Stories from Wednesday, December 28, 2005

By Afton Bugg Nevada Daily Mail Step Ahead Learning Center is expanding, to meet the needs of Nevada's community for infant and toddler child care as well as after school care for older children. Mid-January marks the arrival of that expansion, with a new 4,400 square-foot center. They have also expanded hours to accommodate more parents' schedules. New hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday though Friday...

By Steve Moyer Nevada Daily Mail Christmas has come and gone as it does every year and each year the week after Christmas is as busy as the week before. Sometimes it's people returning that sweater that doesn't fit or that blouse in a shade of blue you just wouldn't get caught dead wearing, but for many people in the stores it's the bargains that spurred that extra shopping trip...

Rick Cargil watches as 7-year-old Eric tries the fishing at Walton Park Tuesday. Unseasonably warm weather filled Nevada's parks with children and their parents enjoying both the weather and the time off during the holidays. Temperatures reached the mid-60s, but today forecasters expect a high temperature of about 42...

It was a year to remember, a year to lay in preparations for the future, and a year to honor those who served the community in many ways, from the soldiers toiling in the war-torn Middle East, to those here at home, keeping Nevada a great place to live, both for today and for tomorrow. This is the second in a series of month-by-month recaps of 2005's news and newsmakers...

Forest Leroy Fleener, 74, Sheldon, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2005, at St. John's Regional Medical Center, Joplin, Mo., following an illness of a few weeks. He was born April 28, 1931, in Virgil City, Mo., to William E. Fleener and Sadie Mae Crane Fleener. He and Barbara Jean Cadman were married in 1954, in Nevada...

Wards can get excellent care from private providers Dear editor: I am writing in response to Mr. Wehmeyer's letter in the newspaper this week. It seems he needs to hear some real facts about private providers I am the guardian of a woman with Down Syndrome who gets her services through a private provider. She is surrounded with people who care for her and about her...

This is the final week of 2005, a year with many ups and downs. Last week I did not get to wish you a Merry Christmas as I had intended -- perhaps I can now offer a belated Merry Christmas to each of you. Last week I had one of those trying experiences, when, after working to get most of the column written, I was not able to finish it. Perhaps it could be blamed on Aquila or perhaps it was Divine intervention...

**100 years ago Saw mill explodes near Bronaugh The Jas Veatch saw mill explosion, which occurred recently near Bronaugh, was one of the most distressing catastrophes that has ever occurred in this county. Judge W.B. Marting was here Thursday, and from him the Mail learned some of the awful details of the explosion and the fearful results...

By Doug Tucker AP Sports Writer KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- That silver Porsche Carol Vermeil gave her husband on his 67th birthday doesn't always bring him straight to work. Some mornings Dick Vermeil drives on past his reserved parking place and makes a slow, leisurely lap around the Truman Sports Complex, home of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Royals...

Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals signed letters of intent Thursday for new 25-year leases that would require $575 million in renovations to their two stadiums. Jackson County voters must first approve a three-eighth-cent sales tax to pay for $425 million of the improvements. County officials say they plan to hold a vote on the tax April 4...