Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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The Legislature debated several of my bills last week. On Tuesday afternoon, we debated my amendment to my LB 561, a bill to further define and implement the voter-approved initiative on casino gaming at racetracks. As 70% of the tax revenue derived from these casinos is dedicated to property tax relief, it is important to get this done right. Gambling is a divisive issue in our Legislature and the debate reflected that. After the question was divided on the issue of electronic keno, we spent a...
BROOKE WRAGE Nebraska News Service A school safety reporting system was approved in the Nebraska Legislature on April 6, in the second round after a long debate. Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg said he introduced LB 322 to reduce violent incidents in all K-12 schools in Nebraska by having a trained crisis team on staff 24/7. The reporting line, Safe2HelpNE, would allow students, school staff, parents and community members to anonymously share information about concerning behavior by phone,...
The question of whether Nebraska should legalize medical marijuana will be debated by the Legislature this year. LB 474, the Medicinal Cannabis Act, was advanced this past week from the Judiciary Committee on a 5-2-1 vote. It has been prioritized by Senator Anna Wishart, the primary sponsor of LB 474. The bill, 62 pages in length, provides the regulatory framework to establish access to cannabis for medical purposes. It limits the allowable amount of cannabis, requires a patient to have a bona...
BROOKE WRAGE Nebraska News Service As of March 31, Gov. Pete Ricketts approved 16 bills to become state laws. The bills include topics varying from transportation and health care to government and military affairs. An overview of the new state laws follows. View the full list of bills that received approval on the Nebraska Legislature at https://nebraskalegislature.gov/calendar/agenda.php?day=2021-03-25. LB 14: Adopt the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue introduced LB 14, which will allow...
The Legislature has completed Day 50 of this 90-day legislative session and is in the middle of debate on bills that have been designated as a priority by senators, committees and the speaker. As a general rule, only bills that have been designated as a priority are placed on the agenda at this point in the session. There is an exception to this rule for a procedure called consent calendar. This process allows non-controversial, non-prioritized bills to be considered in an efficient manner....
The work of the Legislature is now about getting bills to the floor for debate by the entire body. And that generally means a priority designation. Priority bills, one per senator, two per committee and twenty-five for the speaker, have now been designated. Senator Geist prioritized my LB 408, which provides for a 3 percent limit on annual increases in property tax askings. It may be debated on the floor of the legislature next week. Senator Slama prioritized my LB 139, which provides a measure...
State senators are considering a bill that would create an anonymous reporting system for potential threats, assault and mental health concerns in all Nebraska K-12 schools. Had there been a system in place, like LB322 five years ago, Mark Adler is certain that his son, Reid Adler, would still be alive today. At 15 years old, Reid took his own life. Mark Adler, superintendent of Ralston Public Schools, shared his son’s story as he testified in support of the bill. “Reid was a victim of continuous cyberbullying, to the degree that he could not...
The Bazile Groundwater Management Area is inviting people to stay inside where it’s warm during an upcoming winter series of one-hour webinars. The three-part series will take place virtually via Zoom at noon on the following Fridays – Feb. 19, Feb. 26 and March 5 – and feature three different speakers. Updates on the BGMA’s University of Nebraska-Lincoln demonstration sites and presentations on soil management strategies and groundwater research taking place within the management area will be...
The Bazile Groundwater Management Area has launched a new website for the new year. The BGMA's new online presence debuted in early January at bgma.nebraska.gov in a move to separate itself from the Lewis & Clark Natural Resources District's website. "We decided to get a new website so we would have our own stand-alone website," said Jeremy Milander, the management area's Nebraska Extension cropping systems educator. "We felt that this would avoid some confusion as our old site was a tab on the...
A farm cooperative that serves customers in a 30-county region of northeast Nebraska has pledged its support to improvements in agriculture facilities currently underway at Northeast Community College in Norfolk. Farmers Pride, headquartered in Battle Creek, has pledged $50,000 to the Nexus project at Northeast to build a new veterinary technology clinic and classroom building and other facilities on the Acklie Family College Farm. "Many of our employees and customers have graduated from...
A memorial visitation service for Lamont Larson, 93, of Tilden, will be held Saturday, Jan. 9, from 3 to 5 p.m., at Peace United Church of Christ, in Tilden, with Pastor Melanie Miller officiating. A remembrance service is planned for 3 p.m. Private graveside services at the Oakdale Cemetery, in Oakdale, will be held at a later date. Per Lamont's requests, visitors are asked to wear red or Husker apparel to the visitation. Lamont died Thursday, Dec. 31, at Community Pride Care Center in Battle...
North Central District Health Department reported 38 new cases in the district Jan. 4, including: seven, Antelope; 0, Boyd; 0, Brown; one, Cherry; six, Holt; 0, Keya Paha; 15, Knox; nine, Pierce and 0, Rock. NCDHD has received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and is proceeding to disperse vaccine to Phase 1A partners, as outlined in the Nebraska COVID-19 Vaccination Plan. As of Dec. 31, 784 north central Nebraska residents received the first dose of the vaccine. NCDHD will notify the public as the district transitions to each phase. The speed of...
