Latest news with #GrandIsland
Associated Press
09-07-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Haig Partners Serves as the Exclusive Advisor on the Sale of Tom Dinsdale Automotive to the Rydell Company
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 9, 2025-- Haig Partners LLC, the leading buy-sell advisory firm to auto and heavy truck dealers in the U.S., served as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Tom Dinsdale Automotive in the sale of its three dealerships to The Rydell Company. The dealerships included in this sale were Tom Dinsdale Chevrolet Cadillac GMC and Tom Dinsdale Hyundai in Grand Island, NE, and Tom Dinsdale Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram ('CDJR') in Hastings, NE. Founded in 2003 by Tom Dinsdale and his wife Kim, Tom Dinsdale Automotive grew over time to become one of Central Nebraska's most recognizable groups. The group's GM dealership, Tom Dinsdale Chevrolet Cadillac GMC, is particularly well known for its facility, which is one of the largest GM facilities in the world at over 70,000 ft 2 and its Cadillac franchise. This is the only Cadillac franchise between Omaha and Denver. Tom Dinsdale Automotive became a beloved local brand through its many charitable endeavors and community involvement. The Dinsdale family, along with the Tom Dinsdale Automotive dealerships, have been highly charitable and supportive of the Grand Island and Hastings communities. The group directly supported more than 80 charities and were highly involved with the Nebraska State Fair, Hastings College, Grand Island Central Catholic, Hastings St. Cecelia and Heartland United Way. The group's high level of charitable involvement created strong local relationships and directly supported the Central Nebraska community in which most of Tom Dinsdale Automotive's customers work and live. The sale of Tom Dinsdale Automotive represents the Dinsdale family's exit from automotive retail but the family will remain active in the community and State of Nebraska with other business interests. Also, Tom will never be too far away from his beloved Cornhusker football. Tom Dinsdale, shared, 'It was not an easy decision to sell. But it made sense at this point for myself and my family to retire. I will forever be proud of the group I built and want to thank my teammates for their many years of dutiful service. I am very grateful to our long-time advisors and CPAs, James Anderson, and Matt Peppmuller of Forvis Mazars, for their advice and introduction to John Davis and the team at Haig Partners. My wife Kim and I knew in our first meeting that they were the perfect fit for us. John Davis, and his teammate Erik Haig, went the distance – visiting with us in person, carefully listening to our goals, and crafting a compelling marketing package for our company that helped attract an excellent buyer in The Rydell Company. I know my former employees and neighbors in Grand Island and Hastings are in excellent hands.' With this acquisition, the Dinsdale dealerships will join The Rydell Company, a highly respected and rapidly expanding automotive retail organization with a rich history in the Midwest. Founded in the 1940s by Leonard Rydell in Minnesota, the Rydell Company later expanded under his son, Wes. It now operates over 80 dealerships across 17 states. The organization operates under a common philosophy, but not under common ownership. They strive to provide opportunities for their partners to acquire ownership of the dealership operations. John Davis, Managing Director at Haig Partners, shared, 'It was a pleasure to assist Tom and Kim Dinsdale in the sale of their dealerships to The Rydell Company. The satisfying part of our role in a transaction is helping our clients achieve their goal. Tom and Kim had carefully built their empire in Grand Island and Hastings over the course of two decades, and we knew it was going to be critical to find a buyer that was going to take great care of their employees and honor their legacy of community and charitable involvement. When The Rydell Company expressed interest, I knew we had a serious, fair and reliable buyer at the table. They have a very experienced team and that has made this transaction a very smooth process. The automotive buy-sell market continues to heat up as we head deeper into 2025. After a slow start to the year, buyers and sellers are getting off the sidelines, thanks to alleviated concern around tariffs. And although dealership profits have fallen from their peak, valuations remain high and many dealers are choosing to sell to capitalize on still-high dealership values.' Stephen Dietrich, Sarah Seeding and Anna Ayar from Holland & Knight provided legal counsel to the seller and James Anderson and Matt Peppmuller from Forvis Mazars provided closing assistance and accounting services to the seller. Haig Partners has advised on the sale of 28 dealerships so far in 2025. To learn more about the sale of Tom Dinsdale Automotive Group, or learn more about dealership