SCHOOL SPORTS IN CONSTITUTION? A conservative-leaning group is gathering signatures to let Nebraska voters limit sports participation in K-12 and college to whether a team is male, female or mixed.
From Juan Salinas II:
ICYMI: About $3.5 million in state funding for famlies with kids attending private school under a voter-repealed voucher law survived the first round of Nebraska's budget debate.
Let Zach Wendling catch you up:
START YOUR TUESDAY: With a story about the future of state funding for programs to boost affordable housing and rural housing. Hint: The Legislature might raise the stamp tax paid when selling a home to help pay for it.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
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FREED FOR NOW: A Nebraska ICE detainee has been reunited with her sons in Schuyler after an Omaha immigration court judge granted her release on bond while she battles deportation proceedings.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
LOCAL IMMIGRATION IMPACT: The expansion of immigration enforcement hasn’t happened primarily through high-profile raids: It has unfolded through formal federal partnerships with sheriffs’ offices and local police departments.
From Stateline:
TED CARTER: Ohio State president Ted Carter resigned on Saturday because of an “inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources to support her personal business,” according to the university.
From States Newsroom:
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BRIDGE OR FOOT IN DOOR? Lawmakers kept $3.5 million in Nebraska’s budget Monday to help students using voter-repealed state funds to attend private schools get one-time “bridge” support until a new fed tax credit starts next year.
From Zach Wendling:
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HOUSING HELP OR HIGHER COSTS? The Legislature advanced a bill designed to help improve housing access and affordability, but it would also raise the cost of selling a home for at least five years.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
buff.ly/frZ4uhv
COMMENTARY FROM AYOUB: Senators are scrambling to find enough money to cover a $140 million deficit in Nebraska's state’s budget, which, by law, must be balanced before they leave the Capitol on April 17.
nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/03/09/o...
ONLINE SAFETY: Panelists including students and digital media and media health experts will lead a “community conversation” Tuesday in Omaha to help demystify what Nebraska teens experience online.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
ALSO NEW THIS MORNING: Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen also weighed in on ballot measures and what he thinks makes the results of those votes difficult to interpret. He says the current process "does not represent the people speaking."
From Zach Wendling:
START YOUR MONDAY: With how Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and lawmakers are trying to revive part of a voter-rejected school choice program using state dollars until a new federal tax credit comes online next year.
From Zach Wendling:
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TRUMP TARIFFS: Two dozen states asked a federal court to block the tariffs that President Donald Trump instituted last month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his previous tariffs.
From States Newsroom:
buff.ly/7EWQ9TV
ICYMI: Former State Sen. Brett Lindstrom, a candidate for Congress this year and a former gubernatorial candidate, had been a registered Republican since at least 2000. He is now a registered nonpartisan.
From Juan Salinas II:
LODGING TAX: Oregon lawmakers have voted to increase the state’s lodging tax to help fund wildlife conservation. The measure is expected to bring in roughly $37 million per year.
From States Newsroom:
ICYMI: Nebraska lawmakers know they must help close the budget deficit, which has now reached the floor of the Legislature. But they can't yet agree on how, and none of the options being discussed yet has the votes.
From Erin Bamer:
TORNADOES IN MICHIGAN: Tornadoes tore through southwest Michigan on Friday, killing four people and injuring at least a dozen others as severe storms destroyed buildings, uprooted trees and knocked out power across several counties.
From States Newsroom:
buff.ly/2o92pSG
STATE CONSERVATION: A state-led program is helping farmers convert those less-than-desirable crop lands into pasture. This helps with soil and nutrient conservation on those acres and it gives farmers more places to graze cattle
From the Iowa Capital Dispatch:
nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/03/06/r...
SPORTS BETTING OR PREDICTION MARKET? Online prediction markets allow users to put money on the outcome of almost anything. But those markets have no state oversight and operate in states that ban gambling.
From Stateline:
OUTSIDE COMMENTARY: The Platte Institute CEO says states that focus on modernizing their regulatory environment improve how they look to businesses considering relocation and expansion.
From Jim Vokal:
JOB NUMBERS: A new federal report showed, for the third time in the last five months, losses among nonfarm jobs and highlighted a continued “trend down” in the information sector and federal government employment.
From States Newsroom:
WHAT'S NEXT? With multiple senators saying the state budget has been cut to the bone, lawmakers appear to have reached an impasse over how to close the deficit. It’s unclear if any options have enough votes to pass.
From Erin Bamer:
START YOUR WEEKEND: With a scoop about Brett Lindstrom, a former Nebraska state senator and former candidate for Congress and governor changing his political party registration.
First in @NE_Examiner from Juan Salinas II:
nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/03/07/f...
ICYMI: Nebraska lawmakers gave first-round approval Thursday to a proposal eliminating state contributions to a retirement plan for about 150 state judges. The plan has been fully funded for nearly five years.
From Zach Wendling:
nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebra...
FOREIGN ADVERSARIES LAW: Efforts to fix a new law's language that risked making some major Nebraska companies ineligible for state tax incentives had a hearing on Thursday.
From Juan Salinas II:
PAID LEAVE PROGRAMS: Nearly one-third of the nation’s private sector workers are covered by paid leave programs as more states require employers to provide medical and family leave, according to a new analysis released this week.
From Stateline:
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DOES PUSH FOR DR. TOM HAVE DEAL? Constitutional concerns about a proposal to make former Husker football coach Tom Osborne eligible for the Nebraska Hall of Fame early led state lawmakers to broker a deal to broaden the measure.
From Erin Bamer:
buff.ly/W9KESaG
BIG MILESTONE: The team that in 2024 was awarded a $90 million state grant to develop shovel-ready property for manufacturers and other employers to build on has bought two sites at a combined price of nearly $30 million.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
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START YOUR FRIDAY: With the question of the session: How will the Nebraska Legislature close its budget deficit?
From Erin Bamer:
nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/03/05/t...
ORIGINAL REPORTING: Here was that first story from @cgonzalez_NE earlier this week about the controversy involving Omaha's effort to expand its wastewater treatment facility.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/03/02/i...
