Stories from Thursday, January 2, 2014

A former Nevada resident, John Ireland, made it through a tornado that destroyed much of Moore, Okla., but many of his friends, neighbors and acquaintances were not as lucky. The tornado killed 24 people and injured 377 on May 20. Severe storms moving through Vernon County caused a school function to be cut short and left quite a bit of damage in the form of downed trees and limbs, power and cable outages and some plugged storm drains in its wake...

The West Fertilizer Company factory explosion which killed 15 and injured more than 160 in April came close to home for Nevada's Lois McMillian, whose family lived near West, Texas, before she moved to Missouri. Two of her three daughters live in communities close to Waco and her daughter-in-law is a respiratory therapist at Providence Hospital, in Waco, and her son-in-law is a registered nurse at Scott and White hospital, in Temple, the closest trauma center. ...

June kicked off with Bushwhacker Days. This year's theme was Out of the Ashes. The second man, Jeremy Maples, 33, of Nevada, who was accused in connection with the July 2009 death of Belinda Beisly, was arraigned in the Circuit Court of Vernon County. Maples pleaded not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder...

In March, Cottey College announced it had been approved to establish new four-year degree programs, which will likely be in business and liberal arts. Cottey also announced that it has been granted 10 years of additional accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, which is Cottey's accreditation agency...