Commentary
Still among the lucky ones, even after catching COVID
LINCOLN — For months on end, I have been among the lucky ones. Never got COVID. I followed the advice of the health experts and the governor and kept my distance, sang “Happy Birthday” twice while washing my hands, limited my travel and wore a mask when out to shop or reporting at the Capitol. […]
Nebraska hospitals are economic engines that provide essential benefits to their communities
Nebraska’s hospitals are the cornerstone of health and wellness for individuals across the state. Hospitals also are also economic engines that grow rural and urban communities. During National Hospital Week, May 8-14, the Nebraska Hospital Association is saying thank you to our hospital leaders and the health care heroes working at hospitals across our state. […]
A fire fighter must turn the door knob
Addictive Telescopic Syndrome (A.T.S.): The tendency to blend, merge, fuse, meld or consolidate two or more words that never were designed nor intended to be one word. – James Clemon, late, great Omaha, Nebraska, newspaper editor *** Let’s talk about the unfortunate state of the language. As I see it, problems began with the word “football” […]
Can a once-thriving industry, all but given up for dead, come back to life in Nebraska?
Reviving uranium mining has long been in the works, but production plans have been held up by funding hurdles and problems with federal regulations. Now, as a result of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, that may change. Nearly 50% of the uranium used at U.S. nuclear power plants, in nuclear medicine and for distant space […]
Voters are safe from falling skies
The protocols for wearing an “I Voted” sticker need updating. What are the ground rules if you fulfill your civic duty a month before the May 10 primary? Is it proper to exercise your enfranchisement by mail and then show up at work or school or the market sporting the iconic red, white and blue […]
Go big for Nebraska’s small towns and businesses
Even people born in Nebraska might struggle to find the village of Ohiowa on a state map. But this community of about 100 residents in Fillmore County has been host to visitors from all over the world, many who found their way thanks to Lazy Horse Brewing and Winery. The drinking and dining establishment earns […]
Cryptocurrency world is ripe for fraud and financial loss
The Los Angeles Rams won Super Bowl LVI, but an argument could be made that cryptocurrency finished as the runner-up. Digital currency providers eToro, Crypto.com and FTX ran spots on advertising’s biggest stage. So did Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, which spent nearly $14 million on an ad that featured a bouncing QR code. It performed so well […]
The value of agricultural land easements
Last spring, I paid a visit to a woman who had recently lost her parents. As executive director of the Nebraska Land Trust, I had worked with her parents to permanently conserve their ranch in northwest Nebraska’s beautiful Pine Ridge. In 2018, they started a two-year journey toward permanence for their working ranch in the […]
Neither side of the aisle understands why millennials are leaving Nebraska
The recent debate in the Legislature over tax cuts and comments by candidates to be the next governor of Nebraska over the reason why millennials are leaving the state are curious to me, to say the least. Depending on which side of the aisle they’re on, the reason they give is either that taxes in […]
Navigating the MSU information universe
In a 1993 Peter Steiner cartoon, a large hound sitting in a chair at a computer monitor and keyboard tells a small terrier watching from below, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Or if you’re telling the truth. Chances are good, however, that what we read in the social media megaverse is unvarnished […]
Lawyers in private practice, the Legislature and the responsibility of citizens
Editor’s note: This is the second of two columns about the profession of law in Nebraska. I have been blessed to know so many attorneys in private practice who devote countless volunteer hours to unrecognized public service. Attorneys like my longtime mentor and partner, Woody Bradford. Woody taught me to view the law as a […]
Nebraska is a state of innovators in the law
Editor’s note: This is the first of two columns about the profession of law in Nebraska. The law, as complex as it may seem, is quite simply the moral code we all share. It is our society codified with structures that may be used to uplift or burden those who live by it and under […]