By Lilly KershStaff Writer after neither candidate gained more than 50% of the votes Cox, a realtor and former council member, has received 47% of votes, according to unofficial results of the May 3 election posted on Collin County’s website a pastor and former Republican state representative Estate attorney Taylor Willingham received 7% and eye surgeon Matt Rostami received 6% Breaking NewsGet the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond GoogleFacebookBy signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy “We appreciate [voters’] support and look forward to working with those supporters during this runoff,” Cox said late Saturday The chairman of McKinney’s planning and zoning commission said his “hands-on” experience in local government sets him apart from his opponent Sanford thanked residents for voting and said he plans to “build a bridge” between residents and local government if elected “We‘re at a time of a lot of separation between the people and their city hall,” he said “This is an opportunity for them to get reconnected.” Around 19,000 votes were counted in the mayoral race The four candidates were vying to replace Mayor George Fuller who is term-limited after leading the fast-growing Collin County seat for eight years Voters also cast ballots for three seats in council races Geré Feltus is leading in her race to keep her seat and the city’s race for a new at-large council member will likely go to a runoff Feltus is leading challenger Tammy Warren for the District 3 council seat according to unofficial results posted by the county In the at-large seat’s race, Ernest Lynch is leading four other candidates to replace councilmember Charlie Philips followed by business owner Jim Garrison with 20% nonprofit leader Derrick Tarver with 18% and psychiatrist Taha Ansari with 14% Lynch and Garrison will face each other in a runoff ran for reelection unopposed and will now begin his second and final term Collin County saw an 11% voter turnout of its 740,500 registered voters Around 67% of votes were cast early and a third on Election Day She graduated in 2024 from the University of Georgia with a degree in journalism and was born and raised in Atlanta Scottie Scheffler prepares to putt on the first hole during the final round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament Sunday afternoon in McKinney Texas — Scottie Scheffler cradled his year-old son Bennett — the reason he missed … ISSN 2993-8384 (Online)ISSN 1041-293X (Print) Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney endorsed the team's signing of former teammate Isaiah Simmons who played one season with McKinney in New York and is now re-joining the All-Pro defensive back in Green Bay on a one-year deal in 2025 Coach Matt LaFleur said McKinney's approval played a part in the Packers signing Simmons after the draft and X gave it two thumbs up,” LaFleur said Friday the 2023 season in New York was Simmons' best season in the slot and even along the defensive front and was terrific in coverage alongside McKinney in Wink Martindale's multiple and aggressive defense LaFleur said Simmons is a "very talented player" who has "played a lot of ball" in the NFL The Packers are planning to have Simmons start in the linebackers room but a versatile vision for him in Jeff Hafley's scheme is possible The Packers played the Giants during the regular season in 2023 LaFleur sees Simmons' versatility as a sign of his mental ability to grasp different roles within a defense “The thing that you love about him is he’s got a lot of versatility to do a lot of different things,” said LaFleur just when we went against him a couple years ago So I think that just tells you his mental capacity in order to be able to understand defensive schemes And we had a lot of great conversation with him leading up to him signing with us and we’ll just watch and see how that progresses over time.” Simmons has played in 84 NFL games and been a disruptive force at times but his impact hasn't reached expected levels coming out of Clemson five years ago Simmons was expected to be a game-wrecker from multiple spots on the field -- but it didn't come together in Arizona and didn't work in New York Simmons was on the field for only 181 defensive snaps for the Giants in 2024 and the 2020 top-10 pick is now on his third NFL team Can reuniting with McKinney in Hafley's defense helped get the best out of an ultra-athletic Fire Bowl Cafe offers customizable Asian dishes Shelbie joined Community Impact in August 2022 and has been the editor of the McKinney edition since July 2023 Shelbie served as a business news fellow for the Dallas Morning News She graduated with a degree in journalism from Southern Methodist University in May 2022 By Shawn McFarlandTexas Rangers reporter May showers bring a stalled golf tournament The CJ Cup Byron Nelson was suspended Friday morning due to a lightning delay as storms swept through North Texas and drenched TPC Craig Ranch early in the second round The