ANTI-MASK GROUP HOLDS PROTEST IN OMAHA AS DOUGLAS COUNTY SEES RECORD NUMBER OF COVID CASES

OMAHA- Yet another week of record coronavirus cases in Douglas County has passed. With that, a group of nearly 40 people, completely maskless, was determined to protest the 'infringement of freedoms' masks create. The group's original plan was to go all go grocery shopping together, maskless as a protest to the mandate in Omaha. However, the store, along with the Omaha Police Department blocked stated they would block the protesters, and would push for the issuance of citations should the protesters enter the store.

Allie French, a protest organizer, instead planned for a group of protesters to march from the Millard West parking lot to the sidewalk in front of the grocery store with signs, flags and no masks. The majority of people came from No Mask Omaha, Nebraska Patriots and Nebraskans Against Government Overreach, two facebook groups with over 11,000 members, but messages by protesters were muddled with some yelling against masks, while others protested vaccinations for children.

“We weren’t trying to cause Hy-Vee problems, but we also aren’t just going to let ourselves be bullied and not be able to go to the grocery store, so today we are out here to stand up for that right,” French said. ”We’re not bad people. We just want to be left alone.”

On Saturday, the Douglas County Health Department reported a record 785 new COVID-19 cases, three more deaths and 384 hospitalizations, with 114 people in intensive care units.The county has recorded 270 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.

Read the full article HERE

LIKE METRO HOSPITALS, RURAL HOSPITALS OF NEBRASKA FACING CAPACITY CONCERNS AMID VIRUS SURGE

On Friday, the East Central District Health Department, which serves Platte, Colfax, Boone and Nance counties, said it had reached a record with 30 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and had only one available intensive-care bed.The Two Rivers Public Health Department, which covers Buffalo and several surrounding counties, said in its most recent weekly report that it had less than 10% of its ICU beds available.

In the spring, when certain areas of the state were hit with large outbreaks linked to nursing homes or meatpacking plants, there were plenty of hospital beds in Lincoln, Omaha and some other larger cities where patients could be transferred, however with urban hospitals filling at alarming rates, that is no longer an option. 

"As hospital beds in our state and region become increasingly unavailable, it has become more difficult to transfer patients in need of a higher level of care for any medical reason, not just COVID-related reasons," Veronica Schmidt, CEO of Melham Medical Center in Broken Bow, said last week in a message posted on the hospital's Facebook page. "The hospital has increased staffing and other resources to meet the need; however, as current trends continue, the care needs will far surpass local and regional resources,"

Read the full article HERE

PEOPLE WHO WORK FROM HOME SHOULD PAY NEW TAX, ECONOMISTS SUGGEST

NEW YORK- A new research report from Deutsche Bank offers a looking into the world economists see in the post-COVID-19 world.. The report, titled “What We Must Do to Rebuild,”  discusses the problems that may present themselves and puts forth possible solutions that some are finding radical. Deutsche Bank researcher Luke Templeman, in writing the report, suggests governments should impose a tax on those workers transitioning to a work-from-home model. 

Templeman points out in his arguments that ”between 2005 and 2018, internet technology fuelled a 173 percent increase in the number of Americans who regularly worked from home.” The report acknowledges that people working from home prior to the pandemic only made up about 5.4 percent of the workforce in the U.S. but estimates the number has skyrocketed to 56 during the pandemic. Under Templeton’s proposal, the tax would not apply during times of government mandated lockdowns, but did find in a survey of workers that the majority would prefer to continue working from home, even after the pandemic winds down.

"The sudden shift to WFH means that, for the first time in history, a big chunk of people have disconnected themselves from the economy," Deutsche Bank writes, adding, "remote workers are contributing less to the infrastructure of the economy whilst still receiving its benefits." 

The bank contends that these workers benefit from convenience and save money directly because they don't have to pay for commuting costs, takeout lunches, or dry cleaning work clothes. But it means that the millions of businesses that have grown up to support office-based workers won't be able to recover.

Read the full report HERE

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MODERNA'S CORONAVIRUS VACCINE IS 94.5% EFFECTIVE, ACCORDING TO COMPANY DATA

ATLANTA, Ga.- Moderna is the second company in the U.S. to report very positive results from COVID-19 vaccine trials. Dr. Anthony Fauci calls the 94.5% effective rate "truly outstanding." 

