'WALL OF SHAME' STILL USED BY STATE TO CONVINCE DELINQUENT TAXPAYERS TO PAY UP

LINCOLN- A little-known state effort to shame delinquent taxpayers into paying up is still on the job 15 years after it was created. But the state’s worst tax scofflaw in recent years, a former Omaha business owner, remains at the top of the state’s so-called “wall of shame” despite the listing, raising questions about the list’s effectiveness. When it was created by the Nebraska Legislature in 2010, the state was struggling with a budget shortfall, and the public posting of tax scofflaws was billed as a low-cost way to force delinquencies to be paid.

There’s been little publicity about the wall of shame since, despite a similar budget crunch impacting the state this year. As of March 31, nearly 370 individuals and companies from Nebraska and several other states were listed on the Nebraska Department of Revenue’s website as owing more than $20,000 in state taxes. In total, they add up to owing about $22.6 million.

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$45M YOUTH COMPLEX, SAID TO INCLUDE OMAHA'S LARGET BASKETBALL FACILITY, POISED TO OPEN IN LATE 2026

OMAHA- Groundwork is underway for what officials said will be the first tournament-style youth sports facility in northeast Omaha — anchored by a nearly 115,000-square-foot structure launched with $45 million in federal and state dollars. The City of Omaha is to own, maintain, and operate the future Levi Carter Park Activity and Sports Complex along the north shore of Carter Lake in Levi Carter Park. That’s north of downtown, near Eppley Airfield. A ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday at the site drew politicians, including Gov. Jim Pillen, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, and City Councilwoman Juanita Johnson.

Also speaking was former State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, who helped lead legislative efforts in 2022 and 2023 to direct public funding to the historically disinvested area he represented. Wayne, who was term-limited at the start of this year, expects the new facility to help level the playing field for families in North Omaha who have not had the same access to higher levels of youth sports as other more affluent areas. “We have redlined youth sports in Omaha,” Wayne said, citing the dearth of athletic complexes in eastern Omaha compared to those that draw crowds and economic development to western Omaha and the suburbs.

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DAN OSBORN STATISTICALLY TIED WITH U.S. SEN. PETE RICKETTS IN POLL

LINCOLN- Former Nebraska U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn is statistically tied with U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., in a new poll for a potential second run, according to Osborn’s exploratory committee. The poll of 524 likely midterm Nebraska voters shows Osborn trailing Ricketts by one percentage point, 45% to 46%, well within the survey’s 4.6 percentage point margin of error.

This comes after Osborn’s populist nonpartisan bid against U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., made national headlines in 2024 for turning an expected safe seat into a potential upset. He raised $14 million and forced national Republicans to spend money in a reliably red state.

“This poll is encouraging and matches the frustration I hear every day from people across Nebraska,” Osborn said in a statement. “People are pissed off. They should be. Billionaires like Pete Ricketts and Elon Musk are taking a chainsaw to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, slashing jobs for 80,000 veterans.”

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TRUMP THROWS WEIGHT INTO HYPOTHETICAL MIDTERM RACE WITH ENDORSEMENT OF U.S. SEN. PETE RICKETTS

LINCOLN — President Donald Trump endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in a still-hypothetical midterm race against former labor leader Dan Osborn, a registered nonpartisan who has had some Democratic support.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said Ricketts has his “Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election.” 

He announced the endorsement Thursday, hours after Osborn released a poll showing him statistically tied with Ricketts. People familiar with the Ricketts endorsement process said it had been in the works for weeks and that Trump decided on the timing.

“Pete is one of the strongest Senators in the Country on Border Security, whereas his potential Opponent, Dan Osborn, is a Radical Left Open Border Extremist, who will put our Country and Safety LAST.” Trump wrote.

Earlier Thursday, Osborn drew headlines statewide about the poll showing him within one percentage point of Ricketts. Osborn announced last week that he was exploring another run for the Senate, this time against Ricketts. Ricketts served two terms as governor before Gov. Jim Pillen.

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ATTORNEY GENERAL TO SEND MORE CEASE AND DESIST LETTERS TO STATE THC SHOPS

LINCOLN- Nebraska's top law enforcement official will send cease and desist letters to 12 THC shops across Kearney and Grand Island, the attorney general announced Thursday, marking the latest escalation of his multi-year legal campaign bent on ridding the state of the hemp-derived substance. In a news release Thursday afternoon, Attorney General Mike Hilgers' office said it would send the legal notices to all THC retailers in the two central Nebraska cities "that have not already been sued."

The letters call on shop owners to "immediately cease all sales of unlawful THC-containing products to Nebraska consumers to avoid litigation."