tournament is scheduled to resume play at 4:00 p.m Sports RoundupGet the latest D-FW sports news analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox Scheffler shot 2-under par through his first nine holes Friday and holds a two-stroke lead at 12-under par Patton Kizzire (-9) and Will Gordon (-9) are each within three shots is within danger of missing the weekend cut at 4-under par Thunderstorms continued in the McKinney area through the early afternoon — more than three hours later — that it would remain suspended as storms continue traveling through the area Find more golf coverage from The Dallas Morning News here. Hopdoddy Burger Bar is slated to open in McKinney. (Courtesy Hopdoddy Burger Bar) Karen joined Community Impact as a full time features reporter in December 2023 after working as a freelance reporter since 2011. She covers Plano, Grapevine, Colleyville, Southlake, Keller, Roanoke, Northeast Fort Worth, Lewisville, Coppell, Flower Mound, Highland Village and Argyle. When not working, she enjoys checking out local wineries with her husband and going on family vacations. Results from the May 3, 2025 election will determine two officeholders on the McKinney ISD Board of Trustees. (Community Impact staff) Colby joined Community Impact in July 2022. He covers transportation and real estate for the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. Prior to joining CI, he worked for student newspapers at Del Mar College and The University of Texas at Arlington while attending school. In his spare time, Colby enjoys playing guitar, writing music and camping. Two people campaign outside the John and Judy Gay Public Library in McKinney during early voting for the May 3 election. (Karen Chaney/Community Impact) Voters cast their ballot at McKinney's John and Judy Gay Library during early voting and on election day. (Karen Chaney/Community Impact) Shelbie joined Community Impact in August 2022 and has been the editor of the McKinney edition since July 2023. Prior to CI, Shelbie served as a business news fellow for the Dallas Morning News. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Southern Methodist University in May 2022. When she’s not writing, she enjoys photography and live music. John and Judy Gay Library welcomed voters to cast their ballot during early voting and on election day. (Karen Chaney/Community Impact) then embellish and decorate until they become characters.Illustration by Derek AbellaSave this storySave this storySave this storySave this storyIn August Virginia Woolf spent a quiet stretch at Asheham the country house that she and her husband which has a very spiritual effect upon the mind,” Woolf wrote to a friend no support from one’s fellow creatures.” After six months spent in such isolation We should shed virtue on people as we walked along the roads.” Alas any pretensions to holiness had been dispelled by the arrival of house guests the previous evening: “I had such a bath of the flesh that I am far from unspotted this morning a former classmate who is now a penniless widow to a nurse who supplements her medical ministrations with news of the outside world but when Nurse Rooke has half an hour’s leisure to bestow on me she is sure to have something to relate that is entertaining and profitable: something that makes one know one’s species better,” Mrs Anne looks for a moral; this Rooke must be bolstering her friend with examples of “heroism Smith wants to hear about “the latest modes of being trifling and silly.” She doesn’t like gossip because it improves her Discover notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. the host of “Normal Gossip,” a popular podcast devoted to sharing mildly outré stories about strangers (“Normal” means that the show is concerned with the business of regular people.) McKinney’s audience is large but gossip thrives best in intimacy; it wants a cupped ear each episode features a guest who serves as a stand-in for the rest of us AirPodded eavesdroppers gasping in dread and delight as McKinney recounts anecdotes of varying degrees of intrigue and scandal from the perspective of an unwitting protagonist: the grad student who suspects an affair between two members of her cohort The pleasure is in McKinney’s elaborately drawn-out telling She has a rich laugh and an easy complicity with her guests McKinney likes to prompt her guests to characterize their “relationship” with gossip someone admits to squeamishness at the prospect of dissecting the doings of another person’s life the embarrassed—whom McKinney sets out to win over in her book “Mean Girls,” and the “Real Housewives” franchise we get sprinklings of science: citations of philosophers and one senior lecturer in “the propagation of narratives and cognitive bias” at the University of Winchester McKinney’s big point is that gossip is a fundamentally human behavior “While other species can communicate with one another none can weave tales the way we can,” she tells us lest we credit dolphins as nature’s true