Nebraska Update

The students will meet everyday until Wednesday. They will debate bills that were brought up during the latest legislative session. Committee hearing rooms at the state capitol are the main sites of debate. Many of the students are interested in continue on a path in politics.

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy announced six major seed companies are pledging to address ongoing pesticide contamination by the AltEn ethanol plant in Mead. The AltEn Facility Response Group, including companies like Bayer, Syngenta, and Corteva, applied to the Nebraska Voluntary Cleanup Program. In a statement, the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy said the state-run program allows private entities to plan and pay for environmental remediation efforts.

Nebraska has a youth poet laureate from Lincoln East High School. Nebraska Public Media News talks more about the poet’s life and art.

There was a golfing clinic and tournament near Omaha on Thursday morning. Visually impaired and blind people were given the opportunity to learn the game. They practiced putting, chipping, and went to the driving range.

Aubrey Trail is headed for Nebraska’s Death Row. A three-judge panel in Saline County determined Trail should die by Lethal injection. The 54-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder. He and his girlfriend Baily Boswell lured 24-year-old Sydney Loofe to their apartment in Wilber in 2019 where they killed and dismembered the woman. Lauren Dietrich With Nebraska Public Media reports from the Saline County Courhouse.

Three years after Sydney Loofe’s murder, Aubrey Trail said he wanted to tell the truth. Brought to court in a wheelchair, Trail asked Judge Vicky Johnson for an opportunity to speak to the family of the woman he murdered.

He said Loofe had never willingly been involved in any of the sexual escapades Trail claimed to have been involved with during multiple, contradictory confessions. Trail says nearly everything he said in previous cases was a lie.

The Keystone Pipeline is officially no more. T-C Energy, the company that developed the controversial pipeline, announced today (Wednesday) the company terminated the years-long project. The company said in a statement they made the decision after consulting with the Government of Alberta, a partner in the effort.

Young Adult Court in Douglas County is one of six programs in the country that focuses on helping individuals get rid of their non-violent felonies. With a recidivism rate of less than 30%, several past and present participants can attest to the changes they’ve made during their time in the program and even after.

A program that was started in 2004 to help young adults in Douglas County with felony records is now expanding to provide more services and help more individuals get rid of their non-violent felonies. Since it began, this problem-solving court has been unique to Nebraska and remains one of only six in the country.

After missing in action for over 70 years, a soldier killed during World War II will finally rest in his hometown in Giltner, in south central Nebraska.The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency was able to identify the soldier through DNA testing in February.

Custer County Attorney Steven Bowers and a Broken Bow defense lawyer have admitted to a scheme allowing local criminals to avoid prosecution if they agreed to get out of town and not come back.
Both attorneys have been reprimanded by the State Supreme Court in an opinion released on Friday.
According to the Counsel for Discipline of the Nebraska Supreme Court, Bowers admitted to making deals that would get local accused felons out of town and making it easier for them to flee the county. The plans were revealed during an investigation by the Counsel earlier this year.