OMAHA CITY COUNCIL SWORN IN; STOTHERT STARTS THIRD TERM AS MAYOR

OMAHA-  The Legislative Chambers in City Hall were packed Monday as a new Omaha City Council was sworn in and Jean Stothert took the oath for her third term as mayor. Council members then selected returning incumbents for leadership positions. Pete Festersen of District 1, which includes Dundee, Benson and Florence, will serve as council president after receiving four votes. Aimee Melton, who represents northwest Omaha, received three. Vinny Palermo of District 4 in South Omaha will serve as vice president.

New council members Juanita Johnson, Danny Begley and Don Rowe took their seats in the legislative chamber alongside incumbents Festersen, Palermo, Melton and Brinker Harding.  Jean Stothert was sworn in for her third term as Omaha mayor, with Rep. Don Bacon providing his fellow Republican's introduction.

For her third term, Stothert said her priorities include improving city streets, addressing the health and economic consequences of COVID-19, and focusing on public safety. 

"(I will) continue to make Omaha a safer community and make a very good Police Department even better," she said. "Public safety is our most critical obligation, and I am confident in the progress that we will continue to make." 

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FORMER REP. BRAD ASHFORD LANDS JOB WITH UNO

OMAHA- Former U.S. Rep. and State Sen. Brad Ashford has been hired to teach students about collaboration. The University of Nebraska at Omaha announced Monday that it had engaged Ashford to lead a new undergraduate program on "collaborative leadership."

The program will employ teachers from UNO's colleges of business and public affairs. Students will be able to work on specific projects requiring government and private-sector collaboration through “hands on” internships, according to a press release. A minor in "cross-sector collaborative leadership" will be available to all UNO students. 

As a congressman, Ashford successfully developed a public-private partnership that built the Veterans Administration Ambulatory Care Center in Omaha after decades of stalled discussion. In the Legislature, Ashford was known for working out complicated compromises on criminal justice reform and financing sports arenas. 

Partial funding for the new UNO program is coming from the New York-based Volcker Alliance. The Alliance selected UNO, along with Indiana University, the University of Washington, the Andrew Young School at Georgia State University, and the City University of New York, for its "NextGen Service Partnership," which seeks to prepare students to serve their communities.

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NEBRASKA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE LOCAL SALES AND USE TAX RATES

LINCOLN- On Monday Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton announced that the village of Manley will start a local sales and use tax rate of 0.5%, and the city of Humphrey will increase its existing rate from 1.5% to 2% effective on July 1, 2021. For the calendar quarter starting on October 1, 2021, there are no local sales and use tax rate changes. These changes are on the Nebraska Department of Revenue’s website at revenue.nebraska.gov under the Sales and Use Tax link.

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U.S. RETRIEVES MILLIONS PAID TO COLONIAL PIPELINE HACKERS

WASHINGTON—U.S. law-enforcement officials said Monday they had recovered millions of dollars in digital currency paid to the hackers who hit Colonial Pipeline Co. with a ransomware attack last month, a strike that prompted the shutdown of the main conduit for gasoline and diesel fuel to the U.S. East Coast. Investigators seized nearly 64 bitcoin, valued at roughly $2.3 million, that were allegedly the proceeds from the ransom hack on Colonial Pipeline, the Justice Department said. 

Colonial Pipeline, which transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products from the Gulf Coast to Linden, N.J., was shut down for six days in May as the company responded to the ransomware attack. The stoppage spurred a run on gasoline along parts of the East Coast that pushed prices to the highest levels in more than six years and left thousands of gas stations without fuel. 

Because bitcoin is volatile and has recently swung dramatically in value, the amount recovered is a little more than half the value of what was paid last month. About 75 bitcoin were paid to the hackers by Colonial shortly after the company learned it was the victim of a ransomware attack, a person familiar with the matter said. 

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FDA APPROVES FIRST NEW ALZHEIMER'S DRUG IN NEARLY TWO DECADES

The first drug promising to slow the memory-robbing march of Alzheimer’s disease was approved by U.S. health regulators, a watershed after years of research and billions of dollars in investment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved the drug, which has the molecular name aducanumab and will be sold as Aduhelm, based on evidence it reduces a sticky substance in the brain called amyloid that is associated with Alzheimer’s. 

