DAWSON, Neb. (KOLN) – One person is dead after a house fire in the village of Dawson on Saturday.

The Richardson County Sheriff’s Office was called to a structure fire near Riley Avenue and Fifth Street at 12:31 a.m. According to the sheriff’s office, 70-year-old Michael Leroy Ruch was found dead in a bedroom in the northwest corner of the house.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Nebraska State Fire Marshal.

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KEARNEY — The University of Nebraska Medical Center will offer scholarships to the first class of medical students to study and train in Kearney, a key initiative aimed at strengthening access to health care in rural Nebraska.

The Health Science Education Center II will open to its first class of medical students in fall 2026, and for the first time, UNMC will educate future physicians in rural Nebraska.

The new scholarships will cover at least half the cost of medical school tuition for all four years for the first class of students in Kearney. The scholarships have been made possible by generous benefactors and the UNMC College of Medicine. No state money has been used to create the scholarships.

“Improving the health of people across Nebraska is a major goal of UNMC and the College of Medicine,” said Bradley Britigan, MD, dean of the UNMC College of Medicine and Stokes-Shackleford Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. “We are excited about our first cohort of medical students beginning at Kearney later this year, which is one more example of that commitment. And we are pleased, with the help of other generous donors, to be able to offer this support.”

Currently, 66 of Nebraska’s 93 counties are designated as medically underserved areas. Studies have shown students may be more likely to choose to practice in smaller communities after graduation if they are trained in rural communities.

Robert Messbarger, MD, inaugural associate dean for the UNMC College of Medicine’s regional medical school campus in Kearney, said the scholarships are indicative of the support the UNMC College of Medicine has received since it announced plans to have medical students at Kearney.

“I am grateful to these benefactors, and the college, for this wonderful effort,” Dr. Messbarger said.

With additional private support, the UNMC College of Medicine would like to extend the scholarships to subsequent classes of UNMC medical students in Kearney. Matching funds are available to support the new scholarships.

“We hope to be able to provide even more financial aid and to be able to extend these scholarships to future classes,” Dr. Britigan said. “However, additional philanthropic support will be needed to do so.”

Donors who commit a scholarship gift of $50,000 or more will have their gift matched by one-third by the College of Medicine. For example, a gift of $75,000 would be matched by the College of Medicine, with an additional $25,000 for students studying in Kearney.

Scholarships are a priority of Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future, a historic effort to raise $3 billion from 150,000 unique benefactors to support the University of Nebraska.

Donors interested in learning more about the new scholarships may contact Brian Anderson, senior director of development for the College of Medicine at the University of Nebraska Foundation, at brian.anderson@nufoundation.org.