market trends and values, contact John Davis at [email protected]. About Haig Partners Haig Partners is a leading buy-sell advisory firm that helps owners of higher-value auto, truck, RV and motorsports dealerships maximize the value of their businesses when they are ready to sell. The team at Haig Partners has advised on the purchase or sale of more than 520 dealerships with a total value of over $10.5 billion. It has represented 30 dealership groups that qualify for the Top 150 Dealership Groups list published by Automotive News, more than any other firm. Clients of Haig Partners benefit from the group's collective experience as previous executives with leading companies such as Ally Financial, AutoNation, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, FORVIS, J.P. Morgan, the Sewell Automotive Companies and Toyota Financial Services. Leveraging its unmatched expertise and extensive relationships, Haig Partners guides clients to successful outcomes through a confidential and customized sales process. The firm authors The Haig Report ®, the leading industry quarterly report that tracks trends in auto retail and their impact on dealership values, and co-authors NADA's Guide, 'Buying and Selling a Dealership.' Haig Partners team members are frequent speakers at industry conferences and are regularly quoted in reputable media outlets, including Reuters, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNBC, BBC, Automotive News, Wards, CarDealershipGuy and CBT News. For more information, visit View source version on CONTACT: Transaction Contact: John Davis, Managing Director Haig Partners [email protected] (404) 406-7110 Media Contact: Aimee Allen, Chief Growth Officer Haig Partners [email protected] KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA FLORIDA NEBRASKA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: FINANCE AUTOMOTIVE GENERAL AUTOMOTIVE CONSULTING SPECIALTY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OTHER AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL ASSET MANAGEMENT SOURCE: Haig Partners LLC Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 07/09/2025 11:30 AM/DISC: 07/09/2025 11:30 AM
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Twin twisters, tiny F5s: some of the oddest tornadoes on record
Tornadoes are a relatively rare event. Only a tiny percentage of thunderstorms ever go on to produce a tornado. No two twisters are alike—and some of those storms are truly bizarre. From twin tornadoes on the Plains to an exceptionally narrow monster on the Prairies, here's a look at some of the oddest tornadoes ever recorded. DON'T MISS: One tornado is usually too much chaos for one lifetime. But the residents of Grand Island, Nebraska, endured seven twisters in about three hours on the night of June 3, 1980. A large and powerful supercell thunderstorm crawled over the city that evening, moving south-southeast over Grand Island at just 13 km/h. The first twister touched down at 8:45 p.m. Another followed fifteen minutes later, succeeded by another just five minutes after that. Four more tornadoes would strike the city through the 11 o'clock hour, three of which wound up rotating clockwise—an extremely rare feat in the northern hemisphere. One of the twisters killed several people and left behind F4 damage in its wake. Two more of the tornadoes produced F3 damage. The tragic ordeal became known as 'The Night of the Twisters,' inspiring both a children's book and a made-for-television movie of the same name. Meteorologists have only recorded 60 scale-topping F5 or EF-5 tornadoes since reliable recordkeeping began back in 1950. All but one of those storms struck the United States. Canada's sole F5 tornado hit the town of Elie, Manitoba, on the muggy afternoon of June 22, 2007. The slow-moving twister churned across the flat landscape like a drill bit, destroying several homes in its path. MUST SEE: A scale-topping twister in Canada is rare enough. But it also ranked as one of the 'smallest' F5s on record. Out of the 22 F5 or EF-5 tornadoes recorded since 1980, the average size of these devastating storms came out to around 1,100 metres in width. The tornado that struck Elie? Just 300 metres wide at its largest extent, ranking it among the smallest high-end twisters ever observed. Tornadoes are rare in mountainous areas because the jagged terrain often disrupts the organized structure of a thunderstorm needed to produce these whirlwinds. Even though they're rare, tornadoes can and do happen in the mountains—sometimes exceptionally high up. A violent thunderstorm that developed over northwestern Wyoming on the afternoon of July 21, 1987, produced a tornado high in the mountains above Yellowstone National Park. The twister was enormous, carving a path nearly 40 km long with a maximum width reaching 2.5 km in size. This powerful F4 tornado caused an immense blowdown of trees throughout the heavily forested area—at an elevation of more than 3,000 metres on the Continental Divide. The unprecedented