FORTENBERRY GEARS UP FOR BOLZ CHALLENGE IN VOLATILE ELECTION YEAR

LINCOLN - Nebraska's 1st Congressional District hasn't elected a Democratic member of the House since 1964. There are 187,325 Republicans and 121,968 Democrats in the 1st District. However, Sen. Kate Bolz is nonetheless vying for the seat.

Sen. Bolz has stated that the race will be fought over health care because that is the number one point of contrast. Sen. Bolz said, “Congressman Fortenberry has voted against the Affordable Care Act at every opportunity. It's hard to imagine how much more people could be hurting now.” Fortenberry says he welcomes a discussion about health care; it's atop his priority list, too.

Fortenberry approaches this year's re-election challenge with a hefty $1.9 million in campaign cash on hand (as of April 22), a conservative voting record and established name recognition. All political pluses.

Bolz is aggressively attempting to raise money — a substantial TV ad campaign is no doubt required and it would be expensive — and she could use some national Democratic funding assistance to buttress her steady stream of online fundraising efforts.

Additionally, the Fortenberry campaign has geared up for a fight this year with an aggressive early telephone and field campaign.

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UNMC JOINS HUNDREDS OF MED CENTERS WORLDWIDE IN STUDY ON TREATING CRITICALLY ILL COVID-19 PATIENTS

SCOTTSBLUFF - When COVID-19 emerged in the U.S. roughly five months ago, doctors had to quickly figure out how to treat those infected with the virus that causes the illness, particularly those who became critically ill.

To that end, researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and clinical partner Nebraska Medicine have joined 350-plus medical centers in 48 countries in a study intended to help supply intensive care clinicians with the most up-to-date information so they can improve patient outcomes.

What researchers are trying to decipher, said Thompson, an assistant professor of anesthesiology, are the factors that lead to critical illness in COVID-19 patients and how such patients’ illnesses progress from the time they’re first hospitalized until they require critical care.

Further, they will be looking at which patients progress to treatment with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, a form of life support that partially replaces heart and lung function.

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BRYAN ADDS MORE TESTING SLOTS TO MEET DEMAND

LINCOLN - Bryan Health on Thursday said it is expanding the hours of its drive-thru testing site and increasing the number of COVID-19 tests available to meet a growing need.

Bob Ravenscroft, Bryan's vice president of advancement, said 30 slots were added for Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the site at Bryan LifePointe near 27th Street and Pine Lake Road.

Before it added the additional slots, all available testing times for Thursday and Friday were filled by Wednesday morning. "Things were filling up really quickly yesterday," he said.

The increase in testing demand comes as Lincoln has seen a marked increase in COVID-19 cases over the past couple of weeks. Lancaster County had 230 cases last week, the third-highest weekly total, and as of Wednesday it already had 164 this week.

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TEACHERS UNIONS ASKS LPS TO DELAY FULL SCHOOL REOPENING IN FACE OF SPIKING COVID-19 CASES

LINCOLN - The Lincoln Education Association, in a rare break with the school district that employs 2,300 of its members, issued a statement Thursday asking the district to delay fully reopening Lincoln Public Schools until the spike in COVID-19 cases ends.

The statement says, “There is a very real probability that adults in our school system will become ill or even die with COVID by reopening now. That is not a price that our community should pay.”

The teachers union said its preference is to delay reopening of schools until the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department’s “risk dial” is firmly in the green (safest) range, or until the county has 14 days with no new cases. It is now in the orange, or high-risk, range.

LPS has been moving forward with plans to reopen schools on Aug. 12, and will release the specifics of their plan on Tuesday during the daily briefing by the mayor and Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department.

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LINCOLN MAYOR: RISE IN CORONAVIRUS CASES THREATENS NEW RESTRICTIONS

LINCOLN - A rise in coronavirus cases in the Lincoln area may require a return to tougher restrictions, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said Tuesday. The mayor said the surge threatens public health and the reopening of schools and businesses.

Officials point to the following trends: » For the week ending Saturday, 230 new cases were reported, the highest weekly total since the week ending May 23.

» About 57% of the new cases in the past two weeks have been among people in their 20s, an age group that makes up only 18.5% of Lancaster County.

» The weekly positive rate has increased from 3.1% at the end of June to about 7.5% last week.

» On Tuesday, 21 virus patients were hospitalized, up from nine on July 3. That includes 11 Lancaster County residents and 10 from elsewhere. Three of those people are on ventilators.

With 44 new cases Tuesday, Lancaster County stands at 2,226 total cases. Thirteen people have died.

