On March 25, 1969, 17-year-old Mary Kay Heese never returned home from school in Wahoo, Nebraska. Hours later, her body was found beaten and stabbed to death on the side of the road outside of town.
Investigators tried to retrace Mary Kay’s last known whereabouts. One witness saw Mary Kay get into a car with two men on a street corner near her home. But investigators at the time were unable to figure out who was in that car. Weeks turned into months with no arrests. Mary Kay’s murder would remain unsolved for decades.
“48 Hours” correspondent Natalie Morales reports on how the murder was finally brought back into focus in “The Girl from Wahoo,” an all-new “48 Hours” airing Saturday, Feb. 14 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Mary Kay Heese
Kathy Tull
In 2015, a new investigation was launched. Ted Green, a criminal investigator with the Saunders County Attorney’s Office, was assigned to the case.
“Every criminal investigation is a puzzle,” Green told “48 Hours.” For Green, part of figuring out that puzzle was learning more about Mary Kay Heese.
Mary Kay’s younger cousins, Mark Miller and Kathy Tull, remember Mary Kay as a happy person who always looked out for them. But they said that happiness was sometimes challenged by the struggles of adolescence.
Green learned Mary Kay came from a strict home under the eyes of watchful parents. It was a different situation at high school. “There was a group of girls that would get her together and put makeup on her at the beginning of the day and change her clothes out,” Green said.
“She wanted to fit in,” Miller told “48 Hours.”
Part of that desire to fit in was Mary Kay’s wish to attend the local Sadie Hawkins dance — a popular event at that time where the girls ask the boys to attend.
Tull told “48 Hours” that the shy Mary Kay struggled to find a date. Tull still has a letter from Mary Kay, written a week before her murder, asking her cousin Jerry to attend the dance with her.
“If we come over to get you on Friday the 28th or Saturday the 29th, will you go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me?” Mary Kay wrote in the letter. “You can wear sportswear (not a tuxedo or anything) because it’s not a formal dance […] Don’t bring any money to get in because the girls are to pay for it all including the tickets and food.”
As Green learned more about Mary Kay, he came to one conclusion. “She wouldn’t get into a car with somebody that she didn’t know,” he said.
The pieces of the puzzle were coming together for Green, who focused on two names that kept coming up in the old case files: Joseph Ambroz and Wayne Greaser, both interviewed in the days following Mary Kay’s murder.
Joseph Ambroz, 22, was living in Wahoo and worked at a slaughterhouse at that time. He was also on parole after serving time for forgery and escaping custody.
Joseph Ambroz in 1968.
Greaser was friends with Ambroz. “He was just that wannabe kid who was just following around Ambroz,” said Deputy Saunders County Attorney Richard Register, who worked on the case.
Green and Register told “48 Hours” Ambroz knew Mary Kay. They both frequented the same café and had mutual friends. Green and Register also believe Mary Kay thought Ambroz was not a threat, but an opportunity to fit in with the crowd.
Green believes Ambroz and Greaser took Mary Kay to a well-known party spot near town and at some point Mary Kay tried to flee the car. Green says he believes Ambroz went after her and eventually stabbed her to death.
“She just wanted to get a boy to go to the dance with her. And unfortunately, the dance she went to was her death,” Register said.
More than five decades after Mary Kay Heese was found dead, 77-year-old Joseph Ambroz was arrested for her murder.
In July 2025, Ambroz took a plea deal and pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit first- degree murder. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Greaser, who had died by suicide in 1977, was named as the other person conspiring to kill Mary Kay.
For Mary Kay’s cousins, the plea deal and sentence were an injustice. They say Ambroz stole Mary Kay’s future.
“He got all these years to live, and Mary Kay never had the chance to live,” Miller told “48 Hours.”
ALL NEW: A girl is murdered in Wahoo, Nebraska. More than 50 years later, the clues that led to an arrest.
“48 Hours” correspondent Natalie Morales reports Saturday, Feb. 14 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are drinking more coffee than they have in decades. But fewer of them are getting it from Starbucks.
The company that revolutionized U.S. coffee culture remains America’s biggest player, with nearly 17,000 U.S. stores and plans to open hundreds more. But it’s facing unprecedented competition, which will make it harder to win back the customers it already lost.
Starbucks’ share of spending at all U.S. coffee shops fell in 2024 and 2025; it now stands at 48%, down from 52% in 2023, according to Technomic, a food industry consulting firm. Dunkin ‘, a perennial rival that just opened its 10,000th U.S. store, gained market share in both of those years.
Starbucks has other challengers, like the fast-growing drive-thru chains 7 Brew, Scooter’s Coffee and Dutch Bros. Chinese chains like Luckin Coffee and Mixue are opening U.S. stores. High-end coffee shop Blue Bottle, which has 78 U.S. stores, has opened two more since the start of the year. Even McDonald’s and Taco Bell are bolstering their beverage offerings.
“People haven’t fallen out of love with Starbucks, but they’re now polyamorous in their coffee choices,” said Chris Kayes, chair of the management department in the George Washington University School of Business. “People are now experimenting with other coffees, and they’re seeing what’s out there.”
Americans love coffee. In both 2024 and 2025, an estimated 66% of Americans reported drinking coffee every day, up 7% from 2020, according to the National Coffee Association, an industry trade group.
Coffee chains are racing to cash in on that demand. The number of chain coffee stores in the U.S. jumped 19% to more than 34,500 over the last six years, according to Technomic, a consulting firm that researches the foodservice industry.
Seattle-based Starbucks was a small, regional chain when former CEO Howard Schultz acquired it in 1987. Now, other small chains are seeing explosive growth. Nebraska-based Scooter’s Coffee had 200 locations in 2019; it now has more than 850. Arkansas-based 7 Brew, which had 14 locations in 2019, now has more than 600.
“There’s too much supply relative to demand,” said Neil Saunders, a managing director and retail analyst at consulting firm GlobalData Retail
Saunders said Starbucks’ size is somewhat of a disadvantage, since it has less ability to grow sales by opening new locations.
“Honestly, they’re pretty saturated,” Saunders said. “They’re a very mature business.”
“Growth doesn’t require us to become something new. It requires us to be exceptionally good at what we already are,” Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams said.
Starbucks expects to open more than 575 new U.S. stores over the next three years. It developed a smaller-format store that is cheaper to build but still has indoor seating, drive-thru lanes and mobile pickup. The company said the reduced scale would allow Starbucks stores to operate in locations they couldn’t before.
Starbucks is also adding new products, like updated pastries and snackable foods that are high in protein and fiber, to try to win back customers.
Lack of menu innovation is one reason Starbucks has struggled, especially among younger consumers who like novelty and will try new places to find it, Saunders said.
Arizona-based Dutch Bros, for example, added protein coffee drinks in January 2024, nearly two years before Starbucks did. Energy drinks make up 25% of Dutch Bros’ business almost 14 years after the chain introduced them. Starbucks offered iced energy drinks for a limited time in 2024; executives said Thursday that customizable energy drinks would appear on the Starbucks menu soon.
Dutch Bros, which is led by former Starbucks executive Christine Barone, has just over 1,000 shops in the U.S. and hopes to double that number by 2029. It’s betting that customers want speed and convenience; nearly all of its stores are drive-thrus with walk-up windows.
Dutch Bros also focuses on value. In a recent meeting with investors, Barone pointed out that Dutch Bros’ medium drinks are 24 ounces; at Starbucks, a medium drink is 16 ounces.
Luckin, whose app brims with coupons and promotions, is also value-oriented. On a recent afternoon, one of its nine New York stores buzzed with customers picking up mobile orders. The tiny shop had no seating.
Xunyi Xie, who was visiting New York from his home in Delaware, said he stopped by to try a Velvet Latte because Luckin had a $1.99 drink promotion. Xie said he normally brews his own espresso, but if Luckin opened a store that was on his way to work, he would go there.