storm made this the highest-elevation violent tornado ever observed. A severe weather outbreak on the American plains produced one of the most bizarre tornado sequences observed in modern history. One thunderstorm over Pilger, Nebraska, produced two violent tornadoes simultaneously on the afternoon of June 16, 2014. RELATED: The first twister touched down at 4:00 p.m. and directly struck the town of Pilger. Another tornado touched down 13 minutes later, moving just east of Pilger and eventually tracking parallel to its companion just a few kilometres to the west. Both tornadoes produced high-end EF-4 damage, completely destroying numerous homes and businesses in the area. Sadly, each tornado also claimed one life amid the damage. Supercell thunderstorms in North America tend to move southwest to northeast due to prevailing winds and internal dynamics within the storms themselves. But one particularly intense tornado in Texas actually went 'backwards.' A scale-topping F5 tornado devastated portions of Jarrell, Texas, on May 27, 1997, killing 27 people and injuring hundreds more. What made the tornado more unusual than its intensity was the fact that the entire storm latched onto a boundary over central Texas, allowing it to move southwest into Jarrell. Not only did the twister track in reverse compared to almost all other storms, but it virtually stalled out over one neighbourhood at maximum intensity. 'A ground survey revealed that most of the debris that was left in the area was extremely small, indicating the power of the tornadic winds,' the National Weather Service said in its post-storm assessment. Header image courtesy of Ethan Schisler/NOAA Weather in Focus Photo Contest 2015. Click here to view the video
CNN
26-06-2025
- Climate
- CNN
‘Extraordinary rainstorm' floods Nebraska city, triggers water rescues
An entire June's worth of rain fell in just a few hours over Grand Island, Nebraska, Wednesday night, triggering life-threatening flash flooding that inundated neighborhoods, stranded motorists and forced water rescues. Crews have responded to dozens of calls to assist motorists stuck in flooded roads since torrential rain began Wednesday night, according to Spencer Schubert, the city's communications manager. The flooding has also displaced an unspecified number of residents from their homes. 'At this time we have no injuries to report,' Schubert said early Thursday morning, noting some rescues were ongoing. Torrential rain caused sewers to back up into several homes and sent floodwater running into basements, according to a Thursday news release from the city. Some affected residents took shelter at local hotels or with friends and family. 'This was an extraordinary rainstorm and is very similar to the historic rains seen in the 2005 floods,' Jon Rosenlund, the city's emergency director said. 'We will be actively monitoring rivers, creeks and other drainage areas over the next few days for future flooding issues.' Flooding in 2005 turned streets into rivers in Grand Island. At one point, the city tore up a major road to open up a channel to drain flooding away from homes, CNN affiliate KHGI reported. The central Nebraskan city is home to around 53,000 people and is about 130 miles southwest of Omaha. The rain came to an end around sunrise Thursday, but the danger remains, with a flood warning in effect until 7 p.m. CDT. 'We're asking everyone to take it slow, avoid driving through standing water, and use alternate routes when possible,' Rosenlund urged. Rainfall in Grand Island began Wednesday afternoon but the intensity picked up quickly after dark, falling at more than an inch per hour at times. A total of 6.41 inches of rain fell by midnight, which made it the rainiest June day and the second rainiest day of any month in the city's 130-year history of weather records. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency — the most severe form of flood warning — at 11:45 p.m. CDT Wednesday for Grand Island that continued for several hours into Thursday morning, continuously warning of 'extensive flash flooding.' Multiple rounds of heavy storms tracked over the area late Wednesday into early Thursday morning and ultimately dumped record amounts of rainfall. A level 2-of-4 risk of flooding rainfall was in place for Grand Island at the time, according to the Weather Prediction Center. More than a month's worth of rain – nearly 4.5 inches – fell in only three hours between 10 p.m. CDT Wednesday and 1 a.m. CDT Thursday. Rainfall of this intensity would only be expected around once in 100 years, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. Climate change is making heavy rainfall events heavier. As the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution, a warmer atmosphere is able to soak up more moisture like a sponge, only to wring it out in heavier bursts of rain. Hourly rainfall rates have intensified in nearly 90% of large US cities since 1970, a recent study found. CNN's Hanna Park contributed to this report.
