Waving the Flag

Waving the Flag, originally uploaded by echobase_2000.

Those logos on the microphones are called mic flags. Election night's always a good time to fly the flag high.

Rain, rain go away!

Three years ago it was flooding. Other years it's been hail.

This year it's been multiple tornadoes, multiple hail storms in one day, flooding, high winds, heat, humidity, and about every kind of spring and summer weather you could imagine.

Last Thursday an hour to the west in Kearney, NE they got hit by a tornado. It was the lead story on Good Morning America the next day. It ripped open an apartment and destroyed the expo building at the fairgrounds. That storm skipped over us (at least the bad stuff) and reformed tornadoes in Aurora, the next town to the east.

The damage in Aurora wasn't as widespread as in Kearney, but those who got it got it even worse. Here's my story on that. It's amazing. You have to watch it.

Then this week, when Grand Island has gone smoke free (w00t!) it's been overshadowed by day after day of rain. The worst came Wednesday night, and resulted in flooding several miles north of our home. Again, the video tells the story.



Anyway, we're ready for a dry spell. After years and years of drought, this isn't any better. A nice, normal spring would be nice. Not that I know what a normal spring is anymore.

Not quite a close shave

No close shave in either of the U.S. Senate primaries I covered this week. (Video of me & the governor here) Nor a shave for me either. The beard continues to grow.

Announcement!

After getting on a roll where I was going bloggy, bloggy at least one a week, I've been floating on the outer edges of the blogosphere.

But I can explain if my head's been elsewhere.

Sara and I are getting married!

New website is up at http://www.steveandsaraw.com/

Including a new wedding blog.

Thank you, thank you!

Quick hits:
* I present to you last week's Story of the Week -- a pheasant chasing a tractor. I kid you not. No one prepared me for that one in journalism school.

* At the TV station, we ordered up a big controversial story just in time for the November ratings period. It's the story of a 25-year-old teacher who fled to Mexico with her 13-year-old student. Pretty weird, and pretty sensational. Not necessarily a lot of substance, but when us TV folks find a story like this, we latch on.

* Interesting article on a subject I was wondering about. How Shyness Became a Mental Illness. I hate these ads that try to make people feel they need drugs to cope with life. Just because I tend to be introverted doesn't mean something's wrong with me.

* Had an interesting discussion yesterday with my youth pastor/history teacher/all-around-smart-guy friend Matt. It was about giving birth at home, something he and his wife did. We talked about making pregnancy a medical condition to be treated, a commodity in a sense. Interesting philosophical discussion too of why Nebraska allows home birth, but does not allow midwives to be present.

* Can you believe we'll have a new president in less than a year? I have no idea who I'm going to vote for. That's not for a lack of looking. I just don't know.

* Our church surveyed us last weekend, as the church begins the search for a new senior pastor. I'm glad they're seeking input. And while such an exercise is certainly useful, I hope it doesn't dictate what the search committee does. I'm confident it won't. It's like teaching to the test. The kids all look like they know what they're doing, but aren't well rounded. I hope we don't search to the survey. What people think they want could differ greatly from what God wants for them.

All righty... that's it for now. Hopefully if I throw a dozen topics in a post, something will stick. Discuss away.

Story of the Week: Corn Crop

Tonight, loyal reader, I launch a new feature.

The news story of the week! Yeah, I'm on TV, and it's probably about time I show some of the folks around the country what I do.

Here's a story combining the two biggest things in Nebraska -- corn and the Cornhuskers.

Enjoy!

(ps, for the record, I shot, wrote, recorded, edited, and fronted the piece all by my lonesome)