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AFTER LITTLE FEDERAL ASSISTANCE, HEALTH DIRECTOR LOOKS LOCALLY FOR ANSWERS FOR REOPENING SCHOOLS

OMAHA - Douglas County’s health director voiced frustration Wednesday about the lack of leadership at the national level in providing guidance about safely reopening schools this fall.

Adi Pour, director of the Douglas County Health Department, said she and other health directors across the state have been working with the Nebraska Education Department to produce some common parameters for reopening based on best practices.

The Health Department is already receiving near-daily reports of cases of COVID-19 among sports teams and other groups that have resumed games, practices and rehearsals.

Pour said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has produced some documents on school reopenings, but they’re relatively broad. So on Wednesday, she said, she sent a page of questions to an infectious diseases physician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center seeking more specific guidance, particularly regarding what public health agencies should do when a first case occurs in a classroom.

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SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA COMMUNITIES CLOSE PUBLIC BUILDINGS BECAUSE OF CORONAVIRUS

LINCOLN - Two counties in southeast Nebraska have had public buildings close because of a resurgence of coronavirus.

A recent spike in cases led Thayer County to close all of its county offices in Hebron earlier this week, just a month after they reopened.

"Due to a rapid increase of COVID cases in Thayer County, the Thayer County Commissioners have decided that all Thayer County buildings will be closed to the public until further notice," a post on the county's Facebook page said Tuesday.

In Saline County, Crete closed its city hall just a couple of days after it reopened when a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Saline County had a large COVID-19 outbreak in the spring linked to the Smithfield Foods plant in town. It has had 16 cases over the past two weeks, after previously recording more than 530.

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NEW NEBRASKA CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE WEBSITE UNVEILED

LINCOLN - Gov. Pete Ricketts launched a new website on Wednesday that will track the state's ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The website at coronavirus.nebraska.gov will provide updates featuring information about the state's plans for coronavirus relief funding along with links to key public health and virus testing information.

Updates to the site are planned on a regular basis as the state continues to disperse virus response funding.

The federal government is providing $1.08 billion to aid the state in responding to the impact of the virus.

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CORONAVIRUS TOOK HIS FATHER’S LIFE. STATE SEN. TONY VARGAS SHARES HIS PAIN TO HELP OTHERS

OMAHA — The coronavirus killed Tony Vargas’ father. So the state senator from South Omaha, one of the hardest-hit parts of Nebraska, can honestly tell families struck by COVID-19 that he feels their pain.

Vargas has consoled. He has received consolation. But he would rather help people avoid the sickness, death and grief that the pandemic has brought to so many families. Even though it hurts to revisit his own grief, he uses his family’s experience to persuade people to take the virus seriously and take precautionary measures.

Vargas has become one of the main faces of wearing a mask, social distancing and being tested. The senator has advocated for more testing sites and capacity, and for more protection for workers in meatpacking and other jobs that have been struck by outbreaks.

“He’s putting himself out there to prevent others from the pain,” said Andrea Skolkin, CEO of OneWorld Community Health Centers.

The Nebraska Legislature will reconvene soon, and there will be policy to be debated, such as funding for public health departments and community health centers, equal access to health care and protections for meatpacking workers. Vargas will be in the middle of that, too.

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MAYOR CRITICIZES DHHS AFTER NEW HASTINGS YRTC PLANS ANNOUNCED

HASTINGS - Hastings Mayor Corey Stutte has confirmed he has talked with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services about bringing a new Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center to town. The new center would close the current facility in Geneva and open a new one for girls at the former Hastings Regional Center campus. Mayor Stutte is not happy those details were released.

Mayor Stutte wrote a letter to DHHS CEO Dannette Smith, which said:

"Dannette, I was under the impression that our phone call today was supposed to be confidential and that any announcement would come later after we had a chance to evaluate it. You requested my discretion last night, but that is now off the table. This is after all a net-neutral employment move for our community and not an addition to our community workforce. This also raises questions for our local law enforcement that needs to be addressed. Doing “what’s in the best interest of the youth” is something that needs a deeper conversation than a one sided explanation from your office. You said you’ll be happy to meet in person in the next couple of weeks—what happened to this statement? I am a former intelligence officer in the Navy and I had clearer lines of communication to our Five Eyes partner nations than I did with your office. This is unacceptable. I don’t appreciate reading this in the Omaha World Herald and this is not the first time DHHS did this (see the layoffs from 2017 at the cottages in Hastings). I expect better from our state agencies that we all pay taxes for and I look forward to your explanation. I have cc’d our local media on this and I’ll direct any questions to your office. Thank you and I hope you have a good rest of your week. Corey"

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CHAMBERS RETURNS BIRTHDAY CARD FROM RICKETTS UNOPENED, CITING ‘RACIST’ CAMPAIGN FLYER

LINCOLN - Friday was Senator Ernie Chambers’ 83rd birthday. It may be the last one he spends as a state senator, Nebraska’s longest-serving one, as his term expires in January. Senator Chambers received a birthday card from Governor Pete Ricketts. However, he did not open it, and he explained why.

