LINCOLN - University of Nebraska President Ted Carter announced Friday, during his first meeting leading the university system, he is officially a Nebraskan.
"I have a driver's license, I have plates on my car, I've paid some taxes and I've already voted," said Carter, who started at NU on Jan. 1 after emerging last October as the sole finalist to replace Hank Bounds.
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LINCOLN — The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that an injured policyholder should get as much coverage from his auto insurance policy as any other person.
The decision was a vindication for Larry Freudenburg, an Alma, Nebraska, man who was severely injured in a 2016 crash in Kansas.
“I’m sure he’ll be very excited to hear the news,” said Jack Lafleur, one of Freudenburg’s attorneys. “He felt very strongly about that.”
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LINCOLN — State officials confirmed that several staff members were assaulted early Friday at the troubled Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-Kearney.
The incident occurred in one of the male dorms about 1:30 a.m., according to a joint statement from the Nebraska State Patrol and Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the center.
The staff members received injuries that were not life-threatening and the situation was resolved by law enforcement about 1:55 a.m., the statement said. It did not provide any other details.
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OMAHA - Those quarantined at Camp Ashland will wake or go to bed when they wish, get meals delivered to them and watch television, exercise and read to pass the time.
Federal officials have ratcheted up the Wi-Fi at Camp Ashland to provide those in quarantine with reliable Internet service.
But being cooped up in virtual isolation for about 14 days at the National Guard camp is not a vacation. Protecting them and the public from a coronavirus outbreak is the goal.
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OMAHA - U.S. Highway 275 in Dodge County is back open to traffic after floodwaters closed a portion of the highway Friday.
On Saturday, the Nebraska Department of Transportation announced in a tweet that the highway reopened between West Point and the Nebraska Highway 91 junction, near Scribner.
The department advised that flaggers are present and drivers should use caution.
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WASHINGTON — The NExT Project represents a towering, ambitious vision for the future of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
That vision also comes with a towering, ambitious price tag of $2.6 billion.
Backers of the proposed all-hazard response facility are seeking to line up hundreds of millions in state dollars to be matched by private donations and local contributions, but the project would rely on the federal government for about half its construction cost, and landing such a sum from Uncle Sam is no simple task.
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LINCOLN - The Panhandle's ag and irrigation community will be getting financial aid to help pay for repairs to a vital irrigation canal that collapsed last year.
The federal Bureau of Reclamation has announced that it will allocate $2.3 million toward the repairs. The loan will be in addition to a $3.8 million grant that Gov. Pete Ricketts has said the state will provide.
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LINCOLN - State Sen. Julie Slama of Peru, who introduced the measure, expressed frustration that, since 2004, the corps has balanced flood control with other factors, including protection of endangeredfish and wildlife.
“2019 was a record year for Nebraska in the worst way possible,” she said.
Gov. Pete Ricketts and the governors of Iowa, Missouri and Kansas have been pushing to get more say in managing the Missouri River, after all four states suffered damage from last year’s flooding.
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LINCOLN — State lawmakers and the state’s prison director sparred Wednesday over how to solve overcrowding that new projections show will only continue to mount in the decade ahead.
A draft consultant report recently delivered to the Nebraska Department of Corrections projects that the state’s prison system, currently more than 2,000 inmates above its design capacity, could be approaching 3,300 inmates over capacity by 2030. That’s despite hundreds of new beds expected over the next three years.
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LINCOLN — Nebraska lawmakers appear headed for debate over a “red-flag” bill that would allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from people suspected of being dangerous.
The controversial approach to gun violence advanced from the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday on a 5-2 vote, with one senator abstaining.
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LINCOLN - State Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln formally filed Tuesday as a candidate for eastern Nebraska's 1st District House seat and immediately turned her spotlight on the need to protect and enhance health care coverage for all Nebraskans.
That would include lowering the cost of prescription drugs, protecting health care coverage for people with preexisting conditions and "standing up for people" in addressing their health care concerns, she said.
Bolz said she would vigorously defend and support Medicare and Medicaid against efforts to diminish their reach or reduce their funding.
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LINCOLN - A University of Nebraska-Lincoln student and lifelong resident of northwest Lincoln has announced his candidacy to represent District 21 in the Legislature.
In addition to his studies, Brodey Weber is the vice president of client relations for Mid America Casing Supply, a locally owned, family business headquartered in Air Park.
District 21, which is represented by Sen. Mike Hilgers, encompasses northwest Lincoln, Malcolm, Raymond and the surrounding areas.
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LINCOLN — A proposal that could lead to an increase in the number of state senators ran into a buzz saw of questions on Tuesday.
The proposed constitutional amendment, if approved by voters, would allow legislators to increase the size of the unicameral Legislature from the current 49 senators to up to 55.
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OMAHA - Sewers vs. solar power. Efforts to build up both could have big implications for Sarpy County’s future. But those efforts also have sparked a dispute over land.
The Omaha Public Power District plans to build solar farms in eastern Nebraska that by 2024 would generate 400 to 600 megawatts of energy a year. To do so, it will need up to 3,000 acres of land.
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LINCOLN - The Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska has announced plans to significantly reduce its reliance on fossil fuels over the next 30 years.
The nonprofit supplier of wholesale electricity to 69 communities in four states announced last week that its board of directors voted to work toward having a totally carbon neutral power resource portfolio by 2050.
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LINCOLN - School representatives urged support Monday for a legislative proposal to confront what they said is a growing problem of nicotine vaping in schools and among Nebraska youth.
"There's been a steep increase in vaping" in Nebraska schools, Waverly High School principal Dr. Megan Myers said, and it is now growing among students as young as 14.
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LINCOLN - As the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services gets ready to open a new youth treatment facility in Lincoln, state senators are having hearings to provide oversight to the system.
Department CEO Dannette Smith is moving forward with the opening of the Lincoln center, believing it is the best avenue to house youth who need significant behavioral and mental health treatment.
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OMAHA - Americans who have traveled to China and may have been exposed to the coronavirus could be brought to Nebraska for observation.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services is working on a plan to bring Americans back to the United States, University of Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor Jeffrey Gold said Saturday afternoon. One place they might end up is Nebraska.
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LINCOLN - Sen. John McCollister of Omaha argued Thursday that it's time to apply Nebraska's state sales tax to purchases of candy and soft drinks and direct that new revenue to the state's health care cash fund.
Only 11 states do not tax those products now, he told the Legislature's Revenue Committee during a public hearing on his proposal.
McCollister removed a provision from his bill (LB810) that would have also applied the sales tax to bottled water.
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LINCOLN - A proposed cigarette and tobacco products tax hike that would have raised an estimated $90 million a year, providing funding largely devoted to health care needs, including Medicaid expansion, remained stuck in the Legislature's Revenue Committee on Wednesday on a 4-4 vote.
The bill (LB710), introduced last year by Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, would increase the cigarette tax by $1.50 a pack and impose tax hikes on other tobacco products.
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