Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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While it rained cats and dogs in Clearwater, Monday, village trustees let the cat out of the bag during their regular meeting: They are unsure of how to handle the feral cat population. And, instead of going to the dogs, village officials are hopeful a newly-established fine for unlicensed canines will urge residents to pay the $6 tag fee, due annually by May 1. Discussion about dog tags, and lack of residents who pay the yearly amount, has been on the trustees' agenda for nearly three months....
Recent tension between the Boyd-Holt E911 board members and fire departments, emergency medical services, and law enforcement from both Boyd and Holt counties came to a head, Tuesday, June 20, as representatives filled the Holt County Annex meeting room. The board has struggled to keep employees the last few years and has failed to keep some of its promises to other dispatching agencies. Troubles with employees and management have fractured the once smooth operations' center that dispatches for...
The 108th Legislature First Session was a hot mess. The fact that three senators could derail the work of 46 others in the nation's only one-house, allegedly nonpartisan Legislature, speaks volumes. What went wrong? Most everything that could. There were 17 new senators (two of them who served terms before being reelected in November). A new clerk of the legislature stepped up after two years as an assistant. A new governor and a new lieutenant governor who is the presiding officer of the...
The voter ID measure, a solution in search of a problem, has been thankfully watered down in legislative action that clearly indicates the wheels on the Republican juggernaut are wobbly, if not ready to come off. Turns out the chief opponent to the bill and an amendment that came from the Government Committee was Republican Sen. Julie Slama, who was the poster child for a ballot initiative that got the topic before lawmakers. The initiative was largely funded by recent-Governor Pete Ricketts'...
The 108th Legislature, First Session, has adjourned sine die. This past year, lawmakers passed some important bills and failed to agree on other critical issues. Excluding A bills, of the 820 bills and 274 resolutions introduced this year, only 33 bills and one resolution actually received a final vote. However, the bills passed included many expansive Christmas tree packages, meaning the Legislature actually passed 291 bills in total, including A bills. This figure is comparable to the last...
A legislative proposal to make various changes to Nebraska’s tax system received second-round approval this past week. LB 727 is a Revenue Committee omnibus package that contains provisions from nearly 30 bills. The bill includes several provisions that I support, including: • LB 577, which would prohibit home equity theft by requiring personal service to property owners that their taxes are delinquent, making sure they know they are at risk of losing their home or land via the purchase of a tax...
When Antelope County Commissioners convene June 6, members of the public wanting to watch proceedings will have to do so in person. After a 5-1 vote during the group’s May 9 meeting, broadcasting meetings via the Zoom platform will no longer be an option. Commissioner Regina Krebs voted against the motion. During discussion prior to the vote, chairman Charlie Henery said the group made a motion during the pandemic to use virtual conferencing. “If we don’t want to continue, we need a motio...
Ewing Village Board of Trustees approved applying for United States Department of Agriculture grant, totaling $50,000, to assist with the purchase of a payloader. The vote was taken during a 7 p.m. special meeting, Monday, at city hall. Chairman James Ramold said officials are looking at different options, with prices ranging from $101,000 to $130,000. Trustee Dustin Wright said prices vary, depending on the types and number of attachments included with the equipment purchase. "There's not a...
As the days in the George W. Norris Legislative Chamber dwindle down to a precious few, the Republican majority continues to trip over each other patting themselves on the back while the Democrats dig their trenches a little deeper and promise to give the home folks one to remember. There are still 32 Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature and they are a mostly conservative lot. The Democrats are down to 16 with the recent defection of Omaha Sen. Meghan Hunt, who now identifies...
This week saw the Legislature continue to work late into the night to complete its business before adjourning in June. Although only a few bills have advanced thus far, a tremendous amount of work is going on behind the scenes by various legislative divisions such as the clerk’s office, transcribers, bill drafters, information technology, research, and committees to ensure bills are ready for the floor. With all the budget bills sitting on final reading, senators spent several days working to p...
The Legislature gave second-round approval to the budget bills this past week. This effort will allow the budget to be read on Final Reading next week, meeting the requirement to have it pass by the 80th legislative day. The budget would provide money for capital construction projects such as the Perkins County Canal Project and a new prison facility. Additional funds are appropriated to cover salary increases recently negotiated with the state employee’s union and for staff at correctional f...
As if propping up the school aid formula to historic proportions wasn't enough, the new governor appears to be getting his way in the Legislature with a package of tax changes that could cost the state more than $3 billion over the next six years. The plan would increase Nebraska's two property tax credit programs, cap school property tax growth and eliminate almost all community college property taxes. Oh, and this bill works in concert with one that would cut the state's top income tax rate...
