Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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Alonzo Denney sets his phone on the conference table, pulls up a family photo and starts counting. There are 11 living relatives, including him, now sharing ownership of 80 acres along the Bazile Creek in Knox County, land originally allotted to their ancestor by the federal government. Then Denney does some quick math. He might, he says, be paid around $25,000 if this land, now mostly flooded and unusable, was placed into a flowage easement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Denney,...
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...
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...
Eminent domain concerns Dear Editor: The Nebraska Constitution states there will be no eminent domain for private gain. Period. But there are plenty of interlopers who choose to ignore that. By allowing public/private partnerships we see the beginning of Fascism. You know, “for the greater good” and disregard the rights of private property.” Right now, there are four aircraft staging out of the ONeill airport flying at 300’ all day long under contract to the US Geological Administration to do a survey. They use lidar to map underground mineral...
The year was 1974. It was early fall. Or was it late spring? Never mind all that, Gary Hergenrader says. It isn't the season he remembers today, but the site: the old campground across the water, a dozen red cabins clinging like ticks to the canyon walls, the lodge overlooking Keystone Lake, the geology exposed in the rocky shelves above. Before retiring in 2005, Hergenrader served nearly 25 years as the Nebraska state forester. But back in 1974, he was a 34-year-old professor at the University...
This week, the Legislature concluded bill introduction and public hearings in this special session. Generally, in a special session, few bills are introduced and public hearings are finished in a couple of days. In this special session, a total of 81 bills and 24 constitutional amendments were introduced during three days of bill introduction, the most proposed during any special session since 1937. The large number of introduced proposals required six days of public hearings. Speaker Arch...
As is its wont to do, U.S. News and World Report recently released its Best States "rankings," a list on which Nebraska placed third, up one spot from 2023. Only Utah and New Hampshire bested our fair environs in the best states standings. So, yes, go ahead. Yay, us! The magazine's methodology included rankings in eight primary categories: fiscal stability, opportunity, infrastructure, crime and corrections, economy, education, health care and natural environment. Each of those were subdivided...
Term limits claim 13 Nebraska state senators while two are leaving for other reasons. That'll mean 15 new faces in the nation's only one-house nonpartisan legislature come January. I've made it clear before how I feel about term limits. I don't like them. This isn't the Washington, DC, swamp. This is Nebraska, one of those mostly square states out west where it's not that hard to vote somebody out of office. It has worked for years. Then along came the two-term limit, eight years, and...
The beginning of April brings us closer to the end of this year’s legislative session. There are many bills still left to debate and little time to consider all of the priority bills brought forward this year. The week began with the resumption of debate on the governor’s proposed property tax relief package: LB388 and LB1331. LB388 initially proposed an up-to-1% increase of the sales tax, from the current rate of 5.5% to possibly as high as 6.5%, and raising taxes and eliminating tax exe...
They're back. The 108th Legislature, Second Session, convened Wednesday. One can expect proposed bills and discussion of some hot button issues, as well as what could be a protracted debate on rules. It's likely that state Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon will have something to say about guns in schools. The Education or Revenue committees will likely address school financing and the Executive Council will seek discussion about putting legislative committee clerks in a pool to provide uniform training...
Antelope County Commissioners learned heard from two speakers, Dec. 5, about concerns with a potential carbon-capture pipeline projected to run through the northern tier of the county. Doyle Turner, of Moville, Iowa, and Trent Loos, a central Nebraska rancher also presented similar information at an informational forum, Dec. 4, in Neligh. Turner said years ago, he had invested in a company that sold carbon dioxide for "any kind of purpose you can imagine." "I knew CO2 had a lot of value. What I...
Trent Loos, a sixth-generation rancher from central Nebraska, will be the featured speaker at Dec. 4 forum in Neligh.The event will run from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Neligh American Legion. Loos, who hosts Loos Tales, a daily radio show airing on 100 radio stations in 21 states, highlights issues facing American food producers. Now, he's fighting against carbon capture pipelines, which he says threaten property rights and food production in America's heartland. Loos has spoken in 48 states and four...
Grassroots government is thriving in Nebraska. There are eight petitions circulating with hopes of making the 2024 General Election ballot, according to Secretary of State Bob Evnen. The action is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gives people the right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” From the old familiar legalizing medical marijuana to an exemption of grocery items from sales tax, various groups or individuals are seeking the signatures of registered voters to support their cau...
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...