“This historic moment is the culmination of more than a decade of groundbreaking research in the complex field of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Biogen Chief Executive Michel Vounatsos. “Together with the healthcare community, we are ready to bring this new medicine to patients and begin to address this growing global health crisis.”

A preliminary analysis conducted by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a nonprofit research and advisory group, said the drug could be cost-effective at a per-patient price of $2,500 to $8,300 a year. 

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OPTIONS TRADERS BET ON RETURN OF $100 OIL

Traders have alighted on what some believe to be a one-way bet in the world’s most important commodity market: oil prices going to $100 a barrel. They have scooped up call options tied to Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude-oil prices reaching $100 by the end of next year. Oil prices haven’t topped that milestone since 2014, when a gush of U.S. crude depressed energy markets.

Owners of $100 options—now the most widely owned WTI call contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange—are making a leveraged bet that oil prices will hurtle higher after already surging more than 40% this year. The roaring rally, goosed by thawing coronavirus restrictions, has lifted WTI prices to their highest level since 2018 at almost $70 a barrel and average U.S. gasoline prices above $3 a gallon, according to GasBuddy.

Barring an influx of investors into commodity markets or a slump in the dollar, oil demand would need to rise well above pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter for prices to hit $100 this year, according to JPMorgan Chase analyst Natasha Kaneva. She says that is all but impossible. Other grounds for caution include an increase in Iranian crude exports in the event of a nuclear deal with the U.S. 

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COMMODITY PRICE SURGES ADD TO INFLATION FEARS

The run-up in commodity prices is casting a cloud over the global economic recovery, slamming vulnerable businesses and households and adding to fears that inflation could become more persistent. Economists are expecting consumer-price data due later this week to underscore the trend. They say China’s producer-price index, a gauge of factory-gate prices, could climb to its highest level since August 2008 on Wednesday amid rising commodity prices. The U.S. consumer-price index, released a day later, is expected to show a sharp rise in the 12 months through May, also driven by higher labor costs. 

“We are being hit from every possible angle,” said Franz Hofmeister, chief executive of Quaker Bakery Brands Inc. in Appleton, Wis. He says his costs for items including wheat, energy and new aluminum equipment have shot up at least 25% to 35% this year. 

Michael Hanson, senior global economist at JPMorgan Chase Bank, says that while higher prices for raw materials will probably result in temporary inflation pressures, it won’t make much of a dent in the U.S. economy. Much of the recent inflation uptick is due to the frenzied nature of the economy’s reopening, with firms scrambling to find workers and resolve freight bottlenecks, he said, and the economy is strong enough to weather it.

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HEINEMAN PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE GUBERNATORIAL BID

HEINEMAN PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE GUBERNATORIAL BID

FREMONT-  In a move that clears the path for his possible entry into the 2022 Republican gubernatorial race, former Gov. Dave Heineman has submitted his resignation as a member of the board of directors of the Conklin Company. Conklin is the manufacturing and distribution company in Kansas City owned and headed by Charles Herbster, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor. 

Heineman's resignation is effective on June 30.

"I am in no rush to make a decision" about a gubernatorial bid, Heineman said Friday during a telephone interview. "I will continue to evaluate," he said. "I'm very much in the listening mode. I have a serious decision to make."

Heineman said he probably won't make a decision until sometime this fall, and perhaps not until late into autumn. He noted that growing workforce, high taxes, education funding and rural broadband were key issues facing the state.

The primary will be held on May 10th of 2022, and already includes Regent Jim Pillen, and business owner Herbster. State Senator Brett Lindstrom is also expected to enter the race.

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SPEAKER HILGERS POINTS TO BIG POSSBILIITES FOR THE LEGISALTURE AND STATE IN 2022

LINCOLN- In his closing comments to the members of the 2021 Legislature, Speaker Mike Hilgers had one message: It is now time now to think big. The resources will be there in 2022, Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers says, as $500 million in new federal pandemic recovery assistance comes flowing into the state.

"It might be a once-in-a-legislative-generation opportunity for the state," Hilgers said.

And legislative dynamics shout that the moment is now: Some heavy-hitters, experienced senators who are leaders and doers and who already have racked up some big accomplishments for the state, will be serving their eighth and final year in the Legislature, the Lincoln senator noted. 

