BLUEPRINT NEBRASKA SEEKS INCOME TAX CUTS, OTHER TAX REFORMS, TO BOOST ECONOMY

NEBRASKA- A statewide economic-development initiative, launched by Nebraska business and higher education leaders, is calling for cuts in state individual income taxes and corporate income taxes among several steps to help boost the state’s population and economy.

Blueprint Nebraska, at a press conference Tuesday, projected that 66,000 new jobs and 73,000 additional residents would be added over a decade by cutting income taxes, increasing investment in research and development of businesses, and helping high-skilled and highly sought new employees pay off student loan debt.

Its plan would offset the income tax cuts by eliminating sales tax exemptions on several services. New taxes would be imposed on auto repairs, plumbing and roofing services, legal and accounting bills, as well as haircuts and tickets to sporting events and concerts.

“The Blueprint Nebraska plan will give communities in Greater Nebraska a distinct advantage for retaining and attracting workforce talent, by providing the region’s best balance of economic opportunity and quality of life,” said Owen Palm, co-chair of Blueprint Nebraska and CEO of 21st Century Holdings in Scottsbluff.

Ricketts, a conservative Republican, helped found Blueprint Nebraska as a way to boost the state’s economy and modernize its tax system. But he also has opposed “tax shifts” like the one proposed in the Blueprint plan — reducing income taxes while increasing sales taxes by expanding the number of things taxed.

Blueprint Nebraska was launched in 2018 by Hank Bounds, then the president of the University of Nebraska system, as well as Ricketts and state business leaders. Palm and Lance Fritz, CEO of Union Pacific Corp., are the co-chairs.

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NEBRASKA STATE SENATORS REQUEST GOV. RICKETTS REINSTATE COVID DASHBOARD

NEBRASKA- In a letter sent to Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts on Wednesday, 11 state senators requested the reinstatement of the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

The state stopped publishing COVID-19 data to the online dashboard at the end of June.

The recent expiration of an executive order also prevents Nebraska’s health districts from publicly reporting COVID-19 statistics, such as case numbers and vaccinations, for counties with fewer than 20,000 people, according to a federal “safe harbor” standard, which the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is following now that the executive order has expired.

In their letter, Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh, Jen Day, Megan Hunt, John McCollister, Terrell McKinney, Carol Blood, Matt Hansen, John Cavanaugh, Patty Pansing Brooks, Tony Vargas and Adam Morfeld noted a rise in infections and hospitalizations.

“Businesses, organizations, and school districts are struggling to make informed decisions about how best to run their day-to-day activities, as well as make long-term plans based on existing incomplete data,” the letter states.

The Department of Health and Human Services does produce a weekly report that provides some information about cases, deaths, hospitalizations and vaccines.

The senators contend that the current weekly report shared by the state lacks “crucial detailed information” such as county-by-county infection rates, COVID-19-related deaths, daily available hospital beds, respirators and overall staffed beds, according to the letter.

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FORMER GOV. DAVE HEINEMAN SPEAKS AT TAKE AMERICA BACK BOOT CAMP

AURORA- A Group of people got together in Aurora on Saturday to find out, in their own words, how to take America back from the far left. There were several speakers at the event including Former Gov. Dave Heineman.

Heineman discussed issues he believes Nebraskans are facing today including Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the State Board of Education’s proposed health standards, in his opinion, having no place in Nebraska’s schools.

“I wanted them to take away they needed to be politically involved, also to stand up for the values and beliefs we believe in as a state,” Heineman explained.

He believes when people get involved on the issues, they can truly make a difference.

“I served everything from Fremont City Council, to governor of this state, you can make a real difference if you’re willing to get involved.”

Dan Daly from Aurora was in the audience with his wife and really enjoyed Heineman’s speech. He came very concerned about CRT and the health standards and wanted to know what he could do as a concerned parent and grandfather.

“I thought he had some very good points on how to interface or approach our elected officials,” Daly said.

Heineman also believes politics has changed from when he was governor.

