NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – Mid-Plains Community College has seen a slight dip in full-time students this school year but a rise in part-timers.
The 2010-11 enrollment report shows 1,056 full-time students, down 30 from last school year. While that number has decreased, Mid-Plains officials say the number of full-timers is the second-highest in school history.
Meanwhile, the number of part-time students rose by 253, from 1,679 in 2009-10 to 1,932 this school year.
College president Michael Chipps said that Mid-Plains continues to show strong enrollment numbers and is among the fastest-growing rural community colleges in the U.S.
Mid-Plains has major campuses in North Platte and McCook and extended campuses in Broken Bow, Imperial, Ogallala and Valentine.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) – Heavy wind may have contributed to a Nebraska crash that killed an Illinois resident.
The Nebraska State Patrol reported that 66-year-old Arlyne Borja, of Skokie, Ill., was among six people in a car that crashed Saturday evening on Interstate 80 near Kearney. Borja died of injuries suffered in the crash. The other passengers were treated for minor injuries.
The patrol says the driver lost control and the car rolled into a median. Authorities site wind as a factor.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – Businesses on the south side of North Platte were forced to turn away customers after an animal knocked out power.
Municipal Light and Water Electric superintendent Scott Standage said that a bird or squirrel got tangled in some power lines and took out the main breaker in a power substation.
Electricity was out for about an hour late Saturday morning.
The problems at the substation sparked a fire in some nearby brush. The fire department’s Jeff Henkla reported that firefighters battled the blaze for about two hours as high winds threatened to spread the flames.
Last year, a turkey got tangled in some power lines and left half of North Platte without power.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (North Platte Post) – A North Platte man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife and driving drunk with children in his vehicle.
According to Lt. Rich Hoaglund, police responded to a complaint from 35 year old Gerald Huff’s wife that she had been assaulted by Huff and that he had kicked her out of their vehicle.  Huff was reportedly drunk and had children with him. Police searched for Huff at a local residence and found the couple’s children unharmed. Huff was located and arrested a short time later. He was charged with driving under the influence of liquor and two counts of child neglect for driving with children in the vehicle. Huff was also charged with 3rd degree assault and assault-strangulation as a result of the physical altercation with his wife.
Huff is being held in the Lincoln County Jail. No bond is listed at this time.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (North Platte Post) – A residential house fire on Tuesday afternoon has left a local family without a home. Firefighters battled the blaze on North Jessie Street for about an hour before getting the fire under control. According to Fire Marshall George Lewis, the fire started due to a faulty floor furnace. One person was in the house when the fire broke out but managed to escape. A fund has been set up for the residents of the home, Daran and Carol Crosier, at NebraskaLand National Bank. Although the house may be a total loss, no injuries were reported as a result of the fire.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb.- (North Platte Post)- North Platte St. Pat’s Senior, Josiah Allison, has been named one of approximately 16,000 Semifinalist students from across the country in the National Merit Scholarship program.
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships worth more than 34 million dollars. To be considered for this award, semifinalists must; have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be recommended by the high school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
Students will be notified in February if they advance to the next level of competition. Josiah has been involved in Chorus, Cross Country, Track, Wrestling, Knowledge Masters, Student Council, Swing Choir, and is an Eagle Scout. Josiah is the son of Dr. Kent and Jacque Allison.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska’s unemployment rate remained stable in October at 4.2 percent for the fourth month in a row.
The state Department of Labor said Tuesday that Nebraska’s jobless rate remains less than half the national rate of 9 percent.
Both the Nebraska and national unemployment rates are better than a year ago when the state rate was 4.4 percent and the national rate was 9.7 percent.
The preliminary unemployment rate for Omaha declined to 4.3 percent in October from last year’s 4.6 percent.
Lincoln also recorded an improvement as its unemployment rate declined to 3.4 percent from 3.6 percent.
The Labor Department said both the trade, transportation and utilities sector and the education and health services added jobs in October.