NEBRASKANS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA PLANNING TWO NEW PETITIONS FOR 2022 BALLOT

NEBRASKA- Not long after the Nebraska Supreme Court barred an initiative legalizing medical marijuana from going before voters last year, backers of the measure had another petition ready to go for the 2022 election cycle.

To avoid a repeat of the court’s 5-2 decision that the initiative violated the state’s single-subject rule, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana opted to go with a broad, one-sentence addition to the state constitution.

“Persons in the State of Nebraska shall have the right to cannabis in all its forms for medical purposes,” reads the petition on file with Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen.

But in the weeks after the end of the 2021 legislative session, which saw lawmakers also narrowly defeat a measure, Legislative Bill 474, by Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln to legalize cannabis for medical use and create a regulatory framework in the state, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana has reconsidered its strategy.

With help from the Marijuana Policy Project, the ACLU of Nebraska and others, the ballot initiative committee worked to consider “every possible challenge” a petition could face before going to voters, Wishart said, as well as the best way to get language before voters next November.

To do so, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana will scrap the petition it filed after the court’s decision last year in favor of a pair of initiatives, said Wishart, who led the 2020 petition drive alongside Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln.

“Our main goal is putting in place language that we feel absolutely confident in,” Wishart said, “that we have looked at every type of potential challenge that could come and feel we have addressed it.”

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FORMER NEBRASKA GOV. KAY ORR CHASTISES UNL CHANCELLOR OVER STATEMENT OPPOSING CRT RESOLUTION

LINCOLN- Former Nebraska Gov. Kay Orr took University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie Green to task Monday over a statement opposing a resolution on critical race theory.

The statement was written by the six faculty and staff members leading the chancellor’s anti-racism initiative.

It takes issue with a resolution proposed by University of Nebraska Regent and GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Pillen that would bar “any imposition of critical race theory in curriculum” at the university.

Orr, who has endorsed Pillen, called the statement “inflammatory and beneath the dignity of your office.” She went on to say that, in the past, the office of chancellor has never been “wielded as a weapon against duly elected officials.”

“The University would do you well to remember that as a tax-supported institution, they are responsible to reflect the virtues that are embodied in the minds and hearts of Nebraska citizens,” she said.

Orr said she found one passage in the statement particularly disturbing.

The passage blamed the anti-CRT movement for emboldening “white supremacist groups like the KKK” and said that “the authors” of the CRT resolution “may have unwittingly invited those undemocratic and hateful actions into the lives of members of the UNL community, based on misinformation, distortions and fallacies.”

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PETITION EFFORT LAUNCHED IN NEBRASKA TO RAISE MINIMUM WAGE TO $15 AN HOUR BY 2026

NEBRASKA- A petition drive was announced Monday that would let Nebraska voters decide whether the state’s minimum wage should incrementally increase from $9 to $15 an hour by 2026.

Raise the Wage Nebraska, composed of a long list of organizations and two Democrats in the Nebraska Legislature, launched the effort to get the issue on the ballot in 2022.

Gradually increasing the minimum wage in Nebraska, they argue, will help middle- and working-class people and start to close racial and gender pay gaps.

“The context in which all of that sits is an economic reality where things are getting much more expensive, and wages are staying stagnant,” said Ken Smith, Nebraska Appleseed’s economic justice director. “The cost of housing and child care and food are all going up, but people aren’t taking home any more money than they were in years past.”

The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour hasn’t increased in more than a decade. Thirty states and Washington, D.C., have minimum wages higher than that — including Nebraska.

Nebraska’s is higher because voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative in 2014. After that measure passed, the state’s minimum wage increased from $7.25 an hour to $8 an hour in 2015, then to $9 an hour in 2016, where it stands today.

“Nebraskans have previously made their voices heard on this issue and voted to increase the minimum wage when the Legislature wouldn’t,” Smith said. “And I think that’s where we find ourselves again today.”

Under the ballot language provided by Nebraska Appleseed, state law would be amended so that the minimum wage would bump up by $1.50 each year, starting in 2023.

It would rise from $9 an hour to:

$10.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2023.

$12 an hour on Jan. 1, 2024.

