News
Biden in State of the Union address draws boos and shouts from a combative GOP
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden began his State of the Union address Tuesday — his first to a divided Congress — with an appeal to bipartisan priorities, but later criticized parts of the GOP agenda and got a sense of Republicans’ appetite for conflict during one combative stretch. Biden opened the 72-minute speech with an […]
Proposed state broadband office touted as more effective, creative in closing ‘digital divide’
LINCOLN — With at least 80,000 to 90,000 locations in Nebraska still lacking quality broadband internet service, a legislative committee on Tuesday heard the latest proposal to close the state’s long-nagging “digital divide.” Gov. Jim Pillen has proposed the creation of a new state broadband office, supplanting the Nebraska Public Service Commission as the state’s […]
Nebraska Chamber: Raising state’s tech profile is one key to filling worker void
LINCOLN — With Nebraska today unable to fill as many as 80,000 jobs, the statewide business chamber wants to amplify the push to boost the Husker tech image and overall workforce numbers. “This next generation goes where the technology jobs are,” Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Tuesday. ‘We […]
Hilgers joins 24-state coalition claiming that Yelp has ‘discriminated’ against crisis pregnancy centers
LINCOLN — Attorney General Mike Hilgers has joined a 24-state coalition of red state attorneys general in objecting to Yelp’s “discrimination” against crisis pregnancy centers in its online consumer notices. In a letter to Yelp on Tuesday, the attorneys general objected to an advisory stating that the pregnancy centers “typically provide limited medical services and […]
Bacon, already attacked by Trump, now under fire from Lincoln Project
OMAHA — During Nebraska’s raucous 2022 GOP primary election, former President Donald Trump sought a Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who represents Nebraska’s most evenly divided congressional district. Now Bacon is being targeted by the Lincoln Project, an outside group that attacked Trump and his allies during the 2020 election cycle. The […]
USDA projects farm income will fall in 2023 after two robust years
WASHINGTON — After two strong years of growth, U.S. farm income is forecast to drop substantially in 2023 as commodity prices fall and expenses rise, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service reported Tuesday. And with food prices projected to rise into 2023, the nation’s producers will not be reaping the financial benefits. The […]
Nebraska lawmaker proposes stronger protections for consumer genetic testing
LINCOLN — Nebraskans would have greater control of their genetic information used in testing services such as 23andMe and Ancestry through a legislative proposal. Legislative Bill 308, proposed by State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, would create the Genetic Information Privacy Act. The bill would add consumer protections for Nebraskans, addressing how companies collect, analyze, […]
U.S. Senate Democrats unveil legislation to ban high-capacity gun magazines
WASHINGTON — New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, along with 27 of his U.S. Senate colleagues, introduced legislation Tuesday to ban high-capacity magazines, which can be used on the type of semi-automatic firearm that is typically used in most mass shootings. “High-capacity magazines were designed for one purpose and one purpose only — high-capacity killing […]
South Dakota committee advances bill to stop carbon pipelines from using eminent domain
PIERRE, South Dakota — A bill intended to prevent two proposed carbon pipeline projects from using eminent domain passed a legislative committee Monday. The committee considered a total of six bills aimed at giving landowners more power in their fight against the pipeline projects. It was the first step in the legislative process for each of […]
Biden in State of the Union speech to call for bipartisan action on fentanyl crisis
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday night is expected in his State of the Union address to call on Congress to work with the administration to address the fentanyl crisis in a bipartisan manner, administration officials said on a call with reporters. Biden will call for expanded access to opioid-related addiction treatment and announce […]
Spotlight to shine, in Nebraska and nationally, on what critics call ‘home equity theft’
LINCOLN — Their nightmare had been years in the making, but Joyful and Todd Stoves said they had no idea until a man knocked on their door in December with an order to leave the home they’d lived in over 20 years. What the couple quickly learned: They had missed a property tax payment on […]
Dispute over inspector general powers appears headed for legal interpretation
LINCOLN — Is it “constitutional overreach” to have special investigators assigned by the State Legislature look into problems, even deaths and injuries, involving state agencies? A long-running dispute over whether there’s a separation of powers problem with state “inspector general” offices was renewed Friday during a legislative hearing. It came during a public hearing on […]