Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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Justin Harris could use the money. The McCook farmer and businessman is already behind on last year’s property taxes, and still owes $3,200 that’s growing with interest. And Harris is also missing out on a tax rebate thanks to a much-misunderstood change that Nebraska lawmakers made earlier this year. It’s costing him $1,300 – money he could have nabbed had he paid his property taxes by Dec. 31, 2023. “There was no chance for us to be able to take advantage of that discount because we're living paycheck to paycheck,” he said. The vast majori...
This past week, the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee held an interim hearing to discuss the status of highways and broadband in Nebraska. The Committee first heard from Director Vicki Kramer of the Nebraska Department of Transportation who testified that the impact of inflation is presenting challenges to fulfill future highway construction and maintenance projects. Nebraska’s current highway needs for the next 20 years currently sit at $16.9 billion, but when inflation is a...
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...
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...
Nebraskans decided a couple weeks ago that public funds for education should fund public education … and only public education. You can skip the “well, duh.” Without two petition drives, a solid campaign and Nebraskans doing the right thing, the question in question — Legislative Bill 1402 — may very well have started using tax dollars for private school tuition next fall. The decision to repeal LB 1402, which provided public money for private school scholarships, was fairly loud and quite cle...
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...
In the past three weeks, I outlined all six ballot initiatives and referendum measures that will be on this year’s general election ballot. This editorial is dedicated to my personal perspective on two ballot measures: Initiative Measures 434 (Protect Women and Children) and 439 (Protect Our Rights) relating to abortion. In my mind, we should strive to do the most good and preserve human life. This is why I am encouraging pro-life voters in Nebraska to consider voting for Initiative Measure 4...
We have a choice in the November 5 election between two initiatives regarding abortion, Initiative 434 or Initiative 439. Initiative 434 would protect unborn babies from abortion in the second and third trimesters except for cases of medical emergencies, sexual assault or incest. The laws we currently have regarding parental notification for minors, informed consent before abortion and in-person requirements to receive abortion pills would remain in place. Common-sense laws like basic safety regulations for abortion facilities and requiring a...
This week, I will be discussing Initiative Measure 437 and Initiative Measure 438. Both of these initiatives revolve around the issue of cannabis and propose a framework to legalize medical cannabis in the state. Should these two ballot initiatives pass, the Legislature will likely play a role in shaping some of the finer details of implementing medical cannabis in this state, much akin to the implementation of casino gambling in 2021-22. Initiative Measure 437 proposes to create a new law...
When life comes full circle, pay attention. Usually, there's a lesson worth learning. The lesson starts in Clearwater where Adam Ahlers, a "snot-nosed brat kid" spent summers mowing the yard at the Ocea Kirchner residence. Kirchner, a widow, would invite Ahlers into her "little yellow house" after he finished the job. "I had to go to the front door and get my $10," Ahlers told a crowd of approximately 275 people attending Saturday's fundraiser for the Clearwater Veteran's Park, held at the...
I would first like to express my gratitude to the first responders who quickly handled the explosion and fire at St. Patrick’s Parish in O’Neill earlier this week. I am thankful that there were no catastrophic injuries or loss of life and am hopeful that the parish, Avera St. Anthony’s Hospital and St. Mary’s School can quickly recover. I have been in contact with other state officials to help coordinate state resources to ease the recovery of Avera St. Anthony’s, which sustained damage. I...
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...
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...
Hand counting of election ballots will not take place in Holt County anytime soon, despite a request from citizens made at the Sept. 16 supervisors' meeting in O'Neill. Grace Coleman of Atkinson presented petitions discouraging use of electronic tabulators and encouraging a return to hand counting of ballots at the precinct level. She said individuals from Holt, Boyd, Antelope, Cedar, Knox, Dixon and northern Pierce counties signed the petitions, which were circulated over the summer months....
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...
There's a map tacked up on the wall in Kameron Runnels' office – squared lines and small text showing who owns what pieces of the Santee Sioux reservation. Six of the squares, big chunks of land, are labeled the same: "school land." Runnels, the tribe's vice chairman, said he always wondered what exactly that meant. Two of the squares are colored in green – land the tribe pays the state almost $65,500 per year to rent and farm, even though it's within reservation boundaries. When Nebraska was...
Ironic, isn’t it, that a system that provides so many advantages for its citizens also provides the means of its own demise. Unlike nearly every other system of government that came before it, U.S. democracy offered its citizens individual freedom, respect and relative equality. Yes, it’s true that the founders left women and enslaved people out of their plans, but, thankfully, the nation has moved to implement the founders’ original principles as we have learned more about and moved to embrace what they actually mean. American democracy makes...
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...
The Legislature concluded the special session that was called to relieve property taxes on Aug. 20. After a contentious start, senators agreed to compromise on legislation that will frontload the Nebraska Property Tax Incentive Act credits from LB1107 (2020) directly onto taxpayer’s property tax statements, trim and adjust the state budget by $185 million and tighten existing property tax levy caps for counties, cities and villages to the greater of inflation or 0%. Of the 81 bills and 24 r...
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...
This week, the Legislature took up the issues of property taxes and adjustments to the state budget. Much of the focus remained on the package crafted by the Revenue Committee and attached to LB34 by Senator Brewer in place of LB1 and LB9. In a long day of constant changes, LB34 was originally intended to resemble LB1 and LB9. During debate, several concerns were raised, including counties and municipalities who opposed the proposed caps, schools that were hesitant that the Legislature could...
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen says he has no plans to call the Legislature back into special session this year to consider additional property tax relief after final passage Tuesday of a pared-down proposal. Rather than rush lawmakers back to Lincoln for more changes yet this year, as the governor discussed during bill negotiations, he said he would wait until the next regular session begins in January. He also repeated his stance that he does not expect to call a special session for shifting the...
