Centrist Rep. Don Bacon, one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House, said this week he doesn’t have the “hunger” for another grueling re-election campaign and won’t run for a sixth term next year.
But Bacon, who spent 30 years in the Air Force and specialized in intelligence matters, said he’s interested in serving in an executive role down the road, and wouldn’t rule out running for Nebraska governor, or even president in 2028.
For the full article, click HERE.
OMAHA- As he stepped down from his role as CEO of Nebraska Medicine, the state's largest healthcare network, this past week, James Linder, MD, wrote a letter to his fellow Nebraskans about what the role has meant to him.
Dr. Linder leaves with pride over the accomplishments of Nebraska Medicine and pride in the work of the 10,500 colleagues who bring serious medicine and extraordinary care to Nebraska families. He celebrates the health system's public partnership, which brings together the best of private enterprise and public service. Dr. Linder looks ahead to the leadership of the incoming CEO, Michael Ash, MD, to continue the advancement of health care for all Nebraskans.
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen on Thursday announced an interim director for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development: Maureen Larsen, who currently serves as the governor’s general counsel.
Larsen, who earned her law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law, also serves as Pillen’s deputy director of policy research. The policy division serves as the governor’s personal lobbying arm. She is to transition from her current role July 21, replacing K.C. Belitz, whose resignation was announced suddenly last month after serving two years on the job. Belitz’s final day as DED director is July 18. Larsen earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont. The DED director has been a rather high-profile position, overseeing grants and funding for economic development ventures and attending related ribbon-cuttings for projects across the state.
For the full article, click HERE
LINCOLN — The petition campaign to eliminate Nebraska taxes on property, income, inheritances and corporations is returning for the 2026 election, hoping to capitalize on recent legislative failures and rising property valuations.
The “EPIC Option” group is back with what supporters are calling “EPIC Option 2.0” to ban state or local governments from collecting property, income and inheritance taxes after Jan. 1, 2028. Rather than proposing a broad consumption tax as replacement revenue, the Legislature would need to come up with a fix on its own.
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — A grassroots advocate for medical cannabis who is at the center of some Nebraska state officials’ efforts against the use of the drug voters approved is running for governor in 2026.
Jacy Todd of York, 54, who runs a CBD health and wellness retail store in central Nebraska, says he is running to be a “voice of the people.” In part, he said he wants to show it’s not the “richest” people who get into office, that a middle-class family man can as well. Todd is the first Republican to challenge incumbent Gov. Jim Pillen ahead of the May 2026 primary. The winner advances to the November 2026 election.
For the full article, click HERE
LINCOLN — Former Omaha labor leader Dan Osborn is running against Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in the 2026 midterms. After launching an exploratory committee in April, Osborn made it official Tuesday, choosing the Senate race over potential bids for governor and the U.S. House, because, he said, “there are not enough seats at the table” for working people.
“I’m unapologetically for the workers and their issues,” Osborn told Nebraska Examiner. Osborn boiled down his race to “the billionaire versus the mechanic,” citing the wealth of the Ricketts family.
For the full article, click HERE
LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen is deploying Nebraska Task Force One to help with search and recovery after central Texas flash flooding that has killed at least 100 people, including children, and left others missing.
Over the weekend, the Guadalupe River in Texas’s Hill Country flooded. The river, about 70 miles north of San Antonio, rose 26 feet within 45 minutes, Texas state officials said. The area has about 20 campsites clustered along its banks, according to the Texas Tribune, including Camp Mystic, a summertime haven for generations of Texas girls.
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers on Tuesday announced that his office is suing General Motors for allegedly collecting and selling data on drivers without their consent for at least the past decade.
The 40-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning in Lancaster County District Court, alleges that Michigan-based General Motors and associated OnStar products collected driver data and sold it to third-party companies without drivers’ consent since at least 2015. In turn, that data would be sold to insurance companies, sometimes leading to increased rates or canceled insurance.
Collected data allegedly included how fast someone was driving, how hard stops were, geolocation and whether seat belts were worn.
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s state education commissioner officially jumped into the 2026 race for a vacant seat on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents on Thursday.