“It used to be that we could disagree in an agreeable way, in a respectful way and so I’m disappointed with that,” Heineman said.

He believes people need to open their minds and listen.

“To often we already have our minds made up but I will say this about our state, our people are good, they’re respectful and generally speaking they listen,” Heineman said.

Heineman loved being governor and told Local4 News he’s thinking about running again. He plans to reassess in the fall on whether or not to get back on the campaign trail.

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NEW OMAHA MASK MANDATE NOT BEING CONSIDERED, OFFICIALS SAY

OMAHA- Omaha officials say no plans are being considered to reinstitute a citywide indoor mask mandate, despite a virus surge that has brought COVID-19 cases in Douglas County to levels not seen since April.

Omaha City Council members have been receiving weekly reports on the pandemic and have met with the director of the Douglas County Health Department. But council members said there’s no consensus around instituting another mask mandate.

“We’ll continue to evaluate and discuss with council members and the public health director,” council President Pete Festersen said.

Festersen and other City Council members said finding ways to get more people vaccinated against the virus will be the best way to bring the pandemic to a close. About 63% of adults in Nebraska are fully vaccinated, and some 50.4% of the state’s total population is fully vaccinated.

In recent weeks, mask mandates have been renewed in several Midwestern cities and across the nation. People in Kansas City, Missouri, must wear masks in most indoor spaces where 6 feet of distance cannot be maintained. That mandate took effect Aug. 2 and, as of Tuesday, was set to expire Aug. 28.

In Des Moines, masking is once again required in city buildings, the Des Moines Register reported earlier this month. In May, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill that has prevented school districts, cities and counties from imposing mask mandates, though it did not apply to public property.

Council members Brinker Harding and Aimee Melton, Republicans who voted against multiple extensions of Omaha’s previous mask mandate, said in separate interviews that they would oppose any effort to impose another mask mandate. Melton and Harding both said they have been vaccinated.

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IN TUG-OF-WAR OVER OMAHA CITY BUDGET, SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM BEATS OUT EVICTION ASSISTANCE

OMAHA- In a political tug-of-war over how to allocate $200,000 in city money, a program to help small businesses beat out an effort to provide legal assistance to those facing eviction.

The City Council was deciding how to spend the money Mayor Jean Stothert earmarks in the budget each year for council members to direct to their preferred community programs. This year, council members submitted about $250,000 in proposals, which meant that some ideas wouldn’t be able to advance to keep the budget balanced. Stothert has proposed a $456.1 million general fund budget and an annual update to the city’s capital improvement program.

The council’s four Democrats — Danny Begley, Pete Festersen, Juanita Johnson and Vinny Palermo — voted for a proposal by Johnson to direct $40,000 to the Reach program, an effort by the city and the Greater Omaha Chamber to provide education and assistance to small and emerging businesses.

Johnson argued that an expanded Reach program will lead to higher wages for families in underserved areas of Omaha, including the northeast Omaha district she represents.

But Councilwoman Aimee Melton noted that Reach already receives $150,000 from the city each year, in addition to money from local businesses and the chamber.

Melton instead advocated that the money be used for one of her amendments, which called for $50,000 to hire someone to coordinate the Douglas County Tenant Assistance Project. It has been sending volunteer lawyers to represent people facing eviction for nonpayment during the current moratorium on evictions.

Melton and Councilman Don Rowe, a fellow Republican, voted against Johnson’s amendment. Councilman Brinker Harding was absent.

In a statement Tuesday, Stothert said she was “disappointed” that the council did not adopt Melton’s amendment.

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SOME NEBRASKANS BEING ASKED TO REPAY AS MUCH AS $20,000 IN UNEMPLOYMENT OVERPAYMENTS

NEBRASKA- Since March 2020, Legal Aid of Nebraska has received more than 560 requests for people asking for representation in unemployment cases.

Ann Mangiameli, an attorney with the nonprofit that offers civil legal services for people with limited resources, provided that statistic in a hearing at the State Capitol on Wednesday. Some of those clients had been denied unemployment benefits, she said. Some had received benefits, then were later notified they shouldn’t have been paid — the state had overpaid and wanted its money back.