"The Attorney General’s Office is demanding that each store return a signed document indicating their Assurance of Voluntary Compliance," Hilgers' office said in the news release. "If they do not return a signed settlement, then the office will initiate litigation and will seek penalties and fees to the fullest extent allowed by law."

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DAN OSBORN EXPLORING MIDTERM BID AGAINST U.S. SEN. PETE RICKETTS

LINCOLN- Former Nebraska U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn decided Thursday to explore another run for the Senate, this time against Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in the midterms. The former Omaha labor leader’s announcement of a second possible Senate run comes after his populist bid against U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., in 2024 made national headlines for turning an expected safe race into a potential upset. He attracted an extraordinary fundraising haul for a nonpartisan federal candidate in Nebraska of $14 million, including some late money from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee once they saw his momentum. He lost by about six percentage points.

Osborn told the Nebraska Examiner last month that he had expanded his scope for his next political office run last month after initially thinking about running against Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon in the Omaha-based 2nd District or running for governor against GOP Gov. Jim Pillen. The steamfitter who made his name by leading the Kellogg’s strike in Omaha in 2021 and made waves by choosing to pay himself in 2024 with campaign funds chose the race that offered the clearest contrast.

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STATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REACHES 3% MARK, FIRST TIME SINCE DURING PANDEMIC

LINCOLN- Nebraska’s unemployment rate has reached 3% according to the latest labor report, up from 2.6% a year ago. The last time the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was at 3% was in December 2020. The rate for January was 2.9%. Prior to the pandemic, Nebraska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was consistently around 3.0%, ranging from 2.8% to 3.2%.

Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate still remains among the lowest nationally, tying for the fifth lowest in the recently released data that reflects February. The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February is 4.1%, up from 3.9% a year earlier. Labor Commissioner Katie Thurber said the uptick appears to be driven by an increase in the state labor force.

“When someone enters the labor force and begins searching for work, they are classified as unemployed until they find a job,” Thurber said. “Both new entrants and re-entrants into the labor force were up in February, and Nebraska’s labor force is now at an all-time high of 1,077,890 participants.”

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STOTHERT, EWING ADVANCE IN OMAHA MAYOR'S PRIMARY RACE

OMAHA- Incumbent Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing easily advanced Tuesday to next month’s general election for mayor. Despite outspending Ewing by hundreds of thousands of dollars, former State Sen. Mike McDonnell finished a distant third after angering key parts of both major political parties. The Nebraska Democratic Party censured the then-Democrat last year for casting the critical vote to pass new restrictions on abortion and transgender health care. He also angered the right by withholding his vote for shifting Nebraska to winner-take-all in presidential elections after joining the Nebraska Republican Party.

Stothert is seeking a fourth term as the city’s top elected official, a record in the modern era. She has emphasized her record of results, including changes to make downtown Omaha more appealing and encouraging redeveloping parts of the city that had lagged. While the mayor’s race is nonpartisan, local parties have campaigned for central candidates.

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END IS NEAR, PILLEN SAYS, FOR PERSISTENT 'WAIT LIST' FOR NEBRASKANS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

OMAHA- Gov. Jim Pillen said Monday that, by July, his administration expects to accomplish a goal it announced a year ago: elimination of a long-running “wait list” for Nebraskans seeking services for intellectual and developmental disabilities. Last March, the list contained about 2,700 people, and a projected wait for available funds stretched for up to eight years. The governor said the number has been whittled to about 700.

“This is the first time in the last 35 years that this wait list is going to be eliminated,” Steve Corsi, chief executive officer of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said at a press conference in Omaha that also closed Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Pillen, Corsi, and Tony Green, director of the DHHS Division of Developmental Disabilities, updated progress on cutting the wait, the public cost, and what they’ve described as the state’s reimagining of how services are offered to Nebraskans with developmental disabilities to make things work better.

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ATTORNEYS ARGUE AGAINST PREEMPTION LAWSUIT TARGETING MEDICAL CANNABIS LAW

LINCOLN- The new commissioners set to regulate medical cannabis in Nebraska, as well as the ballot sponsors of the successful effort to legalize it in 2024, blasted an ongoing lawsuit against them as “meritless” and seeking to create a “false conflict.” In briefs filed Friday, attorneys for the 11 defendants named in the John Kuehn v. Gov. Jim Pillen case explained why they are seeking to dismiss the case.

Kuehn, a former state senator, former State Board of Health member, and longtime marijuana opponent, filed the case in December. It sought to declare the voter-approved legalization and regulation of medical cannabis unconstitutional. He expanded the case in January to encompass more state officials. The lawsuit’s main argument is that the Nebraska laws are unlawful, or preempted, because of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

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FUNDING PULLED FOR PLANNED PRESCRIPTION DRUG DONATION PROGRAM WITH IOWA

LINCOLN- Nebraska’s anticipated prescription drug donation program partnership with an Iowa nonprofit hit another wrench Wednesday as the Legislature’s budget-setting committee accepted Gov. Jim Pillen’s recommendation to cut the program’s state funding. State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, through successful 2024 and 2025 legislation, mandated that the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services identify and work with a nonprofit on such a program. The plan has been to partner with Iowa’s SafeNetRx for a first-in-the-nation multi-state prescription drug donation program. Hughes visited the facility in October 2023.