raconteurs McKinney reports that she asked ChatGPT to dish dirt but I must reiterate that I’m here to provide respectful and informative assistance,” the program primly informed her “I love a little bit of gossip!” it announced If McKinney is at pains to stress the universality of her subject Gossip has been considered the province of half of humanity—the female one—for such a long time that it is surprising to learn that it wasn’t always so the word means “god-sibling” and once signified any person connected by baptism rather than blood: a close friend someone with whom you’d happily trade secrets the noun “gossip” came to refer to a woman’s female friends who were invited to be present at a birth McKinney supplies a ditty (“At Child-bed when the Gossips meet / Fine Stories we are told; And if they get a cup too much / Their Tongues they cannot hold”) that makes giving birth in the age before antibiotics and epidurals—or Johnson defined a gossip as “one who runs about tattling like women at a lying-in.” From there it was a skip and a hop to the 1811 definition tittle-tattle,” which more or less stands to this day Cartoon by Justin SheenCopy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copied concluded that women’s speech had been unfairly maligned by powerful men who would prefer that their doings not be discussed By encouraging women to share information that might protect them be it about a community leader or a college classmate known to play fast and loose with sexual consent gossip actually fulfilled the Jewish imperative “to create a more just world.” and as a source of solidarity and irreverence for those who lack it McKinney writes of contemporary whisper networks; Spacks cites an account of women in a harem whose chat is flavored with “satire and disrespect for males and the ideals of the male world.” That could double as a description of Chaucer’s Wife of Bath who delights in the company of the woman she calls (in a modern English translation) “my gossip”: For had my husband pissed against a wall,Or done a thing that might have cost his life,To her and to another worthy wife,And to my niece whom I loved always well,I would have told it—every bit I’d tell,And did so knows God,Which made his face full often red and hotFor utter shame; he blamed himself that heHad told me of so deep a privity She enjoys gossiping—and it is not her only enjoyment most satisfying when the giver is attentive to the receiver “I didn’t just want to hear gossip,” McKinney writes “I wanted to take it in my hands and mold it rearrange the punch lines and the reveals until I could get the timing right enough that my friends in the cafeteria would gasp.” The molding the gasping—no wonder the pastors weren’t thrilled By the time Lily shows up in the gossip rag “Town Talk,” she’s as good as dead McKinney knows that gossip can be weaponized as “an extralegal solution to enforce the community’s ideals and powers,” and the legality is not always so extra Soviet Russia—these are places where whisperings found their way into police files And what was the House Un-American Activities Committee but one big McKinney notes that the actress Jean Seberg’s career was derailed when the Los Angeles Times ran a blind item suggesting that she was pregnant by a Black Panther; Newsweek subsequently published her name The story turned out to be an invention of the F.B.I.’s COINTELPRO program To refer to someone in the third person—“a wicked pronoun,” he calls it—is to render the person absent When he hears his beloved spoken of by others shelved in an urn upon the wall of the great mausoleum of language.” You might think that Barthes is concerned with slander What he feels is pure keep-my-wife’s-name-out-of-your-mouth possessiveness: “I do not want the Other to speak of you.” He has a point witness-to-your-funeral quality to being talked about by others as if you were no longer the subject of your own life but merely an object to be ogled in someone else’s Then he turned around and spilled their barely veiled secrets This was humiliating: now the world could read not just about the affair that Paley’s husband had carried on but about how the mistress’s menstrual blood had stained Paley’s sheets as dramatized in last year’s lavishly gossipy limited series “Feud: Capote vs the Swans,” sent Capote into a lethal tailspin of alcoholism and drug abuse You can recover from humiliation; treachery is harder Capote had convinced her that she was his private cherished “you” while secretly offering her up to the masses as just another “she.” you don’t have to be famous to see your name gleefully bandied about by an audience of millions McKinney notes the phenomenon of digital public shaming a twenty-five-year-old New York City man who found himself at the center of a TikTok maelstrom when women began posting videos claiming that he had love-bombed and then ghosted them one mustachioed furniture-company employee was made into the symbol for all the sins of heterosexual men “The