All of the children have been screened in their local communities and have been recommended for treatment.

Dr. Reinhardt says College of Dentistry students will perform extractions, root canals, fillings, cleaning and apply fluoride treatment and sealants.

An estimated 200 Nebraska children from 14 communities including Crete, Columbus, Norfolk, Stanton, Wayne, Wisner, Beemer, Lyons, West Point and Wisner to name a few, are taking part. Roughly 240 College of Dentistry students will provide the service free of charge. Dr. Reinhardt says one of their goals is to make this a fun event for the children so they don’t develop a fear of going to the dentist for future work. He says they are providing a carnival atmosphere with lots of activities to entertain the children and keep them smiling.

The College of Dentistry holds two Children’s Dental Day events each year. The next event will be held in the Panhandle.

But, university officials vow to make them go away, declaring that they will begin a room-by-room search to rid the dormitories and other university housing of the pests.

“We’ll pay whatever it takes to get it done,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Juan Franco, says. “And, so, while there’s not an unlimited number of dollars out there, we will take care of the problem and we will spend whatever it takes to take care of that problem.”

Reports began to surface a few weeks ago of students complaining of bed bugs. Now, bed bugs have been discovered in 25 dorm rooms. The latest report found a room at Abel Hall with bed bugs as well as in an apartment in Husker Village.

Director of Housing Glen Schumann says examining every dorm room will be a long, costly process. University officials estimate the extensive extermination process could easily top $100,000.

Specially-trained dogs will be used to locate bed bugs. A special treatment will be used to destroy them. Schumann expects the room-by-room process to take at least a month, perhaps as long as a month-and-a-half.

Aaron Curry — 7:45 a.m. The 6’2, 275-pound defensive tackle will choose Nebraska and Iowa.

Alonzo Moore — 9 a.m. Nebraska, Northwestern State and Louisiana Tech. 6-’2, 175-pound athlete.

Devian Shelton — 11 a.m. 6’2, 185-pound cornerback, is considering Nebraska, Washington and Oregon State.

Andrus Peat — ESPNU will carry his live announcement at 12:30 p.m. The 6’7, 305-pound offensive tackle will pick between Nebraska, Stanford and USC

Vincent Valentine — 1 p.m. The 6’4, 313-pound defensive tackle narrows choices to Nebraska, Illinois and Florida

Raymond Ford — TBD. Nebraska, Washington State, Cal, or Utah are among the 5-’10, 165-pound cornerback’s choices.

Fawl says this is open to all 4th grade students in the state of Nebraska. This is a classroom project in some school district but that isn’t a requirement. Individual students in schools not taking part or those schooled at home are encouraged to enter.

The top prize is a $200 gift card. Prizes will also be presented to those placing 2nd through 4th place. The deadline to enter posters is February 24th. They can be turned in to County Emergency Manager offices throughout the state. They can be found by logging onto “nema.ne.gov”.

The Bridge is a three year pilot program and will set undergraduate tuition at the College Center at the in-state rate, plus one dollar for students outside of Nebraska. The reduced tuition rate will benefit students who take classes at the College Center. Collier says this program helps bridge the gap between out-of-state and in-state tuition for their students.

This is also a partnership with Northeast Community College.

Sariscsany stated that long term unemployment is a key factor in this knowledge economy. It is defined as being out of work 6 months or longer. 45-percent of those unemployed are long term unemployed and the majority of that 45-percent have been out of work a year.

Sariscsany says they “see that 23-percent of the long-term unemployed own their own home. Of our over-all customer base, 28-percent own their own home. This may seem like a small gap, only 5-percent but the loss of assets it represents is very significant. We suspect as time goes on this 23-percent will continue to decrease as individuals are not able to pay their mortgage or property tax and lose their own home. Individuals who are lucky enough to not lose their home are unlikely able to save much more for pay for house repairs. This may lead to them using investments such as early withdraws from retirement plans, pensions and stocks.”

This report does focus on the term “knowledge economy” and Sariscsany says more people will need an education beyond high school to compete with jobs in the future. The report shows that 26.5- percent of Nebraska residents do have an associate’s degree. However, by 2018, two-thirds of all jobs will require education beyond the high school level.

The Coalition feels policy changes are necessary to support individuals affected by this new economy and they suggest extending unemployment benefits for those experiencing long-term unemployment. Support the creation of and funding for a variety of Bridge Programs in Nebraska. They also would like to see expansion of asset limits in public benefits programs to allow for more educational opportunities.

The Nebraska Department of Labor released the December unemployment rate Tuesday. December’s unemployment rate came in at 4.1-percent, unchanged from November.

The barn was built in the 1880′s. Owner Barbie Hayes wanted to preserve the barn but due to road changes near the property she decided the best way to do that was to donate it to the Allwine Prairie Preserve. The barn will eventually be renovated into a state-of-the-art field lab, classroom, kitchen and library. They also hope to connect the barn and silo with a walkway that will be used as a lookout tower.

Bragg says over one-thousand grade school children visit the preserve each year but they are limited in what they can do because of lack of bathrooms and other facilities. The renovation of the barn will solve that problem.

Barbi Hayes also donated $605,000 to restore the structures into the education and research facility. An anonymous donor also gave $50.000. They continue to seek donations to complete the education facility.

Kristin Hunter, a spokeswoman for the organization, says you will no longer have to place an order and wait weeks for your sweet snacks to arrive.

“The very first day of the sale, which is January 13th, Girl Scouts will have packages of cookies on hand to sell,” Hunter says. “So, when they’re going door-to-door or they have those cookie booths out there, you can get that cookie gratification immediately.”

This is the 100th year for the Girl Scouts and the cookie selling process has remained much the same for decades — until now.

Hunter says, “We listened to our volunteers and our parents and our customers who simply wanted us to make this a more streamlined, simplified process.”

Of all the money generated by the cookie sales, 73% stays with the local Girl Scout chapters to help send girls to camp and for other beneficial programs.

“It’s also really important for folks to understand that our girls are learning goal-setting and decision making,” Hunter says. “They’re learning how to manage money and get those people skills down as well as business ethics through this cookie program.”

The cookies sell for $3.50 a box and come in eight flavors, including: Thin Mints, Caramel DeLites and Peanut Butter Patties.

No Girl Scouts came to your door? You can place an order online, starting Friday, at www.girlscoutsnebraska.org.