“Governor Ricketts,” he wrote, “I realize that card sending is merely a pro forma exercise. But due to the disrespect you consistently maintain (exemplified by the RACIST CAMPAIGN flyer you exuberantly endorsed in the Slama campaign) toward me, is so personally disgusting that I find this card to be the crowning insult from a deep-dyed RACIST.” And he signed his name.

Ricketts’ spokesman, Taylor Gage, said about Chambers’ reaction to the card: “The birthday cards are a courtesy the governor does for state senators, their wives and fellow governors.”

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NEW STATE PRISON COULD COST UP TO $750M OVER 30 YEARS, COMPANIES SAY

LINCOLN - Thirteen companies responded to a request for information on building a new prison in Nebraska. Only a few offered a potential cost, but one put out the notion that a public-private lease purchase could cost the state $750 million over 30 years. That one, CGL Companies of Sacramento, California, said construction alone, with support space and fees and contingencies, could cost $450 million.

Others proposed the prison could be built at a lower cost, and one of those — Hawkins Construction of Omaha — suggested the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services might be better off purchasing the land, contracting directly for design and construction, retaining ownership and operation and maintenance services.

CoreCivic of Brentwood, Tennessee, offered information on a project it completed this year in Kansas. It consists of four buildings — two maximum/medium security housing units totaling 1,920 beds, one 512-bed minimum security dormitory and one support building that houses medical, mental health, food services, recreation, spiritual life and staff support areas, totaling 380,000 square feet. The facility was privately financed with a lease term of 20 years. The annual lease rate starts at $14.9 million, including an annual 1.94% rent escalator. At the end of the lease term, the state of Kansas will own the facility.

The Nebraska companies were: Hawkins, Johnson Controls, Kitchell, The Weitz Co. and Shive-Hattery.

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RICKETTS CHALLENGED ON RADIO SHOW TO MANDATE MASKS

LINCOLN - Gov. Pete Ricketts was challenged Monday during his monthly call-in radio show to mandate the wearing of masks in public to better protect Nebraskans from COVID-19 and apply the brakes to spread of the virus before it breaks loose as it has in other states.

"Wouldn't it make sense if everybody just wore a mask?" Ann in Lincoln told the governor.

"If everybody wears a mask, you almost completely control the spread," she said.

Wearing a mask is "just one tool," along with social distancing and repeated hand-washing that's most effective in controlling the virus, Ricketts said, and "I think we get better compliance if you don't make it a mandate."

Ricketts pointed to declining coronavirus hospitalization numbers in Nebraska to argue that the state has been successful in slowing the spread of the virus while maintaining its ability to respond to any needs for hospital beds, intensive care unit beds and ventilators.

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NEBRASKA AG FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST OMAHA STEM CELL CLINIC

OMAHA - Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson on Thursday filed a lawsuit against an Omaha-based stem cell clinic. The lawsuit, filed in Douglas County District Court, alleges that the Regenerative Medicine & Anti-Aging Institute of Omaha and its owners, Travis and Emily Autor, made more than $2 million by making deceptive and misleading statements to consumers regarding the ability of their stem cell therapy to treat specific diseases and health conditions.

It seeks to stop the clinic from making deceptive and misleading claims regarding its treatments, to refund money to patients and to pay an undetermined amount of civil penalties.

“Consumers are entitled to accurate and truthful information about any product or service, but especially those products that affect their health and well-being," Peterson said in a news release.

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YEAR-END TAX COLLECTIONS $266 MILLION BELOW LATEST PROJECTION BUT NEBRASKA STILL IN THE BLACK

LINCOLN - Nebraska closed out its fiscal year in better shape than once feared but with little to spare for any new spending or tax initiatives, a key lawmaker said Wednesday. The State Department of Revenue released a report showing that the state collected $4.939 billion in net tax revenues for the year that ended June 30. That’s $10.66 million more than the certified forecast issued in July 2019 and represents a 4.2% growth in taxes compared to the previous year.

State Sen. John Stinner of Gering, the Appropriations Committee chairman, said the year-end tally looks much better than the estimates he got a couple of months ago, which had suggested the state would end the year about $95 million in the red because of economic disruption caused by the coronavirus.

