Humanities Desk

Jane Goodall spent her life studying the behavior of primates – their relationships, their behaviors, their emotions. But they weren’t the only animals she admired. For more than twenty years, the great sandhill crane migration drew the legendary primatologist to the center of Nebraska. Author and photographer Alan Bartels told Nebraska Public Media’s Jackie Ourada about his friendship with Jane Goodall that began after a visit she made here.

The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission will not meet its Oct. 1 deadline to begin granting registrations for marijuana cultivators. During its meeting Tuesday, commission chair Dr. Monica Oldenburg said the commission’s evaluation team was unable to provide recommendations for licensure after two of its members resigned. Earlier this week, Commissioners Bruce Bailey and Kim Lowe resigned from their positions on the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen. That also meant losing their roles on the Medical Cannabis Commission, which includes the Liquor Control Commission members.

Advocates for All Nebraskans, a group that wants to lower property taxes in Nebraska, announced a new petition Monday asking the state to play a bigger role in funding public education. The latest proposed statutory amendment would establish a minimum base salary of $50,000 for all certified public-school teachers and asks the state to fulfill its constitutional obligation to fund K-12 education. Teachers with 12 or more years of experience would receive a minimum salary of $62,000. According to a 2025 report from the National Education Association, Nebraska’s average teacher starting salary is $38,811, which ranks 49th among the 50 states.

The Cultural Centers of Lincoln Collaborative is one step closer to its new home. The building, located on a site at 21st and Vine streets, will connect four initiatives: the Good Neighbor Community Center, the Asian Community and Cultural Center, El Centro de las Américas and the Malone Center.

With federal government funding set to expire at the end of the day Tuesday, one Nebraska congressman isn’t holding out hope of avoiding a shutdown. Rep. Mike Flood, a Republican who represents Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, said Sunday that compromise with the Democrats, at least in the short term, seems unlikely. “Sadly, at this time, I'm not hearing about anything that gives me hope that we're going to be able to get past this, basically because Senator Schumer in the Senate says he's not there, the Democrats don't want to do this,” Flood said.

Dozens of Pete Ricketts supporters made for standing room only inside the Mechanical Room, a speakeasy located in the basement of a brewery in downtown Beatrice, Wednesday evening. Nebraska’s junior senator began his campaign speech highlighting his record of reducing taxes and improving public safety during his eight years as the state’s governor. “We were able to cut the state income taxes for Nebraska families,” he said. “We were able to eliminate the state income tax on Social Security and also eliminate the state income tax on military retirement benefits.”

It’s been a rough year for Nebraska row crop producers, with low corn prices and China’s refusal to buy soybeans leaving many producers in the red, despite relatively high yields. But speaking in York Wednesday, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs said there are big wins on the horizon for American agriculture. Lindberg attended a roundtable with ag producers on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, ahead of a joint review on the agreement scheduled for next summer. Lindberg says the review process includes three steps – looking to get a better deal, putting buyers and sellers in the same room and ensuring that foreign governments are living up to their commitments.

Omaha-based Union Pacific may soon become the first transcontinental railroad company in the United States, thanks to a proposed merger with Norfolk Southern. But the move has some rail employees worried about worker safety and a lack of government oversight. Nebraska Public Media’s Brian Beach visited Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte to learn more.

The 2026 general election may be more than a year away, but the U.S. Senate race in Nebraska is already heating up. Dan Osborn, the industrial mechanic and independent candidate who made national waves for his closer-than-expected race with Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024, is back on the campaign trail – this time against another Republican incumbent, Sen. Pete Ricketts. Osborn may have lost to Fischer by more than 6 percentage points, but in a state that hasn’t elected a non-Republican to the Senate since 2006, the close margin elevated his profile and motivated supporters heading into the next election cycle. “It just started with an idea, and we turned it into getting 47% of the vote in Nebraska,” he said Monday of his 2024 campaign, interrupted by cheering and applause from the crowd.

The Kearney Regional Medical Center – owned by Bryan Health – and Cancer Partners of Nebraska are coming together to open the Kearney Cancer Center, a 25,000-square-foot facility dedicated to cancer treatment. The center includes a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner to detect early signs of cancer, a linear accelerator for delivering radiation to treat tumors, and infusion bays with views of Yanney Park for chemotherapy patients. It will also offer on-site lab and diagnostic imaging, access to national clinical trials and certified mastectomy fitting.