Moderna is prepared to begin vaccinations in the second half of December with high-risk groups. The rest of the population will be able to be vaccinated in the spring. 30,000 people participated in Moderna trials, with 15,000 people receiving placebo shots. 90 people with placebos developed COVID-19, with 11 of those cases being serious. Only 5 of the people with the vaccine developed coronavirus and none of them became severely ill. There were no serious side effects with the vaccine.  

Pfizer and Moderna used very similar techniques for the vaccine. They both use mRNA, a genetic recipe for making the spikes that sit atop the coronavirus. "There has always been skepticism about mRNA -- it's brand new and would it work? What we saw in the trials is there was no real safety concern, and the efficacy is quite impressive. We saw nearly identical results [with Pfizer and Moderna] and it almost really validates the mRNA platform," said Dr. Fauci 

Moderna's vaccine seems to be more practical than Pfizer's. Pfizer's vaccine must be kept at -75 degrees Celsius, whereas Moderna's only has to be stored at -20, which many vaccines already need to be stored at, meaning many hospitals already have the infrastructure to keep the vaccine for 30 days. The Pfizer vaccine can only last 5 days in the freezer. 

The company will apply to have the Food and Drug Administration authorize the vaccine by the end of the month.

Read the full article HERE

NEBRASKA TEACHERS UNION CALLS ON RICKETTS TO CLOSE BARS, MANDATE MASKS, LIMIT GATHERINGS; RICKETTS RESISTS AND URGES VOLUNTARY ACTIONS

OMAHA- The Nebraska State Education Association called on Gov. Ricketts to impose stricter restrictions including mask mandates, closing bars and suspending indoor dining. The board of directors of the NSEA fears a school shutdown if the state continues to have a relaxed approach to the pandemic. The union also wants the governor to decrease the density of the ratio of students to classroom. 

NSEA President Jenni Benson says the governor is "100% accountable for what is happening". 

According the a study conducted by the NSEA of it’s members, some teachers are planning on leaving teaching because of the absolute exhaustion they are feeling during this time. The top answer on the study to teachers said the top emotion they are feeling is 'overwhelmed', followed by 'stressed', 'frustrated' and 'worried'. 15% of teachers surveyed are looking for a new job and 3.6% are planning on quitting at the end of the year. 52% also said their district leaders were not listening to them, especially in relation to COVID-19 issues. 

Governor Ricketts continued to urge Nebraskans to voluntarily follow mask guidelines rather than enforcing a statewide mask mandate during his Monday morning press conference. He says educating the public will result in more people wearing masks and following health measures rather than trying to force it on people, pushing back on the NSEA and other’s push to mandate them state-wide. 

Ricketts said if figures rise to  25% hospital occupancy he will further restrictions on public gatherings. The 25% will be based on a 7-day rolling average of hospital beds available state-wide.

Read the full articles HERE and HERE

NEBRASKA MEDICINE DOCTOR PENS COVID-19 WARNING AS CASES RISE

OMAHA- The Midwest is breaking COVID-19 records everyday, and doctors like  Dr. Daniel Johnson of Nebraska Medicine are sharing a dire warning on  social media about these trends. Johnson wrote that if the state continues to fail, more Nebraskans will die, and stated that Nebraska has had the fifth worst outbreak in the nation. Most alarming is that if these trends continue, hospitals will run out of capacity in just three quick weeks. 

“We must do everything we can to reverse these trends. If things get completely out of control, every family in Nebraska will be affected either by a death or by serious illness” wrote Johnson. “The doubling time for COVID-19 hospitalizations in Omaha is currently 21 days. We currently have 372 COVID patients in the hospital. This doubling time means that in 3 weeks there will be 744 COVID patients needing the hospital, and in six weeks, there will be 1,488 COVID-19 patients needing the hospital. For perspective, the Omaha metro currently has 268 unoccupied, staffed hospital beds. The math is extremely worrisome”

Read the full letter by Dr. Johnson, M.D. HERE

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NEBRASKA SUPREME COURT SAYS ELKHORN SCHOOLS MUST PAY DEVELOPER AT LEAST $5.3 MILLION

OMAHA- Elkhorn Public Schools used the land on 180th Street and West Maple Road for their latest high school. But, the district undervalued the land during a condemnation process when the state seized it says a ruling by the Nebraska Supreme Court.

The Court ruled last Friday to uphold the Douglas County District Court's jury decision to award the developer twice as much as the district originally planned to pay. An appraiser for the school district listed the value at only $2.6 million, which is what an Omaha developer had paid for the land four months prior. 

The high court also ordered EPS to pay legal fees of $600,000 plus another $143,000 in interest. They noted that this high-traffic area was as valuable as the Village Pointe shopping center. The caveat is that the developer, Tribedo, will have to use the money on making the remaining land marketable. 