As for Starbucks? “I think it’s overpriced,” Xie said.
In 2024, the average customer spent $9.34 at Starbucks, compared to $8.44 at Dutch Bros and $4.68 at Dunkin’, according to an analysis by the investment research company Morningstar.
Starbucks didn’t raise prices in its 2025 fiscal year and has vowed to be judicious about future increases. But Ari Felhandler, an equity analyst with Morningstar, said it would be a mistake for Starbucks to try to win over customers with discounts because competitors will always go lower.
“Keep your prices the same and try to justify them,” Felhandler said. He thinks Starbucks’ store redesigns and new menu items will bring back traffic.
Grams, Starbucks’ chief operating officer, said the company firmly believes its best way forward is not drive-thru-only stores or mobile pickup kiosks. It’s building cafes with comfortable seating — the “soul of Starbucks,” as he put it — that also serve mobile, drive-thru and delivery customers. Customers sometimes want something convenient, and they sometimes want to dwell, he said.
“There’s always going to be competition. We’re aware of it, we keep an eye on it for sure, but we don’t try to be them,” Grams told The Associated Press. “We offer something that most people don’t, which is a legitimate space to sit down, enjoy and use it for a variety of different reasons.”
But Kayes, of George Washington University, wonders if that strategy will be enough to keep Starbucks on top, or if customers who want a cozy or premium experience have already moved on to independent coffee shops or upscale chains like Blue Bottle.
“In some ways, I think they are a victim of their own success,” Kayes said. “I do think that the aura of Starbucks as being something special and unique and exciting isn’t there anymore.”
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(Photo credit: Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Arizona maintained the slimmest of grips on No. 1 in the latest Associated Press men’s top 25 poll released Monday.
The Wildcats (14-0) earned 32 first-place votes, with Michigan (13-0) garnering the remaining 29. In all, Arizona received 1,494 votes, with the Wolverines capturing just one fewer.
The top six in the voting remained unchanged, with Iowa State (14-0), UConn (14-1), Purdue (13-1) and Duke (13-1) slotting into those spots.
Houston (13-1) and Gonzaga (16-1) flipped places, with the Cougars moving into the No. 7 slot and the Bulldogs No. 8. BYU (13-1) moved up a spot to No. 9, and Nebraska (14-0) rose three places to No. 10.
Falling out of the top 10 was Michigan State (12-2), which slid three places after a two-point loss to Nebraska on Friday.
Iowa (12-2) took the biggest climb on the week, rising six spots to No. 19. The biggest plunge belonged to North Carolina (13-2) and Kansas (10-4), which tumbled five spots each.
Entering the poll were No. 24 SMU (12-2) and No. 25 UCF (12-1). Out of the top 25 were Southern California and Florida.
The defending national champion Gators dropped to 9-5 on the season after a 76-74 loss to Missouri.
Starting New Year’s Day, some food-stamp recipients around the U.S. will be banned from using the government nutrition assistance to buy candy, soda and other foods.
Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia are the first of at least 18 states to enact waivers prohibiting people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, from purchasing certain foods. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have urged states to strip foods regarded as unhealthy from the $100 billion federal program.
“We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then pay a second time to treat the illnesses those very programs help create,” Kennedy said in a statement in December.
The efforts are aimed at reducing chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes associated with sweetened drinks and other treats, a key goal of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again effort.
Confusion for SNAP recipients?
But retail industry and health policy experts said state SNAP programs, already under pressure from steep budget cuts, are unprepared for the complex changes, with no complete lists of the foods affected and technical point-of-sale challenges that vary by state and store. And research remains mixed about whether restricting SNAP purchases improves diet quality and health.
The National Retail Federation, a trade association, predicted longer checkout lines and more customer complaints as SNAP recipients learn which foods are affected by the new waivers.
“It’s a disaster waiting to happen of people trying to buy food and being rejected,” said Kate Bauer, a nutrition science expert at the University of Michigan.
The new restrictions are the latest source of concern for SNAP recipients. Food aid distributed under the program, which is used by 42 million Americans, was interrupted during the 43-day U.S. government shutdown. Reliance on food stamps typically surges during economic downturns, such as the sharp slump that followed the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.
Nearly 62% of SNAP participants are in families with children, while roughly 37% are in households with older adults or people with disabilities, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank.
Roughly 14% of U.S. households reported food insecurity on average between January and October, up from 12.5% in 2024, according to Purdue’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability.
While the prevalence of food insecurity around the U.S. fluctuates month to month, the overall rate had been declining since 2022, when an average of 15.4% of households were food insecure as inflation hit 40-year highs following the pandemic.
Retailers fear impact
A report by the National Grocers Association and other industry trade groups estimated that implementing SNAP restrictions would cost U.S. retailers $1.6 billion initially and $759 million each year going forward.
“Punishing SNAP recipients means we all get to pay more at the grocery store,” said Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP director for the anti-hunger advocacy group Food Research & Action Center.
The waivers are a departure from decades of federal policy first enacted in 1964 and later authorized by the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, which said SNAP benefits can be used for “any food or food product intended for human consumption,” except alcohol and ready-to-eat hot foods. The law also says SNAP can’t pay for tobacco.
In the past, lawmakers have proposed stopping SNAP from paying for expensive meats like steak or so-called junk foods, such as chips and ice cream.
But previous waiver requests were denied based on USDA research concluding that restrictions would be costly and complicated to implement, and that they might not change recipients’ buying habits or reduce health problems such as obesity.
Under the second Trump administration, however, states have been encouraged and even incentivized to seek waivers – and they responded.
“This isn’t the usual top-down, one-size-fits-all public health agenda,” Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said when he announced his state’s request last spring. “We’re focused on root causes, transparent information and real results.”
How many people are affected
The five state waivers that take effect Jan. 1 affect about 1.4 million people. Utah and West Virginia will ban the use of SNAP to buy soda and soft drinks, while Nebraska will prohibit soda and energy drinks. Indiana will target soft drinks and candy. In Iowa, which has the most restrictive rules to date, the SNAP limits affect taxable foods, including soda and candy, but also certain prepared foods.
“The items list does not provide enough specific information to prepare a SNAP participant to go to the grocery store,” Plata-Nino wrote in a blog post. “Many additional items — including certain prepared foods — will also be disallowed, even though they are not clearly identified in the notice to households.”
Marc Craig, 47, of Des Moines, said he has been living in his car since October. He said the new waivers will make it more difficult to determine how to use the $298 in SNAP benefits he receives each month, while also increasing the stigma he feels at the cash register.
“They treat people that get food stamps like we’re not people,” Craig said.
SNAP waivers enacted now and in the coming months will run for two years, with the option to extend them for an additional three, according to the Agriculture Department. Each state is required to assess the impact of the changes.
Health experts worry that the waivers ignore larger factors affecting the health of SNAP recipients, said Anand Parekh, a medical doctor who is the chief health policy officer at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
“This doesn’t solve the two fundamental problems, which is healthy food in this country is not affordable and unhealthy food is cheap and ubiquitous,” he said.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The production lines at Indeed Brewing moved quickly, the cans filling not with beer, but with THC-infused seltzer. The product, which features the compound that gets cannabis users high, has been a lifeline at Indeed and other craft breweries as alcohol sales have fallen in recent years.
But that boom looks set to come to a crashing halt. Buried in the bill that ended the federal government shutdown this month was a provision to ban those drinks, along with other impairing beverages and snacks made from hemp, which have proliferated across the country in recent years. Now the $24 billion hemp industry is scrambling to save itself before the provision takes effect in November 2026.
“It’s a big deal,” said Ryan Bandy, Indeed’s chief business officer. “It would be a mess for our breweries, for our industry, and obviously for a lot of people who like these things.”
Ryan Bandy, chief business officer at Indeed Brewing in Minneapolis, stands near a pallet of six-packs of seltzer containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his brewery on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
Ryan Bandy, chief business officer at Indeed Brewing in Minneapolis, stands near a pallet of six-packs of seltzer containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his brewery on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
Here’s what to know about the looming ban on impairing products derived from hemp.
