(AP) — The federal government has agreed to pay up to $7.5 million to help repair taxiways and the main runway at Chadron Municipal Airport in northwest Nebraska.

The Panhandle Post website for Chadron radio station KQSK says (https://bit.ly/16QB3N0) the work is needed because concrete from a repaving project in 2000 has failed.

Chadron Public Works Director Milo Rust says the horizontal cracks were discovered last summer during a sealing project. He says the concrete failure has been blamed on an unexpected chemical reaction involving the silica sand used in the cement mix.

Rust says experts aren’t sure what caused the reaction. He says the concrete used in 2000 met specifications and passed required tests at the time.

He expects the project will begin next spring and could take a year.

 The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at the Martin Bay area of Lake McConaughy. This is the only health alert currently in effect, and it only affects the Martin Bay portion of Lake McConaughy.

Weekly sampling has been conducted at 50 public lakes in Nebraska since the beginning of May. Samples taken earlier this week at Martin Bay were above the state’s health alert threshold of 20 parts per billion (ppb) of total microcystin (a toxin released by certain strains of blue-green algae.)  Martin Bay is located at the northeast end of Lake McConaughy, and due to low water levels, the bay is currently not connected to the main lake. Because only the isolated Martin Bay area appears to have toxic blue-green algae, the alert is only for that area and not the main portion of Lake McConaughy.

The alert will continue at the Martin Bay for at least two more weeks, because lakes that are on health alert must have two consecutive weeks of readings below the threshold before the alert is discontinued.

When a health alert is issued, signs are posted to advise the public to use caution, and the Martin Bay swimming area will be closed during the alert. Recreational boating and fishing are permitted, but the public is advised to avoid activities that could involve accidental ingestion of water and to avoid full immersion in water in Martin Bay. People can still use the public areas for camping, picnics and other outdoor activities.

The lakes will continue to be monitored weekly throughout the 2013 recreational season. Sampling results for toxic algae and bacteria will be updated every Friday and posted on NDEQ’s web site, https://deq.ne.gov.

(AP) — The owner of a company that borrowed money from a county loan program has signed over tools and equipment to Red Willow County.

The county, in turn, has released the county’s security interest in Pawnee Aviation.

The company borrowed $300,000 from the program in December 2004 and defaulted. It made helicopter kits.

The tools and equipment that now belong to the county include prototype parts for the single-seat helicopter, a paint booth, a floor hoist, drill press and forklift.

• Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 87. Light east wind becoming south southeast 11 to 16 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph.
• Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 67. South southeast wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
• Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 94. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
• Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 66. South wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
• Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 96. South wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.
• Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 68.

(AP) — A Kearney physician accused of using drugs and prescribing medication without documentation has had his medical license placed on probation for two years.

Daniel McGowan can still practice medicine, but he must abstain from the use or possession of controlled substances unless prescribed by a licensed physician.

McGowan is accused of prescribing controlled substances to friends and work associates but failing to keep records of examinations and prescriptions.

Former co-workers at the Platte Valley Medical Group have also accused McGowan of being addicted to Adderall. McGowan says in a lawsuit that his co-workers ruined his reputation by claiming he was addicted to drugs.

(AP) — Hastings College says it has a preliminary enrollment of nearly 350 first-year students this fall — making it the largest first-year class in the private school’s 131-year history.

The four-year liberal arts institution says the addition of transfer students means officials will welcome more than 400 new students to campus during an upcoming orientation.

Hastings College offers 64 majors in 32 areas of study and 12 pre-professional programs. It begins classes on Monday.

The North Platte Police Department (NPPD) is asking the public to be on heightened alert after a recent rash of daytime thefts.

NPPD Public Information Officer Rodney Brown says that on six separate occasions over the past two weeks, unknown persons have smashed out a car window and stolen a purse from locked vehicles while they are parked at local restaurants and businesses.

Brown said the thefts have all occurred during the daytime hours.

Police are encouraging residents not to leave purses and wallets in their vehicle at any time as this only created a target for these senseless act.

If you have any information on these crimes, please contact the NPPD at (308) 535-6789 or click the Crimestoppers banner below to anonymously report information online.

 

The North Platte Community College “Select Choir” performance ensemble is looking for singers of all voice types.

Auditions for the Select Choir will be from 12:15 to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27, and Thursday, Aug. 29, in room 115 on the South Campus. The only requirement for those interested in auditioning is that they come prepared to sing.

The Select Choir will meet from 12:15 to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the Fall semester. For further information, contact Elizabeth Peters or Donna Pucket at (308) 535-3755; or emailpeterse@mpcc.edu; or pucketd@mpcc.edu.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center is ranked among the top 75 universities in the world in clinical medicine and pharmacy according to rankings released this month by a leading Chinese university that has been ranking universities worldwide since 2003.

“The rankings validate that UNMC is well on its way to becoming a world-class institution,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “This has always been our goal, so it is reassuring to know that our presence worldwide is growing.”

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is published by the Center for World-Class Universities, Graduate School of Education of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

“As the teaching hospital for UNMC, we’ve always known what a high-quality institution we’re partnering with,” said Glenn A. Fosdick, president and CEO of The Nebraska Medical Center. “We take pride in that partnership and look forward to continuing our cooperative relationship in the future.”  

UNMC is ranked with 25 other universities as No. 51-75 by ARWU. Only 31 U.S. universities are rated higher. Some of the other U.S. universities rated at the same No. 51-75 level are the University of Arizona, University of Florida, University of Iowa, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Rochester, and Washington University in St. Louis.

UNMC’s ranking is higher than several notable universities, including Case Western Reserve University (76-100), University of Cincinnati (76-100), New York University (76-100), University of Miami (76-100), and The Ohio State University (101-150).

“Obviously, we are in very good company,” said Brad Britigan, M.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine. “It speaks volumes for the quality work being done by our faculty and staff.”

Courtney Fletcher, Pharm.D., dean of the UNMC College of Pharmacy, said: “To be ranked this highly in clinical medicine and pharmacy is very significant, as these are two of the areas that are most impactful on the health and well-being of the public.”

ARWU uses six objective indicators to rank world universities. These include:

• the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals;
• the number of highly cited researchers selected by Thomson Scientific;
• the number of articles published in Nature and Science, two leading scientific journals;
• the number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index – Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index;
• percentage of articles published in the top 20 percent of journals in a specific field; and
• per capita performance with respect to the size of an institution.

More than 1,200 universities are ranked by ARWU every year and the best 500 are published on the Internet. The ARWU rankings are widely cited by the educational community and carry significant influence as experts consider the methodology used to be scientifically sound, stable and transparent.

Harvard University was ranked No. 1 by the ARWU in clinical medicine and pharmacy. Universities rounding out the Top 10 include: University of California, San Francisco; University of Washington; Johns Hopkins University; Columbia University; University of Cambridge; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; Stanford University; and University of Pittsburgh.

In addition to clinical medicine and pharmacy, the ARWU ranks universities in four other categories – natural sciences and mathematics; engineering/technology and computer sciences; life and agriculture sciences; and social sciences.