Read the full article HERE

SLOW AT THE POLLS? UNL RESEARCHERS ARE STUDYING HOW TO SPEED THINGS UP

LINCOLN- A group of students associated with the University of Nebraska- Lincoln timed how long it took voters to vote at the polls on Election Day. The students are part of a partnership between engineers and political scientists assembled by the University of Rhode Island, Auburn University and UNL. They are studying how to make voting more efficient. The group focused on 15 polling places in Douglas and Lancaster Counties with 30 students observing the polls, all of whom were trained to collect the data needed for the study.

This research is funded by the Democracy Fund and the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project. 

The design of polling places have been criticized for years as people are left waiting in lines to vote for hours on end. This was only heightened during the election in the midst of a pandemic. In Nebraska, the largest numbers of people seemed to flock to the polls in the morning, but in Rhode Island it hit during 5 o'clock traffic. The hope is for this research to spark more conversation on the matter, and provide options for states to implement for efficient elections.

Read the full article HERE

NEBRASKA ATTORNEY GENERAL JOINS BRIEF CHALLENGING SOME PENNSYLVANIA MAIL-IN BALLOTS

LINCOLN- A case concerning a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision allowing the county of ballots that were mailed by Election Day and received within three days is one of many filed after the national election. Nebraska's Attorney General Doug Peterson filed a friend-of-the-court brief challenging some ballots. 

The Republican Party of Pennsylvania filed the original challenge and is asking the Supreme Court to hear it. Peterson joined the brief filed by Oklahoma's AG, along with other states including Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee and West Virginia. The Attorney General's Office said the state joined in brief to “to maintain the proper separation of powers within state governments.”  

Another group of 10 states filed a similar amicus brief It argues that Pennsylvania overstepped its constitutional authority in accepting late ballots, that voting by mail creates voter fraud risks and that the decision to accept ballots after Election Day exacerbated risks of absentee ballot fraud.

Read the full article HERE

NEBRASKA CASINOS WORRY SOME IN IOWA GAMBLING INDUSTRY

DES MOINES, IA- Iowa's casino officials are worried that future Nebraskan casinos will hurt Iowa's gambling revenues. The state of Iowa, and the Iowa gaming industry is worried that the new Nebraska casinos would add to  the continued strain casinos are already feeling amidst the pandemic. Nebraskans who approved the ballot initiatives legalizing gaming at horse tracks at the ballot box hope to reclaim the estimated $500 million Nebraskans spend in Iowa casinos every year. 

Horse racing has also been on the decline in recent years and proponents of the gambling initiatives are hoping the new gambling laws will allow for that industry to flourish like it once did in the state. 

Michael Newlin, general manager of Horsemen’s Park in Omaha and Lincoln Race Course said he believes the new casinos will provide a boost to horse racing in the region because their profits will boost purses at races. The horse racing industry has been in decline for decades across the country.

Read the full article HERE

'OH, WHAT A GOOD IDEA': LINCOLN SENATOR CAN BE CREDITED WITH NEBRASKA'S UNIQUE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

LINCOLN- Former State Senator DiAnna Schimek and Senator Ernie Chambers can be credited with the state's unique electoral college system. Ernie Chambers can also be credited with blocking legislation trying to reform that system in the years following its adoption. Schimek heard of the idea of allowing electoral votes to be decided by the popular vote in the state's congressional districts at a conference in 1990. In the 1991 session, she introduced the bill. 

Following the bill‘s introduction, the state Republican Party got breath of the bill and worked hard to block the legislation through letters to senators. However, Schimek said nonpartisanship was taken more seriously back then, and the letters largely went ignored. Schimek said people understood the goal was to make sure everyone felt as though their vote actually mattered.

Following the adoption of the split electoral votes, attacks on the system have been introduced in the legislature to return to a winner-take-all state. These attacks gained momentum following the 2008 win of one electoral vote by then Senator Barack Obama.The last attempt to bring back the winner-take-all system was in 2017 and was introduced by Sen. John Murante. The Nebraskan Republican Party says the current system unfairly prioritizes a small group of voters, and a move to return to winner-take-all is once again expected following President-Elect Biden’s success in gaining the 2nd congressional district’s single electoral vote.