For her clients who live paycheck to paycheck and work blue-collar jobs, Mangiameli said, a demand to pay back $15,000-$20,000, in some cases, can be devastating. And her clients, she said, hadn’t been adequately notified so they could take advantage of appeals processes.

“Our clients relied on the Department of Labor, when they filed their applications, to properly process their application,” she said. “They waited that five to six months with no income, finally got approved for benefits and finally got paid. The Department of Labor then came back, in many instances, and said, ‘We’ve redetermined, and determined that you should not have been paid that money, please pay us back.’ ”

Members of the Nebraska Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee listened to Mangiameli’s testimony Wednesday, after a briefing from Labor Commissioner John Albin and testimony from a representative of the nonprofit Nebraska Appleseed.

State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue pressed Albin for answers regarding overpayments that were discovered amid a tidal wave of people filing for unemployment during the pandemic. Her focus was on instances when people were overpaid because of an agency error, not because of fraud or something they did wrong.

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PROUD BOYS ARE TEAMING UP WITH ANTI-MASKERS TO THREATEN SCHOOL BOARDS OVER COVID MANDATES

TENNESSEE- Outside a school board meeting in Franklin, Tennessee on Tuesday night, a crowd gathered around masked meeting-goers as they exited the building. “You are child abusers!” one member of the crowd shouted. “There’s a bad place in hell and everybody’s taking notes, buddy!”

“We will find you and we know who you are!” another shouted through a mask-wearing man’s car window.

An hour away, in Nashville, similar tensions were simmering at another school board meeting, where a conservative commentator—who does not have children enrolled in that school district—criticized masks as “child abuse.” Days earlier, in North Carolina, a school board meeting over masking devolved into chaos after attendees attempted to “overthrow” the officials and install themselves as a new board. And members of the far-right paramilitary group the Proud Boys have attended contentious school board meetings about masking in Florida and New Hampshire.

In Buncombe County, North Carolina last week, a rowdy anti-mask group caused school board members to end a meeting early. The group reportedly booed a lone parent who spoke up in favor of masks, with one member stating that she looked forward to seeing a school board member behind bars. After the school board members ended the meeting early, some 30 anti-mask participants attempted to “overthrow” the board, the Asheville Citizen Times reported. The group signed a loose-leaf sheet of paper declaring themselves witnesses to the formation of a new, anti-mask school board.

Multiple Florida schools have also seen an influx in outsiders crashing their meetings on masking. Last month, a group of men with Proud Boy uniforms and anti-masking signs attended a Palm Beach County, Florida school board meeting, CBS12 reported. Members of the group sat inside the meeting, and stood on a street corner with a banner bedecked in the Proud Boys logo and the slogan “unmask the children.”

That same month, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio attended a school board meeting in Florida’s Miami-Dade County. Tarrio told WPLG Local 10 News that members of his group were there to speak against masks, vaccine requirements, and “critical race theory.”

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US HEALTH OFFICIALS CALL FOR BOOSTER SHOTS AGAINST COVID-19

NEW YORK- U.S. health officials Wednesday announced plans to offer COVID-19 booster shots to all Americans to shore up their protection amid the surging delta variant and evidence that the vaccines' effectiveness is falling.

The plan, as outlined by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other top authorities, calls for an extra dose eight months after people get their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The doses could begin the week of Sept. 20.

"Our plan is to protect the American people, to stay ahead of this virus," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.

Health officials said people who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will also probably need extra shots. But they said they are waiting for more data.

The overall plan is subject to a Food and Drug Administration evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of a third dose, the officials said.

In a statement, officials said it is "very clear" that the vaccines' protection against infection wanes over time, and now, with the highly contagious delta variant spreading rapidly, "we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease."

"Based on our latest assessment, the current protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death could diminish in the months ahead," they said.