The SafeNetRx program tailors its services to individuals who can’t afford prescribed medication, regardless of insurance status, with an annual household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Nebraska state senators approved about $530,000 annually for the program in 2024, which hadn’t yet taken off because a federal law took effect last summer, tying up the partnership. Pillen suggested pulling funding in his January budget recommendations. It was one of many recent programs on the governor’s “last in, first out” suggestions list.

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LAWMAKERS TO DEBATE WINNER-TAKE-ALL NEXT WEEK

LINCOLN- The Nebraska Legislature will take up a bill changing the state to a winner-take-all system in the Electoral College on Tuesday afternoon. Speaker John Arch told lawmakers Thursday morning he plans to schedule Sen. Loren Lippincott's priority bill (LB3) for first-round debate on Day 57 of the 90-day legislative session.

Arch said he would allow LB3 to be debated for four hours on general file, or the first round of debate, rather than eight hours, following a procedure he established last year when handling controversial bills. "I believe most members have determined how they will vote on this bill," Arch said. "The measure does not lend itself to amendment, so a general file debate of four hours provides time for arguments for and against to be made for the record."

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LAWMAKERS APPROVE AT-HOME NURSE VISITS FOR POSTPARTUM MOMS, 340B PROTECTIONS

LINCOLN- Nebraska lawmakers overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday morning to require state officials to seek federal matching funds for targeted nurse home visitation services. Legislative Bill 22, from State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln, passed 47-0. It expands on Dungan’s “Nebraska Prenatal Plus Program” in 2024, which offers services to Medicaid-eligible mothers to help prevent low birth weights, preterm births, and adverse birth outcomes. Dungan said the bill represents “another step forward in ensuring that we have healthy moms and healthy babies in Nebraska.”

Dungan’s 2025 legislation, which heads to Gov. Jim Pillen, would expand care to include voluntary targeted case management for evidence-based nurse home visitation services, similar to the Family Connects program in Lincoln and Lancaster County and now being piloted in Omaha. The goal is to expand the program statewide, deploying a nurse to the homes of eligible postpartum mothers and children six months of age or younger for one-on-one services.

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MCKINNEY-BACKED PILOT PROGRAM TO STEER YOUTHS FROM TROUBLE IS RESCUED, FOR NOW

LINCOLN- After anger, threats of stalling legislation and accusations of discrimination, the Unicameral on Thursday resurrected a priority bill by State Sen. Terrell McKinney to help keep at-risk youths out of jail. It’s now part of another proposal that advanced. Earlier in the day, McKinney’s Legislative Bill 48 was doused on a 22-14 vote. That led the North Omaha legislator to call opponents hypocrites. He said they claim to “care about kids” but are more interested in “keeping up with the status quo” and “keeping black kids in the system.” 

McKinney's priority bill calls for an around-the-clock Family Resource and Juvenile Assessment Center pilot program in Omaha. The goal is two sites that address family dynamics, mental health, substance abuse, and educational challenges contributing to juvenile delinquency. 

State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, after the earlier vote that sank LB 48, promised not to sit down until lawmakers “fixed” the McKinney situation. She said she believed opponents have been unfairly dismissing his ideas. During a later debate on a different bill, State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln helped revive McKinney’s pilot program. The rescue came in the form of a floor amendment attached to an aging services-related proposal championed by State Sen. Glen Meyer of Pender. 

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KIDS WOULD NEED PARENT'S PERMISSION TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA UNDER GOVERNOR-BACKED BILL

LINCOLN- Nebraska kids who want to post on or scroll through Instagram, TikTok, or the next popular social media app would need to get a parent’s permission under a governor-backed bill that will come up for debate in the Legislature. The Judiciary Committee advanced Legislative Bill 383 this week. Bill sponsor State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman dubbed the legislation the “Parental Rights in Social Media Act” and introduced it on behalf of Gov. Jim Pillen.

Along with requiring parental approval to use a social media app, the bill requires platforms to give parents tools to monitor and manage account activity. “Parents are the best decision-makers for their children’s well-being, and this bill provides them with the power to oversee their children’s social media accounts and ensure they make healthy decisions,” Storer said during a February committee hearing.

