Mary Jane Skala

Reporter at Kearney Hub

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Articles

Dick Cochran is almost blind, but Hot Meals USA founder hasn't lost his vision

1 week ago | kearneyhub.com | Mary Jane Skala

Late in the evening of April 5, Dick Cochran blinked and felt something in his right eye. He washed his eye with saline solution, but it didn’t clear up, so he went to bed. When the eye wasn’t clear the next morning, he headed to the emergency room. Cochran had had an ocular stroke in his right eye. For now, it has left him with just peripheral vision in the only good eye he has. He lost his left eye in an accident 40 years ago.
Mary Jane Skala: Walk of the Cross will be held again on Good Friday

1 week ago | kearneyhub.com | Mary Jane Skala

WALK OF THE CROSS: Faith United Methodist Church will again have its traditional Good Friday Walk of the Cross after its 5:30 p.m. Good Friday service. The cross is eight feet tall and five feet wide. Participants will take turns carrying it from the church at 1623 Central Ave. west to Second Avenue, north to 39th Street and back. The public is invited to walk with them. For more information call the church at 308-237-2550.
Skala wins nine first-place awards in state competition

1 week ago | kearneyhub.com | Mary Jane Skala

Mary Jane Skala, reporter and personal columnist for the Kearney Hub, won nine first-place awards in the Nebraska Press Women’s 2025 Professional Communications Contest. She also won three second-place awards and two third-place prizes. The awards were presented Saturday at the NPW’s spring convention in Omaha. Thirteen NPW members entered work in 35 categories, including newspaper and online articles, digital publications, websites, blogs and photography.
An antique tractor ride vs. a mad dash down I-80

1 week ago | kearneyhub.com | Mary Jane Skala

Last Sunday afternoon, a parade of 10 antique tractors rumbled out of Pleasanton and turned onto dirt roads past muddy pastures and cattle and fallow cornfields and dry creek beds. Their destination? Nostalgia. I rode in that annual parade thanks to an invite from Pastor Dean Hanson of Grace Lutheran Church in Pleasanton, which holds the event. He invited me last year, and a few weeks ago, he invited me again. This year, I brought a city dude, my lifelong friend Jim Miller.
Walk in Kearney's Yanney park will raise money for United Way

1 week ago | kearneyhub.com | Mary Jane Skala

The United Way of the Kearney Area will host its final fundraising event of the 2024-25 campaign Sunday afternoon. The United Way Walk will begin at 3 p.m. at Yanney Heritage Park, 2020 W. 11th St. The cost is $25. The one-mile stroll around the lake will begin at the Michael and Gail Yanney Pavilion, with sign-in and packet pickup beginning at 1:30 p.m.The public can also visit with representatives of some of United Way’s partner agencies and enter chances for a prize drawing during that time.
Project SEARCH high school transition program: 15 years of success in Kearney

2 weeks ago | kearneyhub.com | Mary Jane Skala

Aubreigh Moberg loves being a food service associate at CHI Health Good Samaritan. She prepares and serves food and works as a cashier in the cafeteria. “My favorite part of the job is getting to know our staff, patients and visitors and working with my team members in the kitchen,” she said. Moberg was among the students, teachers, staff and community leaders who attended a 15-year reunion of Project SEARCH Monday in the Good Sam cafeteria.
Skala: UNK business students will head to Dallas conference

2 weeks ago | kearneyhub.com | Mary Jane Skala

NATIONAL QUALIFIERS — A group of UNK students have qualified for the FBLA Collegiate National Leadership Conference, scheduled for May 31-June 2 in Dallas. They were among 16 UNK students who participated in the recent Nebraska Future Business Leaders of America Collegiate State Leadership Conference, which was held at UNK. UNK students won four events and placed in the top five not once but a a total of 16 times during the statewide business competition.
'Messiah' is a family affair for mother, daughter who began tradition in Axtell

2 weeks ago | kearneyhub.com | Mary Jane Skala

Like mother, like daughter. Kathy Eckloff and her daughter Bethany Eckloff Rouse will be on stage when the Axtell Area Oratorio Society presents Handel’s “Messiah” at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Merryman Center for the Performing Arts. Eckloff will be a soprano in the chorus in her 20th consecutive “Messiah.” Rouse will be the soprano soloist. Rouse has sung that part every year since 2016, except for 2022, when her son Everett was born a week before the performance.
Computer Hardware, one of oldest Apple dealers in country, is 45 years old

2 weeks ago | journalstar.com | Mary Jane Skala

In the late 1970s, Darrel Albers built a computer from a kit in just one week. There was only one glitch. It wouldn’t work. “I had an electronic background, but I couldn’t run it,” he said. That conundrum sparked a business that celebrated its 45th anniversary on March 1. Computer Hardware at 2315 Second Ave. is a sales and repair business owned by Albers, his wife Joyce and their son Jason. It has 30 employees, collectively, in stores in Kearney, Hastings, Grand Island and Lincoln.
Computer Hardware, one of oldest Apple dealers in country, is 45 years old

2 weeks ago | theindependent.com | Mary Jane Skala

In the late 1970s, Darrel Albers built a computer from a kit in just one week. There was only one glitch. It wouldn’t work. “I had an electronic background, but I couldn’t run it,” he said. That conundrum sparked a business that celebrated its 45th anniversary on March 1. Computer Hardware at 2315 Second Ave. in Kearney is a sales and repair business owned by Albers, his wife Joyce and their son Jason. It has 30 employees, collectively, in stores in Kearney, Hastings, Grand Island and Lincoln.