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LABOR SHORTAGE FORCES NEBRASKA STATE PARKS TO MAKE UNUSUAL SERVICE CUTS

NEBRASKA- The state’s parks and recreation areas are used to feeling labor pains this time of year, when its seasonal workers are getting ready to return to school.

But the squeeze is sharper this year, and it’s forcing the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to make unprecedented cuts in hours and services across the state.

The commission’s parks were already short-staffed this summer, operating with only an estimated 70% of their normal workforce, said Jim Swenson, the state’s parks administrator.

Like private businesses, the state struggled to find enough workers this year. “It’s a statewide situation,” he said. “We’re caught in the same situation.”

But unlike private businesses, the Game and Parks Commission was limited in the incentives it could offer to attract applicants, such as hiring bonuses and higher wages. In the past, it’s banked on what he called its aces in the hole, he said — that it’s enjoyable to work at a park, mostly outside, and that it looks good on a resume. Those weren’t enough this year.

“As a state agency, we don’t have a lot of flexibility. We try to do what we can do within the parameters we have. The private sector, they can offer more than we can.”

And the shortage came during a parks boom. Swenson didn’t yet have numbers available, but almost all measurements — day use, hiking, biking, picnicking, disc golfing — were up this year, he said. And most of the commission’s campgrounds have been fully booked every weekend.

But with the loss of seasonal staff, something needed to give. So the commission released a list of service reductions at many of its properties.

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WITH COVID CASES RISING, NO PLANS TO RESTART TESTNEBRASKA

NEBRASKA- With the delta variant fueling a rise in COVID-19 cases in Nebraska, the state continues to fall short in testing for the virus, according to an infectious diseases expert.

The testing troubles are not necessarily new, nor are they unique to Nebraska. But the latest shortcoming is occurring at a time when case numbers are rising, schools are returning to in-person learning and some employers are weighing whether to bring employees back to the office.

The combination of factors has some officials worried that Nebraska could in a matter of weeks be facing a crisis similar to that in Southern states, where hospitals are overwhelmed.

“We’re definitely not testing enough ... that part is clear,” said Dr. James Lawler, co-executive director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Global Center for Health Security.

Despite the concerns, state and local officials say there are sufficient testing options available. And there are no plans to restart the statewide testing program, TestNebraska, which ceased operating nearly a month ago.

Testing remains a vital tool in slowing the spread of COVID-19. Federal officials have repeated that point in recent weeks amid a national surge in cases.

“Testing and building testing capacity is a key part of our surge response because we know quickly detecting cases allows us to help prevent outbreaks and contain the virus,” Jeff Zients, White House COVID-?19 response coordinator, said during a July 22 press briefing.

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'A STRATEGIC BLUNDER': NEBRASKA, IOWA DELEGATIONS ANGERED BY TALIBAN TAKEOVER OF AFGHANISTAN

KABUL- Reports from Afghanistan of Taliban forces entering the capital city of Kabul on Sunday drew harsh responses from the Nebraska and Iowa congressional delegations.

Several news organizations, including the New York Times and the Associated Press, reported that Afghanistan’s government collapsed on Sunday with the flight from the country of President Ashraf Ghani and the entry into the capital of the Taliban, effectively sealing the insurgents’ control of the country. The fall of Kabul came swiftly after dozens of cities rapidly fell to the Taliban following U.S. troop withdrawals begun by former President Donald Trump and continued by President Joe Biden.

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a retired brigadier general who was deployed four times to the Middle East, said that the unfolding disaster was avoidable and that senior officials in the Department of Defense and possibly the Department of State should offer their resignations to Biden.

Yes, the buck stops with Biden, but “the president either got terrible advice or he ignored advice,” said Bacon, a Republican. “This was a strategic blunder.”

Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released a statement critical of Trump and Biden, saying that the U.S. would “regret” its moves and that foreign relations would suffer as a consequence.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., also issued a statement after receiving a briefing Sunday morning.

