THE GOOD: The quick action and courage of two Ellsworth AFB personnel saved lives and millions of dollars in equipment when they extinguished a blaze Jan. 18 on a damaged B-1B aircraft loaded with bombs and headed for the skies over Afghanistan. Kudos to Master Sgts. Alan Andrews and Michael Wingler who are deployed with the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing.
THE BAD: U.S. missionaries from Idaho who tried to take 33 children out of Haiti without official government documentation that they had been freed for adoption.
THE UGLY: That poverty in Haiti is so intractable that parents are forced to choose adoptive families in other countries for their children.
THE GOOD: Meadowbrook Elementary first grader Toby Straker raised $1,250 for Haitian earthquake victims with the help of his church community, Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Rapid City.
THE BAD: A burst water pipe in the Dahl Arts Center flooded the art galleries and exhibit preparation areas, spilling hundreds of gallons of water into the basement where art is stored.
THE GOOD: Damage to the Dahl's permanent art collection was minimal.
THE GOOD: The Meade County Commission responded to public outrage over its self-awarded pay raise and rescinded last month's vote that nearly doubled commissioner salaries.
THE BAD: The pay raise boosted the salaries from $12,909 per year to $24,000 per year.
THE UGLY: The vote to rescind was 3-1. Commissioner Alan Aker defended the one-time, 86 percent salary increase as preferable to small annual raises.
THE GOOD: California's San Manuel Band of Mission Indians presented a $220,000 check to the American Red Cross to provide disaster relief to Native American storm victims. The money will go to the Cheyenne River, Oglala and Omaha people, who have suffered financial hardships in recent winter storms.
THE BAD: Long waits of up to two weeks or more for electricity to be restored to remote homes on the Cheyenne Indian Reservation.
THE UGLY: The storm-related death of Ronald Johnson, 57, a Lemmon-area rancher who died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator he was using as a power source during the storm's aftermath.