A memorial visitation service for Lamont Larson, 93, of Tilden, Nebraska, will be held Saturday, Jan. 9, from 3 to 5 p.m., at Peace United Church of Christ, in Tilden, with Pastor Melanie Miller officiating. Private graveside services at the Oakdale Cemetery, in Oakdale, Nebraska, will be held at a later date. Per Lamont's requests, visitors are asked to wear red or Husker apparel to the visitation. Lamont died Thursday, Dec. 31, at Community Pride Care Center in Battle Creek. Lamont Larson was...
While the apprenticeship model has been instrumental for decades, the current system applies to more than the typical occupations that often come to mind - plumbers, electricians and linemen, among others. Apprenticeships have greatly expanded in the last decade to include more non-traditional occupations in areas that include healthcare, information technology (IT), advanced manufacturing, and engineering. The United States Department of Labor currently has 1,349 approved occupations that...
Summerland School students will not be in school Friday, Oct. 23. Fall break is scheduled for the day. Classes will resume at the normal time, Monday, Oct. 26. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, classes will not be held, due to faculty in-service training. Summerland School Board of Education approved the date, allowable by the Nebraska State Department of Education, at its Oct. 12 meeting....
Antelope County may need to weed out candidates depending on how many applications it receives from people wanting to replace a longtime employee. The board of commissioners received a letter of resignation from county weed superintendent Bruce Ofe during its meeting Tuesday, Oct. 13, in Neligh. The Oakdale man plans to retire from the full-time position Dec. 31 after more than 40 years of working for the county. "I'd be willing to stay that long so that if you get somebody hired, I could help...
Fall is here which is the perfect time for students to bite into local foods. October is Farm to School Month when Nebraska will be defending its title in the Mountain Plains Crunch Off. During this event, our state competes with Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota on the number of students who crunch into local foods. While the event is only one day, it can be a valuable experience and inspire teachers, administrators and students to learn more about...
Summerland Public School Superintendent Dale Martin recently released preliminary enrollment numbers for the district. Martin listed the number of students per grade at each respective site, in a report released Aug. 24. Enrollment at the three sites totals 402 students, a decrease of eight students from the 2019-2020 school year Clearwater site The Clearwater site boasts the largest enrollment, totaling 140 students. While Clearwater’s enrollment shows a decrease of 11 students from last y...
Discussion on reduction in force and early retirement policies occurred during the Summerland School Board of Education’s Aug. 10 regular meeting, in Ewing. In July, the board tabled discussion of RIF policy criteria, seeking input from the school’s attorney, Steve Williams of KSB Law, regarding the use of formal and informal teacher evaluations as one criterion. Superintendent Dale Martin said Williams does not advise using evaluations as a criterion. ms said evaluations are subjective and ope...
Superintendent Dale Martin shared the following information with Summerland families, July 28. Our district administrative team and the Summerland Board of Education, in consultation with the North Central District Health Department, Nebraska Department of Education and following the Center for Disease Control guidelines, is planning to start the 2020-2021 school year with in-person, normal instruction, Aug. 13. The schools of Summerland - Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard - will operate within the...
The Nebraska School Activities Association is preparing to begin the 2020 fall sports season as currently scheduled. First practices for football, volleyball, cross country, girls' golf, boys' tennis and softball are set to begin Aug. 10. "The health and safety of our student participants, coaches and officials has been our priority as we work to provide activities for our member schools," the association said in a press release. "This will not change and modifications may have to be made. Pleas...
KATIE ANDERSON Nebraska News Service Property tax relief is on the agenda for the 17-day legislative session later this month, but opponents argue that the proposed property tax relief plan will hinder school district spending and taxing authority. State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, chairwoman of the revenue committee, is leading the charge to get a property tax relief package passed when the Legislature resumes on July 20. “We have a property tax crisis more severe now in agriculture but moving toward suburbia,” Linehan said. “If you b...
As the Memorial Day holiday approaches, the Nebraska Department of Transportation Highway Safety Office is partnering with state and local law enforcement to promote the importance of buckling up. Just as COVID-19 has taught us the importance of proactively protecting yourself by wearing a mask, buckling up is as important in reducing motor vehicle injuries and fatalities. "As our state resumes to normal business and transportation activities, it is important that we share this lifesaving...
Members of Nebraska Unified District #1 board answered roll call for the final time, May 11, as the board held its last meeting before the three member schools go separate ways. Clearwater and Orchard will become part of Summerland Public Schools, along with Ewing. Verdigre will operate on their own next year. President Peggy Liska called the meeting to order, with four members present. Marty Konopasek, of Verdigre, was excused. Superintendent Dale Martin discussed a waiver of Nebraska Departmen...
When Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard seniors went to school March 16, they did not know it would be the last time they attended school with their classmates. The three school districts announced they would be closed, due to coronavirus concerns, for a two-week period beginning March 17. A week later, administrators announced the remainder of the school year would be completed at home, based on recommendations from local health officials, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and Dr. Matt Blomstedt, comm... Full story