A proposed carbon-capture pipeline, scheduled to cross Antelope and Holt counties, is an example of "environmentalism gone amok," according to an Iowa resident who addressed Antelope County Commissioners, May 9. Tammy Kobza, a Nebraska native who serves as a field representative for The John Birch Society, said Nebraskans can learn a lot about landowner rights and eminent domain by watching their eastern neighbors battle Summit Carbon Solutions. The Iowa-based company seeks to construct a...
A resolution regarding perpetual water and conservation easements will go back to the Holt County Planning and Zoning Commission. The directive was given by Holt County Supervisors, Friday, following a public hearing about the 2021 resolution. The easement resolution was sent to planning and zoning for a public hearing, based on a recommendation from county attorney Brent Kelly, who was not in attendance at Friday’s public hearing. During the supervisors’ March 31 hearing, interim planning and...
A resolution opposing perpetual land and water conservation easements will be included in Holt County zoning documents. Planning and zoning commission members accepted the resolution from Holt County Supervisors, as is, on a 4-2 vote, during a Feb. 27 public hearing. A handful of Holt County residents asked questions about Resolution 2021-32, which would "oppose the designation of lands in Holt County as wilderness, wilderness study areas, wildlife preserves, open space or other conservation...
Antelope County Commissioners listened to comments from opponents of a proposed carbon-capture pipeline earlier this month. Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Nebraska, was scheduled to meet with Holt County Supervisors, Feb. 16, but a Central Nebraska snowstorm kept her from making the trek from her home in Hastings to O'Neill. Before Antelope County leaders, Kleeb outlined her organization's fight against the Keystone XL pipeline and how she worked with area landowners to protect property rights. She...
Late last week I learned of my appointment to three special committees: justice reinvestment oversight, state-tribal relations, and statewide tourism and recreation water access and resource sustainability. I am pleased to both be the vice chair of State-Tribal Relations (Committee) and be able to provide the 40th District with continued representation on the STAR WARS Committee. As a member, I hope to bring the proposed event center and lodge at Niobrara State Park, boat launch near the...
After sifting line by line through proposed zoning regulations, Holt County Supervisors approved changes for regulations regarding pipelines, carbon pipelines and wind energy. Proposed regulations for solar energy were sent back to the county's planning and zoning board for additional information during the Nov. 16 meeting. Pipeline regulations Proposed regulations update the definition of pipeline to include crude oil, tar sands and affluents. Per regulations, a pipeline will be "any pipe with...
After existing for 42 years, Holt County's comprehensive plan will be updated. But, a proposed 18-month moratorium on industrial pipelines, wind and solar power, will not be in effect while updates take place. Supervisors voted 6-0, Wednesday, March 16, to deny the moratorium, following a public hearing in O'Neill. The moratorium request came from the county's planning and zoning commision, which voted 6-2 in favor of the moratorium, March 7, following a two-hour public hearing. At that time, la...
Robert E. Johnston, a fifth-generation farmer and producer from Clearwater, recently announced his candidacy for Nebraska Legislature District 40. Johnston, a staunch advocate for rural Nebraska and lifelong community leader, filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State for the upcoming election. "I have always been intrigued by the legislative process and, with a growing rural-urban divide across the state, now is the time for a strong voice to represent the voters of the 40th District," said...
Two defendants were arraigned by the Honorable Mark Johnson in the Antelope County district courtroom in Neligh on Oct. 27. Brian G. Tibbens, 50, of Elgin was arraigned on two counts alleged Sept. 26 at a rural Elgin home, first-degree assault, a Class 2 felony, and terroristic threats, a Class 3A felony. If convicted, Tibbens faces potential sentences of a minimum of one year, up to 50 years in prison on Count I and up to three years and/or a $10,000 fine on Count II. Bond continues at $100,000, 10% cash. Pretrial is set Nov. 24, with jury...
Governor’s Misinformation Campaign on ‘30 x 30 Plan’ To the editor: Not long ago the secretary of agriculture announced a bold initiative that would cut the environmental footprint of US agriculture in half by the year 2050. The date was Feb. 20, 2020. The cabinet official was the Trump administration’s Sonny Perdue. Governor Pete Ricketts had little, if anything, to say about the ambitious “New Innovation Initiative for USDA” at the time, even though its objectives included radical goals for “conserving sensitive and marginal lands to enha...
I would consider the recently completed legislative session successful for Nebraska taxpayers. Among other items, we passed, and the governor signed into law, bills to provide a sales tax exemption on municipal water, tax relief for military retirement recipients, tax relief for social security recipients and income tax relief for corporate taxpayers. On the property tax front, we provided a valuation reduction for agland in the context of school bond repayment, we added additional dollars to...
