STAFFING EMERGENCY DECLARED AT TWO MORE NEBRASKA PRISONS AMID RECORD VACANCIES

 LINCOLN — A record-high number of job vacancies and continued high turnover caused “staffing emergencies” to be declared Monday at two more prisons.

The declaration at the 518-inmate Lincoln Correctional Center and the 439-inmate Diagnostic and Evaluation Center means that staffing will shift immediately to two 12-hour shifts a day from three eight-hour shifts a day. That will allow required security posts to be filled with fewer employees.

Two other state prisons, the 1,000-inmate Tecumseh State Prison and the 1,250-inmate State Penitentiary in Lincoln, have been operating under staffing emergencies for more than a year in what has been described as a “short-term” solution to the lack of personnel.

Those staffing emergencies were expected to expire before the end of 2020, but Corrections Director Scott Frakes said Monday that a “slowdown” in hiring has forced the continuation, and expansion, of the emergencies.

“We are feeling the effects that many other industries and businesses are experiencing currently, nationally and across Nebraska,” Frakes said. “This is a very tight job market, especially in Lincoln.”

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NEW TECHNOLOGY LETS NEBRASKA STATE PATROL SCAN SEMIS ON INTERSTATE 80 FOR FLAT TIRES

NEBRASKA- The Nebraska State Patrol is using new equipment to provide better safety screenings for commercial vehicles, including semis on Interstate 80. The new system is now in use at I-80 weigh stations near Waverly and North Platte. The screening system uses cameras and sensors to read license plates and federal Department of Transportation identification numbers and check for flat tires, all while the vehicle continues to travel at Interstate speeds, said Lt. Mike Maytum of the State Patrol’s Carrier Enforcement Division.

That information is coupled with existing weigh-in-motion, PrePass and Drivewyze technology. After a quick scan, the vehicle is either given the go-ahead or routed to the weigh station for a closer look.

Maytum said the goal is to ensure safety and to keep trucks moving.

“It really boils down to keeping roadways safe,” Maytum said.

The state plans to add a similar system to the weigh station on Nebraska 2 near Nebraska City. The new system was funded through a grant from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

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UNL BREAKS GROUND ON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING'S $97 MILLION KIEWIT HALL

LINCOLN — There are already two holes in the ground where the future Kiewit Hall will rise near 17th and Vine streets on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's City Campus.

The 181,500-square-foot facility will redefine the College of Engineering's footprint at UNL when it opens to students in the fall of 2023 as a new hub for engineering education.

On Monday, UNL ceremonially broke ground on the privately funded $97 million facility, which is part of a larger effort to renovate engineering facilities as part of a plan to grow the college from 3,200 to 5,000 students.

"It is a big day for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the state of Nebraska, and the field of engineering," Chancellor Ronnie Green told a reception inside Othmer Hall, which will connect to Kiewit Hall via skywalk.

Construction on the facility is expected to ramp up this fall as work continues at the nearby Scott Engineering Center and the Link, the subject of a partnership between the university and the state of Nebraska. The construction at the Link involves an 87,000-square-foot facility, which replaces the former 25,000-square-foot facility.

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JIM PILLEN, SAYING HE'S NOT SPEAKING AS AN NU REGENT, CONDEMNS CRITICAL RACE THEORY

LINCOLN- A pair of conservative groups last week called on Regent Jim Pillen, who is running for governor, to sponsor a resolution denouncing the teaching of critical race theory at the University of Nebraska. In a press release, the Nebraska Freedom Coalition and the Nebraska Federation of Republican Women said Pillen had an opportunity to take a stand against what they called “the attempted indoctrination of students on college campuses.” But Friday’s meeting of the Board of Regents came and went without any mention of the issue. 

After the meeting, and clarifying that he was speaking as a candidate for governor, Pillen said he opposes the teaching of critical race theory in Nebraska, preferring instead that teachers and professors focus on “facts and commonsense Nebraska values.”

“I’m not supportive of teaching of theories or ideologies that are divisive, that are anti-American,” Pillen said. “I oppose our kids being indoctrinated with radical theories.”

“I oppose CRT today, I oppose it tomorrow, and I will oppose it as your governor,” he added. 

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GOV. RICKETTS: U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISION ON ETHANOL WAIVERS HURTS FARM FAMILIES

LINCOLN – Today, Governor Pete Ricketts issued a statement following news that the U.S. Supreme Court had overturned a decision by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on small refinery exemptions from ethanol blending requirements.

“Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on small refinery exemptions is disappointing and hurts farm families across the state,” said Governor Ricketts.  “Regardless of the Court’s decision, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can still take steps to enforce a robust Renewable Fuel Standard.  I strongly urge President Biden and his administration to take clear steps to support our farm families, and to stop the broad use of waivers.”

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DHHS PARTNERS WITH CENTER FOR RURAL AFFAIRS FOR FACEBOOK LIVE TOWN HALL

Lincoln– In an ongoing effort to advocate and educate Nebraskans about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is partnering with the Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA), a rural advocacy organization to hold a Facebook Live event focused on rural communities throughout Nebraska.

With nearly two million vaccines administered and 56% of Nebraskans over the age of 16 fully vaccinated, the state has made great strides in its fight against COVID-19. Hospitalization rates have fallen from a high of nearly 1,000 in November, to under 40 hospitalizations today.

To continue the forward progress, Nebraska DHHS CEO Dannette R. Smith and Chief Medical Officer Gary Anthone will take part in the CFRA’s “Rural Rapport” Facebook Live Townhall to discuss the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. More importantly, they will take the opportunity to answer questions and listen to the concerns of Nebraska’s rural community.

Established in 1973, the Center for Rural Affairs is a private, non-profit organization working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through action-oriented programs addressing social, economic, and environmental issues.

BIG BUSINESS PUSHED CONAGRA'S DOWNTOWN OMAHA CAMPUS, DOOMING HISTORIC JOBBERS CANYON

OMAHA- Big ugly red brick buildings. When Conagra's chief executive dismissed a historic Omaha warehouse district as such, he ignited preservation rallies, local division and a national spotlight. But none of that could stop demolition of the six-block Jobbers Canyon to clear the way for the company's global headquarters.

Charles "Mike" Harper would say later that only a handful of people wanted to preserve the century-old warehouses — "probably as a home for the rats." Indeed, tension over the largest-ever wipeout of a designated U.S. historic district grew much larger. Arguably, no other local real estate project in the last half-century created more community conflict and change in landscape and policy than the Conagra-anchored riverfront development.  And perhaps no other project showed so clearly the power of the city's corporate leaders in redefining downtown Omaha.

Working fiercely, mostly from behind the scenes, the city's corporate elite pulled out all the stops to provide the downtown canvas Conagra wanted for what became a nearly 45-acre campus connected to a new 30-acre public park. 

Driven in part by the fresh loss of a different corporate heavyweight, the business leaders pushed city officials to meet Conagra's demands for a suburban-style headquarters and the removal of those "ugly" warehouses. They raised private money, fended off lawsuits and found ways to ensure that the redevelopment happened.

Following opposition from many Omaha citizens and state officials, Conagra would go on to have their way with the building process. Now following Conagra's departure in 2016, the city looks to find a way to fill in the space and restore the area to its original "industrial" setting.

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NEBRASKA'S GAP BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL VACCINATION IS WIDEST IN NATION

NEBRASKA- Nebraska’s rural communities have a long way to go to reach the levels of vaccination needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccination rates in rural Nebraska badly lag those in urban parts of the state. In fact, Nebraska’s rural rates are among the lowest in the region, according to a World-Herald analysis of county vaccination data.

Roughly 40% of Nebraska adults living in rural areas are fully vaccinated, compared with more than 60% of those living in the state’s metro areas. What’s more, the county-level data submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that Nebraska’s rural-urban vaccination divide is the widest in the nation. And Nebraska’s rural vaccination gap among the vulnerable 65-and-over age group also appears to be the nation’s biggest.

“Communities that have chosen to not have a higher rate of vaccination are unfortunately setting themselves up to be preyed upon by some of these more transmissible variants,” said Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Nebraska can take a lesson from neighboring Missouri, whose rural vaccination rates are even lower.

The Delta variant has now rushed into that gap, leaving the Show-Me State with the nation’s highest current case rate and inundating rural hospital wards with COVID-19 patients, all at a time the pandemic is supposed to be ending.

Most of the counties with Nebraska’s lowest vaccination rates can be found in the Panhandle and the Sand Hills — sprawling, sparse grasslands where cattle are plentiful and conservatism and general distrust of government are high. In one Sand Hills county, figures suggest that only 11% of adults have been vaccinated.

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U.S. SUPREME COURT BACKS REFINERIES IN BIOFUEL WAIVER DISPUTE

WASHINGTON D.C.- The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday made it easier for small oil refineries to win exemptions from a federal law requiring increasing levels of ethanol and other renewable fuels to be blended into their products, a major setback for biofuel producers.

