The ''Gering Courier'' is a weekly newspaper serving the Gering,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

community, currently published in Gering's sister city of

Scottsbluff Scottsbluff is a city in Scotts Bluff County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. The population was 14,436 at the 2020 census. Scottsbluff is the largest city in the Nebraska Panhandl ...

History

Established by Asa B. Wood in 1887 as a Republican-leaning weekly, the ''Gering Courier'' was the first paper in Gering. By the mid-1910s, it had a good reputation, with the ''Alliance Herald'' calling it one of the best papers in the West. In 1915, it moved into the new Gering Courier Building, a structure now on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1927, it absorbed competing paper the ''Gering Midwest''. For over fifty years, Asa Wood was publisher and editor. A one-time president of the Nebraska Press Association, he was also a breeder of cattle, a state senator from 1924 to 1930, and, like many publishers of that time, the local postmaster. Described as a "walking encyclopedia" of western Nebraska history, he was one of the best known newspapermen in the state. He left the paper to his son, Warren Wood, on his death in 1945. Under the younger Wood, the paper continued to expand, buying out Banner County's ''Banner News'' in 1955. Following the death of Warren Wood in 1978, Wood's daughter Carol became publisher of the ''Courier'' and her husband Jack Lewis oversaw the paper's general operations.

Ownership transitions away from the Wood Family

In April 1999, Carol and Jack Lewis sold the ''Courier'' to Robert Van Vleet's Excellence in Publishing, Inc., which owned the ''Sidney Daily Sun'' in nearby

Sidney, Nebraska Sidney is a city in and the county seat of Cheyenne County, Nebraska, United States. The city is north of the Colorado state line. The population was 6,757 at the 2010 census. History The city was named for Sidney Dillon, president of the Uni ...

. The ''Courier'' was then sold by Van Vleet to the

Omaha World-Herald Company The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

in February 2000 as part of a deal where the World-Herald Company turned over ownership of the ''Sidney Telegraph'' to Van Vleet (and the ''Daily Sun'' and ''Telegraph'' were consolidated into ''The Sidney Sun-Telegraph''). The Omaha World-Herald Company, whose holdings included the ''Courier'', was in turn purchased by

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from ...

in 2011. The ''Courier'' was part of Berkshire Hathaway's subsidiary BH Media Group, although starting in 2018 it was managed by

Lee Enterprises Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 77 daily newspapers in 26 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is b ...

. In January 2020 it was announced that Lee Enterprises was purchasing Berkshire Hathaway's newspaper holdings. The ''Courier'' shares resources with two other nearby newspapers, the ''

Star-Herald The ''Star-Herald'', or the ''Scottsbluff Star-Herald'', is a newspaper serving the city of Scottsbluff and surrounding areas in Nebraska, United States. The paper is published daily, except Mondays. History Founding The ''Star-Herald'' had its ...

'' and the ''Hemingford Ledger'', both also owned by Lee Enterprises.

Accolades

The ''Courier'' has won top honors in the Nebraska Press Association's Better Newspapers contest, including the Loral Johnson award in 2006.

References

{{commonscat, Gering Courier Newspapers published in Nebraska History of Nebraska Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska