LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska state law that let local governments decide whether to allow fireworks sales for the New Year’s Eve holiday is proving to be a bit of a dud.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the number of stands declined this year to 27, down from 28 last year. The Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s office says there 45 in 2010, the year the law went into effect.

Assistant State Fire Marshal Jim Heine says he can’t point to a specific reason for the decline, but he speculates that low temperatures are a factor.

Heine says some retailers told him they would only try selling fireworks in winter for five years after the law went into effect to see what would happen to sales.

 

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – Hunters have killed at least six mountain lions in the first three days of South Dakota’s season for the big cats.

KEVN-TV reports that snow in the Black Hills appears to be helping hunters this year.

The season began Wednesday and will run through March in the Black Hills. It will end early if a quota of 100 total mountain lions or 70 female lions is reached.

The season outside the Black Hills Fire Protection District will run through the rest of the year. But nearly all the lions will be shot in the Black Hills during the limited season there.

Eagle Communications is now officially 100% employee owned. The Eagle Communications Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) has successfully completed the purchase of the remaining shares of the company’s stock.

An ESOP is designed so that each eligible employee shares in the ownership of the company.

This stock purchase, in addition to being named the Heart of America ESOP of the Year, the purchase of radio properties in Manhattan and Junction City and the addition of Whole Home DVR and up to 100 MG Internet for the broadband division has made it a very successful year for the employee owned company.

“When I first heard about the ESOP and how it might work I thought it was a wonderful opportunity for our employees,” Eagle Chairman Bob Schmidt. “If I had written a script, it would not have varied from exactly how this has played out with the leadership of Gary Shorman and Kurt David. I want to thank everyone. I am pleased to have loaned the dollars and financed this and I want our employee owners to know that this has been good for me and it is certainly good for them. It is what our ESOP is all about.”

“With the commitment and guidance of company chairman Bob Schmidt, we were able to make this important step on behalf of our employee owners,” said Eagle Communications President and CEO Gary Shorman. “This is an exciting time for our employee owners and today’s purchase will have a very positive impact on them. Bob and Pat have continued to show their generosity by helping make this important process possible, as we turn another chapter in our award winning ESOP story.”

Eagle employees have held ownership in the company since 1998. Now holding a 100% ownership interest, the employees more than ever have a clear and tangible interest in the long-term success of the company. United by this common goal Eagle employee owners are dedicated to the customer’s success as well as their own.

Eagle Communications participates and is a member of the Heart of America Chapter of the ESOP Association.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota family has won a free home in a drawing entered by more than 5,000 people from eight states.

Elaine Keester of Scenic says she and her husband entered the drawing at Iseman Homes in Rapid City. They won a new double-wide manufactured home that has about 1,400 square feet of living space, two bathrooms and a patio.

She tells KOTA-TV that she considers the new home a Christmas present. The couple’s current home is more than 40 years old and was damaged by a small tornado about a year ago.

Keester says the new home might not be installed until spring because the home site is located down about 15 miles of thin, winding road.

Ice jams have hampered the flow of water down the North Platte River in western Nebraska, but no major flooding has been reported.

The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings for stretches of the river in Lincoln County at North Platteand farther west, near Lewellen at the west end of Lake McConaughey in Garden County.

The weather service says the jams likely will remain in place because of the cold weather.

Lincoln County emergency management director Daniel Guenthner said today that the water was just a fraction of an inch over flood stage and that he’d received no reports of major flooding.

 

Holiday travelers are seeing lower gas prices this holiday season, with regular unleaded dropping below $3 a gallon at a number of stations around the Panhandle.

GasBuddy’s daily survey of 1,150 gas outlets in Nebraska shows the average retail price yesterday was the same as last week at $3.18 a gallon, with the national average also unchanged at $3.24 for a gallon of regular unleaded.

The average Nebraska price is a penny a gallon less than a year ago and 16.1-cents a gallon less than just a month ago.

The national average is 19.1 cents a gallon below last month, but 1.3 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.

 

 

 

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — It’s the start of an expanded mountain lion season for hunters in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The state Game Fish and Parks Commission has set a quota of 100 lions, a record in the seven years of lion seasons. The quotas have been gradually increased primarily to protect big game.

The season is scheduled through March, but will end early if 100 lions are killed or if 70 females are killed.

Seventy-three lions were killed last year in two months. That included the set quota of 70 and three additional lions taken before word all hunters realized the limit was filled.

A regional supervisor for Game, Fish and Parks tells the Rapid City Journal that the snow that fell over Christmas was ideal for Wednesday’s opener.