There Is No Place Like Nebraska . . . 

Excerpt from Lincoln Journal Star (8/2/15):  "A Man * A Dream * And a ZOO. 50 years later Lincoln Children's Zoo continues touching lives first hand . . . Never, ever has the zoo accepted a single tax dollar." [That is remarkable. We used to take our kids to this zoo pretty regularly when we lives in Lincoln. Very nice zoo, although a peacock snuck up on Nathan when he was a little boy, sitting on a bench, innocently eating lunch, & snatched his hot dog right out of the bun.]

Also from LJS (8/3):  "Paperboy saves woman trapped in truck. "A 9-yr-old (Kearney, NE) newspaper carrier is being hailed as a hero for rescuing a Nebraska woman who was trapped in her pickup in he summer heat for more than an hour . . . " [Good thing for her that she wasn't trapped in her pickup in Philadelphia. SEE related story below.]

According to a Facebook link I found on WED 8/5/15, that took me to a source called The Stir, Omaha, NE, ranks among the "20 Most Conservative Cities," coming in at #8.

Excerpt from Omaha World Herald (8/12/15):  "UNMC proud of its fetal tissue research . . . From 2011-2014, (the University of Nebraska Medical Center) received some $5 million in federal funds for research projects that involved some use of fetal tissue, according to an AP databased of such research. That ranked UNMC 14th highest among the 97 research institutions that received such funding during that time. [So maybe it would be more accurate today for me to say, "There WAS no place like Nebraska."]

. . . Like Iowa?

Also from OWH (8/1):  "15,000 of hog manure cleaned up after pipe spill. A 15,000-gallon manure spill in adams County, IA, Thursday afternoon was cleaned up by Friday morning, according to the IA Dept. of Natural Resources. The spill was from a hog farrowing operation near Nodaway. [According to Mapquest, Nodaway is 210 mi. from Garrison, IA; 190 mi. from Sanborn, IA; & 226 mi. from Ventura, IA. I'm just sayin'.]

Also from OWH (8/9):  "State Fair."  An article about the Iowa State Fair included a summary of some of the highlights, including the following: [All of which are reasons to put the Iowa State Fair on my bucket list. I mean, what's a little pig manure spill compared to apple pie on a stick? Seriously?]

• "Butter Cow. Celebrating the 8th anniversary of the Monopoly board game, this year the Butter Cow will be displayed alongside a Monopoly board & a butter carving of the mustached & top-hatted Rich Uncle Pennybags  . . . "
• "Plenty to eat. New foods this year include deep-fried cherry pie, apple pie on a stick & the ultimate bacon brisket bomb. Other tempting treats include a doughnut sundae & fried peanut butter & jelly on a stick . . . "
• "Top of the Vine. The hilltop sampling area for IA wine is back this year after being closed in 2014 because of a lack of foot traffic. New & improved this year, craft beers will be served, & Parlo Pizza, a Des Moines-area restaurant, will have a stand. The site is now being run by the organizers of the Iowa Craft Beer Tent. 'It's kind of a nice, quiet, relaxing spot on the fairgrounds . . . '"

. . . Like Florida?

Also from OWH (8/10):  "Gator caught after attacking swimmer, biting off her arm. (Orlando, FL) A woman is recovering after being attacked by an alligator that bit off her arm as she swam in central FL . . . " [The gator was euthanized. How far is Orlando from St. Petersburg? I'm just sayin'.]

. . . Like Virginia?

Also from OWH (8/9):  "Texans-Redskins joint practice ends in fights. (Richmond, VA) The joint portion of the final practice involving the Washington Redskins & Houston Texans came to an Saturday when a series of fights broke out." [No word re:  who won. Speculation?]

. . . Like South Dakota?

Also from LJS (8/5):  "Trading cubicles for Sturgis, noise & traffic nightmares. Melissa Jones is a nurse. Her husband, Jeff is an information tech specialist for the city of Lincoln. But this week they've given up scrubs & office cubicles for the evergreen-dotted roads of the Blacks, the rumble of a 2014 HarleyDavidson & the traffic nightmares that are inevitable with the nation's largest motorcycle rally.  The Joneses have been regulars at the SD event for the past 15 yrs . . . Organizers expected more than a million people to make the trek this year--more than double last year's crowd of 442,000. '
          "'It is the most crowded we've ever seen by a long shot,' Jeff said by phone early Tuesday afternoon. 'Depending on the time of day, traffic can be backed up two or three miles just trying to get off the interstate into downtown Sturgis' . . . " [I was going to say something snide, but I was reminded that while in Yellowstone earlier this summer, Lois & I encountered a traffic back-up that I'm pretty sure was at least 2-3 mi. long, due to a scrawny herd of bison.]

. . . Like California?

Also from LJS (8/5):  "Week-old wildfire wreaks havoc on California resorts. (Middletown, CA) A predictable but painful summertime ritual played out in half a dozen resort communities near California's largest freshwater lake on Tuesday as an erratic, week-old wildfire that has wiped out dozens of buildings continued to threaten nearly 7,000 more." [Just to put your minds at rest, CA's largest freshwater lake is Clear Lake, not Lake Tahoe.]

. . . Like Philadelphia?

Excerpt from Norfolk Daily News (8/4/15):  "Hitchhiking robot's trip comes to end. Collapsed among trash & dead leaves, its arms ripped off & its skull & brain nowhere in sight, the talking & tweeting hitchhiking robot from Canada met its untimely end in Philadelphia over the weekend . . . co-creators Frauke Zeller & David Smith said Monday that they've been overwhelmed with support & offers to revive the robot since it was vandalized beyond repair & left on a street in Philadelphia on Saturday & they are considering rebuilding it.
          "The robot was on a hitchhiking, social experiment adventure in the U.S. after trekking across Canada & parts of Europe without incident last year . . ." [Take that, Canada!]