Nebraska Update

Americans eat more than 7 and a half million pounds of chestnuts every year. Most are imported from Italy, China and Korea, Yet they could easily be grown in the Midwest. Harvest Public Media’s Jonathan Ahl reports chestnuts are a growth industry in the region, and offer an option for small-scale, low-effort and, importantly, profitable way to farm.

The state of Nebraska is offering prison security personnel big raises, with conditions, to address a staffing crisis.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnan is opening up about why he’s running for re-election in 2022. Nebraska Public Media’s William Padmore talked with him….

At the latest check, CDC stats for the state have the 7-day average of cases down 5% from the week before. As of last Friday, that was about 640 cases. Hospitalizations, too, have plateaued. According to the state, 411 Nebraskans are hospitalized with the virus. Hospital capacity statewide remains strained. Between 20-25% of hospital beds remain open because of the pandemic and regular operations. In all, nearly 68% of the population older than 12 has a vaccine. Another 5% is partially protected.

In 2019 there were about 9,500 students homeschooling in Nebraska. Last year, during the pandemic, that number zoomed up to almost 15,000. This year it’s back down to about 10,500 but that’s still the highest total on record except for last year’s.

Legislators investigating a controversial child welfare services contract heard different interpretations of who bore ultimate responsibility.

The study, being led by Pediatrician in Chief Dr. Kari Simonsen of Children’s Omaha, began in the Spring of this year. It will analyze 50 kids from around the region over two years, looking at whether they develop symptoms of an active COVID-19 infection.

Dr. Simonsen says information on effectiveness and side effects on these age groups will be continually sent to Pfizer, and preliminary results look good.

“I think that one of the most important things to remember about vaccines is there one of the safest and most effective public health interventions that we have on this planet,” she said, “maybe second only to clean water, in the number of lives that they have saved, and they work, and that’s the most important thing I think for parents to remember.”

He said UNK’s Health Sciences program is outgrowing its building.

If approved, Kristensen said UNK would offer more health sciences programs accredited by the medical center, but there are details to iron out.

“Obviously, we’re going to need some budgets and things to increase,” he said. “We’re going to need to increase our undergraduate offerings, to get students ready for this.”

Dr. Lydia Kang, an Omaha doctor and author, was co-writing a history of pandemics, “Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases,” when COVID-19 emerged and circled the globe. She gives her first-person account of living through the pandemic.

A diverse group of Nebraska state senators plans to ascend Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro in November