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PROPOSED MERGER OF NATURAL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENTS ADVANCES

LINCOLN- Gov. Jim Pillen’s goal to merge two state departments into a new Department of Water, Energy and Environment advanced through its first round of legislative floor debates Wednesday despite some senators casting doubts about the benefits it would bring to Nebraska. Legislative Bill 317 would combine the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environment and Energy to unify efforts to enhance water quantity and water quality, according to Pillen.

State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth introduced the bill on behalf of the governor. Brandt touted the merger as a measure for efficiency, improving education efforts, permitting processes, and collaboration between water planning and state investments in water infrastructure projects. The merger also unifies various administrative functions, Brandt said, saying the state will not eliminate jobs immediately, but some roles will cease when the people in them retire or leave the department. 

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LAB-GROWN MEAT BAN MOVES FORWARD IN LEGISLATURE

LINCOLN- A bill banning lab-grown meat from Nebraska advanced Monday to a second round in the statehouse after a two-hour debate. Legislative Bill 246 advanced 33-4. Nebraska would join a handful of states that have introduced legislation banning cell-derived meat. The bill was introduced at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen, who owns a major hog operation based in Columbus. Several lawmakers expressed concerns over the safety of lab-grown meat, while others called the bill a waste of time.

The proposed law doesn’t ban alternative-meat products like Impossible Burger, which is made entirely from plants. The cell-derived meat it targets is produced from animal cells, enabling the cells to multiply and differentiate into muscle, fat, and connective tissue without slaughtering animals. The bill would ban the production, import, distribution, promotion, display, or sale of any cultivated-protein food in the state.

If passed, Nebraska would be the fourth state to implement a ban on lab-grown meat. Mississippi is expected to be the third once its governor signs the measure into law. Florida and Alabama have banned cultivating and selling meat grown in laboratories in recent years. Bill author State Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara said the bill aims to protect the Nebraska meat industry and consumers from “adulterated food’s effects.”

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SEN. IBACH WINS ROUND OF RURAL DISPUTE OVER FEEDLOT BILL

LINCOLN- A bill to exempt feedlots from Nebraska branding and inspection fees is headed to the second round of legislative debate after Wednesday’s 26-2 vote. After hours of debate, State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner, in west-central Nebraska, amended Legislative Bill 646 to cap the amount the Brand Committee can charge feedlots and seek to exempt feedlots in the state’s brand inspection area from paying branding-related fees. It would replace them with a one-time payment of $1,000 to apply for feedlots to get an exempt status. The bill also exempts dairy cattle.

Ibach said she is open to additional amendments to her priority bill regarding the language of the fee structure and other technical issues lawmakers might have. She faced opposition from State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman, a freshman rural lawmaker from north-central Nebraska, who proposed an amendment to essentially kill the bill—an effort that failed Wednesday while urban lawmakers chose not to weigh in.

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LAWMAKERS TASKED WITH DEFINING QUALIFYING CONDITIONS FOR MEDICAL CANNABIS

LINCOLN- The path forward for a medical cannabis bill in the Nebraska Legislature appears more uncertain after a committee chair tasked his members with deciding what medical conditions would qualify for access in the state and which forms of medical cannabis would be allowed. State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, chair of the Legislature’s General Affairs Committee, described that task to his seven fellow committee members Wednesday. He provided them lists to choose a handful from the “debilitating medical conditions” approved in neighboring Iowa, as well as what he said were the 42 conditions approved across the 38 other states with medical cannabis laws.

Legislative Bill 677, from State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, an effort aiming to flesh out a state regulatory scheme for medical cannabis, already faced an uphill climb to get out of committee among conservatives. Hansen, a Republican with a more Libertarian bent, said he still hopes to get his bill out of committee as “clean and popular as we can.” Some advocates who championed the 2024 ballot measure say their support of the bill could be in jeopardy if Holdcroft’s more limited approach is taken up

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DESPITE FILIBUSTER, BILL ADVANCES THAT'S AIMED AT LESSENING MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES

LINCOLN- A controversial bill to dilute Nebraska’s phased minimum wage increases cleared the first round of floor debate Tuesday after a two-day filibuster. Legislative Bill 258 is Democratic State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln’s top priority for the 2025 session. The bill would reduce the annual cost-of-living increases to up to 1.5% per year, and freeze the minimum wage at $13.50 per hour for workers ages 14 and 15. The bill earned just enough votes to pass a filibuster-ending cloture motion, with a 33-16 vote.

The bill itself earned a 32-17 vote, with Sen. Stanley Clouse of Kearney shifting his vote to no. The bill will now advance to its second of three rounds of debate, with its fate still uncertain. In addition to changing the cost of living increases and the youth wage, LB 258 would also set a 90-day training wage at $13.50 an hour. Raybould noted this is higher than Nebraska’s current minimum training wage, which is set at $5.45 an hour — 75% of the federal minimum wage.

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