Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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While Pete Ricketts was governor, he and his parents spent serious money supporting state senators – and opposing fellow Republicans who had displeased the governor. Longtime observers say that money helped morph the Legislature, making it less independent and more partisan. In January 2017, Patrick O'Donnell entered the Nebraska State Capitol's cavernous legislative chamber, air heavy with the echo of history's fierce debates and whispered negotiations. The longtime Clerk of the Legislature s...
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...
“When there’s a will, there’s a way.” That was a phrase that surfaced regularly at the end of state legislative sessions. It referred to the hope that bills that appeared dead might be resurrected. Somehow, someway – like the zombie in a horror movie that would never die – some of those bills came back to life and were passed. Again, when there’s a will, there’s a way. That was the case at the end of the tumultuous 2023 session of the Nebraska Legislature, when filibusters were a daily routine...
Have you been to the grocery store or courthouse lately and been approached in the parking lot by not one, but two people seeking signatures on initiative petitions concerning abortion rights? Confused? You’re not alone. For what appears to be the first time in history, Nebraskans are being asked to sign not one, not two, but three petitions seeking to determine if and when a woman can have an abortion. And, according to Secretary of State Bob Evnen, if more than one petition makes the ballot, t...
In 2021, the last special session of the Nebraska Legislature lasted 13 days and cost the state $105,436. Do the math, that's $8,076.92 per day. Then ask yourself, is a winner-take-all election measure, which would bring Nebraska into the same fold as 48 other states, worth the money. For that matter, is a so-called solution to the state's property tax problems worth it? They're bantering the words "special session" around like it's nothing short of expected. Gov. Jim Pillen says he will call a...
Nebraska residents should have easier access to public records under a bill that, in effect, overrules a recent Nebraska Supreme Court decision allowing the state to charge high amounts for retrieving public records. Gov. Jim Pillen signed Legislative Bill 43, adopting the First Freedom Act and new public record provisions, on Wednesday, March 27, after it unanimously passed in the Legislature, 39-0. The bill went into immediate effect due to an emergency clause. The emergency clause was added to an amendment inspired by Lincoln Sen. Danielle...
Nebraska is now down to one surgical abortion provider less than a year after lawmakers passed a 12-week ban. The Bellevue clinic founded by the late Dr. LeRoy Carhart – once one of only three providers in the country to perform third-trimester abortions – no longer does surgical procedures but does offer patients abortion pills, clinic employees confirmed to the Flatwater Free Press. That means Nebraskans who want a surgical abortion or who are past the cutoff for the abortion pill must go to...
Wait, what? Governor Jim Pillen has reversed his opposition to a federal summer grocery program that would aid around 150,000 children of low-income families. Pillen succumbed to a lot of outside pressure from a bipartisan group of state lawmakers, a bill introduced by one of them to request the aid and another state senator who made it his priority to ensure it would be debated in the remaining days of the legislative session. Back in December he proclaimed that he didn't "believe in welfare."...
Kathy Mesner has a word for the potential fallout from a property valuation dispute in Lancaster County. Catastrophic. "I don't think it's too much to say it may be catastrophic not only in terms of bankrupting projects ... but displacing all these low-income households across the state," said Mesner, an attorney and president of Central City-based Mesner Development Co. In the past year, a narrow disagreement on how to value 21 Lincoln-area properties has morphed into a court fight over a...
Before he took office, Gov. Jim Pillen joked about phone conversations being exempt from public disclosure. Now, his administration has taken what seems to be an unprecedented step to shield the governor’s communications. Pillen’s staff denied the “Flatwater Free Press” access to four emails the governor sent, in part citing “executive privilege” – a phrase absent from Nebraska’s public records laws. A half-dozen former and current officials and advocates who spoke to the “Flatwater Free Press” couldn’t recall any other Nebraska governors who i...
The Legislature adjourned shortly after Memorial Day, but my duties as your representative continue at a fast pace. In the interim between the adjournment of the previous session and the convening of the next session, senators remain hard at work serving on special and select committees, studying subjects of local importance and addressing issues brought forward by constituents. During the session, I was appointed to serve on the LR178 Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Select Committee with six of...
In a letter dated June 16, the group, led by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, urged Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to drop a proposed modification of HIPAA’s Privacy Rule. The change would prohibit the use and disclosure of protected health information — including reproductive health — “for a criminal, civil or administrative investigation or proceedings” against those who lawfully provided care, such as across state lines. The attorneys general wrote that the Biden administr...
I am curious as to what ever happened to scruples in public life. Anybody know? You remember scruples: Stand-up people, the do-the-right-thing-regardless crowd? Maybe my naivete is showing, but I swear scruples used to be a thing. They - or lack of them - came to mind when I read that Italian authorities found the young British tourist who carved "Ivan +Haley 23" into the wall of Rome's 2,000-year-old Colosseum. Pro tip, Ivan: Love may conquer all, make the world go round and find a way, but eve...
