Gov. Pete Ricketts’ veto of the Gage County bail out sales tax hike is just another chapter in the financial woes of state and local govern­ment.

Not long ago you learned of the calamity in Omaha Public Schools pension system. It wasn’t alone.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners and Justice Center Development Corp. have scheduled three public forums for next week to provide updates on the juvenile justice center project.

The public will have an oppor­tunity to share thoughts and ask questions about the proposed plans, according to a news release.

Journalists might take for granted their right to report utterances made in open court, but they have the organized efforts of Nebraska me­dia outlets to thank for a landmark Supreme Court decision establish­ing that right.

The media coalition came togeth­er to fight a North Platte judge’s or­der in 1975 to stop the publication and broadcasting of accounts of a confession or other facts “strongly implicative” of guilt in a Sutherland murder case.

It’s a subject Danielle Conrad and Amy Miller often find themselves addressing, but let’s be clear: Free speech needs to be defended.

It’s true, and somewhat surpris­ing, that an organization which has been around 99 years – and for more than 50 years in Nebraska – the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) often is more than a little understood.

Miller, the ACLU Nebraska’s le­gal director, feels the con­fusion stems from people not under­standing the organization is nonparti­san.