The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025 passed in the U.S. House Friday. Nebraska Representative Don Bacon served as the chairman of the quality-of-life subcommittee and helped draft 21 amendments that were put in the bill. Bacon says the cornerstone of the legislation is a 19% pay raise for junior enlisted troops, which Bacon s…

The Scarborough’s are one of several Nebraska families concerned about Gov. Jim Pillen’s promise to eliminate an extensive waitlist for intellectual and developmental disability services. Those services include group homes, day programs, respite care, occupational therapy, and more. None are covered by Medicaid.…

Biosolids are a cheap, nutrient-rich fertilizer that have been applied on millions of acres of farmland across the country, but toxic “forever chemicals” are creeping their way into the fertilizer. A proposed federal provision aims to better protect farmers from PFAS contamination.By Nebraska Public Media

It’s National Pollinator Week, an annual event created to bring attention to the sharp decline in pollinator numbers due to habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change. Butterflies often capture people’s attention and help spark interest in pollinator conservation, something butterfly farms are helping promote.…

Recently, Fischer introduced the Amtrak Transparency Act, which would expand Amtrak board meetings to include additional stakeholders and require public notices 30 days prior to meetings. The legislation would also require bonuses exceeding $50,000 dollars to Amtrak employees be disclosed to Congress.…

What may be the world’s largest collection of clown dolls is in a northeast Nebraska city with a population of just over 1,000 people.By Nebraska Public Media

The Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska is traveling around the state this summer to hold listening sessions with recipients of a $25.5 million legislative fund.By Nebraska Public Media

Rocco’s Pizza and Cantina was buzzing Thursday afternoon on the first day of the annual College World Series Jell-O shot challenge. Fans from across the country can buy five-dollar Jell-O shots in their favorite school’s color and for each shot purchased, one dollar is donated to a food bank in the university’s hometown, while 50 cents goes to an O…

Senators Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts are cosponsors of legislation to overturn a U.S. Department of Education rule extending Title Nine protections to include gender identity. The Congressional Review Act allows Congress the ability to overrule federal regulations from government agencies by passing a joint resolution. The resolution can be vetoe…

An environmental justice program is hoping to expand into new cities throughout the state.By Nebraska Public Media

The Forbes Advisor team analyzed more than 20 metrics from 95 cities across the country, considering affordability, availability, amenities and safety. Kasey Ogle with Nebraska Appleseed, an organization that advocates for affordable housing, says conditions are difficult for renters in Nebraska and she is surprised to see Lincoln at the top of the…

The five-member board, led by Gov. Jim Pillen, voted unanimously to approve the results. Secretary of State Bob Evnen said the 2024 primary was a historic election for Nebraska, as it was the first to require voter ID.By Nebraska Public Media

The prospect of precision agriculture has existed for decades, but many of the technologies and techniques that will enable it have been slow to catch on.By Nebraska Public Media

Nonpublic schools now have more flexibility in choosing books through the state’s textbook loan program. That’s a change from when they could only request what the public school in their district asked for.By Nebraska Public Media

The overdue farm bill is finally making its way through Congress, after the House agriculture committee recently advanced a proposal. Food assistance is likely to be one of the biggest sticking points as the draft moves forward.By Nebraska Public Media

At a series of town halls across the state, Governor Jim Pillen has said he wants to reduce property taxes in Nebraska by 40% by expanding the sales tax base in a special legislative session this summer. Ernie Goss, an economics professor at Creighton University, said high property taxes hurt economic growth more than high sales taxes.…

Kansas City musician Nate Hofer took his pedal steel guitar 30 feet down into an inter-continental ballistic missile silo to record a hopeful reminder that nuclear war is not inevitable.By Nebraska Public Media

The Omaha Summer Arts Festival is host to around 130 art booths, live music, local food vendors and a hands-on children’s fair. This weekend is the festival’s 50th anniversary, but it’s also its final year.By Nebraska Public Media

A survey of manufacturing supply-chain managers in the Midwest found that economic growth slowed in the month of May. Creighton economics professor Ernie Goss, who leads the Mid-America Business Conditions Index, said high inflation and fewer exports are resulting in lower growth in the manufacturing industry.…

The human papillomavirus, or HPV, is a sexually transmitted, cancer-causing infection that can be largely prevented by a series of vaccinations in children. Nebraska Public Media’s Kassidy Arena reports the state does well in starting that series, but not as well in completing it.By Nebraska Public Media

At 82 years old, Rick Hubbard is hitting the highways of America to raise awareness of political dysfunction.By Nebraska Public Media

A Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court judge ruled a former Papillion firefighter is entitled to compensation for mental injury. Nebraska Public Media’s Sarah Lawlor has more.By Nebraska Public Media

Dead Timber State Recreation Area is set to receive more than a half million dollars for a redevelopment project. The park north of Scribner received a $589,000 grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.By Nebraska Public Media

In 2019, major flooding altered the Platte River near its junction with Highway 75, creating a large sandbar and restricting the channel size to a third of what it had been previously. Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District general manager John Winkler says the sandbar makes communities like Louisville and Cedar Creek, which are upstream, …

Gov. Jim Pillen said Friday that if legal costs get too high, he would abandon the Perkins County Canal proposal.By Nebraska Public Media