"Big thinkers with good working relationships," Hilgers said. The time is right, he said, and the resources will be there. "We're going to come to play next year," the speaker said.

After reviewing the pandemic-challenged 2021 Legislature's accomplishments during an interview in his office at the Capitol immediately after senators adjourned Thursday and headed home, Hilgers cast a look ahead. 

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NEBRASKA AMONG STATES CLAIMING SOCial SECURITY OWED TO FOSTER KIDS

LINCOLN — Advocates for children are raising concerns about a state effort to use Social Security payments owed to foster kids to help defray the costs of foster care — a practice state officials say is completely legal. Since 2009, Nebraska has paid a Virginia company, Maximus Health Services, to research which of the state’s 4,000 foster children might be eligible for Social Security, either due to a physical or mental disability or due to losing a parent, and then go after those benefits.

Over the past three years, the effort has captured about $2.7 million a year in Social Security benefits, which has been used to reimburse state expenses for foster care. The state spent $130 million on all child welfare services in fiscal year 2019-20, which includes both out-of-home care, like foster care, and in-home services.

The state last year signed a $301,500 contract with Maximus to continue finding Social Security benefits through September of 2023. The company has been providing similar services to the State of Iowa since 2004. 

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GROUP BEHIND PROPOSED CASINO AT OMAHA'S HORSEMANS PARK SEEKS $17.5 MILLION IN TIF

OMAHA- Developers behind a plan to transform Omaha’s Horsemen’s Park into one of Nebraska’s first casinos are counting on the city to pony up $17.5 million in tax incentives to bring the project over the finish line. A $220 million plan by WarHorse Gaming Omaha — a subsidiary of Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development arm of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska — calls for a significant renovation and expansion of the current Horsemen’s campus near 60th and Q streets.

The development group seeks TIF to help complete the Casino funding. Tax increment financing, known as TIF, is a popular, sometimes controversial redevelopment tool based in state law that allows developers to take out a loan to help cover eligible redevelopment expenses in areas that have been deemed blighted.

The loan is paid back, generally over a 15-year period, by using the increased property taxes that are generated on the new development. During the TIF period, the property owner continues to pay a portion of property taxes based on the valuation that existed before any improvements. After the TIF loan is repaid, property taxes collected on the higher-value, improved property then start flowing to the tax rolls.

The TIF request faces opposition. Pat Loontjer, the executive director of Gambling With The Good Life who for decades has led the charge against legalized gambling in Nebraska, said she thinks the TIF request is an abuse of the program. 

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NEBRASKA OPENS UP MEDICAID EXPANSION, DROPS PLAN FOR RESTRICITONS

LINCOLN — State officials announced Tuesday that all Nebraskans covered by the Medicaid expansion program will get the full range of benefits, starting Oct. 1. State officials have estimated that eventually 90,000 Nebraskans will sign up for the program. The decision represents an about-face for Gov. Pete Ricketts’ administration and comes on the heels of a shift in policy from the Trump to Biden administrations. Ricketts had been pursuing a two-tier system of coverage since voters approved Medicaid expansion in November 2018.

State Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, who led the petition drive that put Medicaid expansion on the ballot, welcomed the announcement but noted the delay in reaching that point. 

Expanded Medicaid offers coverage for working-age adults whose incomes fall below 138% of the federal poverty level — $17,774 for a single person or $36,570 for a family of four. The state has provided a full range of benefits to some groups covered under Medicaid expansion. Those are pregnant women, people considered medically frail and young adults ages 19 and 20.

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SIZE LIMITS ON NEBRASKA CHILD CARE GROUPS SHELVED AFTER UPROAR FROM PROVIDERS

LINCOLN — A public uproar over proposed limits on child care group sizes led to an about-face by the state on Wednesday.

Department of Health and Human Services officials announced that they will suspend their efforts to change regulations governing child care centers, school-age-only centers and preschools. In a statement, HHS officials said they appreciated the feedback from a recent public hearing at which several child care providers raised concerns about the proposed group size limits.

“The purpose of allowing public comment is at the very core of why these types of forums are so invaluable to serving Nebraskans,” the statement said.

