OMAHA - Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon received campaign donations from one of the men indicted this week on charges of violating campaign finance laws in connection with the president’s pressure on Ukraine.
The World-Herald brought the donations to Bacon’s attention. His campaign said that as soon as the congressman “discovered the illegality of these donations,” he donated that amount to two anti-sex trafficking charities.
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LINCOLN — WellCare, a Tampa, Florida-based company, raked in more than five times the allowable profit in its first year of managing the care of Nebraska Medicaid patients.
WellCare of Nebraska is one of three private companies that contract with the state to administer physical health, behavioral health and pharmacy services for the majority of Medicaid patients.
Under the contract, the company — which pulled in 15% profits in its first year — had to turn back profits exceeding 3% of revenues. According to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the excess amounted to $44.7 million for 2017.
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LINCOLN - In December 1983, Ernie Chambers faced off against Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler on Phil Donahue’s TV show. The issue: Should college athletes be paid?
At one point, the conversation got so heated — and the studio audience so animated — that Donahue told the Nebraska lawmaker: “You’re going to need an escort to get out of here.”
Now, 36 years later, the state senator finally sees the NCAA inching toward dramatic reform after passage of a California law permitting athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness.
“I like any plan that makes it possible for athletes to gain something,” Chambers said.
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WASHINGTON- The Trump administration is believed to be preparing to pull out of the 34-nation Open Skies Treaty, a plan that would idle two Offutt-based OC-135B reconnaissance jets and their crews.
The planes are crewed and maintained at Offutt by the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron, which is part of the 55th Wing. Several dozen Offutt airmen are involved in the program. Members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation have also questioned the move.
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PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $8 billion in damages to a Maryland man who said his use of J&J’s antipsychotic Risperdal as a child caused enlarged breasts and the company failed to properly warn of this risk.
It was the biggest award to date among more than 13,000 lawsuits against J&J alleging that Risperdal caused a condition called gynecomastia in boys, which involves enlargement of breast tissue. The lawsuits generally claim that J&J was aware of the risk of this side effect, but understated the risk to doctors.
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JOHNSON COUNTY - The company working to build a mine in southeast Nebraska to extract a rare heat-resistant element says the project qualified for up to $200 million in state tax incentives.
NioCorp Developments said Tuesday it signed a contract with Nebraska for tax incentives on the proposed niobium mine near Elk Creek in Johnson County. The project is expected to create over 400 jobs and require more than $1 billion in construction costs.
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LINCOLN — State officials have found a way to continue Medicaid-funded services for some children with disabilities who lost coverage this year. The option may help children like 4-year-old Claire Aschoff of Blair, who was dropped from a special Medicaid waiver program for disabled children and adults on Aug. 1. She lost coverage after state officials determined she did not meet new eligibility standards.
Now the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is offering to transfer Claire, and children like her, to a different Medicaid waiver, one designed for people with developmental disabilities.
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LINCOLN — Two men who have been duking it out across the country over medical marijuana will meet for the first time in Lincoln. Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, advocates for legal access to marijuana. Luke Niforatos, chief of staff for Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), argues against legalization of marijuana.
They will be featured at the Oct. 17 launch of Good Talks for the Good Life, a Nebraska effort to promote thoughtful, reasoned dialogue on divisive issues.
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Five years after committing to invest billions of dollars in a shared battery factory in the Nevada desert, Panasonic has a strained relationship with the electric-car pioneer. The Gigafactory was supposed to boost profits, cement Panasonic’s future in automotive electronics and give Tesla easy access to the most important—and expensive—component of its vehicles.
Instead, the partnership has exposed a culture clash between the conservative, century-old Japanese conglomerate accustomed to consensus and the 16-year-old Silicon Valley upstart built around Mr. Musk’s vision for upending 100 years of automotive tradition.
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LINCOLN - Serving in the Nebraska Legislature is stimulating, important work. State senators debate proposals that can have far-ranging effects on the state. Lawmakers defend values and principles important to them. Many Nebraskans who have served at the State Capitol have found the experience deeply rewarding.
Nebraskans deciding whether to run for the Legislature need to understand beforehand, however, how stressful and complicated the job can be. It’s not uncommon, for example, for newly elected state senators to find that the Legislature’s demands on their time well exceed their expectations. As a result, some have struggled to develop a successful balance between their legislative service and their job. Some with young families have been frustrated trying to achieve a suitable work-and-home balance.