$13.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2025.

$15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2026.

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OPS BOARD VOTES TO REQUIRE MASKS INSIDE SCHOOLS

OMAHA- The Omaha Public Schools will join a growing number of Nebraska school districts requiring students to wear masks indoors when they return to classrooms next week.

The same for teachers and parents, though there will be some exceptions.

School board members voted Monday to require all people to wear masks indoors at school, effective Tuesday.

Students won’t have to wear them outdoors, so not for recess or activities like marching band. Students will be allowed to remove the masks while eating and drinking.

If teachers or staff are alone in their classrooms or offices, they will be allowed to unmask.

The resolution adopted by the board also allows people to go without a mask “when doing so creates a greater health, safety or security risk to the individual or public.”

“We have an issue in this country with a variant,” board member Tracy Casady said, “and until we can get a handle on it, I think this is the best possible solution we can do in our community to try to get our kids back in school and keep them there.”

The vote was 8-1, with Spencer Head voting no.

Head tried unsuccessfully to amend the resolution to have the mask mandate sunset Oct. 18, unless the board took action before then to extend it.

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NONPROFIT DIGS INTO DATA TO HELP NEBRASKA GET A HANDLE ON OVERCROWDED PRISONS

LINCOLN- For the next several months, stakeholders and analysts will dig into data and discuss policies aimed at criminal justice reform in Nebraska.

“We are committed to using research-based and cost-effective strategies to ensure public safety and improve the quality and functioning of Nebraska’s criminal justice system,” state leaders wrote in a letter earlier this year.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, Chief Justice Mike Heavican, Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers and State Sen. Steve Lathrop signed the March letter. They were asking the U.S. Department of Justice and The Pew Charitable Trusts for technical help from a nonprofit that can analyze data and use research — and its experience in other states — to inform decisions and policy.

In April, they received a response: Nebraska was approved and will get that help from the nonprofit Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) as part of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative.

In the March letter, the four officials wrote that Nebraska’s prisons are some of the most crowded in the nation. Between July 2019 and June 2020, Department of Corrections data show, the average daily population of the state’s prisons was 115% of facility operational capacity and 157% of design capacity. And, the officials wrote, the system faces aging infrastructure.

The incarceration rate here increased by 17% over the last 15 years, they wrote, while it declined in most U.S. states. The rate of people who returned to custody also increased.

The officials pledged to provide CJI with access to data, establish a task force with representatives from “across the justice system spectrum,” and use that group’s findings to prepare for legislative and administrative actions next year.

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SCOTT GRAY NAMED EXECUTIVE DEPUTY CHIEF OF OMAHA POLICE DEPARTMENT

OMAHA- Police Chief Todd Schmaderer has announced that Deputy Chief Scott Gray will lead the department when he is unavailable.

After interviewing several candidates, Schmaderer selected Gray to be his executive deputy chief. Gray is a 25-year veteran of the department who was promoted to deputy chief in 2017. Gray will begin his role as executive deputy chief immediately, the department said.

Gray currently oversees the Uniform Patrol Bureau, the largest division of the department with nearly 550 officers.

Lt. Neal Bonacci, a police department spokesman, said the executive deputy chief will supervise large-scale events, mentor new deputy chiefs, help out with all five bureaus in the department, review personnel matters, oversee projects that pertain to more than one bureau and approve some items that would need a chief’s approval “so decisions can be made in a more timely manner.”

“The chief of police will always carry the heavy responsibilities and spearhead the overall cultivation of direction/culture of the department,” Bonacci said in a prepared statement. “Chief Schmaderer feels a designated second in command will help him do that.”

Schmaderer has said some police departments in other cities have a designated No. 2 and others don’t.

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JIM PILLEN'S RESOLUTION OPPOSING CRITICAL RACE THEORY DIVIDES NU REGENTS

LINCOLN- Friday’s planned vote by the Nebraska Board of Regents on a resolution opposing critical race theory being taught on NU campuses continues to stir debate and has created divisions on the eight-member board.

Based on responses from regents contacted recently by The World-Herald, Regent Jim Pillen’s resolution will head into Friday’s board meeting with two votes for and two votes against. The resolution needs a simple majority, or five votes, in order to pass.