“The Senate was briefed this morning amid the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan,” Fischer said. “Thousands of lives are in imminent danger and our service men and women in Kabul are working hard under extremely dangerous conditions to evacuate U.S. citizens and our partners. Given that the Commander-in-chief chose not to act to slow the Taliban’s advances this past week, it is disgraceful that the administration was not better prepared for this eventuality.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, issued a lengthy statement condemning the Taliban and the U.S. withdrawal.

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IS THERE SUCH A THING AS TOO MANY NONPROFITS? NEBRASKA STATE SENATOR WANTS TO KNOW

LINCOLN — State Sen. Terrell McKinney has a question for nonprofits: What is your plan to alleviate the need for your organization?

“We’ve had feel-good programs for forever, but communities like North Omaha are still the most impoverished,” he said.

Members of the Legislature’s Urban Affairs Committee on Friday heard testimony on a study McKinney proposed looking into the effects of an oversaturation of nonprofits and philanthropy in densely populated, high-poverty areas. The study is underway.

McKinney previously told The World-Herald that his experience growing up and working in North Omaha prompted the study. He saw a lack of investment by businesses, he said, while millions went to nonprofits year after year. He now represents the 11th District, which covers most of North Omaha.

After the hearing, McKinney shared data showing that 34% of people in his district lived in poverty in 1991. In years since, it stayed within a range of about 32% to 41% and was at 33.5% as of 2019.

There’s a need for nonprofits and philanthropists in our communities, McKinney said. But some nonprofits and philanthropists are viewed by some community members as self-serving while operating under a guise of benefiting North Omaha. A term for this, he said: “poverty pimp” — a label that implies profiting from misfortune, not truly wanting to eliminate it.

McKinney said the intent of the study is not to broadly attack nonprofits but to look at how money is being invested — to highlight an imbalance and rethink.

“We have to make sure that all the money isn’t going to nonprofit entities; we have to make sure that we’re doing something as a state to put money into small businesses within the community to help them grow and be sustainable,” he said.

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BY CHANCE AND DETERMINATION, SOME NEBRASKANS TRAPPED IN AFGHANISTAN ESCAPE

KABUL- Her brother beaten in front of her. Her cousin beaten, too. Frightening encounters with the Taliban at checkpoints. Her small children lost and nearly trampled in the crowd of tens of thousands.

That’s how a Nebraska mother stranded in Kabul, Afghanistan, described to family back home her efforts to reach the airport and a flight out of the country.

Her brother in Nebraska, who has talked by phone with his sister and other family members, relayed their account to The World-Herald.

The woman, her children, ages 2, 4 and 11, and her mother, all American citizens, had gone to Afghanistan to visit family. They had tickets for a flight back in early August but were bumped by a fleeing Afghan official and his family. Since then, they’ve been trying to get home.

After a half-dozen attempts since Friday, she made it out of the country, and she and her children were safe in Qatar Wednesday. The woman’s disabled mother, also an American citizen, turned back at the airport this week, fearing she could not survive the crowd there, her brother said.

He asked not to be named out of concern for the safety of family members remaining in Afghanistan.

The key to his sister’s escape, he said, was Afghan men who were neighbors and willing to put themselves in harm’s way to help her, and her own willingness to overcome her fear of the Taliban. A widow, she could have been forced to marry a Taliban soldier had she been discovered, her brother said, and that terrified her.

The brother said he told his sister she couldn’t count on the U.S. government to arrange for safe passage to the airport. He said he has been trying to get his brother out of Afghanistan for nearly 11 years.

His family, including those still in Afghanistan, are at risk because he worked as a translator for the U.S. military.

"I told her the only thing I know is if you can get yourself to the Marines and show your (U.S.) passport, you can get out."

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NEBRASKA ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST DIRECTOR RESIGNS

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Environmental Trust Board accepted the resignation of the Trust’s longtime director Wednesday, and moved to adopt steps recommended in a recent state audit.

The board, which hands out $20 million a year in state lottery funds for wildlife habitat, recycling and groundwater improvement projects, has been under fire in recent months for defunding some conservation projects to redirect grant funds to purchase ethanol blender pumps.