Congress opened the door in 2018
Marijuana and hemp are the same species. Marijuana is cultivated for high levels of THC in its flowers. Low-THC hemp is grown for its sturdy fibers, food or wellness products. “Rope, not dope” was long the motto of farmers who supported legalizing hemp.
After states began legalizing marijuana for adult use over a decade ago, hemp advocates saw an opening at the federal level. As part of the 2018 farm bill, Congress legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp to give farmers, including in Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, a new cash crop.
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But the way that law defined hemp — as having less than 0.3% of a specific type of THC, called delta-9 — opened a huge loophole. Beverages or bags of snacks could meet that threshold and still contain more than enough THC to get people high. Businesses could further exploit the law by extracting a non-impairing compound, called CBD, and chemically changing it into other types of impairing THC, such as delta-8 or delta-10.
The result? Vape oil, gummy candies, chips, cookies, sodas and other unregulated, untested products laden with hemp-derived THC spread around the country. In many places, they have been available at gas stations or convenience stores, even to teens. In legal marijuana states, they undercut heavily taxed and regulated products. In others, they evaded the prohibition on recreational use of weed.
Some states, including Indiana, have reported spikes in calls to poison-control centers for pediatric exposure to THC.
Cans of seltzer containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, are shown in a cooler at the Indeed Brewery taproom in Minneapolis on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
Cans of seltzer containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, are shown in a cooler at the Indeed Brewery taproom in Minneapolis on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
A patchwork of state regulations
Dozens of states have since taken steps to regulate or ban impairing hemp products. In October, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill banning the sale of intoxicating hemp products outside the state’s legal marijuana system.
Texas, which has a massive hemp market, is moving to regulate sales of impairing hemp, such as by restricting them to those over 21. In Nebraska, lawmakers have instead considered a bill to criminalize the sale and possession of products containing hemp-based THC.
Washington state adopted a program to regulate hemp growing. But the number of licensed growers has cratered since the state banned intoxicating hemp products outside of the regulated cannabis market in 2023. Five years ago, there were 220, said Trecia Ehrlich, cannabis program manager with the state agriculture department. This year, there were 42, and with a federal ban looming, she expects that number to drop by about half next year.
Minnesota made infused beverages and foods legal in 2022 for people 21 and older. The products, which must be derived from legally certified hemp, have become so popular that Target is now offering THC drinks at some of its stores in the state.
They’ve also been a boon to liquor stores and to small Minneapolis brewers like Indeed, where THC drinks make up close to one-quarter of the business, Bandy said. At Bauhaus Brew Labs, a few blocks away, THC drinks account for 26% of their revenues from distributed products and 11% of revenues at the brewery’s taproom.
A powerful senator moves to close the loophole
None of that was what McConnell intended when he helped craft the 2018 farm bill. He finally closed the loophole by inserting a federal hemp THC ban in the measure to end the 43-day federal government shutdown, approved by the Senate on Nov. 10.
“It will keep these dangerous products out of the hands of children, while preserving the hemp industry for farmers,” McConnell said. “Industrial hemp and CBD will remain legal for industrial applications.”
Some in the legal marijuana industry celebrated, as the ban would end what they consider unfair competition.
They were joined by prohibitionists. “There’s really no good argument for allowing these dangerous products to be sold in our country,” said Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
But the ban doesn’t take effect for a year. That has given the industry hope that there is still time to pass regulations that will improve the hemp THC industry — such as by banning synthetically derived THC, requiring age restrictions on sales, and prohibiting marketing to children — rather than eradicate it.
“We are very hopeful that cooler heads will prevail,” said Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the industry group U.S. Hemp Roundtable. “If they really thought there was a health emergency, there would be no year-long period.”
The federal ban would jeopardize more than 300,000 jobs while costing states $1.5 billion in lost tax money, the group says.
Drew Hurst, president and chief operating officer at Bauhaus Brew Labs, has no doubt his company would be among the casualties.
“If this goes through as written currently, I don’t see a way at all that Bauhaus could stay in business,” Hurst said.
Drew Hurst, president and chief operating officer of Bauhaus Brew Labs in Minneapolis, stands outside a cooler for cans of seltzer containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his brewery’s taproom on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
Drew Hurst, president and chief operating officer of Bauhaus Brew Labs in Minneapolis, stands outside a cooler for cans of seltzer containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his brewery’s taproom on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
What comes next?
A number of lawmakers say they will push for regulation of the hemp THC industry. Kentucky’s second senator, Republican Rand Paul, introduced an amendment to strip McConnell’s hemp language from the crucial government-funding bill, but it failed on a lopsided 76-24 vote.
Minnesota’s Democratic U.S. senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, are among those strategizing to save the industry. Klobuchar noted at a recent news conference that the ban was inserted into the unrelated shutdown bill without a hearing. She suggested the federal government could allow states to develop their own regulatory frameworks, or that Minnesota’s strict regulations could be used as a national model.
Kevin Hilliard, co-founder of Insight Brewing in Minneapolis, said the hemp industry needs a solution before planting time next spring.
“If a farmer has uncertainty, they’re not going to plant,” Hilliard said.
___
Johnson reported from Seattle. AP congressional reporter Kevin Freking contributed from Washington, D.C.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — New data the Agriculture Department released Friday created serious doubts about whether China will really buy millions of bushels of American soybeans like the Trump administration touted last month after a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The USDA report released after the government reopened showed only two Chinese purchases of American soybeans since the summit in South Korea that totaled 332,000 metric tons. That’s well short of the 12 million metric tons that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China agreed to purchase by January and nowhere near the 25 million metric tons she said they would buy in each of the next three years.
American farmers were hopeful that their biggest customer would resume buying their crops. But CoBank’s Tanner Ehmke, who is its lead economist for grains and oilseed, said there isn’t much incentive for China to buy from America right now because they have plenty of soybeans on hand that they have bought from Brazil and other South American countries this year, and the remaining tariffs ensure that U.S. soybeans remain more expensive than Brazilian beans.
“We are still not even close to what has been advertised from the U.S. in terms of what the agreement would have been,” Ehmke said.
Beijing has yet to confirm any detailed soybean purchase agreement but only that the two sides have reached “consensus” on expanding trade in farm products. Ehmke said that even if China did promise to buy American soybeans it may have only agreed to buy them if the price was attractive.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the lack of Chinese purchases and whether farmers can still expect an aid package.
The Chinese tariff on American beans remains high at about 24%, despite a 10-percentage-point reduction following the summit.
Soybean prices fell sharply by 23 cents to $11.24 per bushel Friday. Ehmke said “that’s the market being shocked by the lack of Chinese demand that was confirmed in USDA data today.” Prices are still higher than they were before the agreement when they were selling for $10.60 per bushel, but the price may continue to drop unless there are significant new purchases.
Before the trade agreement, Trump had promised to offer farmers a significant aid package to help them survive the trade war with China. That was put on hold during the shutdown, and now it’s not clear whether the administration will offer farmers aid like Trump did in his first administration.
American farmers have been through this before after Trump’s first trade war with China. The trade agreement China signed with the United States in 2020 promised massive purchases of U.S. crops. But the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade between the two nations just as the agreement went into effect. In 2022, U.S. farm exports to China hit a record, but then fell.
Soybean prices are actually still a little higher than they were a year ago even without China’s normal purchases of roughly one-quarter of the U.S. crop. That’s because this year’s soybean crop is a little smaller while domestic demand remained strong with the continued growth in biodiesel production.
But farmers are dealing with the soaring cost of fertilizer, seed, equipment and labor this year, and that is hurting their profits. The Kentucky farmer who is president of the American Soybean Association, Caleb Ragland, has said he worries that thousands of farmers could go out of business this year without significant Chinese purchases or government aid.