CNN
26-06-2025
- Climate
- CNN
‘Extraordinary rainstorm' floods Nebraska city, triggers water rescues
An entire June's worth of rain fell in just a few hours over Grand Island, Nebraska, Wednesday night, triggering life-threatening flash flooding that inundated neighborhoods, stranded motorists and forced water rescues. Crews have responded to dozens of calls to assist motorists stuck in flooded roads since torrential rain began Wednesday night, according to Spencer Schubert, the city's communications manager. The flooding has also displaced an unspecified number of residents from their homes. 'At this time we have no injuries to report,' Schubert said early Thursday morning, noting some rescues were ongoing. Torrential rain caused sewers to back up into several homes and sent floodwater running into basements, according to a Thursday news release from the city. Some affected residents took shelter at local hotels or with friends and family. 'This was an extraordinary rainstorm and is very similar to the historic rains seen in the 2005 floods,' Jon Rosenlund, the city's emergency director said. 'We will be actively monitoring rivers, creeks and other drainage areas over the next few days for future flooding issues.' Flooding in 2005 turned streets into rivers in Grand Island. At one point, the city tore up a major road to open up a channel to drain flooding away from homes, CNN affiliate KHGI reported. The central Nebraskan city is home to around 53,000 people and is about 130 miles southwest of Omaha. The rain came to an end around sunrise Thursday, but the danger remains, with a flood warning in effect until 7 p.m. CDT. 'We're asking everyone to take it slow, avoid driving through standing water, and use alternate routes when possible,' Rosenlund urged. Rainfall in Grand Island began Wednesday afternoon but the intensity picked up quickly after dark, falling at more than an inch per hour at times. A total of 6.41 inches of rain fell by midnight, which made it the rainiest June day and the second rainiest day of any month in the city's 130-year history of weather records. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency — the most severe form of flood warning — at 11:45 p.m. CDT Wednesday for Grand Island that continued for several hours into Thursday morning, continuously warning of 'extensive flash flooding.' Multiple rounds of heavy storms tracked over the area late Wednesday into early Thursday morning and ultimately dumped record amounts of rainfall. A level 2-of-4 risk of flooding rainfall was in place for Grand Island at the time, according to the Weather Prediction Center. More than a month's worth of rain – nearly 4.5 inches – fell in only three hours between 10 p.m. CDT Wednesday and 1 a.m. CDT Thursday. Rainfall of this intensity would only be expected around once in 100 years, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. Climate change is making heavy rainfall events heavier. As the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution, a warmer atmosphere is able to soak up more moisture like a sponge, only to wring it out in heavier bursts of rain. Hourly rainfall rates have intensified in nearly 90% of large US cities since 1970, a recent study found. CNN's Hanna Park contributed to this report.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NU student wrote state bill informing college students about SNAP eligibility
Millions of college students are eligible for SNAP benefits but a U.S. Government Accountability Office report says two-thirds aren't receiving the benefits, with a lack of awareness an issue. One Niagara University student has been working to change that. Jaime Lechner, a graduating political science and international studies major from Grand Island, drafted a bill to help college students statewide find out if they are eligible for the benefits. 'It's a very common sense thing to do,' Lechner said. The bill would require the state to create an information resource regarding SNAP for college students and require the state and educational institutions to notify students if they are eligible. It does not have any impact on the state budget by using already existing information channels to conduct outreach. Inspiration came after she went on a 2023 advocacy trip to Washington DC, urging Congress to pass the Opportunity to End College Hunger Act. That requires higher education institutions to provide notice to students receiving work-study assistance about their eligibility for SNAP benefits. That bill was referred to the House Education and the Workforce subcommittee where nothing has happened to it since, but it would provide the basis for her bill later on. During the following summer, Lechner wanted to do more and looked into the benefits. She spent about three hours one day calling the state and Niagara and Erie county phone numbers for SNAP benefits getting all the information she could. Once she had all that, she presented it to the campus financial aid department which produced a booklet to distribute around campus. That information is also present on the school's financial aid website, detailing criteria of who is eligible and how to apply. During that period, Lechner's father encouraged her to go further. 'I was talking to my dad about the work I'm doing and he goes, 'Why aren't all colleges doing this?' ' Lechner said. 'I didn't have an answer.' Awareness of SNAP benefits could be a big benefit for college students. 'People think because college is a prestigious thing, people can afford food and stuff, and that's not necessarily always the case,' Lechner said, noting rising costs and disappearing federal scholarships. The bill's first sponsor is Phara Souffrant Forrest, who represents the State Assembly's 57th District in Brooklyn. After it gets introduced, it would be referred to a committee and be active legislation through June of next year. Along with Niagara University, organizations supporting Lechner's bill include the League of Women Voters of Buffalo-Niagara, Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Chautauqua counties, FeedMore WNY, Feeding New York State, and the Field & Fork Network. 'Jaime's work on this project epitomizes the goals of our department and the mission of the university,' said Jamie Pimlott, an associate professor of political science. 'To see a student ask a question — why don't more college-age students know about potential SNAP benefits? — then, independent of any class assignment, dedicate considerable time and effort not just to answer that question, but also to propose and implement a solution, is inspiring.' As SNAP is a federal program run by the USDA, there have been proposals from the Trump administration to make cuts, something the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said would put millions of Americans at risk of not having enough to eat. Lechner said that given the strict eligibility requirements for college students to be on the program, like those getting 50% or more of meals through a college meal plan, any cuts would not have a major impact.