The justices overturned a lower court decision that had faulted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for giving refineries in Wyoming, Utah and Oklahoma extensions on waivers from renewable fuel standard (RFS) requirements under a law called the Clean Air Act even though the companies' prior exemptions had expired.

The extensions at issue were given to units of HollyFrontier Corp (HFC.N) and CVR Energy Inc (CVI.N).

The 6-3 ruling, authored by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, compared these extensions to ones granted in everyday life such as to a student wanting more time to complete a term paper even though the deadline has passed or a business contract whose term had expired.

"It is entirely natural - and consistent with ordinary usage - to seek an 'extension' of time even after some time lapse," Gorsuch said.

In a dissent, conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, joined by liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, faulted the ruling's interpretation of the word "extend." The "EPA cannot 'extend' an exemption that a refinery no longer has," Barrett wrote.

President Joe Biden's administration has been considering ways to provide relief to U.S. oil refiners from biofuel blending mandates.

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FORMER NEBRASKA PRISONS ADMINISTRATOR SUES STATE, SAYS PRISON WAS MANIPULATING HOUSING STATS

LANCASTER COUNTY- The administrator who oversaw the state prisons' mental health and substance abuse services and sex offender program is suing her former employer alleging, among other things, that the prison was manipulating housing statistics by moving inmates who weren't mentally ill into the mental health unit. In a lawsuit filed in Lancaster County District Court, Alice Mitwaruciu alleged that Dawn-Renee Smith, deputy director of the Department of Correctional Services since 2018, made clinical decisions affecting the mental health care and treatment of inmates, regardless of a lack of medical or mental health training.

Mitwaruciu, a Black woman from Kenya, also is alleging she faced racial discrimination while working for the prisons. She said prison leaders treated her in an overtly aggressive and disrespectful way and interfered with her ability to do her job by keeping her out of meetings that involved matters she oversaw. 

The case comes on the heels of lawmakers last month approving a $100,000 payment to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed against the prison by Razak Aljanabi, a former corporal at the Nebraska State Penitentiary who is from Iraq and a practicing Shia Muslim. 

Among the claims, he said during a roll call in 2016, a lieutenant announced the start of Ramadan to booing and laughing, then said "Believe me, I feel the same way" and laughed. A month later, he was told he wasn't allowed to pray during his shift and couldn't have his prayer rug or holy book on him, though other officers were able to have Bibles.

The Nebraska Attorney General's Office, which will represent the prison, declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.

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NEBRASKA SENATOR MAKES ANOTHER RUN AT ANSWERS ON AltEn

MEAD- A Nebraska state senator is making another run at getting answers for residents who live near pesticide contamination from the AltEn ethanol plant at Mead. The ethanol plant discarded pesticide-laced byproduct on area fields, describing it as a soil amendment. Area residents have linked the compost to their pets stumbling about in a stupor, dead wildlife and their own bloody noses, headaches and respiratory problems. Those residents also have expressed frustration in getting answers from Nebraska officials. The contamination has led to voluntary cleanup by major seed companies.

Sen. Carol Blood, who will be hosting AltEn-related information sessions, has sent a lengthy list of questions to the Nebraska Departments of Agriculture, Environment and Energy and Natural Resources.

“Every single one of those questions came from the residents,” she said.

Separately, Sen. Bruce Bostelman, whose district includes Mead, has proposed a study of whether the state needs greater authority to respond to problems such as what occurred with AltEn. Amanda Woita, spokeswoman for the Department of Environment and Energy, said the agencies were working on answers to provide to Blood.

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INVESTIGATION OF OMAHA-AREA CHILD WELFARE CONTRACT RAISES ECHOES OF THE PAST

OMAHA- Testimony in a legislative investigation of the problematic contract for managing Omaha-area child welfare cases began Friday with the words of baseball great Yogi Berra. “It’s déjà vu all over again,” former State Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln told a panel of lawmakers. Ten years ago, she headed up a legislative investigation into the state’s disastrous attempt to privatize the oversight of child welfare cases statewide. The effort was plagued with turmoil, and four of the five original contractors ended up dropping or losing their contracts within two years.

On Friday, Campbell provided an overview of that history to the committee that has been charged with looking into how Nebraska ended up signing a $197 million, five-year contract with St. Francis Ministries. The new contract was signed in late January, after interim St. Francis CEO William Clark told state lawmakers that the agency would be out of money to operate by Feb. 12, unless Nebraska agreed to pay more. The $147.3 million emergency contract ends Feb. 28, 2023, the month after Gov. Pete Ricketts is term-limited out of office. 

On Friday, Tom Kenny, an Omaha attorney hired by the investigative committee, reviewed the flaws he sees in the state’s procurement process. He said the process allows state agencies broad discretion in seeking and awarding contracts and does not provide many options for appealing their decisions. 

