Profiles
Former Husker football coach Tom Osborne (center), speaks at a February 2023 event with Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (just behind Osborne), at which Pillen designated the month as “Nebraska Mentoring Month.” (Courtesy of Nebraska Governor’s Office)
LINCOLN — The full Nebraska Legislature is set to weigh whether to make an exception in state law to add former Husker football coach and former U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne to the Nebraska Hall of Fame as...
Though my email address is at the bottom of each of the articles that I have written, the only people to ever send me replies are restaurants looking to get reviewed by me, while strangely I have yet...
In the way that a needle rips your senses from their lazy slumber, the first below-zero day of the winter brought with it a piercing chill. It had been put off for too long, pushed back by a warm...
Attorneys preparing to appear before Judge Richard McGowan may want to plan for a late morning docket, as Douglas County's newest judge isn't known as a morning person.
McGowan was sworn in as judge...
Brittany Burling recalls enjoying a glass of wine every now and then. During the COVID-19 pandemic, "Then" became a little more often.
"We were all just stuck at home," Burling said. "And I felt my...
Today’s News
A debate is set to unfold at Tuesday’s Omaha City Council meeting over a pricey wastewater treatment expansion project. The body meets at the City-County Building in downtown Omaha. (Cate Folsom / Nebraska Examiner)
OMAHA — One of Nebraska’s best-known construction companies has challenged the City of Omaha’s handling of one of the priciest city infrastructure investments ever.
Hawkins Construction Company,...
(Little Vignettes Photo / Shutterstock)
I’ve been thinking about this for a while.
Does Omaha need to get it’s groove back?
Or has the old excitement become so normal that it’s just not as noticeable anymore. Has all the road...
(artin1 / Shutterstock)
---- Part 3 ----
“Matthew.”
In the deep recesses of my consciousness, I’m aware that I’m aware. Everywhere else, I could not possibly be thicker. You know when you know you’re awake before your body...
State Sens. Rob Clements of Elmwood, Paul Strommen of Sidney and Myron Dorn of Sidney (from left), Feb. 2, 2026. (Zach Wendling / Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — After new economic forecasts grew Nebraska’s projected budget deficit by roughly $175 million, lawmakers turned to the state’s rainy day fund to help fill the gap.
The Legislature’s...
(Wirestock Creators / Shutterstock)
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan
Scientists are philosophers, explorers, data collectors and number crunchers. They are also storytellers, placing data within a broader...
This Week's News
A debate is set to unfold at Tuesday’s Omaha City Council meeting over a pricey wastewater treatment expansion project. The body meets at the City-County Building in downtown Omaha. (Cate Folsom / Nebraska Examiner)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
OMAHA — One of Nebraska’s best-known construction companies has challenged the City of Omaha’s handling of one of the priciest city infrastructure investments ever.
Hawkins Construction Company, whose local roots harken back to the 1920s and...
State Sens. Rob Clements of Elmwood, Paul Strommen of Sidney and Myron Dorn of Sidney (from left), Feb. 2, 2026. (Zach Wendling / Nebraska Examiner)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — After new economic forecasts grew Nebraska’s projected budget deficit by roughly $175 million, lawmakers turned to the state’s rainy day fund to help fill the gap.
The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee voted 8-0 Friday to recommend...
(Wirestock Creators / Shutterstock)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan
Scientists are philosophers, explorers, data collectors and number crunchers. They are also storytellers, placing data within a broader scientific and societal context. How they tell these...
(AJR_photo / Shutterstock)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
The UNC System Board of Governors wasted little time on Thursday in approving a definition for academic freedom that has been a year in the making. The policy protects the rights of all faculty to engage in teaching, research and scholarly inquiry...
A "For Rent" sign is displayed outside an apartment building, in Wheeling, Ill., Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
As the Trump administration continues to focus on the legal immigration statuses of many across the country, a revived proposal by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could impact many families’ ability to receive rental assistance...
(Unai Huizi Photography / Shutterstock)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON — American colleges and universities received gifts and contracts worth more than $5.2 billion from foreign entities in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Education, which also recently published summaries of foreign investment in...
(SpeedKingz / Shutterstock)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature, at the urging of Gov. Jim Pillen, passed a bill Friday to allow schools to once again suspend students in grades pre-K-2 for engaging in violent behavior capable of causing physical harm.
Legislative Bill 653,...