China is the world’s largest buyer of soybeans. China bought more than $12.5 billion worth of the nearly $24.5 billion worth of U.S. soybeans that were exported last year.
But China quit buying American soybeans this year after Trump imposed his tariffs and continued to shift more of their purchases over to South America. Even before the trade war, Brazilian beans accounted for more than 70% of China’s imports last year, while the U.S. share fell to 21%, World Bank data shows.
AP Writer Didi Tang contributed to this report from Washington.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Nearly 4 million children in the United States can’t get into a licensed child care center, costing states about $1 billion per year in lost economic activity from parents missing work or stepping away from jobs to support their families. Jonathan Vigliotti reports from rural Nebraska, where one community pooled its resources into one central location.
(Reuters) -Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will defend a narrow majority in the November 2026 elections a year from now. Below are some of the races to watch as Republicans and Democrats battle for control of the chamber.
ANOTHER CLOSE CALL IN IOWA?
Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican, was elected to Congress in 2020 by the thinnest of margins. Her six-vote victory in 2020 swelled into a 20,000-vote advantage over Democratic state Representative Christina Bohannan in 2022. Bohannan closed the gap in a 2024 rematch but still lost by about 800 votes.
Bohannan is running yet again to unseat Miller-Meeks, but other Democrats are also eager to try to flip one of the most competitive districts in the country. The field for the June 2 Democratic primary includes former state Representative Bob Krause, who served in the Iowa Legislature in the 1970s, healthcare worker Travis Terrell and attorney Taylor Wettach.
Bohannan outraised Miller-Meeks and her Democratic challengers in the third quarter, which covers July through September, but Miller-Meeks began October with $2.6 million in the bank, and she notably performed better in the lower-turnout 2022 midterms than she did in 2020 and 2024, when President Donald Trump was also on the ballot.
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY IN MAINE
Representative Jared Golden, the lone Democrat to back House Republicans’ stopgap funding bill to avert the ongoing government shutdown, is the most vulnerable House Democrat seeking reelection. Trump won Golden’s district last year by nearly 10 points.
State Auditor Matt Dunlap, a progressive Democrat, is challenging Golden in the June 9 primary. Former Maine Governor Paul LePage, a Republican, is also running for the seat. The moderate-progressive battle among Maine Democrats is also playing out in a high-profile Senate primary between Governor Janet Mills and oysterman Graham Platner.
NO INCUMBENT IN NEBRASKA’S SECOND DISTRICT
Representative Don Bacon is one of just three House Republicans who were reelected in districts that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won last year. The difficulty for Republicans to retain that seat is twofold: Harris won it by more than 4 points, and Bacon is retiring, leaving Republicans without an incumbent in Democrats’ top target.
Harris also won the districts of Republican Representatives Mike Lawler of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, but her margins were a fraction of a percentage, and both are running for reelection.
Brinker Harding, an Omaha city councilman, and former state Senator Brett Lindstrom are Republicans contesting the May 12 primary. Democratic primary candidates include Kishla Askins, former deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, state Senator John Cavanaugh, former Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland’s policy director James Leuschen, small business owner Denise Powell and Crystal Rhoades, a district court county clerk.
CAN REPUBLICANS CAPTURE KAPTUR’S DISTRICT?
Ohio’s redistricting commission approved a compromise map that will make two Democratic seats more competitive for Republicans. The delegation has 10 Republicans and five Democrats. Representatives Marcy Kaptur, Emilia Sykes and Greg Landsman are the most vulnerable Democrats in the state. Sykes’ district will be slightly less competitive for Republicans.
Trump won Kaptur’s district by nearly 7 points in 2024. Kaptur won reelection by less than 1 point. A Libertarian candidate won 4% of the vote, an indication that Republicans may have flipped the seat had it been a two-person race. Sykes won by 2 points, and Landsman won by almost 9 points. The compromise avoids a worst-case scenario for Democrats, as Republican lawmakers could have drawn a more partisan map to try to unseat Kaptur, Sykes and Landsman.
Representative David Schweikert, a Republican, is vacating his battleground seat to run for governor of Arizona. Schweikert defeated former state Representative Amish Shah by fewer than 4 points in 2024. Shah is seeking the Democratic nomination again in a crowded field for the August 4 primary that includes former journalist Marlene Galán-Woods, who finished a close third in last year’s primary.
The Republican field includes Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda and former federal prosecutor Jason Duey. Schweikert’s district was the most competitive in Arizona, a politically divided state that Trump and Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego both won last year.
TEXAS DEMOCRATS REACH FOR A STAR
Democrats are excited about the candidacy of Bobby Pulido, a Tejano music star hoping to oust Republican Representative Monica De La Cruz. Though Texas state lawmakers drew a new congressional map to net Republicans as many as five new seats, De La Cruz’s South Texas district remains largely intact.
De La Cruz defeated Democrat Michelle Vallejo by 8.5 percentage points in 2022 and 14 points in 2024. House Democrats’ campaign arm has the seat on its target list of districts in play, but Trump won it by 18 points last year, giving Republicans optimism that Democrats risk wasting resources chasing victory in an unwinnable seat.
Pulido is not running uncontested for the Democratic nomination in the March 3 primary. Ada Cuellar, an emergency room doctor, is also in the race. De La Cruz has reported raising nearly $2.6 million through September, and she entered October with $1.7 million in the bank, giving her a sizable financial advantage over her opponents with several months to go before the general election matchup is set.
WILL A WASHINGTON STATE DISTRICT RETURN TO REPUBLICANS?
Washington’s 3rd Congressional District had been in Republican hands for 12 years until Democratic Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won it in 2022, narrowly defeating Republican Joe Kent. The longtime incumbent, Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, finished third in the state’s open nonpartisan primary, a system in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election.
Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Kent by a larger margin in their 2024 rematch, but Republicans believe a stronger candidate can return the district to their column. Trump carried it by 3 points last year, and Perez won it by nearly 4 points. State Senate Minority Leader John Braun, a Republican, is running for the seat.
MASSIE’S MESSY MAGA PRIMARY
Trump pre-endorsed Ed Gallrein over Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky in an October social media post, urging the retired Navy SEAL officer to challenge the incumbent with the president’s “Complete and Total Endorsement.” Gallrein announced his candidacy to take on Massie in the May 19 primary days later.
Massie voted against Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act and teamed up with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California on legislation to require the Justice Department to publicly release all unclassified materials related to the federal government’s investigation into the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Massie has also joined Democrats in an effort to circumvent House Republican leadership and force a floor vote on the proposal.
Trump has called Massie a “Third Rate Congressman” and “Weak and Pathetic RINO” — a party slur meaning “Republican in name only” — who “must be thrown out of office, ASAP!” Massie has raised $1.8 million this year, more than he has ever raised during any two-year cycle. He entered October with more than $2 million cash on hand.
DEMOCRATS LINE UP TO OUST LAWLER
While Republican Representatives John James of Michigan and David Schweikert of Arizona sacrificed their battleground districts to run for governor of their respective states, Republican Representative Mike Lawler did the opposite, avoiding a potential gubernatorial primary against fellow New York Representative Elise Stefanik, a likely candidate, to help House Republicans preserve their majority.
Lawler is one of three Republicans representing a district Harris won in 2024. Harris won the district by more than half a point, though Lawler defeated former Democratic Representative Mondaire Jones by 6 percentage points. A long line of well-funded Democrats has launched campaigns for the June 23 primary seeking their party’s nomination to unseat Lawler, including Village of Briarcliff Manor Deputy Mayor Peter Chatzky, Army combat veteran and national security expert Cait Conley, Rockland County legislator Beth Davidson, nonprofit leader Jessica Reinmann and former FBI intelligence analyst John Sullivan.
Lawler has raised more than $4 million this year and has $2.8 million in the bank.
A SURPRISE IN SAN FRANCISCO?
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, is expected to announce whether she’ll seek reelection to her San Francisco seat after the 2025 election.