mob that trails West Elm Caleb knows neither morality nor mercy,” McKinney declares who has a modern quality that Lily Bart lacks: shamelessness She has her own press agent; the gossip pages of “Town Talk” are her Bible an ordinary person bent on making herself extraordinary by notoriety and Wharton’s jaundiced depiction of her inverts Barthes’s point about the alienating third-person pronoun What matters to her is existing as a “she” in the minds and on the tongues of others: envied and McKinney is not afraid to go broad with it She tosses off sweeping claims; she casually contradicts herself Gossip is “always about a friend of a friend”—unless it’s about a celebrity McKinney characterizes “the Tattle”—a strategy used by dating-show contestants to impress their potential beloved by smearing fellow-suitors—as a maneuver that “rarely works.” In the next paragraph we are told that gossip “can always be played to your advantage.” McKinney a champion of gossip as a personal and social good is out to change its bad reputation; when she encounters gossipers who challenge her thesis “The goal of gossip about strangers is not to try people according to their secondhand deeds; it is to increase our own understanding of the world to allow us to find enchantment and discovery in places we didn’t expect it,” she writes in a chapter dedicated to the artist Françoise Gilot’s memoir of her relationship with Picasso How could we increase our understanding of the world if we limited ourselves to its enchanting aspects He also held a lit cigarette to Gilot’s face.) McKinney sounds like the kind of person who plagued her as a young gossiper: a scold and that is another challenge for McKinney Should ancient epics that originated in the oral tradition be considered gossip (We get a bit on Gilgamesh.) Urban legends and conspiracy theories “A doctor conferring with a colleague over an X-ray is gossiping about their patient just like two friends sending each other Taylor Swift’s posts on IG are gossiping,” McKinney tells us McKinney is trying to provoke; she may also be muddled and I am still unable to determine exactly what is real,” she says Though McKinney excludes celebrity gossip from her podcast and as fame has burned hotter so has our talk about it McKinney uses the term “entitlement gossip” to refer to the notion that the public has a right to personal information about famous people a belief that has taken on increasingly vampiric manifestations in our age of social-media madness too: the illusion that ardent fandom constitutes a mutual relationship with its object Fans mistake hearsay for news; they think that they know what is really going on with their idols an instance of fan sleuthing that resulted in Britney Spears being sprung from the conservatorship established by her father remains an astonishing example of rumor revealed to be reality the subset of Swifties who brandish a cryptological analysis of lyrics and so on as proof that Taylor Swift is secretly a lesbian Wishing doesn’t make it so; have we learned nothing from the phantom pee tape That is another confusing thing about gossip We like to think that it leads us closer to hidden truths just to find ourselves pointed exactly the wrong way Even if we wanted to stop gossiping for good In a peer-reviewed paper published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences researchers at Stanford and the University of Maryland concluded that gossip itself has an evolutionary advantage They designed a study in which agents had to decide whether to coöperate Agents turned out to be more likely to coöperate with those known to gossip in case they should be gossiped about themselves: gossipers flourished “People are very complicated and we can’t come up with a simulation that does everything people do,” one of the researchers said The practice of poring over the doings and desires of others is not just a pastime but an art We need to think and feel through other people to test ourselves against the conditions of the world The paradox of fiction is that we come to feel real things for fake people then embellish and decorate until they become characters too—a person needs sympathy alongside judgment: not merely information but imagination Nothing is more alienating than gossip that is used for bragging rights That is why Capote’s story about his swans reads so sourly now Capote is mounting his subjects on the wall of his prose like so many heads of stag awkwardly thrown together as family by the lifelong closeness of their husbands Each has worried that the other didn’t quite like her but it turns out there was nothing to fear proposes that they have breakfast and go shopping “I call it ‘emotional speculation.’ ” This is funny; Misty A long-ago crime, suddenly remembered A limousine driver watches her passengers transform The day Muhammad Ali punched me What is it like to be keenly intelligent but deeply alienated from simple emotions? Temple Grandin knows The harsh realm of “gentle parenting.”  