As proposed, the youngest children, those ages 6 weeks through 18 months, would be limited to eight per group or room. The limits increase with the age of the children, until they reach 30 for school-age children. An HHS statement said the agency will work with providers to “chart our path forward” and “ultimately ensure a collective approach towards a best in class model.”

“We appreciate this opportunity to strengthen and enhance our child care system here in Nebraska and look forward to improving our systems and developing innovative solutions, especially because of all we experienced and learned in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dannette Smith, the HHS CEO.

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NEBRASKA CORRECTIONS MOVING FORWARD WITH PLANS FOR PRISON EXPANSION

LINCOLN — Nebraska prison officials are moving forward with planning for two construction projects, as well as an update of the agency’s master plan. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services recently advertised for bids from consultants to guide construction of a 96-bed expansion at the Lincoln Correctional Center/Diagnostic Evaluation Center campus, according to a press release. The beds will be designated for mental health, older incarcerated individuals or other special-needs populations. Construction is already underway on a connection between the LCC and DEC that will add nearly 450 beds.

The department has also issued a request for proposals for the siting and design work of a proposed 1,512-bed prison to replace the aging Nebraska State Penitentiary. The new prison, expected to cost $230 million, was proposed by Gov. Pete Ricketts last year, but state lawmakers opted to study the need for a new prison before giving a final OK to the new facility, which would be one of the most expensive construction projects in state history. 

Nebraska’s prison system has struggled with overcrowding for more than a decade and at one point held 2,100 more inmates than the design capacity of its 10 prisons. Legislators did allocate $14.7 million to start designing and planning the proposed facility. 

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HOUSE DEMS UNVEIL $547B INFRASRUCTURE BILL AMID BIDEN TALKS

WASHINGTON- House Democrats released a plan Friday for spending $547 billion over the next five years on road, mass transit and rail projects, a blueprint for what they want parts of President Joe Biden’s broader infrastructure proposal to look like. 

Biden is holding another round of talks Friday with the lead Senate Republican negotiator, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. In his meeting earlier this week with Capito, Biden offered tax concessions aimed at reaching a bipartisan compromise on his overall infrastructure proposal. The two sides are at odds over how to pay for infrastructure projects, with Republicans ruling out higher corporate taxes and the White House rejecting a GOP proposal to use unspent COVID-19 relief funds

Some Democrats have questioned the merits of that approach and are already unhappy with some of the compromises that Biden has offered. They support using a process that would allow Democrats to pass an infrastructure boost with a simple majority, which they did through a COVID-19 relief measure that delivered $1,400 payments to most Americans.

“Getting Republicans on board is not necessary. Getting the American people back on their feet is,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., said Thursday night.

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NEBRASKA OFFICIAL RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT DOUGLAS COUNTY JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER PLANS

OMAHA- State officials overseeing jails want Douglas County to address several concerns before receiving final approval for the downtown juvenile detention center plans. Those include a too-small space for visitation, parking for visitors and volunteers, room sizes that would prohibit the county from expanding the capacity in the future, staffing, food service for detained youths and natural light in their rooms. The concerns were spelled out in a letter to the Douglas County Board from Denny Macomber, director of the Jail Standards Division of the Nebraska Crime Commission. They won’t prevent the Jail Standards Board from approving the project. The plans as submitted meet the state’s jail design and construction standards, Macomber said Monday.

“The issues we have and that I address there (in the letter) are things that they need to straighten out before they move in to avoid problems down the road,” he said.

The list includes serious concerns. The room size issue relates to the relatively smaller capacity, 64 people, at the county’s new detention center than at the current Douglas County Youth Center, which can hold more than 100.

At 77 square feet each, the rooms in the new detention center will be smaller than the 90-square-foot rooms at the current facility. The new rooms will big enough for one person each, Macomber said.

“We recognize this is by design,” his letter said. “However, making the rooms smaller than ninety square feet means that these rooms can never be double bunked should the county want to expand their options for housing in the future.” 

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GRETNA POISED TO DOUBLE IN SIZE AFTER NEBRASKA SUPREME COURT RULING

GRETNA- The City of Gretna is poised to double in size and add nearly 3,000 people after the Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday sided with the city in an annexation dispute with Sarpy County. At issue was a 2017 annexation package by Gretna to bring nearly 3,000 acres into the city. The area includes Vala’s Pumpkin Patch, Sapp Bros. and housing subdivisions including Lincoln Place, Willow Park and Standing Stone.