Chair Paul Kenney told The World-Herald that he will join Pillen in voting for the resolution. Regents Elizabeth O’Connor and Barbara Weitz said they will vote against it.

The other four regents declined to give their position or did not respond to questions from the newspaper. But others have been more vocal.

Gov. Pete Ricketts has been urging the board to pass Pillen’s resolution, and former Gov. Kay Orr criticized University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie Green on Monday after a group of six faculty and staff members issued a statement opposing the resolution. The group members are leaders of the chancellor’s anti-racism initiative.

On Tuesday, the Governor’s Office released a letter signed by over two dozen elected officials imploring the board to pass it. Those who signed include Ricketts, Lt. Gov. Mike Foley, Treasurer John Murante, Auditor Charlie Janssen and 22 state legislators — including Speaker Mike Hilgers of Lincoln and Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha, who’s also running for governor.

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CITY OF OMAHA EXPECTS TO APPLY FOR DISASTER AID FOLLOWING WEEKEND FLOODING

OMAHA- Omaha officials expect to apply for federal disaster aid after weekend flash flooding collapsed some sewers, sent vehicles sailing into one another and pushed water into east Omaha businesses and homes.

The city has been tracking its expenses related to the storm and working with the Douglas County Emergency Management Agency to determine whether it can apply for the funding, City Engineer Todd Pfitzer told the City Council on Tuesday.

“We do anticipate at this time we’ll meet the threshold for a federal application,” Pfitzer told the council.

Few other details about the potential disaster declaration were available Tuesday. Paul Johnson, director of the county emergency management agency, was unavailable.

The weekend storm would be the second one of the summer to prompt federal disaster dollars. In July, Omaha officials said they would pursue a federal disaster declaration after a hurricane-force windstorm downed trees and power lines across the city, knocking out power to 188,000 Omaha Public Power District customers.

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NEBRASKA SENS. FISCHER, SASSE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF VOTE ON $1 TRILLION INFRASTRUCTURE BILL

WASHINGTON D.C.- Nebraska’s two Republican senators cast differing votes on a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan passed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

Sen. Deb Fischer was among the 69 senators who voted in favor of the bill, while Sen. Ben Sasse voted alongside 29 other senators — all Republicans — opposing the bill. The package includes funding for roads, broadband internet, water pipes and public works systems.

Fischer said in a statement released after the vote that the infrastructure plan would make “long-awaited investments to rebuild and develop our nation’s core infrastructure.”

She also pointed to the bipartisan nature of the legislation and her ability to successfully advocate for several priorities, including “increased flexibility for livestock haulers and assistance for communities in rural America to meet transportation needs.”

“Additionally, the final bill included my bipartisan amendment that would create an online mapping tool for viewing the progress of federal broadband deployment projects all in one place. This will avoid duplication, maximize federal funding dollars, and help connect as many households as possible,” she said.

In a statement, Sasse criticized claims by Democrats that the bill would pay for itself. He acknowledged the importance of infrastructure, but said the bill was just one piece of unprecedented spending in Washington, D.C. — including plans by Democrats to take up a separate $3.5 trillion package proposed by President Joe Biden.

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DRONES HELP NEBRASKA STATE PATROL SPEED UP CRASH INVESTIGATIONS

NEBRASKA- The Nebraska State Patrol is turning to drone technology to speed up investigations and clear roads more quickly following crashes.

The State Patrol has trained 19 crash investigators as certified drone pilots and has already used the technology to investigate several crash scenes, according to a news release.

Participants in the drone program recently conducted training flights and reconstruction mapping tests at the site of Husker Harvest Days near Grand Island.

“This technology brings NSP crash investigations to a new level,” program coordinator Lt. Brent Bockstadter said.

“The new drones, coupled with state-of-the-art mapping systems, allow our investigators to gather investigative images and data in less than half the time it used to take.”

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MIKE PENCE, TED CRUZ, RON DESANTIS WILL HEADLINE RICKETTS EVENT IN NEBRASKA CITY

NEBRASKA CITY- Former Vice President Mike Pence, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis form an all-star lineup of guests who will join Gov. Pete Ricketts at a Nebraska Steak Fry scheduled in Nebraska City on Sept. 12.

