Humanities Desk

In Lincoln, the crisis Voices of Hope is having their annual fundraiser this week. Nebraska Public Media’ shares more about the difference the organization is making.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and dozens of others AGs across the country are suing Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook. The lawsuits allege that Meta intentionally designed its social media apps to be addictive to children and teens, taking advantage of psychological vulnerabilities to make a profit.

62 percent of volunteer fire departments surveyed in Nebraska say recruiting is difficult, according to a Nebraska Public Media survey. Some diverse towns in Nebraska may try to recruit more People of Color to fill those gaps. How are those efforts going? And, why is it important for the community be represented in the fire department?

In most rural communities throughout Nebraska, the firefighters and EMTs who respond to emergencies are all volunteers. But according to survey data from Nebraska Public Media News, recruiting and retaining members has become more challenging in recent years. Nebraska Public Media’s Brian Beach reports how generational bonds and creative solutions are keeping volunteer fire departments alive.

A move to give Speaker pro tem Patrick McHenry the full authority of Speaker of the House fell short in a Republican Conference meeting Thursday. Flood began Thursday morning joining Jim Jordan in support of a resolution that would give McHenry the full powers of the Speaker of the House through the end of November.

Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon joined 21 other House Republicans Wednesday in not voting for Jim Jordan as Speaker of the House. Instead, Bacon voted for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted by eight Republicans earlier this month. “He was really the best speaker we could have had,” Bacon said of McCarthy. “He had the experience, the staff. He's the reason we're the majority today.”

The town of Merriman, Nebraska no longer has its own ambulance service. The Sandhills Ambulance Service could no longer recruit enough qualified volunteers to transport emergency patients to local hospitals. The rescue squad served a 100 square mile area in the far-northwest corner of Cherry County. On Wednesday, the three-member board of Sandhills held a virtual meeting and voted to disband the service after a three-year-long effort to recruit capable Emergency Medical Technicians.

Two Native American families have settled a lawsuit against the Cody Kilgore Schools with an agreement the district will no longer cut students' hair without the permission of parents. In 2020 an elementary school secretary cut the hair of the two girls during a check for headlice. The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union maintained the Lakota Sioux believe long hair is a sacred symbol, only to be cut by select individuals. The school employee’s actions, it was argued, violated the Civil Rights of the students.

The FBI Omaha Field Office is working with the Omaha Police Department to find Cindy Valle, who went missing on August 26, 2011. She was 15 years old and five months pregnant at the time.

After a series of high-profile setbacks, a new mural in Lincoln hopes to provide a sense of hope to Nebraska’s LGBTQ community. Nebraska Public Media’s William Padmore talked with members of the community about how they see their situation and whether there’s hope for the future