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APPEALS COURT SIDES WITH OPS IN LAWSUIT OVER SEXUAL ABUSE OF FORMER STUDENT

ST. LOUIS- A federal appeals court has sided with the Omaha Public Schools in a lawsuit filed by the family of a young woman who was sexually assaulted by her middle school teacher. The young woman, who attended Davis Middle School starting in 2013, was sexually assaulted by teacher Brian Robeson outside of school, in Robeson’s classroom during lunch, in a computer lab and in a school bathroom. When police interviewed her about what was happening, she was 14 and Robeson was 35. Robeson pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault. In 2016, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

In her ruling in November 2019, U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp said the family had to prove that the principal and OPS had “actual notice” that the girl was being assaulted and chose to not remedy the situation. In other words, they had to know that the sexual abuse was happening and do nothing. The family, Smith Camp said, failed to present any evidence that the principal had actual notice of the abuse. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s ruling.

In an interview, Anna’s mother said the family was “devastated” by the court opinion.

The family’s next legal option would be to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dave Domina, the family’s attorney, said they are reviewing their options. He said the case contains issues that might be of interest to the court. “The odds are always against you,” Domina said of getting a case before the country’s highest court. “That’s why you look at the issue; you don’t look at the odds.”

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GOV. RICKETTS SENDING NEBRASKA STATE TROOPERS TO SOUTHERN BORDER

LINCOLN- Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Saturday that the state would be sending about 25 Nebraska state troopers to the nation’s border in Texas. Ricketts joined Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Idaho Gov. Brad Little in stating his plans to send law enforcement officers to the area after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter requesting that other governors send available law enforcement resources to the border. 

The team of troopers will travel from Nebraska to Del Rio, Texas, later this month and will partner with the Texas Department of Public Safety to provide law enforcement assistance, according to a press release from the governor. They will be deployed for no longer than 16 days. Cody Thomas, spokesman for the Nebraska State Patrol, said some aspects are still being determined as part of the request, which was made under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a mutual aid agreement among the states that is typically used during emergencies.

“Nebraska is stepping up to help Texas respond to the ongoing crisis on their border with Mexico,” Ricketts said in the press release. “The disastrous policies of the Biden-Harris Administration created an immigration crisis on the border. While the federal government has fallen short in its response, Nebraska is happy to step up to provide assistance to Texas as they work to protect their communities and keep people safe.” 

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INFASTRUCTURE NEGOTIATORS AGREE TO FRAMEWORK FOR PACKAGE

WASHINGTON—Members of a bipartisan group negotiating a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure proposal said they had crafted a framework for an agreement, and lawmakers plan to meet with President Biden on Thursday to try to complete a deal. The Democrats and Republicans emerged from a meeting with top White House officials Wednesday saying work would continue on some unresolved details.

Recent talks have focused on how to finance the package, which drafts showed would spend $579 billion above expected federal levels for a total of $973 billion over five years and $1.2 trillion if continued over eight years. People familiar with the agreement said Wednesday night that the funding in the framework resembled levels in the drafts, with some putting the five-year new-spending proposal at $559 billion, because $20 billion in broadband funding would be repurposed from Covid-19 relief.

“For the most part we have a framework, but there are components within that framework that need to be worked out,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.), one of the lawmakers negotiating the package."

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OMAHA VA EXPLORES PARTNERSHIP FOR NEW CARE FACILITY, INCLUDING POSSIBLY UNMC'S NExT

OMAHA- It’s been less than a year since the Omaha VA opened a new outpatient care facility to serve the region’s veterans, built through a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership with Omaha philanthropists. Now the Omaha VA is exploring another public-private partnership to improve inpatient hospital and surgical facilities for veterans — with one possibility discussed being to include such a facility as part of the massive Project NExT on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus.

To help lay the groundwork for a potential new inpatient facility, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon and U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer this week introduced legislation reauthorizing the CHIP-IN for Veterans Act, the 2016 federal law providing for public-private partnerships that made the Omaha outpatient care center possible.

The officials confirmed they also have spoken with UNMC Chancellor Dr. Jeffrey Gold about the possibility of including the inpatient facility within Project NExT — the planned multibillion-dollar teaching hospital on the UNMC campus that would have wings devoted to training health care workers to respond to national disasters. The VA said in a statement that the discussions to date have centered on learning more about Project NExT, its parameters and whether a VA facility could become part of it.

“At this point, the discussions have not gone beyond high-level strategic conversations,” the statement said.