The Appropriations Committee advanced its finalized recommendations for the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 biennial budget to the full Legislature. This proposal calls for an average increase of 2.3% in spending over the next two fiscal years. The main differences between the governor's proposal and the Appropriations Committee proposal are that lawmakers included an additional $80 million to increase both (A) the reimbursement rates for providers of Medicaid services by 3% this year and...
This week saw the Legislature pass the first four bills of the year. LB 376 would create a brand registration for the state Liquor Control Commission to accurately identify and track alcoholic products imported into Nebraska. LB 296 would both (a) create a framework for pet insurance and (b) require that the reimbursement rate for any telehealth service shall, at a minimum, be the same as a comparable in-person health care service in order to ensure there is no disincentive to health care...
This month’s state board of education meeting convened on Thursday, April 13 and Friday, April 14 at the Graduate Hotel in Lincoln. Before I get into this month’s highlights, I want to challenge you with a mental math problem for elementary students from 1877. No pencil, paper or technology allowed. On a farm, there are 60 animals - horses, cows and sheep; for each horse, there are three cows and for each cow there are two sheep: how many animals of each kind? For the answer, tune in to next mon...
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...
This week saw the Legislature continue the discussion of the governor’s school finance and tax package. LB 243, as amended by the Revenue Committee, would make a series of changes aimed at easing the financial impact of increasing property tax valuations on Nebraska’s local property taxpayers. Among changes proposed, the measure would increase the minimum amount of relief granted under the Property Tax Credit Act to $388 million in tax year 2024 and $560 million by tax year 2029. This amo...
It is the last week of March and the Legislature has moved on to all-day debate. At this point in time in the prior 2021 90-day long session, the Legislature had passed 31 bills with 16 signed into law by the governor. This year, a grand total of zero bills have been passed into law and only one resolution - my resolution LR 13 - affirming the Legislature’s support for including the names of the Sage brothers and other 71 sailors of the USS Frank E. Evans on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial W...
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...
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. This past week, the Legislature gave initial first-round approval to LB 574 which would adopt the Let Them Grow Act and prohibit the performance of gender-altering procedures on minors. This legislation has been the focus of discussions and filibusters in the past few weeks as opponents of the bill raised...
Organizations and non-profit groups in Antelope County applying for funding through the county’s Antelope County Visitors Improvement Fund will need to familiarize themselves with new rules regarding improvement fund disbursements. Antelope County commissioners, during a March 7 meeting, approved and authorized chairman, Charlie Henery, to sign a resolution that will “hold fund-request applications until the balance of the fund is above $5,000, at which time the application requests will be con...
How many brackets were busted over the weekend as the field of 64 narrowed? I'm not talking about college hoops. I'm talking about voting in the Nebraska Beer Bracket, a 64-brewery tournament that aims to "crown the best beer in Nebraska." The brainchild of Sarah Baker Hansen, a former Omaha World-Herald food writer, the bracket extends beyond Omaha and divides the state into four regions: Omaha, East, West and Capitol. Baker Hansen, along with the graphic design team from Hanscom Park Studios,...
Three proposals to cover the solution looking for a problem -- voter ID -- have proven to be about as confusing as the proponent’s explanation as to why the idea was necessary. After a lot of listening and a bunch of head scratching, I’m still not convinced. The only thing I know for sure, in Sen. Steve Erdman’s world there would be no mail-in ballots. Tell that to the 11 Nebraska counties that hold mail-only elections right now. Better yet, convince my 85-year -old neighbors that it’s a good idea. I’ve been voting by mail since Covid and...
The Legislature is now past Day 40 and is almost halfway through the current Legislative session. In floor debate, only a couple of bills have been discussed in depth. LB 753 would adopt the Opportunity Scholarships Act and provide education scholarships to assist eligible students to attend a qualified, nonprofit, private elementary or secondary school. Under the act, individual and corporate taxpayers would qualify for a non-refundable tax credit equal to the amount the taxpayer contributed...
It came down to Ron Hull. In September, the seven members of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission met in Lincoln to decide whether to induct civil rights leader and Omaha native Malcolm X. Three members were in favor of his induction. Three were opposed. After years of debate and several failed attempts to get the slain civil rights leader into the hall, the long-controversial effort now would be decided by one man. It was up to Hull, a silver-haired 92-year-old, a longtime Nebraska Public...