Pelosi stepped down from her leadership role after the 2022 midterms, but she continues to serve in Congress. Her potential departure from the House after nearly 40 years in office could pressure her former deputies, Representatives Steny Hoyer, 86, of Maryland and Jim Clyburn, 85, of South Carolina, to retire as well.
But Democrats aren’t necessarily waiting for Pelosi to step aside. Saikat Chakrabarti, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff, and state Senator Scott Wiener have already entered the field for the June 2 primary. Other Democrats could also enter the race if Pelosi retires. The seat is safely Democratic.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A multi-state carbon capture pipeline began operating in September, reducing emissions from Midwest ethanol plants and carrying that carbon dioxide gas to be forever buried underground in Wyoming — an achievement after years of complaints, lawsuits and legislation blocked similar efforts by other companies.
Other projects prompted intense opposition, including one that has run up $1 billion in spending with no guarantee of success, but the Tallgrass Trailblazer Pipeline is being praised. The reason: community negotiations and financial support.
“I wish all energy companies would treat communities with a lot more respect like Tallgrass did,” said Jane Kleeb, whose group Bold Nebraska has fought other carbon capture and oil pipelines.
The Tallgrass pipeline has started moving emissions from 11 ethanol plants in Nebraska and one in Iowa to a site in southeast Wyoming, where the greenhouse gas will be buried 9,000 feet underground.
The fermentation process to convert corn into fuel releases carbon dioxide. By capturing it before it’s released into the air, plants can lower their carbon intensity score, making the ethanol more attractive for refinement into so-called sustainable aviation fuel — a market some believe could climb to 50 billion gallons annually. The Midwest-based ethanol industry sees jet fuel as essential to its future, offsetting expected declines in demand for motor vehicle fuel as more drivers switch to electric vehicles.
The federal government encourages carbon capture through lucrative tax credits to pipeline operators. The Biden administration wanted to encourage a practice that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the Trump administration has let the credits continue.
“If an ethanol plant captures the carbon, it lowers their carbon index and they become a low-carbon fuel, and there’s a premium for that,” said Tom Buis, CEO of the American Carbon Alliance, a trade group. “And they can also produce sustainable aviation fuel out of it. Sustainable aviation fuel is a huge, gigantic market just waiting for someone to step forward and take it.”
Routing a pipeline isn’t easy
At least three other companies have proposed carbon capture pipelines in the Midwest, but aside from Tallgrass, only Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions is persisting — and it hasn’t been easy.
Despite strong support from agricultural groups and the ethanol industry, Summit has dealt with persistent opponents who don’t want their land taken for the pipeline and fear a hazardous pipe rupture. Landowners sued to block the pipeline and sought help from legislators. South Dakota’s legislature banned the use of eminent domain for such lines.
In response Summit has asked Iowa regulators to amend its permit so the company retains an option for a route that would avoid South Dakota.
“Our focus remains on supporting as many ethanol partners as possible and building a strong foundation that helps farmers, ethanol plants, and rural communities access the markets they’ll depend on for decades to come,” Summit said in a statement.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency oversees a rigorous process for underground carbon dioxide injection, involving permits for construction and injection and regulations to protect underground sources of drinking water, Carbon Capture Coalition Executive Director Jessie Stolark said. Typically, porous rock formations similar to a sponge will store or trap the carbon dioxide more than a mile underground, she said.
Tallgrass had one big advantage at the starting point — it converted an existing natural gas line. The natural gas was put on a different pipeline as Trailblazer was retrofitted. The company built branches off the 400-mile mainline to connect to ethanol plants.
But Tallgrass also took pains to engage with communities along its route.
The company worked with people to get its project done “instead of trying to push it down our throat,” said Lee Hogan, chairman of the Adams County commission in Nebraska, whose home is a half-mile from the pipeline.
It helped that Tallgrass worked with Bold Nebraska, a citizens group, to create a community investment fund that will make annual payments to organizations related to early childhood development, Medicaid-eligible senior care and food pantries.
Tallgrass will make an initial $500,000 contribution followed by annual payments based on 10 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide sent through the pipeline. The Nebraska Community Foundation, which will manage the fund, expects more than $7 million will be given out through 2035 across 31 counties in four states.
It’s a unique arrangement, and a possible template for future projects, said Nebraska Community Foundation leader Jeff Yost.
“I’m just really impressed that folks that could have just approached this purely as opponents have come together to find a really productive middle ground,” Yost said.
Tallgrass spokesman Steven Davidson said the investment fund is just one piece of the company’s agreement with Bold, which he said emphasizes being cooperative and transparent, such as when surveying land and valuing easements.
While lauding Tallgrass’ cooperative approach, Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh, who studies energy policy at Columbia University, said it may be hard to replicate the experience since few if any natural gas pipelines will be available for retrofitting, given increases in supply and demand for natural gas domestically and abroad. Tallgrass’ line crosses his family’s land in Nebraska.
Still, companies can do better to engage and negotiate with communities, and that includes spending money, he said.
Kyle Quackenbush, a Tallgrass vice president, said his advice to other pipeline companies is to listen.
“I think the biggest advice we would have for people is to take those concerns seriously,” he said, “and figure out what it takes to be able to help people get comfortable and understand that this infrastructure is a benefit for their community and not something that they need to be afraid of.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A decade ago, Nebraska’s corrections department allowed hundreds of inmates to leave prison early through a program that few — including judges, lawmakers and the public — knew existed.
Corrections devised the early-release initiative as part of a larger, and ultimately scandal-plagued, effort to ease overcrowding in Nebraska’s packed prisons. Leaders scrapped the scheme shortly after probing lawmakers revealed it.
Now, as the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services continues to grapple with overcrowding and converts one prison into an immigration detention center, it is trying to create a similar program and allow some inmates out into the community under intense supervision.
It’s already prompting pushback, including from lawmakers in both political parties.
“What you’re saying is, ‘OK, we don’t really think the judges knew what they were doing, or this Legislature (knew what they were doing) when they said what factors to consider. We just think, internally, NDCS can make those ultimate determinations.’ And I, respectfully, disagree with that,” said State Sen. Carolyn Bosn, a former prosecutor who chairs the Judiciary Committee.
Bosn, a Republican from Lincoln, and State Sen. Terrell McKinney, a Democrat from Omaha, both said a program like this could have merit.
But, echoing a criticism of the controversial program from the past, both said it should be created by the Legislature — not the department itself. They and others, including the state’s watchdog for corrections, also knocked the current proposal for its lack of details.
“I’m not opposed to it, it’s just about the implementation and how it’s going to work,” McKinney said. “The less people in prison, I’m always for. It’s just how it’s executed and what are the stipulations around it.”
Unlike with the previous initiative, the department is following a public process this time around.
Corrections filed a notice on its proposal — dubbed PATH, or the Program for At-home Transition Housing — with the secretary of state’s office three weeks after Gov. Jim Pillen unveiled plans to turn the McCook Work Ethic Camp into a federal immigration detention center.
A spokesperson for the department didn’t mention overcrowding or answer questions about any links between the proposal and the McCook center conversion.
Spokesperson Dayne Urbanovsky said the PATH proposal was driven by the department’s “commitment to efficient and meaningful population management strategies, while improving reentry opportunities” for inmates.
Nebraska’s prisons have long been some of the most overcrowded in the country. The system entered an overcrowding emergency in 2020 when its overall population exceeded 140% of its design capacity.
It remains in that emergency, according to a recent report from the state’s inspector general for corrections, Doug Koebernick. The same report found that, depending on the metric used, Nebraska has either the most or second-most overcrowded prison system in the U.S.
Overcrowding concerns fueled questions from McKinney and others about Pillen’s push to take the roughly 200 beds at the McCook center offline so that the prison could be used to detain up to 300 immigrants.
In a letter to McKinney, the administration disputed the notion that the move would trigger an “overcrowding emergency.”
