Nebraska Update

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.

Plans to convert the McCook Work Ethic Camp into an ICE detention facility are producing mixed reactions in this southwest Nebraska city.

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.”

The University of Nebraska at Kearney has dropped the idea of selling alcohol at football games for the 2025 season. Originally, the school planned to sell alcohol at its first home game on Sept. 6, but an insurance issue with its concession vendor, Nightlife Concepts, put a halt on those plans.

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.

Nebraska’s newest casino and racetrack is out of the gates and contributing to the state budget.

The state auditor’s office found several issues with ABA providers receiving the most money, including duplicate invoices, lack of documentation and employees not having proper credentials.

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 School Financing Review Commission will focus on recommending the right mix of state and local funding.