In a lawsuit that has delayed the annexation by nearly four years, the county argued that the annexation wasn’t legal because it included 22 parcels of agricultural land that were “almost exclusively unplatted, with rural roads and no sewer connection,” according to a filing by the state Supreme Court. State law says cities can annex only land that is “urban or suburban in character.”

Last year, a Sarpy County District Court judge sided with the county, accepting its arguments that the contested parcels qualified as agricultural land. The district court found that none of the parcels were currently being developed, and that Gretna’s growth as a city had not trended in the general direction of the areas that Gretna sought to annex, the filing states. But the high court Friday overturned that decision, ruling that the district court failed to consider future development plans in the annexed areas.

Gretna Mayor Mike Evans said he was pleased with the ruling and excited to welcome a new crop of businesses and residents to Gretna. He said it could take a few months until the area officially is part of the city.

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NEBRASKA WILL GET $65 MILLION MORE IN FEDERAL FLOODING AID

STATE- Nebraska will receive an estimated $65 million in additional federal funding assistance to help pay costs for repair of public infrastructure damaged as a result of historic flooding that ravaged the state in 2019. "This news is great for the state of Nebraska, but especially for the counties that were severely impacted," Bryan Tuma, assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, said. 

"This will significantly defray the cost of the disaster for state and local governments."

Tuma said he expects $437 million in public assistance costs will grow beyond $500 million over time.  An early estimate is $511 million. An anticipated additional $65 million in federal assistance benefits now will be "a significant benefit to the state," Tuma said.

The 2019 disaster was described as "a bomb cyclone" event. Warm temperatures and heavy rain melted a deep snowpack and the resulting flow of water moved rapidly over frozen ground into swollen rivers, many of which had accumulated thick ice during a cold winter. Resulting damage was estimated at more than $1.3 billion.

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UNMC RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY BETTER-TOLERATED THERAPY FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE

OMAHA- A team of University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers has shown that a smaller dose of a drug repurposed as a Parkinson’s disease treatment produced fewer side effects than a larger dose while keeping disease signs and symptoms stable.

Now, the researchers are “incredibly well-positioned” to seek approval from federal regulators for a larger study, said Dr. Howard Gendelman, chairman of UNMC’s pharmacology and experimental neurosciences department and one of the lead researchers.

The study builds off a 2016 trial in humans in which the researchers used the drug to shift a population of white blood cells from a destructive mode to a protective state that can help defend parts of the brain from injury.

For the new trial, the researchers, working with drugmaker Partner Therapeutics of Lexington, Massachusetts, halved the original dose and followed five patients for a year. The drug, called sargramostim, or Leukine, sometimes is used in patients receiving chemotherapy.

The patients tolerated the drug and took it safely for a year. In addition, signs and symptoms of the disease, rather than progressing — as usually is the case with Parkinson’s — remained stable.

The results of the study were published recently in EBioMedicine, an online Lancet journal. Because the data proved promising, the study was extended to 24 months and enrolled additional patients.

Currently, drugs and other therapies can be used to fight the symptoms of Parkinson’s, but they don’t treat the disease itself.

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STOTHERT NAMES THOMAS WARREN SR., FORMER OMAHA POLICE CHieF, AS NEXT CHIEF OF STAFF

OMAHA- Mayor Jean Stothert has selected former Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren Sr. to serve as her next chief of staff.

Warren is the current president and CEO of the Urban League of Nebraska. He served 24 years with the Police Department, including four years as chief, before retiring in 2008. During his time with the city, and in the intervening years leading a nonprofit and serving on several local boards, Warren said he worked closely with city departments, learned the landscape of city government and established relationships with Omaha’s donor community that he said will be vital to future public-private partnerships. 

“Our economy is strong, the city of Omaha is very safe and this is a great opportunity for me to continue in my service to this community,” Warren said. 

Stothert said the chief of staff role requires someone with a wide knowledge base and skill sets: a “jack-of-all-trades” who understands relationships, negotiation, problem-solving, customer service, finance and city law. She called Warren a recognized community leader who shares her vision for Omaha’s future.

“Tom supports (the) goals of my administration to make Omaha a safe, growing, financially stable, diverse and inclusive city,” Stothert said.

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