“The addition of 300 criminal illegal aliens to the system will not put NDCS facilities anywhere near the 140% occupational capacity threshold needed to trigger an emergency declaration,” wrote Kenny Zoeller, director of the governor’s Policy Research Office.
The state has since relocated the roughly 180 inmates previously housed in McCook, according to Urbanovsky. Last week, Pillen’s office announced that ICE inspectors had OK’d the center to start operating.
McKinney drew a connection between the McCook center and PATH, the department’s current proposal.
“Taking away that which was a facility for people who were transitioning, they needed something to try to backfill that,” McKinney said. “And that’s probably this program.”
PATH bears some broad similarities to the program Corrections created in 2008.
That program started small, with only eight inmates furloughed in fiscal year 2008, according to Koebernick. Initially, certain violent and repeat offenders were excluded.
But that changed in 2010, the same year an internal policy directive allowed for violent offenders to be eligible. In fiscal year 2010, 58 inmates were furloughed through the program. That number ballooned to 435 in 2011.
The program largely flew under the radar until a 2014 investigation by the Omaha World-Herald found that — independent of the furlough program — Corrections had mistakenly released dozens of inmates early. That prompted an investigation by a special legislative committee, which uncovered the so-called “Reentry Furlough Program.”
Among those furloughed in 2011, about 120 had been convicted of violent offenses, including assault, robbery, assault of an officer and manslaughter, according to The World-Herald. Three had been convicted of murder.
The revelations perturbed several judges who were unaware the program existed and who felt Corrections had overstepped, the newspaper reported.
The legislative committee found the corrections department had developed the furlough program “outside of the law” and blurred lines between Corrections and the Parole Board, which is meant to serve independently.
The committee recommended abolishing the program, adding that such an effort “should be created legislatively.”
The department discontinued the program in 2015, according to Urbanovsky, and has not had a similar program since.
For PATH, the department is following a formal rule-making process that provides a heads-up to lawmakers and allows some public feedback.
However, few members of the public appeared to be aware of it during a recent hearing at Corrections headquarters in Lincoln.
Many of the 10 people who testified had questions.
“When I tried to look up information about the PATH program online, there was absolutely no information,” said testifier Shannon Roeder, who said her incarcerated husband told her about the proposal.
The draft contains few answers.
“The Inspector General’s office is taking no position on the PATH Program but would suggest that if NDCS does go forward with this program outside of the legislative process, that much more detail and specifics be included in the rules and regulations,” Koebernick testified.
Inmates in PATH would be responsible for their own housing and daily living costs, according to the draft, and for their own health care coverage. They would live in “approved private residences” and keep full-time jobs or attend approved programming.
Oversight by NDCS staff, such as a parole officer, would include reporting, curfews and employment verification. Participants could leave their residence only for “approved activities” and could be monitored electronically. No weapons, illegal drugs or alcohol allowed.
“The program promotes stability, access to employment and services, and a smoother transition into the community,” the draft reads.
As to who would qualify, the draft defines a participant only as “an individual nearing the end of their sentence, or with limited time to serve following commitment.”
Jasmine Harris, director of public policy at the reentry nonprofit RISE, said the organization is always looking for ways for people to have successful reentry after incarceration.
But this proposal needs “more meat on the bone,” she said.
“This is a different pathway that they’re taking with this program, and we don’t know much about it, so just want to ensure that it’s a thoughtful process, that they are learning from any past mistakes and ensuring that it’s something that’s set up for folks as they’re coming home to actually succeed,” Harris said.
Former State Sen. Steve Lathrop, who led the legislative investigation into the old program, reviewed the draft regulation as part of his role on the board of directors for RISE. He too noted the lack of detail, saying that crucial components of the program could be left to the discretion of the department’s director.
“I’m not critical of having a furlough program, but I think that there needs to be criteria in the regulations so that the public knows who’s going to get on furlough,” Lathrop said.
Bosn laid out several ways such a program could benefit the state and individual prisoners. It could be an incentive for people to work on programming or follow rules while incarcerated, she said. And it could help the state’s workforce and save taxpayer money.
“There’s a whole bunch of different ways that you can market something like this,” Bosn said, “but I do think you want to make sure, if and when you put that ultimately forward, that you’ve really considered it from every single perspective.”
Bosn said she wasn’t involved in the creation of the regulations and hadn’t seen them until the Flatwater Free Press sent her a copy.
At least one critic of the old program is withholding judgment about the new proposal.
In 2012, then-Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly had privately expressed his own concerns with the program to the then-director of corrections, The World-Herald reported. He encouraged the state to “seek specific legislative authority” for furlough.
Kelly went on to serve as the U.S. attorney for Nebraska and is now the state’s lieutenant governor. He did not respond directly to an interview request but issued a statement:
“The current proposed rule is going through the (Administrative Procedure Act) process and is not yet at the Administration’s desk. Once the rule reaches Gov. Pillen’s desk, he will then have an opportunity to approve or deny the change based on the merits.”
Typically, regulations go to the attorney general for review after they have had a hearing. Then they go to the governor for approval.
But in this case, the public may get another chance to weigh in. Urbanovsky said the department was “looking into” it after Flatwater found that only 28 days had passed between the state’s official notice and the hearing in October. State law typically requires 30 days.
This story was originally published by Flatwater Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Darius Taylor ran for 148 yards and a touchdown, Drake Lindsey completed 16 of 20 passes for 153 yards and a score and Minnesota sacked quarterback Dylan Raiola nine times in a 24-6 victory over No. 25 Nebraska on Friday night.
The Gophers (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) have won six straight against the Cornhuskers (5-2, 2-2), who fell short in their bid to win back-to-back road games in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2006. Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck improved to 7-1 against Nebraska, which hasn’t won in Minneapolis since 2015.
Raiola completed 17 of 25 passes for 177 yards for the Huskers, who spent part of a short week addressing rumors of coach Matt Rhule’s candidacy for the vacant Penn State job.
Anthony Smith and Karter Menz each had 2 1/2 sacks for Minnesota. Aided by the program’s most sacks since Fleck became head coach in 2017, the Gophers held Nebraska to a season-low 36 yards rushing.
Lindsey found Le’Meke Brockington in the front corner of the end zone on a 20-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-6 with 2:36 left in the third quarter. A fourth-down defensive holding call kept the 98-yard, 14-play drive intact.
A pass-interference penalty negated a Nebraska interception on Minnesota’s next possession, capped by Taylor’s 1-yard touchdown run.
Minnesota led 7-6 at halftime thanks to a 1-yard, tush-push score by Lindsey 1:40 into the second quarter. Taylor’s 71-yard run down the right sideline set up the touchdown and eclipsed the running back’s 44 yards in the previous two games, his first since missing two contests with an injury.
The takeaway
Nebraska: Inconsistent line play on both sides of the ball caught up with the Huskers, who were outgained 186-36 on the ground and rarely created a clean pocket for Raiola.
Minnesota: Ranked 114th nationally with 112.3 yards per game before Friday, the Gophers’ rushing attack finally found its legs with the same outside zone runs that have vexed Nebraska in this matchup for the better part of the last decade.
Up next
Nebraska: Hosts Northwestern on Saturday, Oct. 25.
When Paul Gausman announced his surprise retirement as superintendent of Lincoln Public Schools in December 2024, the district said he would be staying on in an as-needed advising capacity through June. And in that superintendent emeritus role, he would continue receiving his monthly salary.
It doesn’t appear he did any work.
A series of records requests submitted by the Flatwater Free Press shows Gausman didn’t exchange any emails with school board members, assistant superintendents or the interim superintendent from Dec. 28, 2024, to June 30, 2025.
In response to questions from Flatwater, the school board’s president confirmed that Gausman — who earned $333,720 annually — was not needed during the transition.
Few other details have emerged about the abrupt end of Gausman’s tenure with LPS, which culminated last month in the district naming interim Superintendent John Skretta as its new permanent superintendent.
