5-20-2022 11:33pm

News Briefs: May 21, 2022

Michael McGinnis Editor

Spencer Kerch of Rockton goes to school here now (Belmont University in Nashville, TN)

Kerch on the Dean's List again

Just as he did last semester, and the semester before, Spencer Kerch of Rockton qualified for the Spring 2022 Dean's List at Belmont University in Nashville, where he is a Business Systems & Analytics major. Eligibility is based on a minimum course load of 12 hours and a quality grade point average of 3.5 with no grade below a C. Besides his school work, Spencer has been an analytics intern at Orlando City Soccer Club and at Nashville Soccer Club. He played golf at Hononegah, participated in the Model UN in Chicago, and we're probably missing something.

Unwelcome Variation

Winnebago County is now back at a "High" Community Level of COVID-19. The number of new COVID-19 hospital admissions has exceeded 10 per 100,000 population in the last seven days. The county's COVID-19 case rate has exceeded 200 cases per 100,000. The CDC and the Winnebago County Health Department (WCHD) are advising residents to wear a mask while in public indoor settings, regardless of your vaccination status, and to get booster shots when eligible.

Nebraska grads from here

Two local students graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during commencement exercises May 13 and 14. Kylee Breed of Rockton received a Bachelor of Journalism from UNL's College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Ava Todora of Roscoe received a Bachelor of Science in Biological Systems Engineering from UNL's College of Engineering. Both students are part of a record 3,523 graduates from 58 countries and 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Todora is a second cousin of our photographer Indigo Sterud.

Better living through local newspubs

We like to say that Rockton-Roscoe News is our first daily local news outlet since 1835. Your financial support makes our stories possible and at the same time, according to researchers, you're actually making your community a better place to live. Joshua Darr, an assistant professor of political communication at Louisiana State University, says a lack of local news coverage has been linked to "more corruption, less competitive elections, weaker municipal finances and a prevalence of party-line politicians who don’t bring benefits back to their districts." Darr's own research found that "less local news meant more polarization" but that more local news can actually bring people together. Why? Darr says that local news focuses our attention on what we have in common. That doesn't seem to be true of national news, unfortunately.

Leaving us

Sharon Funk of Rockton died May 19, 2022 at the age of 82. She was born on December 23, 1939. A memorial ceremony will be held Wednesday, June 1, 2022 at 1:30 p.m.