Retirement the Margaritaville way Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Thank You for the Light.”  Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker. Saturday’s events were the latest in a series of nationwide days of action that started in February by a group that describes itself as “a decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.” President Donald Trump and his administration have implemented executive orders and actions on numerous issues — from immigration to cutting government — that protesters say are dismantling democratic institutions threatening civil liberties and pushing the country toward a constitutional crisis Political PointsGet the latest politics news from North Texas and beyond supporters of the president’s policy decisions view his actions on immigration and cutting government as fulfilling promises he made on the campaign trail The group’s name stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one day. Most recently, its “Hands Off!” rallies — which organizers said took place in more than 1,200 locations — drew massive crowds on April 5 protesters gathered at Dealey Plaza in downtown besides some passersby waving Trump flags from their cars the earliest protest in the D-FW area started around 11 a.m Organizers say about 700 people lined the busy intersection of U.S Their chants were accompanied by people honking their horns as they drove past chair of the Collin County Democratic Party said there has been an increase in people wanting to be more politically active The party also recently created a protest committee to help coordinate and organize demonstrations in the area “The increase is just because of the continued devolving of the checks and balances at the federal level,” Sutka said is one such person looking to be more politically engaged She said Saturday was her first time participating in a protest saying she wanted to express her “disgust” over what she described as a lack of due process in the federal government ‘The best thing you can do is make your voice heard,’ and that’s what I’m trying to do,” Guynes said the upheaval in science and health care was the reason that drew Dr “But it’s frustrating and difficult to have the people in charge not be science-based medicine-based or not know what they’re doing.” They then marched through the city’s downtown streets at about 1 p.m a 27-year-old Frisco resident who said immigration policies and reproductive rights were top of mind when she decided to attend the protest “It’s crazy to think that because of the color of your skin no matter how smart you are or how good of a job you do here how many taxes you’ve paid or whether you were born here you’re still subject to being detained by ICE,” Quiroz said adding her family is originally from Guanajuato “I’m always afraid of one of us being detained for no reason.” Quiroz was also among several attendees to note the lack of people of color in Saturday’s crowd explaining that many immigrant families are feeling the need to “stay under the radar in order to stay together.” “We come from small towns where we are the minority all the time and so we’re always afraid of who’s on our side and who’s against us,” she said “To be able to see so many people of a different color come out and support us means so much to us and to our community.” around 400 people of all ages gathered at City Hall A small group of attendees then took turns sharing their reasons for protesting from protecting the Constitution to setting an example for future generations some drivers honked in support of the protest while occupants from a couple of cars shouted “Make America Great Again” and waved Trump flags She holds a master's degree in immunology from the University of Oxford and another master's in journalism from Boston University Two people campaign outside the John and Judy Gay Public Library in McKinney during early voting for the May 3 election Colby joined Community Impact in July 2022 He covers transportation and real estate for the Dallas-Fort Worth metro he worked for student newspapers at Del Mar College and The University of Texas at Arlington while attending school 2025 election will determine two officeholders on the McKinney ISD Board of Trustees John and Judy Gay Library welcomed voters to cast their ballot during early voting and on election day Voters cast their ballot at McKinney's John and Judy Gay Library during early voting and on election day photos by Buzz Cory www.BuzzPhotos.com Another great playoff game for coach Jim Gatewood as his McKinney North Bulldogs win 1-0 in the bottom of the 8th inning great fielding and spectacular work in the outfield by the Bulldogs' defense photos by Buzz Cory of www.BuzzPhotos.com photo by John Tyler www.BuzzPhotos.com The McKinney mayoral race appeared headed to a runoff as neither of the top two vote-getters broke 50% of the total vote in unofficial vote tallies McKinney voters will choose a new mayor and select candidates for several