A national expert said Gausman’s emeritus designation — agreed to amid ongoing scrutiny of superintendent pay in Nebraska — differed from typical circumstances where a district taps an outgoing superintendent to serve in an emeritus role.
LPS Board President Bob Rauner declined an interview request. But in a written statement, he said that Skretta and the rest of the district’s leadership team capably handled the additional workload, making Gausman’s input unneeded.
“Dr. Skretta’s work was exemplary during the first six months of 2025 and he did not need any assistance, which is in part why the board decided to remove interim from his title and make him our superintendent,” Rauner wrote. “We are fortunate to have a dedicated and highly-skilled executive team at Lincoln Public Schools.”
In a written statement, Gausman said he was proud to serve as superintendent, and he wished everyone in the district the best in the future.
“In our agreement, the District wanted assurance that my expertise and experience would be available to them via an on-call basis, through the remainder of my term as Superintendent Emeritus,” he wrote. “I was happy to serve in that manner under that agreement.”
The former superintendent joined LPS in the summer of 2022, after a four-month national search process that the district said included extensive recruiting and thorough background checks. When he started, his base salary was the highest of any superintendent in Nebraska.
His resignation, announced in the middle of the school year and more than a year before his contract was up, was unexpected. At the time, Gausman said he wanted to explore other opportunities “after 20 years in the public eye as a superintendent of schools.” During his final board meeting as superintendent, Gausman touted the district’s accomplishments during his tenure, including growth in high school enrollment.
“We have initiated positive programs to impact staff retention, recruitment and culture,” he said. “We have expanded early childhood programming and facilities, and there’s still more on the way to better serve our community.”
After board members approved his negotiated retirement/resignation agreement, both they and Gausman repeatedly declined to answer questions from local media about his departure.
Under the agreement, Gausman was placed on paid leave Dec. 27 and reassigned to superintendent emeritus status. The district agreed to pay him an additional $83,430 in separation pay in the form of retirement plan contributions. The document also said Gausman was prohibited from school property without permission from the district.
In a press release, the district said Gausman’s emeritus role was designed to ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruption caused by his retirement.
Rachel White, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas at Austin, said that each year, around 2,000 superintendents nationwide leave their positions. Of those, she estimated only about 10 end up in a superintendent emeritus role.
Emeritus positions typically arise when a longtime superintendent retires and the successor is someone who could benefit from their coaching and institutional knowledge, White said. Gausman’s relatively short tenure with the district, combined with Skretta’s lengthy career in Nebraska education, buck that trend.
“This is a unique case in that all of the puzzle pieces don’t match what we typically see for why a school board may choose to keep someone on in an emeritus position,” she said.
Gausman’s time at LPS was far briefer than that of his predecessor, Steve Joel, who helmed the ship for 12 years before retiring. It was also briefer than his own time in Sioux City, Iowa, where he served as superintendent for 14 years before accepting the Lincoln role.
But his tenure at Sioux City came under scrutiny in 2023 after it was revealed that the district had filed a complaint with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners alleging he had tried to bribe incoming school board members to back his pick for board president. At the time, the LPS board expressed continued confidence in Gausman.
Gausman later filed a lawsuit against several Sioux City school board members, alleging they had violated open meetings laws by improperly calling two closed sessions to discuss filing the complaint against him. A judge ruled that one session violated the law, while the other did not, according to reporting from the Sioux City Journal.
In January 2025, a month after Gausman’s retirement announcement, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners found probable cause to proceed with two more ethics complaints against Gausman filed by the Sioux City school district.
The Flatwater Free Press submitted an open records request seeking emails sent by LPS school board members or associate superintendents that mentioned Gausman from Nov. 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2024, in an attempt to learn more about conversations conducted in the weeks before and after the retirement announcement.
Lincoln Public Schools released 178 pages of emails and attachments, but many were either substantially or completely redacted. The district cited exceptions to Nebraska’s open records law concerning attorney-client privilege and personal information.
While Rauner praised Gausman’s accomplishments during his final meeting, Rauner and other board members declined to speak to the press afterward. Emails indicate the board decided not to speak to the media in the interest of fairness after Gausman said he would not do any interviews.
“There’s sort of a balance here, of holding school board members accountable for effective and efficient use of taxpayer dollars, while also understanding that this is a human being that we’re talking about,” White said. “And there may be things that happened that cannot be talked about for legal reasons that sort of justify the decision that was made.”
Superintendent pay remains a hot-button issue in Nebraska. Earlier this year, state Sen. Dave Murman, who chairs the Legislature’s Education Committee, introduced a bill seeking to cap superintendent pay at five times the salary and benefits of a first-year teacher. The bill faced opposition from some lawmakers who characterized it as government overreach on an issue that local districts should decide.
In April, State Auditor Mike Foley released a report stating the median and average superintendent salaries in Nebraska are well above their national counterparts. Foley declined to comment on Gausman’s retirement/resignation agreement.
White noted that schools across the U.S. face complicated financial considerations, navigating unpredictable shifts in state and federal funding even as their core mission remains the same.
“This may very well be a good use of dollars,” White said. “But I would hope that the school board was able to have these conversations about how this money is being spent in the context of the broader sort of budget problems that our public schools are facing.”
In March, Gausman filed for an LLC to start his own educational consulting firm, InspirED Vibe Leadership. In addition, he works as a consultant for two other firms — Zeal Education Group in Delaware and McPherson & Jacobson in Nebraska. His predecessor at LPS, Joel, has worked at McPherson & Jacobson since 1996. Gausman joined the firm in 2007.
When asked whether the district felt the superintendent emeritus agreement with Gausman was necessary in retrospect, Rauner said each situation is unique, and the board has to make decisions based on information it has available at the time.
“At that time, that was the decision the Board made based on the information and circumstances,” he wrote in an email. “It is impossible to predict what future circumstances or Board decisions will be.”
This story was originally published by Flatwater Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — After years of failed attempts, Republicans in Nebraska have enacted a measure that uses taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition, despite voters repealing a newly-passed state law that would fund private school tuition with state dollars.
Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed an executive order opting the state into a federal school choice tax credit program included in President Donald Trump’s tax and budget bill passed in July.
“I am not opting this in, I am cannonballing it into the state of Nebraska,” Pillen said as he announced the move Monday at Catholic school in Lincoln. He was joined by Republican U.S. Reps. Mike Flood and Adrian Smith, both of Nebraska, who supported the federal budget bill and private school scholarship plan.
The measure is remarkably similar to one the state Legislature passed in 2023 to allow corporations and individuals to divert millions of dollars they owe in state income taxes to nonprofit organizations, which would in turn award that money as private school tuition scholarships. Lawmakers axed the measure the following year after opponents gathered far more signatures than was needed to ask voters to repeal it. The Legislature then passed a new law funding private school scholarships directly from state coffers.
The new federal law that Pillen opted into allows individual taxpayers to direct up to $1,700 in federal income taxes owed to scholarship-granting groups to be used for eligible K-12 private school expenses. But unlike Nebraska’s 2023 proposal, the federal measure allows even high-income households to receive public money for private school costs. Eligibility extends to families earning up to 300% of the area median gross income, according to the Nebraska State Education Association — the state’s largest teachers union.
“Families making more than $200,000 a year are eligible to receive a voucher funded through these tax credits,” NSEA President Tim Royers said.
The private school-funding move in Nebraska highlights the growing tension around the country between the will of voters and their elected representatives. Earlier this year, Nebraska lawmakers were accused of subverting the will of the people by limiting voter-approved paid sick leave. In Missouri, lawmakers have taken steps to repeal voter-approved initiatives on abortion rights and paid sick leave and imposed more requirements on ballot initiative campaigns.
When presented directly to voters, school choice expansion efforts have largely faltered. Nebraska voters in November repealed the school choice law passed earlier that year. A proposed constitutional amendment in Colorado that would have established schoolchildren’s “right to school choice” also was defeated. Kentucky voters rejected a measure to enable public funding for private school attendance.