Long-term care residents and their families in Red Cloud, Nebraska, breathed a sigh or relief this spring, when the local nursing home was saved from closure. The Heritage of Red Cloud was scheduled to close on April 18. But a local hospital and its foundation decided to acquire the facility thanks to some large community donations.…

HOST: Almost a year after the first phase of renovations at the Lincoln Airport were completed, the second phase is wrapping up. Nebraska Public Media’s Sarah Lawlor has more. 053024 THU Airport Renovations WRAP.wav: (39.9 s)Lincoln Airport officials opened the doors to the public on Thursday afternoon so travelers could have a chance to see the ne…

The competition includes an obstacle course where snowplow drivers swerve through cones, make sharp turns and back up into tight spaces, all while competing against the clock. Competitors also take a written test and perform snowplow inspections where they must find vehicle defects.By Nebraska Public Media

HOST: A severe winter storm in early April left millions of dollars in damage for eight western Nebraska counties. Those counties are now receiving federal assistance for recovery efforts. Nebraska Public Media’s Sarah Lawlor has more. 052924 Disaster declaration voicer.wav: (48 s)President Joe Biden is declaring a major disaster exists in eight Ne…

More people in Nebraska are waking up hungry, according to a recent report released by “Feeding America”, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization.By Nebraska Public Media

Doug Kristensen stepped onto the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus as chancellor in 2002. After 22 years, he's retiring.By Nebraska Public Media

Thirteen states across the U.S., including much of the Midwest, introduced bills this year that could give some rights to embryos and fetuses usually associated with people. None passed but people in the fertility world are concerned that lawmakers will try again and what that means for reproductive rights.…

According to the Governor’s Policy Research Office, Nebraskans paid 5.3 billion dollars in property taxes in 2023. Pillen wants to cut that amount by 40%, or more than 2 billion dollars. He says he intends to present a plan to cut spending by 500 million dollars through streamlining government operations.…

A proposal to divert water from the Platte to the Republican River drew mixed reactions at a public hearing Thursday.By Nebraska Public Media

The American Red Cross is regularly busy in the Midwest as a natural-disaster-prone area. But one woman is working doubly hard to ensure one group of people receive the support they need from the organization.By Nebraska Public Media

More than 150 people squeezed into the Warner Chamber, just off the Capitol Rotunda to witness Wednesday’s induction ceremony. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of the bust of Malcolm X, a Black activist and human rights champion who was born in Omaha.By Nebraska Public Media

Sen. Tom Brewer, visiting Ukraine, says residents are tired but still fighting more than two years after Russia invaded.By Nebraska Public Media

The higher a Nebraska student’s ACT score is, the more likely they are to go to an in-state college. As that score increases about 30, it becomes more likely that students will go out of state for university. These insights come from a Nebraska Statewide Workforce & Educational Reporting System, or NSWERS, report released this month. Researchers lo…

Turfgrass lawns are a landscape staple — an environmental reckoning may change thatBy Nebraska Public Media

Gov. Jim Pillen's efforts to drum up support for lowering property taxes by expanding sales taxes met some skepticism Friday in Grand Island.By Nebraska Public Media

More than 87 hundred additional ballots from Tuesday’s primary election were counted by the Douglas County Election Commission Friday morning. That number includes early voting ballots that were delivered to the election office on election day. While most races have been called, Friday's count has widened the gap between two candidates vying for se…

The United States Department of Agriculture partnered with the Tri-Faith Center in Omaha to host a summit this week about countering antisemitism, Islamophobia and other biases in rural communities. The Tri-Faith campus has a mosque, synagogue, church and a center connecting them. Samantha Joseph, the director of the USDA Center for Faith-Based and…

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is suing California and the federal government over requirements to replace diesel trucks with electric vehicles.By Nebraska Public Media

Planting is well underway across the Midwest, but farmers are still grappling with dry conditions that led to lower than normal corn yields last fall. It’s the third year of a near historic drought for parts of the Corn Belt.By Nebraska Public Media

A bill passed in this year’s Nebraska legislative session has the potential to increase the number of electric vehicle charging stations in the state, according to electric vehicle lobbying group Charge Ahead Partnership. A provision from State Sen. Eliot Bostar regulating electric vehicle charging stations was passed unanimously as part of a large…

The Republican candidates for the primary election in Nebraska’s second congressional district say although they’re both in the same party, they couldn’t be more different. This election could redefine the urban Nebraska Republican.By Nebraska Public Media

Michael Connely is challenging incumbent Mike Flood for the Congressional District 1 seat in the Republican primary election. Both candidates running without state party endorsement is a reflection of national trends, an expert said.By Nebraska Public Media

On the State Board of Education, all four incumbents up for election decided against running for office again. This leaves the non-partisan board up to some potential political changes. The board has eight members. It’s an even split of Republicans and Democrats even though it’s officially a non-partisan board. Three of the four members up for elec…

Nebraska will be electing two U.S. Senators in this election cycle for the first time since 1954. Incumbent Republicans Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts are heavy favorites, but neither have received endorsements from the State Republican Party. Meanwhile, an independent challenger is likely to receive a Democratic Party endorsement in the general ele…

The 25,000-square-foot skatepark is set to become the state’s largest upon completion. Skatepark designer Vince Onel said the new skatepark will provide opportunities for all skill levels over a variety of terrains. His initial design includes pump tracks, two bowls, street elements, and several sculptures.…