Ricketts hosts the event annually to celebrate Nebraska agriculture.

All Three speakers are viewed as potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates.

DeSantis has been engaged over the past week in a high-profile battle with President Joe Biden over the Democrat’s efforts to vaccinate more Americans and consider masking restrictions to help battle the surge of COVID-19 infections due to the delta variant.

The steak fry will be held at Arbor Lodge Historical Park.

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NPPD SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON DECARBONIZATION

COLUMBUS- Another of Nebraska’s major utilities is taking a look at decarbonization and will be asking its customers to weigh in.

The Nebraska Public Power District will hold five public meetings over the next two weeks on whether it should pursue decarbonization, CEO Tom Kent said Friday. The meetings are part of a larger effort to gauge customer sentiment, he said.

Decarbonization is the process by which a utility reduces its carbon footprint, in part by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases. Often, this involves a fuels shift, away from coal, for example, toward wind or solar.

The first meeting is Wednesday in Norfolk, and the final meeting is Aug. 18 in Kearney. The utility has already taken some stakeholder input and will post a survey on its website from Wednesday until Sept. 1.

The meetings will include a detailed presentation by the Electric Power Research Group on the business risks of decarbonizing or not, Kent said.

Scientists have long known that digging up fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — and releasing their carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would change the planet’s climate. One reason scientists have become more urgent in their calls for action is that the release of carbon dioxide has a decades-long delayed effect on climate.

Kent said NPPD already has lowered its emissions.

The utility’s 2020 generations emissions on a carbon intensity basis declined 39% from 2005 levels, he said.

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WESTERN NEBRASKA WILDFIRE BURNS 2,500 ACRES

HARRISBURG- State and local agencies continued to fight a wildfire Friday that had burned an estimated 2,500 acres since it began about 7 p.m. Thursday.

The fire prompted an emergency declaration from Banner County on Friday morning as well as the deployment of a Nebraska State Emergency Response Team and an Incident Management Team to support fire containment efforts.

Incident commanders requested the use of a large Colorado air tanker. Two Nebraska Army National Guard helicopters were also headed to Banner County on Friday afternoon to provide air support.

A Nebraska air tanker and two air tankers from South Dakota were already working to fight the fire, according to a press release from the Nebraska State Emergency Response Commission.

As of Thursday night, there were 89 personnel with 18 different departments at the scene.

No injuries have been reported, and no houses are believed to be threatened by the fire, the commission said.

The Wildland Incident Response Assistance Team, a group made up of state fire marshals, has been requested to provide expert knowledge and assistance to local first responders.

Fire weather watches were in effect Friday for portions of southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska due to low humidity values and scattered thunderstorms. Fire weather watches are expected to remain elevated as dry conditions continue into the weekend.

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UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA ANOUNCES NEW COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS

LINCOLN— The University of Nebraska announced updated coronavirus protocols on Friday in response to a rising number of cases in the state and guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The university said all vaccinated faculty, staff, students and visitors to its campuses are encouraged, but not required, to wear face masks indoors. University officials said unvaccinated people should continue to wear masks. Masks are required indoors for all people at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

University officials said they strongly recommend vaccinations for everyone affiliated with the university, but won’t require them. Faculty, staff and students won’t be required to disclose their vaccination status, but those who don’t should expect to take additional safety measures.

University officials said they’ll announce campus-specific COVID-19 protocols as they’re developed with local public health departments.

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FAST, HEAVY RAINS CAUSE STREET FLOODING, PROPERTY DAMAGE IN OMAHA

OMAHA- Flash flooding washed through basement apartments, swept up cars and heaved pavement in low-lying areas of the Omaha metro area over the weekend.

Cleanup on Sunday was tedious, muddy work, but most people were counting their blessings.

Seven people had escaped with their lives after floodwaters trapped them in two elevators in the basement of the Old Market Loft apartments, 1011 Jones St.

Tony Luu, one of those who had been trapped, said he had no idea how dangerous flash flooding could be.

