Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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As the State Legislature gets to work on its 90-day session, it's time to consider whether the Unicameral should resolve an important, and regularly overlooked matter - designating a state dessert. Face it, we all love dessert and naming an official state dessert is long overdue. It has to rank higher than designating an official state reptile or state fossil, which we already have (the box turtle and mammoth, respectively.) Eight states, our research indicates, have state desserts including, gu...
Years ago, I had the pleasure of covering the dedication of a new, $17-million bridge spanning the Missouri River east of Niobrara. The bridge was named after Chief Standing Bear, whose people, the Poncas, once ruled over that area of northeast Nebraska. Standing Bear, known for winning a federal judge's declaration that Native Americans were "persons" under the law, is buried nearby. But the structure, and another bridge built farther east across the Missouri, were dubbed the "Bridges to...
pears to be on the road to recovery after a wild ride aboard a bucking bronco, his next rodeo act will be roping up enough votes to lower property taxes, cut government spending and return Nebraska to a "winner-take-all" system of doling out the state's electoral college votes. Those are among the top priorities laid out by the governor – before he was bucked off a reportedly new horse – for the 2025 session of the Nebraska Legislature, which begins on January 8. At the top of the list is som...
A wise, old soul once told me that "the story of government isn't that what is said isn't so, it's that what is so isn't said." That, over and over, has proven true in years of digging into stories and actions of state government. State agencies and constitutional officers have a bevy of public information officers whose job is to promote what that agency or office does, and overall, make that agency look good. ("Put lipstick on the pig" is another old saying.) All too often, when you peel away...
My family has always loved to travel. Whether it was camping trips, a road trip to the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal or a drive to the Black Hills to see relatives, we could put some miles on the family car. My dad was exposed early to international travelers. The family farm hosted agricultural exchange visitors from France and India. My dad served in Japan during the Korean War, so he’d seen a far flung part of the world, and befriended a family there who later sent a daughter to live wit...
We've all had our fill of political news. So I thought that this week, we'd delve into a topic that's equally as timely – pheasant hunting. I've spent a fair amount of time in pursuit of the ring-necked bird, and recently traveled to South Dakota – the self-proclaimed "Pheasant Capital of the World" – to try my luck with my trusty Vizsla, "Gunnar," and a couple of buddies. If you've ever traveled to our northern neighbor this time of year, you'll see dozens upon dozens of guys (and a few gals)...
Everyone has a "wish list" – things they'd like to get done, things they'd like to see happen, things they wish would come true. But the Nebraska Republican Party recently put together the mother of all wish lists. In a four-page document unveiled last month, the Nebraska GOP listed more than 70 policy changes they'd like to see at the state, local and national level. The long list of wishes include returning the state to a "winner-take-all" system of awarding its electoral votes for p...
ace, we can all agree on that. And it's a very difficult place to manage, given that many inmates don't want to be there and have histories of violence, deception and mental illnesses. But inmates sent there shouldn't end up dead, unless they're sentenced to life in prison or given the death penalty for especially heinous murders. That – death – has been the result for at least three inmates in recent years who were placed in the same cell with another prisoner in solitary confinement cel...
We're all glad the election is over and we're no longer subjected to wall-to-wall campaign ads on TV and radio. The faster we can get back to watching "Green Acres" reruns the better! But I can't get over how differently Nebraskans in the east, and Nebraskans in the west voted this year. We might as well be two states – "East Cornhusker" and "West Cornhusker" (and I know several people who would prefer that). Let's take the hottest race in the state, pitting incumbent U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer v...
The election is thankfully over, but I still can't get over how much money pours into these campaigns. Back in the day, if a state legislative candidate spent more than $100,000 on a campaign to get elected to a $12,000-a-year post at the State Capitol, it was a big deal. Now that kind of spending is par for the course. Nearly every race for the 25 seats being contested in the Nebraska Legislature had a candidate who spent more than six figures. As of Oct. 21, candidates for the so-called "Hall...
Like a comet that swings by the earth every few years, there's been talk now and then about placing some huge development between Omaha and Lincoln along the Platte River. Between the state's two largest cities would be an ideal location for a new football stadium for the Cornhuskers, the reasoning goes. An airport there would attract more flights to and from our state. And wouldn't a huge lake look great along Interstate 80 in that spot? Back in the day, the idea was to dam up the Platte River...
Over the years, I've covered a few elections – probably more than I'd like to remember. Back in the day, we didn't get the wall-to-wall commercials slinging mud or the daily update on what the polls say. But one thing hasn't changed – elections are maybe the most observed, double checked and overseen functions of government. Vote counting machines are double- and triple-checked. Each political party employs "poll watchers" to make sure there's no hanky panky and the boards that count and rec...