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LINCOLN — A 17-month-long effort to replace a 1990s computer system at the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles is about to be completed. The agency said its new, $21.9 million “VicToRy” computer system will go live Oct. 15 and will deliver more services to users and reduce errors in inputting data.
State DMV Director Rhonda Lahm said her agency has been working with county treasurers and others since March 2018 to make the switch to the VicToRy system. Training of workers to use the new system also has been underway.
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DETROIT — Poor people in Michigan with asthma and diabetes were admitted to the hospital less often after they joined Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. More than 25,000 Ohio smokers got help through the state’s Medicaid expansion that led them to quit.
And around the country, patients with advanced kidney disease who went on dialysis were more likely to be alive a year later if they lived in a Medicaid-expansion state.
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OMAHA - To roars of booing and less cheering, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon told constituents at a Saturday town hall meeting that he’s seen no illegal behavior by President Donald Trump regarding Ukraine.
Bacon, a Republican who represents Omaha and central and western Sarpy County, addressed the topic of impeachment head-on: “There is no law that’s been broken,” he said repeatedly, to a smattering of cheers and a roar of boos. The crowd was rowdy at times, with people yelling in opposition and others showing support for Bacon.
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LINCOLN - Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, who is spearheading the legislative effort to reach agreement on property tax relief and tax reform, said Friday she believes "we're closer than people realize...We're in a better place than most people think we are," the chairwoman of the Legislature's Revenue Committee said during a panel discussion at the Platte Institute's legislative summit in Lincoln.
When asked whether a special legislative session to deal with the issue may be in order, Linehan said she might agree to that "if I thought we had 33 votes" and the support of Gov. Pete Ricketts.
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LINCOLN — An initiative petition drive seeking a 35% rebate for property taxes paid is setting its sights on the state’s urban areas after gaining signatures in rural Nebraska. The TRUE Nebraskans petition drive will open an office in west Omaha on Oct. 16 in its push to gather more than 120,000 signatures of registered voters by July 2 to qualify its proposal for the November 2020 ballot.
Officials with the group said they may have already met one of the two qualifications to obtain a spot on the ballot, which is to obtain signatures from at least 5% of the registered voters in 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Now, the group is determining how many more are needed from the state’s most populous areas to meet the overall signature requirement.
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CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — The cost of long-term repairs to a failed irrigation tunnel serving farmers in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska could reach $68 million.
Goshen Irrigation District officials say they will seek more Wyoming state funding assistance once they've decided on a long-term solution. Meanwhile, the irrigation tunnel collapse in July raises doubts about two other aging tunnels in the system. The failure of the century-old tunnel in July imperiled corn, sugar beets and other crops in a 150-square-mile area.
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The U.S. plans to swiftly impose tariffs on $7.5 billion in aircraft, food products and other goods from the European Union after the World Trade Organization authorized the levies Wednesday, citing the EU’s subsidies to Airbus SE.
The new duties represent the most significant trade action against the EU since the Trump administration hit the bloc with steel and aluminum duties last year, and could further sour relations between allies that have long sought to resolve trade disputes without resorting to tariffs.
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LINCOLN - State Senator Tom Brewer and his teammate and son-in-law, Dalton Boden, took the gold cup in the multigun competition, semi-automatic division, using both rifles and pistols.
Boden, a 1st lieutenant in the Nebraska National Guard, is married to Brewer's daughter Kalee, who is also a 1st lieutenant in the Guard, and they live in Murdock. He was alongside Brewer last year in the same competition.
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LINCOLN — State Sen. Bruce Bostelman of rural Brainard has announced that he will seek a second term in the Nebraska Legislature.
Bostelman, a 57-year-old registered Republican, serves District 23, which covers Butler and Saunders Counties and most of Colfax County.
He pledged if reelected to continue to protect “unborn life” and gun rights. He has been endorsed by Gov. Pete Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman, among others.
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LINCOLN - A law passed earlier this year changing the definition of a cigarette to include vaping products, which has lumped in certain cigars for tax purposes, has caught the ire of two tobacco product manufacturers and a New York trade association.
Swisher International Inc., Cheyenne International Inc. and the Cigar Association of America last week sued Nebraska’s attorney general and tax commissioner over the change that went into effect Sept. 1.
In a lawsuit filed in Lancaster County District Court, their attorney, Patrick Brookhouser Jr., called the move "unprecedented."
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