“I wouldn’t have stepped in the elevator if I had known,” he said, “Now I know to use a bit more caution.”

Alex Speakar was likewise awed by the power of the water that lifted up her car and carried it down Jones Street to rest against other vehicles.

“When they say how fast (flooding) comes in, it just didn’t register,” she said. The 22-year-old had packed all her possessions in her car in front of the Old Market Lofts for her planned return to the University of Kansas on Sunday. Instead, she spent the afternoon watching her uncle, a mechanic, hook it to his truck for the trip to Lawrence, Kansas.

“It could have been worse,” Speakar said. She still had a car — she hoped— and not everything in the car got soaked.

But dozens of motorists were caught in street flooding and required rescuing. Parked vehicles that had been pushed together by rushing water remained in place Sunday morning.

No injuries or deaths from the flooding were reported.

“We’re very, very lucky,” said Becky Kern, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley. Flooding and heat waves are the two deadliest forms of weather, Kern said.

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BULK OF NEBRASKA'S $200 MILLION IN FEDERAL RENTAL AID HAS YET TO BE DISTRIBUTED

LINCOLN — Nebraska has distributed only a fraction of the federal pandemic assistance allocated to make evictions for unpaid rent unnecessary, but a new federal eviction moratorium may give more time for the relief to reach renters and landlords.

Through the end of July, the state as a whole had paid out just $27.3 million — or 13.6% — of the $200 million in emergency rental assistance allocated for Nebraska by Congress.

The pandemic-related program was created to help keep renters in their homes and landlords in the black. For those who qualify, the aid can make a huge difference, said Jane Gordon, program director for the Christian Outreach Program — Elkhorn, which is administering rental assistance for Douglas County outside of Omaha.

“In some cases, this radically changes somebody’s life” by lifting their debt burden and giving them up to three months of breathing room, she said.

But the success of the aid varies widely between Nebraska’s large urban areas and the rest of the state. Omaha, Douglas County and Lincoln have gotten about 50% or more of their money out the door already, according to figures provided by state and local programs.

Nebraska’s two largest cities are on track to use up the rest of their allocation before the end of the year, and both have applied for a second round of assistance money.

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NEBRASKA LEGISLATIVE RACES KEEP BREAKING SPENDING RECORDS, AND THERE'S NO END IN SIGHT

LINCOLN- Running for Legislature got a lot more expensive in Nebraska last year. Candidates in the 2020 general election shattered records set just two years earlier, with average spending 30% higher than in 2018 and the top-spending campaign nearing the half-million-dollar mark.

But neither lawmakers nor campaign observers expect the trend to slow down anytime soon.

"I don’t think the spending record that was set in my race will stand for very long," said State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, who poured an eye-popping $492,353 into his successful bid for elected office last year.

Bostar, a Democrat, the top spender in the 2020 election, won the seat being vacated by Sen. Kate Bolz.

Said Paul Landow, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nebraska at Omaha: "Politicians are in an arms race, and the currency they use is dollars rather than nuclear megatons. In the end, I think the real losers are the American public."

A World-Herald analysis of campaign finance reports filed with the Nebraska Accountability and

Disclosure Commission found that general election candidates spent an average of $144,658 on their campaigns last year, the most ever in Nebraska. The analysis combined the spending in the year before the election through the end of the election year.

The 2020 figure compares with the $111,471 average the previous election, which was the previous record.

The 2018 figure was a 28% increase from 2016, which, in turn, was up 3% from the 2014 election.

Last year, 13 candidates topped the $200,000 mark, including four who exceeded $300,000 and Bostar, who crossed the $400,000 mark.

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KYLE ARGANBRIGHT: RURAL NEBRASKA NEEDS MORE PEOPLE MORE THAN IT NEEDS NEW JOBS

NEBRASKA- After a year where remote work has become commonplace, it seemed timely and impactful. Collectively, it might have been the single greatest job creator rural Nebraska had ever seen.

Then I really thought through the local logistics of this proposal, which proved challenging. Not because of the effectiveness of remote workers, but because rural Nebraska already has unfilled jobs. Lots of them. In Valentine, for instance, we have more available jobs than people to fill them. It’s always been this way to an extent, but it’s especially pronounced post-pandemic.