Commissioner Brian Maher of Lincoln, 63, a lifelong educator who has served as state commissioner since July 2023, said his “vision” for NU is “a report card for the future” focused on achievement, alignment and a pathway for students to enter and succeed in NU, affordability in tuition and taxpayer dollars and enhancing NU’s appeal for in-state and out-of-state students. Maher also said he would prioritize helping NU gain reinstatement into the prestigious American Association of Universities, a similar goal of Regent Tim Clare of Lincoln, whom Maher is seeking to succeed. NU had been a member of the AAU for more than 100 years until it was voted out in 2011 for not meeting certain membership criteria.
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen on Tuesday announced the appointments of all but one member to Nebraska’s new School Financing Review Commission to review and provide annual recommendations to examine state aid to schools and reduce reliance on local property taxes.
State lawmakers created the 18-member commission, chaired by Nebraska Education Commissioner Brian Maher, in a 48-0 vote this spring. It took effect June 5 and required initial appointments within 30 days. The group’s main task is reviewing the main school funding formula — the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act (TEEOSA) — and providing periodic suggestions so the Legislature can update it.
The appointed members of the commission are:
Property Tax Administrator (or designee):
Sarah Scott, Property Tax Administrator
Governor’s Representative:
Grant Latimer, Policy Advisor to Governor Pillen
Representatives Appointed by the Legislature (three, nonvoting):
Senator Dave Murman, Chairman, Education Committee
Senator Eliot Bostar, Appointed by the Revenue Committee
Senator Jana Hughes, Appointed by the Executive Board
Postsecondary Education Representative with Expertise in School Finance:
Paul Turman, Chancellor, State College System
Superintendents or School Board Members from Class I, II, III Districts (four):
Class I: Ann Foster, Superintendent, Brady Public Schools
Class II: Jason Dolliver, Superintendent, Pender Public Schools
Class III: Aaron Plas, Superintendent, Bennington Public Schools
Additional: Keith Runge, President, Columbus Lakeview School Board
Class IV District Member (one) and Class V District Member (one):
Class IV: Liz Standish, Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs, Lincoln Public
Class V: Shavonna Holman, School Board Member, Omaha Public
At-Large Members (five):
Former Senator Lou Ann Linehan
State Treasurer Tom Briese
Certified Public School Teacher: (This position has not yet been appointed)
Former Senator Fred Meyer
John Schwartz, Superintendent, Millard Public Schools
For the full article, click HERE.
Read Governor Pillens news release by clicking HERE
“Today we tell China to get the hell out of American agriculture,” Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said. Leaders from Nebraska and Kansas joined the Trump administration to announce a new plan to secure American farms from foreign threats.
Marshall reiterated his position, “Do not pass go, get the hell out of American agriculture and the Trump administration is going to lead the way.”
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins leads the charge on the new effort dubbed the National Farm Security Action Plan, with a goal of banning adversaries from buying farmland. “Actively engaging at every level of government to take swift legislative and executive action to ban the purchase of American farmland by Chinese nationals and foreign adversaries,” Rollins said during a press conference.
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission on Thursday approved emergency regulations to begin accepting medical cannabis applications as soon as Gov. Jim Pillen gives his final green light. State law requires him to do so by Tuesday.
The emergency regulations, unveiled for the first time minutes before the 10 a.m. meeting, largely mirror a legislative proposal that lawmakers stalled on last month. The regulations would take effect for up to 90 days, pending Pillen’s approval. The two medical cannabis-related laws that voters approved mandate that applications must start being accepted no later than July 1. Commissioner Lorelle Mueting of Gretna, an addiction prevention specialist through Heartland Family Service, affirmed that commissioners want public feedback on the emergency regulations through July 15, to inform future, formal regulations.
For the full article, click HERE.
Every business and nonprofit organization in Nebraska will soon have to attest that they do not work for or on behalf of foreign terrorist groups or "adversary nations" like China and Iran under a new security law that opponents have cast as modern-day McCarthyism.
The first-of-its-kind law, which Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed Wednesday, requires anyone in Nebraska working on behalf of numerous designated terror groups or a handful of foreign countries to register as foreign agents if their work includes political campaigning, collecting or loaning money, or publishing information about any foreign country or political party. That means the state will soon be collecting and publishing the names, addresses, and citizenship statuses of Nebraska political lobbyists or public relations professionals working for Chinese-owned companies like Smithfield Foods or foreign-funded influencers posting on social media about life in other countries.