Read the full article HERE

MOST NEBRASKANS VOTED TO ABOLISH SLAVERY AS CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT. BUT 32% VOTED TO KEEP IT

LINCOLN- Nebraskans voted to eradicate the provision that slavery could be used as a punishment for crimes. But, an electorate the size of Lincoln, or nearly one out of three people, voted to keep it. This has left the state senator that introduced the bill, Sen. Justin Wayne, very confused. Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy counties strongly supported the amendment. Whereas smaller, rural counties in western Nebraska opposed it. Out of the 10 least populated counties, nine voted against it. 

Nebraska originally adopted the statute after the Civil War when slavery was outlawed, with the one exception being prisoners. This developed into the practice of "contract leasing" which allowed people to round up black people, who had not committed crimes, and force them into involuntary servitude. Legislators voted unanimously to put this issue on the ballot. 

Preston Love Jr., a community leader in Omaha, says he attributes some of the opposition to confusion over ballot language. He said, “I can’t imagine that many in Nebraska would actually consciously say, ‘I don’t want to remove slavery as an option.'" A website that uses academic tests to determine the difficulty of reading ballot language said the estimate education level needed to understand the amendment was at a second-year post-college graduate student. 

Read the full article HERE

KEYSTONE PIPELINE DEVELOPER PLANS TO SUE TO GET CONSTRUCTION PERMIT IN NEBRASKA COUNTY

LINCOLN — The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline is planning to go to court to obtain a construction permit from a rural Nebraska county.A company spokeswoman made the comment after the five-member Holt County Board of Adjustment voted Thursday afternoon to deny a permit to TC Energy, formerly TransCanada, until the pipeline company agreed to comply with 19 conditions.

The conditions included the establishment of an escrow account to cover any clean-up costs from possible future pipeline leaks and pay for the removal of the pipeline and reclamation of the land. The board also wanted TC Energy to bypass any fields that had underground drainage tiles and provide additional tests to detect any slow leaks from the crude oil pipeline.

The vote Thursday was the latest development in TC Energy’s attempt to comply with zoning rules in the north-central Nebraska county. 

Robynn Tysver, a spokeswoman for TC Energy, said the company planned to go to court to obtain a pipeline construction permit, “which will unfortunately cost the county significant time and resources.” “A vote in our favor would have cleared the way for our crews to improve many of the county’s roads, as well as fund a large portion of the cost to replace the Stuart-Naper Bridge,” Tysver said.

Read the full article HERE

RICKETTS LAYS OUT PLANS FOR MORE RESTRICTIONS IF COVID PATIENTS FILL 25% OF NEBRASKA HOSPITAL BEDS

LINCOLN- Governor Ricketts on Friday outlined new restrictions that may be imposed on a state-wide level if COVID-19 patients continue to climb and fill 25% or more of hospital beds. Currently there are 905 patents in Nebraska hospitals battling COVID-19, making up about 20% of all staffed beds in Nebraska. 

At the current rate of increase in hospitalizations, it would be only a few days before Nebraska hits the 25% mark. Typically, hospitalizations rise about two or three weeks after the number of cases grows.

Should Nebraska hit the 25% threshold noted by the governor, they can expect to see indoor gatherings limited to 10 pepole, outdoor gatherings to 25 People, closure of bars except for delivery and takeout, postpone all elective surgeries, and limit weddings and funerals to 10 person limits. 

The governor said he wants to give Nebraskans “the opportunity to change their habits before tightening up on restrictions:. 

Read the full article HERE

NEW NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE SEES NO MAJOR CHANGES IN DEMOGRAPHICS

LINCOLN- Nebraskan voters did not make any dramatic changes in the makeup of state lawmakers this election cycle. Republicans now hold a strong majority (32) over Democrats (17), although the Legislature is officially nonpartisan. 

This session the lawmakers will be tasked with redistricting the Legislature's 49 districts. The Legislature previously approved a redistricting reform bill in 2016 before it was vetoed by the governor, which would it have been passed would have allowed an independent commission to draw the legislative districts. With that bill failing to become law, members appointed to the redistricting committee will has out boundary lines before their proposal eventually is voted on by the full body.

Progress in diversity of gender and ethnicity in the body however seems to be one step forward two steps back for the legislature. The 2021 session will have one less woman legislator following last session’s historicly high number of 14. Senator-Elect Jen Day, who beat incumbent Senator Andrew La Grone of Gretna said "I've always wanted to see better representation in the Nebraska Legislature for women, something that was somewhat more proportional to the population in Nebraska." 

While the proportion of women decreased, ethnic diversity increased by adding Raymond Aguilar and Rita Sanders, both people of color. They have brought the number of nonwhite lawmakers to 12%. In 2015, that rate was at just 4%. Age wise, following the departure of Senator Ernie Chambers there are no members in their 80s, and now 17 members are under 40.Professions are very diverse, with about a dozen legislators having law degrees, 14% are farmers, many small business owners and a few bankers, retired educators and health administrators.  