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
Questions flew at the city engineer as he explained what the “heaviest construction year” on the Omaha streetcar project would mean for downtown’s Capitol District. About 20 neighborhood business owners and residents attended the January info...
President Donald Trump leaves the stage after speaking at the Port of Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (Michael Gonzalez / AP Photo)
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday demanding the administration refund businesses that paid tariffs to import goods into the United States under authority the Supreme Court has ruled the...
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
Pressured by businesses on the importance of immigrant labor, some Republican states are backing off plans to require all employers to check for legal employment status before hiring workers.
State and federal legislation to require that employers...
The Ten Commandments on the Nebraska State Capitol, April 17, 2025. (Juan Salinas II / Nebraska Examiner)
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — A new economic forecast effectively doubled the size of Nebraska’s projected deficit from what state lawmakers had reduced it to so far this legislative session.
Lawmakers entered the session aiming to fix a $471 million budget deficit,...
Then-Neb. State Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg (right), speaks to Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, in the Legislative Chamber in Lincoln, Neb. (Nati Harnik / AP Photo)
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — A former state lawmaker from Gothenburg, Matt Williams, will lead the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry as interim president.
Chamber board chair Pat Keenan announced the transitional role Thursday to the board and business...
The Union Pacific glassy corporate headquarters in downtown Omaha is left of the white building labeled the Omaha World-Herald. That 19-story U.P. downtown facility opened in 2004, though U.P. has had its operational base in Omaha for more than 160 years. (Aaron Sanderford / Nebraska Examiner)
03/02/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — Despite a recent kerfuffle over alleged flaws in Nebraska’s business incentives, a new tax incentives package aimed at keeping and attracting high-paying jobs drew no resistance Wednesday during a legislative hearing.
Eleven speakers...
(zimmytws / Shutterstock)
03/02/2026 - 12:00am
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — A former notary for separate Nebraska petitions to legalize and regulate medical cannabis in 2024 was found guilty Wednesday of all 24 criminal charges he faced.
Jacy C. Todd of York, 55, was convicted of 23 counts of “official...
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo / Nathan Howard)
03/02/2026 - 12:00am
During a press conference on Dec. 11, 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced there was good news on the state of the economy.
“Inflation as measured by the overall CPI has slowed to an average 2.5% pace,” she said, referring to...
03/02/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — Nebraska U.S. House Republicans want to wait for the findings of a congressional investigation into Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales as he faces mounting pressure to resign from within his party amid allegations that he had a sexual...
02/27/2026 - 12:00am
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — A former notary facing 24 criminal charges, all but one for allegedly improper notarizations on petitions seeking to legalize and regulate medical cannabis in 2024, took the witness stand on the second day of his criminal trial...
(Natali _ Mis / Shutterstock)
02/27/2026 - 12:00am
Representational government rests on a simple idea: that the laws the nation lives under generally reflect what the public wants. In the United States, few issues test that idea more than abortion.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v....
Courtesy photo of Joel Angel-Becerril, 27. (February 17, 2026, ACLU Press Release)
02/27/2026 - 12:00am
OMAHA — The Nebraska DACA recipient whom ICE had detained for nearly three months has returned home to his Omaha family after an immigration court judge dismissed his deportation case.
Joel Angel-Becerril, 27, was freed Friday due to his temporary...
Cars submerged underwater and flooded gas station in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, New Brunswick, New Jersey - September 2, 2021. (Benjamin Clapp / Shutterstock)
02/27/2026 - 12:00am
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear a significant climate lawsuit in which oil companies are seeking to avoid being tried in state court.
The fate of several dozen climate lawsuits brought against oil companies by state and local...
02/26/2026 - 12:00am
As far as 157-year-old houses in Omaha go, Tim Reeder admits his isn’t all that special.
Reeder knows the house is not Omaha’s oldest — that distinction, as far as local historians can tell, belongs to a one-story home that’s 10 years older. Reeder’...
02/26/2026 - 12:00am
In November 2025 the Trump administration announced a special park pass commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary that featured images of two presidents: George Washington and Donald Trump.
Featuring the current president – in place of the...
High-voltage transmission lines provide electricity to data centers in Ashburn in Loudon County, Virginia, on July 16, 2023. (Ted Shaffrey / AP Photo, File)
02/26/2026 - 12:00am
After years of states pushing legislation to accelerate the development of data centers and the electric grid to support them, some legislators want to limit or repeal state and local incentives that paved their way.
President Donald Trump also has...