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — The Nebraska auditor on Wednesday flagged “widespread misuse” of state-owned vehicles — including allegations of an employee taking multiple trips to his family’s vineyard and winery and another in which a worker used a state car to “gallivant” around Lincoln for his side business.
In a 38-page report, the State Auditor’s Office focused on 2024 and on a slice of the vehicles handled by the Department of Administrative Services’ Transportation Services Bureau, which controls about 1,200 of the state’s 4,000 vehicles. The TSB leases vehicles to state agency personnel for official government use on an as-needed basis, racking up about 15 million miles a year.
For the full article, click HERE.
The director of Nebraska's Department of Economic Development will leave the agency next month after two years on the job, Gov. Jim Pillen announced Tuesday.
"K.C. Belitz, the former chief operating officer of the Nebraska Community Foundation whom Pillen appointed in July 2023 to lead the state's economic development efforts, will resign effective July 18, Pillen's office said in a news release in which the governor wished Belitz 'the very best in all future endeavors."
For the full article on, click HERE
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s latest monthly unemployment rate is 3% — unchanged from the previous month and showing a pattern that returns the rate more steadily to pre-COVID 19 pandemic levels. According to May data released Tuesday, the preliminary state unemployment rate ticked up from the revised 2.7% rate for May 2024.
According to other newly released labor data, Nebraska ranks No. 6 among states with the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rates. The national rate for May 2025 is 4.2%, unchanged from the previous month and up from the 4.0% reported for May 2024.
For the full article, click HERE
For the first time in 30 years, Nebraska has eliminated the state’s waiting list for individuals seeking intellectual and developmental disability services that more than 2,700 individuals had been in line for when Gov. Jim Pillen promised to do away with the list last year. For decades, Nebraska children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities have been forced to wait as long as eight years for services like job coaching, training workshops, group homes, independent living support and respite care.
But as of Monday, there were zero Nebraskans in line for such services, Pillen and other state officials announced at a news conference in Lincoln, where Pillen called the waitlist's longtime existence "an embarrassment" and pledged the list "will be kept at zero" as long as he is governor.
For the full article, click HERE.
Texas Senate Bill 3 (2025) was a sweeping proposal to ban all consumable hemp products containing any THC – including popular delta-8 and delta-9 items. After the Legislature approved SB3,
Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed it on June 22, citing conflicts with federal law (the 2018 Farm Bill legalizing hemp) and likely constitutional challenges. In his veto statement, Abbott argued a full ban would simply be “dead on arrival” in court and urged lawmakers to adopt strict regulations instead (testing, age limits, licensure, etc.). Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick – who had pushed the ban as a top priority – sharply criticized the veto. In short, SB3 would have completely prohibited THC-infused hemp products to protect youth (a “poison in our public,” as Patrick called them), but Abbott’s action keeps the existing hemp market alive and moving toward regulatory reform.
There were arguements on the floor about how this was comparable to Nebraska’s LB316
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — Two years after a motion-filled and filibuster-riddled 2023 session, Nebraska lawmakers in 2025 settled into a new rhythm as stall tactics again dominated legislative debate.
Throughout the 89-day session that concluded June 2, Nebraska lawmakers filed 347 motions, according to legislative records. It’s the second-highest tally for any session except 2023, when a record 1,160 motions were filed throughout the 88-day session. Similar to that year, State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha again filed the most motions.
For the full article, click HERE.
LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen remains confident in his preferred policies to grow Nebraska and cut costs, even as the speaker of the Legislature has again identified the state budget as the “biggest challenge” for 2026. Many of the budget tweaks likely to be pursued in 2026 could respond to changes in federal government funding or state revenue projections, but Pillen said state lawmakers, combined with past policies, will make up the difference.
In a post-session interview with the Nebraska Examiner, he said his cabinet, too, shares his business mentality to improve services while decreasing costs, and he remains committed that state government must be run differently. “Feel real good about where we sit and that as long as people don’t start thinking there’s money to spend, we’ll be in real good shape,” Pillen said.
For the full article, click HERE.