Read the full article HERE

OMAHA POLICE UNTION PRESIDENT HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID-19: ‘IT FELT LIKE I GOT HIT BY A TRUCK’

OMAHA- Tony Conner, president of the Omaha Police Officers Association, is in the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, he said Tuesday.Conner said in an interview that he is slowly recovering and expects to be released from an Omaha hospital sometime in the next four or five days. But he said he has dealt with exhaustion, difficulty breathing, a fever, headache and chills.

"It felt like I got hit by a truck," Conner, 42, said.

Conner first experienced symptoms five days after socializing at a bar.  He said he began to feel exhausted. He received a positive test result Nov. 1 and was hospitalized last Wednesday.

Read the full article HERE

COVID-19 SURVIVORS FACE INCREASED RISK OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND DEMENTIA, STUDY SUGGESTS

WASHINGTON- A new study out this week is the latest to suggest that the effects of covid-19 can extend beyond the initial acute illness. Researchers found that about one in every five people diagnosed with covid-19 went on to be diagnosed with an episode of mental illness and/or insomnia in the three months following—a rate higher than in people who became sick but were not diagnosed with covid-19 during that same time period.

The new research, published in the Lancet Psychiatry on Monday, analyzed anonymized medical records from a database of 69.8 million patients in the U.S. Of these, over 62,000 patients were diagnosed with covid-19 between January 20 and August 1, 2020, and 44,000 had no previous history of mental illness. The researchers compared the mental health outcomes of these patients to patients diagnosed with one of six other medical conditions, including influenza or other respiratory infections, a broken bone, a skin infection, and kidney stones. These other patients were used as a sort of control, since many acute health problems are known to affect a person’s mental health, at least temporarily.

All told, across nearly every marker of mental or neurological health the researchers looked at, people with confirmed covid-19 appeared to be worse off. Read the full study HERE

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LEGISLATIVE RETREAT POSTPONED DUE TO COVID EXPOSURES

LINCOLN- Senator Mike Hilgers sent his colleagues notice today that the legislative retreat for senators, as required by statute, has been postponed due to exposures in the Capitol building. Hilgers noted that his staff will need to quarantine following exposure to a positive case, which comes on the heels of the announcement that Governor Ricketts will quarantine as well as a positive case by Senator Mike Groene. 

Hilgers noted that he will release plans as they are developed with rescheduling the event, but no details are available the time of the release of this newsletter. 

Senators had planned to gather for the yearly at Dismal River Golf Course outside Mullen this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Some members had already stated they would not be attending due to current COVID-19 conditions throughout Nebraska. 

EXPERTS SAY NO NEED TO CANCEL THANKSGIVING, BUT PLAY IT SAFE.

ATLANTA- On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its holiday guidance, noting the virus crisis is worsening and that small household gatherings are “an important contributor." The CDC said older adults and others at heightened risk of severe illness should avoid gathering with people outside their households.

A safe Thanksgiving during a pandemic is possible, but health experts know their advice is as tough to swallow as dry turkey: Stay home. Don’t travel. If you must gather, do it outdoors.

Canada, which celebrated Thanksgiving on October 12th traced clusters of cases to family gatherings over the holiday. 

Read the full article HERE

PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN ANNOUNCES 13 MEMBER VIRUS TASK FORCE AS CASES SOAR

WILMINGTON, DE- President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Monday made an urgent plea for Americans to wear masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, declaring that “a mask is not a political statement” as he vowed to make defeating the pandemic his number one priority when he takes office in January.

In his effort to do this, Biden announced a 13-member task force which will be co-chaired by three members: Dr. Vivek Murthy, a surgeon enteral under President Obama; David Kessler, former commissioner of the FDA under Presidents H.W. Bush and Clinton; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of public health and Yale University. 

Other members will include: Dr. Zeke Emanuel, the chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and the brother of Rahm Emanuel, an Obama administration adviser; Dr. Luciana Borio, a vice president at In-Q-Tel; Dr. Atul Gawande, a professor of surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Dr. Celine Gounder, a clinical assistant professor at the N.Y.U. Grossman School of Medicine; Dr. Julie Morita, the executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota; Loyce Pace, the executive director and president of Global Health Council; and Dr. Robert Rodriguez and Dr. Eric Goosby, both professors at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Read the full article HERE