Seward County routinely seizes money from motorists on Interstate 80, keeps the cash – and never convicts the drivers of a crime. The county's sheriff's department and county attorney use this practice, known as civil asset forfeiture, so often that a third of all cases of this kind in Nebraska state courts come from Seward County, population 17,962, a Flatwater Free Press analysis of court records shows. The county has hauled in $7.5 million in forfeited cash in the past five years, some of i...
The Nebraska Court of Appeals has affirmed the Honorable Mark Johnson’s denial of Darryl Lierman’s latest motion for postconviction relief, according to Antelope County attorney Joe Smith. Nebraska Court of Appeals judges, the Honorable Francie Reidmann, the Honorable Riko Bishop and the Honorable Lawrence Welch rendered their opinion May 16. Lierman was represented by Michael Moyer of Madison, while Nebraska Attorney General Michael Hilger and Matthew Lewis served as counsel for the State of Nebraska. Lierman claimed his trial counsel was ine...
The Nebraska Supreme Court listened to arguments in two cases, April 27, in O'Neill, as part of Law Day. Twenty-six Summerland students, along with sponsors Dan Roeber and Patty Sukup, got a first-hand look at how the court operates. Upon arrival at O'Neill High School, students went through a security check, conducted by the Nebraska State Patrol. Judge Kale Burdick explained what students would witness. After introduction of the justices, the court listened to two arguments, with lawyers...
Many major issues were debated this past week in the Legislature, with LB 626 and LB 574 being the two most highly-contested bills considered by senators. LB 626 would adopt the Nebraska Heartbeat Act and restrict abortion to when a fetal heartbeat is first detected, thereby reducing the current 20-week abortion time window to about six weeks. This bill includes exceptions for rape, incest, sexual assault, medical emergencies (such as ectopic pregnancies and the removal of the remains of an...
It has been 35 years since members of the Nebraska Legislature had a pay raise and 17 years since term limits took effect. If lawmakers are wondering why, they simply need to check the actions of some of their colleagues. Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh told fellow senators and a TV audience she was “going to be mean” because a fellow Omaha senator introduced a bill, restricting transgender surgery, she doesn’t like. But it’s not just the one anti-transgender bill she doesn’t like, she’s going to oppose every one of that senator’s proposals. No...
We are now past the one-third mark of this 90-day legislative session but still have a great deal of work to do. The various standing committees are busy holding public hearings on the 820 bills and 22 substantive resolutions that were introduced in January. We have around four more weeks of hearings yet to go. Thus far, two of my bills have been presented before committees. The week began with Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican delivering the State of the Judiciary address...
I'd like to introduce myself. I am Senator Barry DeKay, newly elected to represent District 40 in the Nebraska Legislature. District 40 consists of Antelope, Cedar, Dixon, Holt, Knox and Pierce counties. I am a lifelong resident of rural Niobrara, a fourth-generation rancher and a longtime high school basketball referee. My wife Brenda and I have two children. I am honored to serve the residents of northeast Nebraska in the Legislature. The 108th Legislature began Jan. 4. Thirteen newly-elected...
Darryl Lierman, 55, who is serving what could be called a life sentence at the Nebraska Department of Corrections penitentiary in Tecumseh for the sexual assault and abuse of his adopted daughter, was back in the Neligh courtroom last Wednesday, June 29. The Honorable Mark Johnson, earlier in June, ordered Lierman be transported to the Antelope County Jail the previous day and returned to Tecumseh after the hearing. Lierman sat in front of the Antelope County District Court judge with his court-appointed attorney, Mike Moyer of Madison, asking...
This past weekend is a blur. After wrapping up last week’s paper and making sure everything was organized for the rodeo, Scott and I headed north, to Fargo, where I was a finalist (and eventually named the winner) of the National Federation of Press Women’s Communicator of Achievement. We decided to take the less-traveled path and support small-town businesses. Word to the wise: call ahead, especially if you need to make a reservation. After driving around a South Dakota town for 20 min...
Is it good or bad that between 40 and 50% of voters turned out for the May primary election? While the number seems above average for a mid-term election, it’s still concerning that more than half of our state’s residents did not vote. When you consider options voters have to check the box before or on election day, whether via an early-voting ballot or at the poll, the number is disheartening. According to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office, 396,000 Nebraskans voted. Overall, that...
The 107th Legislature, second session, has adjourned sine die. The last day was filled with last-minute items, the governor’s closing speech and ceremonial procedures. The 13 senators who won’t be back in January, either due to term limits or deciding not to seek a second term, were recognized. Although I won’t be running for another term, I will miss my colleagues and am thankful for being given the chance to serve with them in representing the State of Nebraska. When I ran for office, my pr...
Many major issues were dealt with this past week in the Legislature, with the most significant being the passage of LB 873. When fully implemented, LB 873 will result in almost $900 million in annual tax relief. The legislation sets a floor for the refundable income tax credit of $548 million in 2022 and $560.7 million in 2023. This guarantees an approximate 25% refund for property taxes paid to school districts. Additionally, a similar income tax credit will be implemented for property taxes pa...
