Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the city of Gering is getting a $300,000 grant through USDA Rural Development to help fund construction at the Legacy of the Plains Museum…formed by the merger of the Farm and Ranch Museum and the North Platte Valley Museum.

The grant will capitalize a loan fund for construction of a new main building and two additions to existing facilities at the Farm and Ranch Museum…which will house the merged institution. Vilsack says the project will create one full-time job, one part-time job, and help save one existing job.

The money comes from the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant program, which provides zero-interest loans and grants to local entities which, in turn, lend the funds through to local projects that will create and retain employment in rural areas.

Two other Nebraska cities are also receiving $300,000 grants at this time, both to create loans to help with improvements at local hospitals.

One goes to the Tecumseh Board of Public Works to help Johnson County Hospital upgrade its generator and modernize its electronic records management and pharmacy medication management systems

The other is for Gothenburg to create a loan fund to help Gothenburg Memorial Hospital upgrade servers and computer networks for its electronic medical records system.

The same loan-and-grant program last year provided PREMA…the Panhandle Rural Electric Membership Association a million to help Chadron State College fund its Rangeland Agricultural Center and the Coffee Pavilion.