Over a two-year period beginning at the start of the pandemic, Valentine will add more than 125 jobs through new business starts. Diverse jobs, too — agriculture, retail and tourism. As my friend at The Peppermill says on his marquee, “EVERYONE IN TOWN IS HIRING.” Right now, rural Nebraska needs new people more than new jobs. The biggest current benefit of a decentralized state employee strategy, oddly, would be the potential family members who would come and might be able to fill the open jobs out here.

Economic development has long used jobs as the primary indicator of success. We absolutely need jobs and must continue that push, but maybe we ought to shift focus for a bit to a strategy to attract people. After all, in today’s world, people can bring jobs with them.

This is a moment in time when people are reprioritizing their lives in a unprecedented way. It seems that there are two schools of thought for how people choose where they live — people prioritize careers and go where the opportunity exists, or people prioritize place and work to make a life there. Younger generations are starting to favor the latter.

This shift could really favor rural communities. Sprinkle in a shrinking broadband gap with wholesome people, and this creates a huge opportunity for Nebraska. To capitalize, we must continue making our communities places where people want to be. How do we do it? I’ll share our strategy: quality of life, a system for workforce development and housing. Lots and lots of housing. 

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80-YEAR-OLD OFFUTT RUNWAY FINALLY RUNS ITS COURSE AND IS REDUCED TO RUBBLE

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE- After 80 years, the hump is gone. The 8-foot bulge near the north end of Offutt Air Force Base’s single runway was one of the airfield’s quirks, one that will now disappear during an 18-month, $198 million reconstruction project that is the most extensive in its long history.

The hump, and a corresponding 8-foot valley toward the south end, were gentle enough that they never posed a threat to pilots, said Lt. Col. Derrick Michaud, director of the 55th Wing Runway Project Management Office.

“This just makes it a straighter runway,” he said. “Our pilots got used to it, but now it will be more of a straight shot.”

For the past five months, a fleet of construction equipment has been swarming over Offutt’s 2-mile runway, chewing it to bits and depositing it into giant piles of rubble.

Much of that concrete will eventually be recycled, mixed with other fill, and compacted to form a base for the new runway, said Rob Hufford, chief of construction management for the project.

The new runway must not only absorb a pounding from Offutt’s fleet of RC-135 reconnaissance jets (with a maximum takeoff weight of almost 149 tons) but also its E-4Bs, which are among the Air Force’s heaviest jets (400 tons).

A layer of concrete 19 inches thick will eventually overlay the portions of the runway that bear the heaviest loads, at each end and where it is crossed by taxiways.

Other parts of the runway (the center and shoulders) will be paved with asphalt up to 8 inches thick, on top of 15 inches of red rock, selected for its strength and drainage qualities and hauled in by rail from a quarry in South Dakota.

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NEBRASKA LAWMAKERS CAUTION BUSINESSES TO CONSIDER LIABILITY BEFORE ESCHEWING CDC'S MASK GUIDANCE

LINCOLN- After Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts railed against new federal masking guidance this week, two lawmakers pointed out that rejecting the guidance could void protections against lawsuits included in a new state law.

The recently enacted law is aimed at providing businesses and other entities with some protection from COVID-19 lawsuits as long as there was “substantial compliance” with federal public health guidance, including from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Nebraska Legislature approved the measure, LB 139, on a 41-1 vote, and Ricketts signed it in late May.

State Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, took aim at Ricketts for decrying recent CDC guidance, even though the governor also supported and signed the new law.

Morfeld said he’s concerned that the governor is advising people not to follow CDC guidelines when those guidelines could protect them from potential lawsuits. As an attorney, he said, lawsuits like those covered by the law would be “really tough” cases to prove. Still, he said Ricketts’ statement “flies in the face of the same bill he promoted.”

State Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, a Republican who introduced the bill, did not take aim at the governor in his comments but said any entity should consider the new law when deciding what COVID mitigation measures to adopt.

The law was passed to provide businesses, schools, health care providers, government entities and others a measure of protection from unwarranted COVID exposure lawsuits, he said. In providing that shield, it also created an incentive to follow public health guidance, Briese said.

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