Some conservation groups, including the recently formed Friends of the Environmental Trust organization, have complained that the Trust’s focus has veered from its original mission of funding environmental projects that otherwise wouldn’t have been funded, to promoting agriculture and economic development.

The Trust, since 1992, has awarded $349 million in grants to more than 2,400 projects across the state. The grants focus on five areas: surface water and groundwater, soil management, air quality, wildlife habitat and waste management/recycling.

Mark Brohman, who has directed the Trust since 2006, declined to comment on his reasons for resigning. Two members of the Trust Board, Mark Quandahl of Omaha and Jeff Kanger of Lincoln, declined to comment on whether Brohman was forced to resign.

The Environmental Trust Board, in recent years, has switched from supporting conservation easements — used to preserve private land — to opposing them. That reflects criticism of such easements by Gov. Pete Ricketts, who appoints the nine citizen members of the 14-member Trust Board, and appoints three of the five state agency directors who round out the panel.

Ricketts recently declined to reappoint one Trust Board member, Gerry Lauritzen of Omaha, because she supported conservation easements.

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MILLARD ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM IN QUARANTINE AFTER CLUSTER OF COVID CASES

MILLARD- A classroom of elementary students in the Millard Public Schools is in quarantine at home after a cluster of COVID-19 cases was identified this week in the class.

The classroom will be closed for seven days to prevent possible spread, a district official said.

The situation could be a model for how the school district and health officials handle future clusters in the new school year.

District officials requested the classroom quarantine after three students in the class at Montclair Elementary School tested positive, and transmission was suspected, a district spokeswoman said.

The school, located at 2405 South 138th St. in Omaha, has about 700 students and has a Montessori program.

Spokeswoman Rebecca Kleeman said one case in the Montclair classroom was verified Monday, and the parents of classmates were notified.

Late on Tuesday, school officials learned of the additional two positive cases, she said. At that point, district officials notified the classroom parents to keep their kids home on Wednesday, she said.

Two additional students are suspected of contracting the virus, which would make five in all if confirmed, Kleeman said.

Kleeman said the district is following the guidance of the Douglas County Health Department on quarantining.

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GOV. PETE RICKETTS CRITICIZES 'BOTCHED' AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

LINCOLN- Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts criticized President Joe Biden on Monday for the “botched” withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Ricketts’ statement was released after Biden addressed the nation on the withdrawal, which has also drawn criticism from members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation.

“As shocking images and videos of the Taliban takeover pour in from Afghanistan, our military veterans need to know that their service and sacrifice there was not in vain,” Ricketts said.

Members of Nebraska’s all-Republican congressional delegation also issued statements after Biden’s address Monday.

Rep. Don Bacon said U.S. credibility has been “greatly stained in the world.”

“We must focus on getting all refugees with U.S. visas to safety, including those who have applications in. Next, we need to focus on legislation in the upcoming (National Defense Authorization Act) to address security for our country and support for those who assisted us in Afghanistan,” Bacon said.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry said a small-scale residual force could have been kept in Afghanistan to stabilize the country, without significant American risk. Instead, he said, the result was “chaos.”

“Now we will watch as this primitive entity called the Taliban will wreak destruction, cruelly assassinate, repress women, and return the country to darkness,” he said.

Sen. Ben Sasse said Biden “failed to rise to the occasion.”

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NEBRASKA CORRECTIONS REPORTS COVID-19 OUTBREAK AT INTAKE FACILITY

LINCOLN- A COVID-19 outbreak at the intake facility for state prisons in Lincoln has prompted the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to pause visits and volunteer activities and to ask county jails to hold off on sending new inmates, the department announced Tuesday.

Thirty-three inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center, according to state data. All adult men who are sentenced to the Department of Corrections go through the facility. It also houses interstate transfers and returned parolees and escapees, among others.

People who’ve tested positive at the intake facility are isolated in housing away from other inmates to avoid spreading the coronavirus, according to corrections chief of staff Laura Strimple.