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MOTOR FUELS TAX RATE SET FOR JULY 1 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2021

NEBRASKA- The Nebraska motor fuels tax rate for July 1 through December 31, 2021, will be 27.7 cents per gallon, down from 28.7 cents per gallon. The components of the future and current rates include wholesale, variable, and fixed rates. The wholesale tax rate is set depending on the wholesale price of fuel. The variable tax rate is set to meet legislative appropriations. The fixed rate is set by statute.

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HEALTH STANDARDS CONTROVERSY SLOWS CHILD SEX ABUSE PREVENTION BILL IN NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE

LINCOLN- The firestorm over proposed health education standards could jeopardize a bill aimed at teaching children about staying safe from child sexual abuse. Legislative Bill 281 sailed out of the Education Committee and through first-round consideration by the full Legislature. But it did not get any further. State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, who introduced the measure and named it her priority for the year, said she decided to put it on hold until next year. She said she wanted to ensure that it would not get entangled in the health standards controversy. “I want to spend time over the summer looking into proper curriculum so as to not go into areas that would not be acceptable for parents,” she said.

As advanced, the bill would require four hours a year of sexual abuse prevention lessons for K-12 students. The lessons would have to be age-appropriate and use evidence-based methods to teach about body safety and about recognizing, refusing and reporting abuse. The bill would require schools to train teachers, administrators and other school staff about child sexual abuse prevention and reporting. Schools also would have to reach out to parents with information about preventing abuse and about discussing the topic with children.

Senator Albrecht noted that LB 281 would require that schools teach about child sex abuse prevention but would not mandate that they use a particular curriculum. She said the lessons could be part of teaching about safety.

Michael Carnes, a Wayne man who survived childhood sexual abuse and has pushed for the Nebraska legislation, said he understands Albrecht’s decision to delay her bill. But he said that the measure is needed and that leaving it to parents to teach prevention can be problematic because sometimes parents are the abusers.

“Kids need to know that sexual assault is wrong and that what they are experiencing is wrong,” he said. “We teach kids what to do in case of fire and in case of tornado. It blows my mind that we don’t teach them what to do in case of sexual abuse.”

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UNO CENTER HELPS DEVELOP BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S STRATEGY TO COMBAT DOMESTIC TERRORISM

OMAHA- The Biden administration has announced a strategy to combat the threat of domestic terrorism, a plan developed with the help of a new counterterrorism program headquartered at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The new strategy, released Tuesday, comes more than five months after a mob of insurgents loyal to then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was voting to certify Joe Biden’s presidential win. 

“Domestic terrorism — driven by hate, bigotry and other forms of extremism — is a stain on the soul of America,” Biden said in a statement. “It goes against everything our country strives for, and it poses a direct challenge to our national security, democracy and unity.”

Academics from UNO’s year-old National Counterterrorism Innovation Technology and Education Center joined in the working groups that drew up the strategy, said Gina Ligon, the center’s director. The center was established at UNO last year with a $36.5 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security. It includes more than 50 academics at universities across the country. 

The strategy lays out broad goals that will be filled in with specific policies and structures in the months ahead, Ligon said. “(The strategy) is not just words. Its existence will free up resources,” she said. The key to the strategy is that it is focused not on a specific political ideology, Ligon said, but rather on a propensity for violence.

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THE NATURAL-GAS GLUT HAS EVAPORATED, DRIVING PRICES HIGHER

NATIONAL- Natural-gas prices are starting the summer air-conditioning season nearly twice as high as they were a year ago.

Demand for the fuel is picking up as the world’s economies reopen and as Americans dial down their thermostats for what is expected to be a hot summer. Meanwhile, U.S. producers have stuck to the skimpy drilling plans they sketched out when prices were lower, eliminating the glut that was keeping them depressed.  

Natural-gas futures ended Friday at $3.215 per million British thermal units, up 96% from a year ago and the highest price headed into summer since 2017. Futures traded even higher—and regional spot prices jumped—when triple-digit temperatures baked the Southwest earlier this month. Analysts expect prices to be even higher later in the year when it is time to fire up furnaces.

Besides being burned to generate electricity and for hot showers and cooking, natural gas is consumed in large volumes to make plastic, fertilizer, steel and cement. Monetary-policy makers don’t consider energy prices when gauging inflation because they are so volatile. Yet climbing gas prices are adding to the costs of producing manufactured goods at a time when investors are on edge about the potential for runaway inflation. 

Gas producers had suffered for years from low prices caused by their own market-glutting gushers. Shareholders and analysts pressured producers to focus less on growing volume and more on profitability. 

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