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Don Kleine running again for Douglas County Attorney
OMAHA — The Omaha area’s top prosecutor wants another go. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine’s campaign announced his bid for a sixth term Wednesday. Kleine, a former Democrat who switched to the GOP in 2020, had told local legal and political audiences in recent months of his intention to run again. “My mission has never […]
Civilian StratCom worker pleads guilty to conspiring to share classified info on dating site
BELLEVUE, Nebraska — A civilian U.S. Air Force employee working at U.S. Strategic Command pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to share classified national defense info with a person on a foreign dating website. The man, whom authorities identified as David Franklin Slater, 64, of Nebraska, had access to classified and “top secret” information as a […]
ICE says it arrested MS-13 ‘kingpin’ in Omaha
OMAHA — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a man Wednesday from El Salvador that ICE described as one of that country’s most wanted criminals and said they had found him hiding in Nebraska’s largest city. ICE did not identify the man, telling reporters the investigation was not yet complete. But in a Wednesday press […]
Hilgers writes new round of letters to Nebraska THC retailers, this time Lincoln
LINCOLN — The owners of 82 smoke and vape shops and other THC-friendly retailers in Lincoln are receiving cease and desist letters this week from Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers about selling THC-containing products. Hilgers, the state’s top prosecutor, ramped back up his push to get stores to stop selling delta-8, delta-9 and other products […]
Federal immigration raid hits Omaha plant
OMAHA — As many as 100 workers suspected of being in the country illegally were ensnared, witnesses said, in what immigration officials said was its largest Nebraska enforcement operation since President Donald Trump took office. Outside of Glenn Valley Foods, community advocates, including a pastor, said they had seen people being removed from the plant. […]
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen announces reelection bid amid Herbster speculation
LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a day after passage of a bill he supported limiting participation in women’s sports to a student athlete’s sex at birth, kicked off his second campaign for governor with a red-meat appeal to his Republican base. The first-term governor’s campaign video emphasized his role in signing “the largest income […]
Nebraska advances bill codifying legislative oversight role dealing with executive branch agencies
LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature inched Wednesday toward clarifying the legislative branch’s legal authority to provide oversight of how the executive branch spends the people’s money, including how it handles children and adults under state supervision. Lawmakers advanced Legislative Bill 298 by voice vote. The measure, sought by Speaker John Arch, would create a new […]
Ricketts gets early ads from group tied to Senate GOP in potential Osborn race
OMAHA — U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., running for his first full six-year term in 2026, is getting early outside ad support from Senate Republicans that shows he and the party are taking a potential matchup with registered nonpartisan labor leader Dan Osborn seriously. One Nation, the best-known advertising arm of the Senate GOP’s Super […]
Ewing sends Stothert packing, gives heart of ‘blue dot’ a Democratic mayor
OMAHA — Frustration over streets, a streetcar and seeing the same mayor for three terms showed at the ballot box Tuesday as politically divided Omaha voters sent Republican Mayor Jean Stothert into retirement in lieu of a fourth term. They elected Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing Jr., the Democrat in charge of the offices where […]
History will be made in Tuesday’s Stothert-Ewing mayoral tilt
OMAHA — Voters in Nebraska’s largest city, those who haven’t cast early ballots, hit the polls Tuesday to decide what kind of history the city should make, a fourth term for Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert or a first for Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing Jr. Stothert started the five-way race this spring as a heavy […]
Nebraska students might get religious release from school time as package advances
LINCOLN — God and religion “may” have a new path into Nebraska’s public schools after the Education Committee on Friday sent a package to the legislative floor that includes a revamped “release time” proposal. The package’s most controversial part was its inclusion of a watered-down version of State Sen. Loren Lippincott’s Legislative Bill 550, which […]
Results vs. change: First Stothert-Ewing debate focuses on three-term mayor
OMAHA — Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing spent Omaha’s first general election debate Thursday framing his pitch for voters to retire three-term Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and hire him. His core argument: Omaha and its dynamic business community and neighborhoods are growing in spite of stale city leadership but would grow faster under his collaborative […]