAYNE — The Hartington track teams got the new season underway here last week at the March 20 Wayne State Indoor Track Meet.
Hartington’s Zach Bakke picked up right where he left off last season earning gold in three events at the meet. Read The Full Story…

HARTINGTON —  Several area boys’ basketball players landed on post season honor teams announced last week.
The 19-4 Hartington Wildcats put two members of their state tournament team on the Lewis and Clark Conference All Conference First Team and All State Honorable Mention teams. Two more Wildcats made it onto the Lewis and Clark All Conference Honorable Mention team. Read The Full Story…

HARTINGTON — A special event is planned this Sunday at the City Auditorium to pay tribute to the players, coaches, fans and community supporters that helped earn a big award for Hartington Public School.

The school was honored with the Sportsmanship award at the conclusion of the Class D1 State Tournament in Lincoln.

Sunday’s event is intended for supporters of both schools, since these are the people that attended the state game and showed thier support, thus helping to earn the award.

HARTINGTON — Streets were on the minds of Hartington City Council members Monday night.
Chris Wortmann and Keith DeJong, engineers for Eisenbraun & Associates of Yankton, S.D., spoke to council members on some of the first steps involved in street paving projects.
A preliminary plan, street designs and a final plan all have to be put in place before work can begin.
The whole process, which involves hiring an engineer and bid letting, will take time according to Wortmann.

KEARNEY — Two Cedar County schools were recognized among the top speech programs in the state last week.
The Coleridge Speech team garnered the 2009 Class D2 State Championship while Hartington Public School earned 2009 State Runner-up honors in Class C2 during the State Speech meet here.
The Hartington Speech team, which is coached by A.J. Johnson and Linda Kathol, won conference and district meets and qualified nine events for the state competition.

HARTINGTON — It’s time, once again, for State FFA Convention.
The convention will be held April 1-3 in Lincoln. Hartington FFA members have been spending a lot of time preparing for their varying state competitions.
The chapter will be represented by 78 students at the convention. The students will participate in various contests they qualified for throughout the school year. The contests range from judging livestock and identifying meats to parliamentary procedure and speaking competitions.