open city council and school board seats this year Here are the uncertified results with all vote centers reporting Former city council member Bill Cox will likely head to a runoff in the four-person race to succeed George Fuller with about 47% of early and mail-in votes Cox, a principal at a local real estate firm, served as the at-large city council member and mayor pro tem. He said at a McKinney mayoral debate his experience and ties to McKinney will be an asset as mayor and I understand completely what it will take to take McKinney into the future,” Cox said McKinney voters struck down $200 million in bond funds for expanding the city’s regional airport for commercial use in 2023. But the city is still moving forward with the project. Bridgette Wallis, who runs the McKinney Citizen to Citizen Blog, told KERA in a previous interview the council is ignoring the will of the voters She said that’s a pattern regarding the airport The council approved the funding to buy the 190 acres of land for the expansion in 2018 after voters rejected a bond to fund the purchase in 2015 because this is two bond elections now that have failed and they went around and still did it anyway,” Wallis said But Cox said at the mayoral debate the council did listen to the will of the voters by not using property tax dollars like the bond proposed Cox was also asked at the mayoral debate about a controversy that occurred while he was on the city council A California developer accused Cox and another council member of inducement in 2008 alleging they told the developer it had to donate $50,000 to a veterans memorial fund in order to secure a project deal Cox said at the debate the accusations were unfounded “Don't let this story that's not true distract you from what's real,” he said “There is no way that I would embarrass my family by doing the things they said I did.” The construction of the $73 million airport expansion is scheduled to start soon with the new terminal opening sometime next year But Sanford said at the mayoral debate the expansion should be put on hold until voters elect a new mayor and city council members in the upcoming election “Since there is so much question and there's so much division that it would be only reasonable for there to be a pause,” he said Sanford was elected to the Texas House from 2013 to 2023 including the public education committee and ways and means Sanford, the executive pastor at Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, wrote the House version of the “Pastor Protection Act,” which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in 2015. The law allows pastors and other religious organizations to refuse to perform marriages that violate their beliefs and not face lawsuits The former state representative said at the McKinney mayoral debate he’d help the city manage growth as mayor one of the fastest growing counties in the nation according to the U.S “We’re at this exciting crossroads of history in McKinney where we can embrace the vitality of the new while retaining all of the charm of the old,” Sanford said Mayor Pro Tem Geré Feltus was the likely winner with 53% of the vote against Tammy Warren Feltus, the CEO of a nonprofit health clinic in Lewisville balancing the city’s tax base and housing availability as priorities for a second term on her campaign website Feltus posted her reelection campaign announcement on Facebook where she outlined her efforts to lower property taxes and increase homestead exemptions for senior homeowners She also pointed to her work on preserving McKinney’s historic downtown and developing workforce housing and principled leadership to navigate the path forward,” Feltus said in her Facebook post “I remain committed to being a voice for our community and the preservation of our unique character and quality of life.” No candidate had more than 50% of early and mail-in votes in the five-person race to replace Charlie Phillips who is term limited and ineligible to run again If those results hold when the vote is officially certified Lynch and Garrsison would head to the runoff Lynch was the CEO of Medical City McKinney until he retired last year He was also a board member of the McKinney Economic Development Corporation and McKinney Chamber of Commerce according to his campaign website public safety and lower taxes as issues he’d prioritize on his campaign website He said his experience on the McKinney Economic Development Corporation would be an asset to the city council “By prioritizing smart investments and public-private partnerships Ernest aims to expand the tax base while reducing the financial strain on homeowners ensuring McKinney’s long-term fiscal health and prosperity,” Lynch said on his website Garrison, who challenged Collin County Commissioner Darrell Hale in the 2024 Republican primary, listed his occupation as producer on his application for a place on the ballot. His Facebook page for his campaign for county commissioner lists experience as a city council member