Three students participated as contestants in local pageants for Miss Nebraska during the 2011-2012 academic year, with the Alliance local held this past weekend wrapping up this year's preliminaries for the state competition title for June 7, 8 and 9.

"I'm Jack Heidel.  I'm running for Congress in the Republican primary.  My platform is to eliminate the deficit and the incumbent, Lee Terry, is not doing anything about it." A fiscally conservative candidate, Heidel incorporated a touch of humor to his stance, alluding to the sarcasm of obvious conventions he must follow to represent his campaign.

The last time UNO claimed its own pageant queen was in 2011 when Haley Harold won Miss Nebraska USA.

President Obama is in a pretty tight spot right now. Santa Ana political winds blow stronger with the approach of the fall election season, fanning the flames as major media stations compete to determine where the wildfire will break out first and how extensive damages could be.

Neb. and Iowa growth rates are reportedly at the lowest in years, according to several reports conducted by David Drozd, research coordinator for UNO Center for Public Affairs. According to a CBS report regarding the study, Nebraska's growth rate fell below the national average after exceeding the growing trend in past years. The  drop comes from data reporting  amount of births, deaths and number of migrations around these states.