Nebraska Update

A proposal to change Nebraska’s presidential vote allocation to a winner-take-all system failed in the Nebraska legislature late Wednesday evening. Nebraska is one of two states that awards its electoral votes to Presidential candidates by Congressional District, with the overall state winner receiving an additional two votes. In 2020, President Joe Biden received one electoral vote from Omaha’s 2nd Congressional District, while Donald Trump received the state’s other four votes.

The Legislature’s Executive board condemned Sen. Steve Halloran today/Wednesday for injecting colleagues’ names when he read a rape scene during a debate on obscenity. But some senators said that wasn’t enough.

The amount of students participating in dual enrollment across the state has increased since 2016, according to a new report from the Nebraska Statewide Workforce and Educational Reporting System, or NSWERS. In dual enrollment courses, students can earn college credits while still in high school.

Assisted living facilities in rural Nebraska will see a small bump in funding for serving Medicaid patients. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed appropriations bill 1412 this week. Included in the budget, $1.5 million of American Rescue Plan funds will aid rural assisted living facilities.

A Latino advocacy organization will host a virtual summit on the state of voting. They’ll discuss how the growing Latino population will have a significant impact on this election and those in the future.

The U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy made his first-ever visit to Nebraska Tuesday. Murthy visited Lincoln North Star High School and Bryan Medical Center, where he spoke to a crowd of several hundred people about the impact of social media on youth mental health.

The Nebraska Legislature gave first-round approval to a bill designed to cut property taxes, but without the replacement revenues originally envisioned.

In a school district that’s population spans 990 square miles, the school is coming together to create a mural representing their community. It's a 4-foot-by-8-foot mural with the word "Tigers," which is the school's mascot, in the middle of the piece.

The city’s latest proposal would grow the South Haymarket Park to more than 8 acres while nixing a previous proposal for a mixed-use development in the area. The expansion also requires the city to purchase two additional properties near 7th and L Streets, adjacent to the planned park location.

Sens. Michaela Cavanaugh and Julie Slama introduced a resolution to censure Halloran after comments during last week’s debate on a bill regarding obscene materials in schools. While quoting testimony which included a passage from a memoir describing the author’s rape, Halloran inserted the name Senator Cavanaugh after a description of a demand for oral sex.