“Before, when cases increased in the community, we experienced a corresponding increase in our facilities,” Director Scott Frakes said. “It is not a surprise that we have an uptick in cases now, especially at DEC which serves as the intake facility for all male inmates who are new admits or returning to us from the community.”

The intake facility’s average daily population was about 418 between July 2020 and June 2021. That made it, on average, the most overcrowded of the state’s 10 facilities over that year, at 209% of its operational capacity and 261% of its design capacity.

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OMAHA AND LINCOLN POLICE, OTHERS WARN OF SPIKE IN FENTANYL OVERDOSES

NEBRASKA- Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are warning of a spike in fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths in the Omaha and Lincoln areas over the past week.

From Aug. 10 to Sunday, officials have documented two fentanyl-related overdose deaths and five more nonfatal overdoses in Omaha, said Emily Murray, a spokeswoman with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Omaha division. Six fentanyl-related overdose deaths and 16 nonfatal overdoses were identified in Lincoln over that same time period.

Authorities said the majority of the deaths involved cocaine mixed with fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine.

A lethal dose of fentanyl is about the same size as a few grains of salt, authorities said.

Investigators say they are finding cocaine, methamphetamine and counterfeit pills made to look like real pharmaceutical pills that are laced with fentanyl.

Murray said authorities have seen overdoses and deaths steadily increase in recent weeks, but the numbers have spiked in the past week because of a batch of cocaine that is laced with fentanyl.

Authorities reminded the public that under state law, people are exempt from criminal liability if they call for medical help for themselves or others for a drug overdose.

The Omaha and Lincoln Police Departments, Nebraska State Patrol and federal DEA in Omaha issued a joint press release about the matter Tuesday afternoon.

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MASKS WILL BE REQUIRED IN SOME LABS, CLASSES AT UNL THIS FALL, CHANCELLOR SAYS

LINCOLN- With classes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln set to resume on Monday, students are being asked to check their online syllabus to see if masks will be required for a specific class or lab assignment.

In an email to students, faculty and staff on Wednesday, UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green said face coverings may be required in some settings as a way to safely provide "a robust, in-person educational experience."

Green said masks may be required in settings where students work in close proximity for an extended period of time, including lab courses, performance courses such as dance, music and theater classes, art and design studios and experiential learning opportunities.

In addition, Green said, face coverings may be required in a class where the instructor or a student has immediate family members who are unable to be vaccinated. Students who wish to make such a request are encouraged to speak with their instructor.

Green said that Executive Vice Chancellor Elizabeth Spiller has worked with college deans and department leaders on processes for requiring masks under these conditions. The guidelines are similar to those outlined at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Ahead of the first day of classes, all students, faculty and staff members are to complete a COVID-19 test. Test results, Green said, will help UNL to make data-driven decisions on how to keep the campus safe this fall.

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U.S. JUDGE SAYS FLORIDA CAN'T BAN CRUISE SHIP'S 'VACCINE PASSPORT' PROGRAM

FLORIDA- A U.S. judge has allowed Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH.N)todemand that passengers show written proof of coronavirus vaccination before they board a ship, dealing a major blow to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's effort to ban "vaccine passports."

In a preliminary ruling issued on Sunday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami said Norwegian would likely prevail on its argument that the "vaccine passport" ban, signed into law by DeSantis in May, jeopardizes public health and is an unconstitutional infringement on Norwegian's rights.

The judge blocked DeSantis from enforcing the law against Norwegian, allowing the cruise ship operator to proceed with a plan to resume port activity in Miami on Aug. 15. Violations of the law could have triggered a penalty of $5,000 per passenger, potentially adding up to millions of dollars per cruise.

The ruling comes as big business and some government entities are responding to the rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus with vaccination requirements, prompting legal challenges from vaccine skeptics and civil libertarians.

"We are pleased that Judge Williams saw the facts, the law and the science as we did and granted the Company's motion for preliminary injunction allowing us to operate cruises from Florida with 100% vaccinated guests and crew," the company's executive vice president Daniel S. Farkas said in the statement.

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