Still, the year-end figure is $266 million less than the most recently updated revenue projections, issued in February. State lawmakers had been building their budget around that recent forecast before the session was interrupted by the coronavirus in mid-March.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Nebraska did well to end the year by putting more than $10 million into the state’s cash reserve fund.

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DON WALTON: WHAT TO WATCH FOR AS LEGISLATURE NEARS RETURN

LINCOLN - The Legislature resumes its virus-interrupted session a week from now with big question marks hanging in the air. Property tax relief, creation of a new business development tax incentives program, some form of early commitment to state funding support for a transformational University of Nebraska Medical Center project and pandemic-related adjustments to the state government's 2019-2021 budget are the early headliners.

Nebraska's current business tax incentives program is due to expire at the end of the year, and an early commitment to the ambitious Medical Center project might be critical in gaining federal designation and support.

This is going to be an odd, socially distanced legislative session in which senators are spread across the breadth of the legislative chamber and the lobbying corps and news media are isolated from senators during floor proceedings.

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SENATORS BACK AGAIN, BUT NOTHING’S QUITE THE SAME

LINCOLN - The last days of the 2020 Nebraska legislative session, which will reconvene Monday, will look different, with Plexiglas barriers, masks for those who choose to wear them and physical distancing.

Senators will be advised to wear masks in the chamber, rotunda, offices and hallways, and be tested for the coronavirus this week. But Speaker Jim Scheer acknowledged it's up to individual members whether they will follow the recommendations. Senators will be advised to wear masks in the chamber, rotunda, offices and hallways, and be tested for the coronavirus this week. Long days, many priority bills and intense issues await senators, along with the threat of rising COVID-19 cases in the state.

In addition to the 49 senators, others allowed into the chamber will be limited, but could at any given time total about 75 to 80 people, including Clerk of the Legislature staff, pages, troopers, sergeants at arms, legislative and committee staff and others.

Lobbyists will not be allowed to send in messages or gather at the lobby doors.

Priority bills will be the focus of the session, Scheer said, and his goal is to get all those that are out of committee debate time. It is worthy of note that revenue could be down substantially because of the coronavirus impact.

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TIGHT RACE BREWING IN NEBRASKA HOUSE CONTEST: INTERNAL POLL

WASHINGTON - A tight race is brewing in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District as Democrats are hopeful that progressive Kara Eastman can put up a stiff challenge to Rep. Don Bacon (R).

According to an internal poll from the Eastman campaign that was obtained exclusively by The Hill, Eastman has the support of 50 percent of likely general election voters, compared with 49 percent for Bacon. The results are similar to those of a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee poll conducted in May showing a narrow 48-47 margin in Eastman’s favor.

The battle between Eastman and Bacon is a rematch from 2018, when Bacon narrowly won reelection by 2 points in the Omaha district. Eastman won the Democratic nomination in May over attorney Ann Ashford, a centrist who is married to former Rep. Brad Ashford (D).

“I am happy to see in these numbers what I am hearing in talking to voters: that folks no longer want a Trump rubber stamp representing them in Congress,” Eastman said in a statement to The Hill.

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SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE PREPARING FOR ELECTION AMID PANDEMIC UNCERTAINTY

LINCOLN - Nebraska’s Secretary of State, Bob Enven, said the department is still considering whether to send early ballot request forms to all Nebraskans this fall.

Evnen said the decision will be made in time to let voters know before the election. He anticipates early voting will be higher than previous elections, but not as high as the May primary.

Evnen said the November election may require adjustments, such as moving polling places, depending on the status of the pandemic.

“We gained a lot of knowledge and experience in May," Evnen said. "We had tremendous cooperation from vendors. We had great cooperation from a number of different professional groups to help us develop a new generation of poll workers. And I expect we will draw on our experience from the May primary to ensure that the election in November goes forward well.”

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NEBRASKA’S 3 LARGEST COUNTIES TO SEND BALLOT REQUEST FORMS

LINCOLN - Nebraska’s three largest counties plan to send ballot request forms to every voter before this fall’s general election, but it’s not yet clear whether those forms will be sent statewide as they were before the primary.

Officials in Douglas, Sarpy and Lancaster counties say they are planning to send out the ballot-request forms because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and because it will help them plan for the election. Nebraska also has 11 rural counties that routinely vote entirely by mail.

Heavy use of mail-in ballots during the May primary helped the state set a record for turnout when more than 471,000 people voted.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen told The Omaha World-Herald he hasn’t decided whether to send out ballot request forms to every registered voter in the state. He said anyone who wants to vote by mail can contact local election officials to request a ballot.

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