and economic development board member During his run for county commissioner, Garrison told Community Impact the county needs to address growth and election integrity issues “The Commissioners Court is aware of the issues and is deliberately "slow walking" any resolution to the problems,” he said Kenneth Ussery won the Place 2 seat handily against Deborah Klosky with more than 62% of the vote according to unofficial results provided by the Collin County elections administrator Phillip Hassler, who currently holds the seat, was appointed in February 2020 to replace Ussery after he stepped down from the board due to moving outside of the seat’s district according to Community Impact. Corey Homer unseated incumbent Chad Green with about 70% of the vote Saturday The school board trustees voted to censure Green in 2022. The resolution to censure Green came after he violated MISD board policies and Texas law against political advertising when he displayed McKinney First banners and brochures at a school event. McKinney First is a conservative political action committee according to its website Homer lists his occupation as real estate agent on his application for a place on the ballot His campaign website includes an endorsement from state board of education member Pam Little Green ran against Little in the Republican primary in 2024 where he managed athletic coaches and facilities according to his campaign website Homer said he would focus on student success “While I have strong convictions rooted in my work experience and my role as a parent I am not driven by any one political agenda but by practical common-sense solutions,” he said on his website Caroline Love is a Report For America corps member for KERA News KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today (KLKN) – The National Weather Service of North Platte confirmed eleven tornadoes spawned from a late April event the western Sandhills and Cherry County saw a lot of tornadic activity That night started out near Bingham and ended near the Merritt Reservoir This was a historic tornado in that it was the widest tornado ever surveyed in the North Platte National Weather Service county warning area this was only the 7th tornado to exceed a mile in width for the entire state of Nebraska Records date back to 1950 and are maintained by the Storm Prediction Center NWS North Platte damage survey: “One supercell strengthened as it moved through extreme northeastern Garden County producing a tornado 5 miles west-southwest of Bingham This tornado quickly increased in size as it moved northeast impacting utility poles and trees along Highway 2 the tornado impacted a farmstead and freight train The tornado continued to move slowly to the northeast for the next hour primarily impacting open country in rural southwest Cherry County It ended 11 miles north-northeast of Ashby.” NWS North Platte damage survey: “Significant damage was found to pine trees Multiple dead trees were tossed a significant distance.” There was an apparent satellite tornado to the Merritt tornado meaning there was likely a smaller tornado revolving around a larger This would be a second tornado to help the count end up at a total of 11 for this event No additional information was included in the preliminary report by the NWS office in North Platte There were also seven EF-U (unknown) tornadoes confirmed to bring the final count up to eleven with no observable damage done: This is a preliminary report from the National Weather Service of North Platte — The former chief of the Fallston Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Company has been indicted for allegedly stealing tens-of-thousands of dollars from the department faces five counts of felony theft and a single count of embezzlement A warrant for his arrest was served Wednesday McKinney was later released on a $25,000 unsecured personal bond Court records allege McKinney began stealing in July 2019 and continued doing so until at least January 31 Fallston Volunteer Fire Company President Christopher Gibbons issued a statement offering more background on the allegations "The Board of Directors discovered some irregular purchases on an issued company credit card Further investigation revealed possible criminal activity which led to the incident being turned over to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office." McKinney released a letter detailing financial challenges within the department "The Board of Directors determined within the first several months of 2024 that we as elected leadership must take an in-depth look at how we can navigate change that would steer FVFAC to a better path to resolve financial concerns," McKinney wrote at the time It's unclear if those financial woes had anything to do with the "irregular" purchases he allegedly made with the fire company's credit card Past Chief McKinney is no longer a member of Fallston Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Co He was separated from membership on February 2