Labels in politics are a tricky thing, particularly in Nebraska. If you're a "Republican," do you align with the wing of the party that identifies with former governor and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts? Or do you roll with the new GOP, the group that tossed out Ricketts' loyalists? (You might also be a "moderate" Republican, though they are harder to find than a 25-cent cup of coffee.) Same holds true for the Democrats. Are you a Democrat who holds more moderate views on abortion and government...
Was driving home from a fishing trip the other day when I heard the news – Pete Rose, probably the best hitter in the history of baseball, had died. When I played in high school, I used a "Pete Rose" Louisville Slugger bat. It was as thick as a telephone pole, and almost as heavy. But I was like a lot of people – we loved the way Rose played the game. All-out. Sliding head-first into the bases. Knocking down catchers in plays at home plate. And best of all, slamming hit after hit, and spr...
Nebraskans will vote on six ballot issues during this fall's general election, including competing initiatives on the issue of abortion. Here's a rundown of three of those ballot issues, those concerning abortion and paid sick leave: – Initiative 434, titled the "Protect Women and Children" initiative, would, if approved, place the state's current policy on abortion, which allows the procedure only during the first 12 weeks of gestation, into the State Constitution. A "yes" vote for Initiative 4...
Here's a rundown of three of those ballot issues, a referendum to repeal a private school voucher law and the pair concerning medical marijuana: In one of the more hotly contested issues in recent years, voters will decide whether to repeal, or retain, a controversial law was passed earlier this year that allows the State Treasurer to administer a scholarship program to private and parochial K-12 schools that was funded with $10 million of state funds. Legislative Bill 1402 served to replace a l...
Hard to imagine, but in our deep-red state we now have a competitive race for the U.S. Senate. It's been a while since a Republican had to break a sweat to get re-elected to the Senate in Nebraska. Even former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey – a widely known Democrat nationally – couldn't crack the GOP's grip on the state's two Senate seats. But here comes a regular guy and nonpartisan from Omaha, Dan Osborn. His long-shot run against two-term incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer has caught fire, ins...
Nebraska doesn't get many national headlines about politics, but a recent, last-minute push by major Republicans to get the state to ditch its unique system of awarding electoral votes for president did just that. Former President Donald Trump and leading GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham were among those applying the pressure recently to return to a "winner-take-all" system. Only Nebraska and Maine don't give all of its electoral votes to the statewide winner of the popular vote for president. Instead, N...
Back in the day, our high school basketball team used to employ a full-court press when we'd fallen behind. It was mostly a desperation measure toward the end of a game, a frantic effort in hopes that we could suddenly trip up our opponent and turn a defeat into a victory. Well, just recently in Nebraska, we were able to see a political full-court press in action, and such all-out strategy seems to have become the norm when it comes to citizen-led ballot initiatives. Ballot initiatives allow...
A few years back, a lucky tip came my way about an impending immigration raid in O'Neill. I don't recall a lot of details about what was expected to happen, but the tip was "you'd better be there tomorrow morning." As I drove up Highway 281 toward the north-central Nebraska town, I settled in behind what seemed like an endless line of SUVs with blackened windows also driving northward. It turned out they were mostly agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who were headed to...
The State of Nebraska has more than 200 boards and commissions staffed by professionals and regular citizens. They deal with a broad range of subjects, from the recently-created Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementia Advisory Council and State Child Death Review Team, to more recognizable boards, such as the Board of Parole and Board of Trustees for State Colleges. The governor gets to appoint members to many of these boards and the appointments often go to supporters of the governor and people...
Back in the day, the Omaha World-Herald provided me with a company car and the instructions: "Drive across the state and find some stories." It was obviously a more formal command than that, something like, "If you like your job, you'll write something interesting." It was an incredible adventure in various vintages of Ford Taurus'. On the road, you realize that there are fascinating stories – sometimes tragic and sad, sometimes heart-warming and uplifting – in every corner of the state. You rec...
State lawmakers have long since finished their long, 17-day special session in Lincoln and headed back home. The summer session unfolded as a lot of people, including me, expected - a lot of ideas for reducing property taxes were discussed, but only a small, incremental change, one that will result in a 3% drop in property taxes for some taxpayers, was passed. As we've discussed before, reducing property taxes, while a noble and needed move, is a complicated task and requires an adept hike...
Nebraska isn't known as a battleground state when it comes to presidential elections. That tag usually goes to Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, along with Georgia, Nevada and Arizona. But the recent pick of Nebraska native and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the vice presidential running mate for Kamala Harris is revving up talk that the Cornhusker State – at least Omaha's congressional district – is in play and may help decide this fall's presidential election. Walz, a 60-year-old former teache...
As we all know, state legislators have been called back to Lincoln for a special session this summer to tackle the state's high property taxes. As has been written here before, good luck with that. It's easy to gripe about property taxes being too high; much more difficult to lower them without shifting the tax load onto someone else. But we need to talk about something that we also all gripe about – gasoline prices. I'm one of those guys who scans the countryside for the cheapest gas p...