“Today’s decision by Gov. Pillen undermines the clear will of Nebraska voters, who just rejected state-level vouchers at the ballot box,” Royers said.
Pillen countered that opponents are wrong when they say the publicly-funded private school scholarship scheme will take money away from public schools, saying the federal school choice measure comes “at no cost to the state.”
“We have to have great public schools, and we have to have great St. Teresa’s,” Pillen said Monday. “And because of this legislation, both can win.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Between setting up a nursery and packing a go bag, some parents may find themselves stressing over what to name a new baby. Yes, there is Google and a plethora of baby name books at public libraries. But now, parents have the option of hiring a baby name consultant. Taylor Humphrey of Woodside, California, has been in the industry for a decade and has had a hand in naming thousands of babies. It all started on Instagram. Humphrey said she has had a “lifelong love of baby names,” which turned into posts on her grid exploring the etymology, numerology and spiritual meaning of names. She said expecting parents started sending her messages through the social media app.“It was happening so frequently that eventually I decided that I was going to turn this into a business,” Humphrey said. Her pricing starts at $1,500 and can run up to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on what parents are looking for. The base package includes a name report and several consultations over the phone or video call. “I work with parents who are currently trying to conceive, and they may be facing an IVF journey. I work with a lot of pregnant parents,” Humphrey said. “I’ve had a few frantic parents who are like, ‘We’re at the hospital and they’re not letting us leave. We’ve got to sign the birth certificate. What do we name our baby?’”Her clients are primarily wealthy families. Her reach extends from the Bay Area to Nebraska and even some international clients. Lauren Williams of Omaha, Nebraska, reached out to Humphrey a month before her son was due in 2023. She and her husband both had meaningful family names they were considering, but could not seem to come to an agreement on what to name their son. They thought Humphrey might be able to help them merge ideas. Humphrey did help them come up with some new name combinations as well as some names that were not already on their list, but were similar. Humphrey also told the Williams family to be patient in picking a name.“I think the most helpful or important thing that she told me in the long run was, ‘Do not name your baby until they are born and you see them.’ So, we went with that advice,” Williams said. The Nebraska parents ended up welcoming Carter Allen Williams into the world in September 2023. “Having her support has been important because otherwise it’s a really stressful decision,” Williams said. She and her husband are now expecting a baby girl in the next few weeks and have once again hired Humphrey to help them pick a name. “Generally speaking, I’m there to kind of mirror back to them and reflect what I hear them saying,” Humphrey said. “Names are so deeply personal, and they really are going to be your child’s legacy.”See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SAN FRANCISCO —
Between setting up a nursery and packing a go bag, some parents may find themselves stressing over what to name a new baby.
Yes, there is Google and a plethora of baby name books at public libraries. But now, parents have the option of hiring a baby name consultant. Taylor Humphrey of Woodside, California, has been in the industry for a decade and has had a hand in naming thousands of babies.
It all started on Instagram. Humphrey said she has had a “lifelong love of baby names,” which turned into posts on her grid exploring the etymology, numerology and spiritual meaning of names. She said expecting parents started sending her messages through the social media app.
“It was happening so frequently that eventually I decided that I was going to turn this into a business,” Humphrey said.
Her pricing starts at $1,500 and can run up to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on what parents are looking for. The base package includes a name report and several consultations over the phone or video call.
“I work with parents who are currently trying to conceive, and they may be facing an IVF journey. I work with a lot of pregnant parents,” Humphrey said. “I’ve had a few frantic parents who are like, ‘We’re at the hospital and they’re not letting us leave. We’ve got to sign the birth certificate. What do we name our baby?’”
Her clients are primarily wealthy families. Her reach extends from the Bay Area to Nebraska and even some international clients.
Lauren Williams of Omaha, Nebraska, reached out to Humphrey a month before her son was due in 2023. She and her husband both had meaningful family names they were considering, but could not seem to come to an agreement on what to name their son. They thought Humphrey might be able to help them merge ideas.
Humphrey did help them come up with some new name combinations as well as some names that were not already on their list, but were similar. Humphrey also told the Williams family to be patient in picking a name.
“I think the most helpful or important thing that she told me in the long run was, ‘Do not name your baby until they are born and you see them.’ So, we went with that advice,” Williams said.
The Nebraska parents ended up welcoming Carter Allen Williams into the world in September 2023.
“Having her support has been important because otherwise it’s a really stressful decision,” Williams said.
She and her husband are now expecting a baby girl in the next few weeks and have once again hired Humphrey to help them pick a name.
“Generally speaking, I’m there to kind of mirror back to them and reflect what I hear them saying,” Humphrey said. “Names are so deeply personal, and they really are going to be your child’s legacy.”
Efforts to expand Nebraska sports betting beyond casino floors are moving into the signature‑gathering phase, as backers prepare for a citizen‑initiated ballot measure in 2026. With legislative proposals stalled by procedural hurdles, casino interests and reform advocates are turning to public votes to authorize online wagering statewide. Under state law, the initiative must collect certified signatures from at least 10 percent of registered voters — currently about 125,786 names — to place a constitutional amendment before voters.
Nebraska now permits sports wagers only in person at licensed casino locations, taxed at 20 percent. Earlier this year, State Senator Eliot Bostar introduced LR20CA, which would have allowed online Nebraska sports betting under a constitutional amendment. He forecast that the expansion could produce roughly $32 million in new tax revenue over two and a half years. The measure initially passed committee and succeeded in a first round of floor voting, 27‑16, but failed to advance further because the unicameral legislature’s rules require a two‑thirds majority in three separate rounds. Opponents used a filibuster to block further progress.
Industry officials say the legislative deadlock forces their hand. Lynne McNally of WarHorse Casinos, which operates sportsbooks in Omaha and Lincoln, warned that tax revenue is flowing out of Nebraska as bettors use VPNs or place bets across state lines in Iowa, Kansas or Colorado. Some legislators oppose placing the issue directly into voters’ hands. Senator John Cavanaugh, who has reservations about expanding sports wagering, argued that the legislature should retain control over regulation rather than cede that power through an amendment. Others contend a citizen‑led ballot measure could prevent detailed oversight or impose a less balanced regulatory system.
Critics of expanded Nebraska sports betting also point to social risks, warning that mobile access could increase addiction, especially among younger users. They question whether claimed tax windfalls would translate into meaningful relief for homeowners’ property tax burdens. If organizers succeed in qualifying the amendment, the 2026 ballot would mark a turning point in Nebraska’s gambling policy. Either voters will decide to legalize mobile sports wagering or legislators will have another chance to revisit comprehensive regulation.
NORFOLK, Neb. (KCAU) — A total of 32 candidate communities in Nebraska were looked into as possible locations that would be best suited for a next-generation nuclear reactor. One of the top 16 communities was in Norfolk.
Residents of Norfolk and the surrounding areas were encouraged to visit a Coffee and Conversation event to learn more about what nuclear energy looks like. The event took place on Thursday, Sept. 18, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Lifelong Learning Center.
Specifically, Coffee and Conversation gave eventgoers the chance to speak with nuclear experts, utility representatives, and economic development professionals. Throughout these conversations, you could learn about and ask questions about the nuclear tech and overall study that brought Norfolk to the top 16.
That study will be done in phases. The first phase was meant to pick and choose which communities would make the best candidates for a next-generation nuclear or small modular reactors (SMR).
“The availability of clean, affordable energy helps power Nebraska’s growing economy,” K.C. Belitz, director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, said in the press release. “Next-gen nuclear has potential to be a major source of reliable, low-cost energy for our state. Additionally, a next-gen nuclear plant would bring significant economic benefits to the community where it is located.”
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“Next generation nuclear is an advancement of a technology that has already brought tremendous value to Nebraska for more than 50 years through Cooper Nuclear Station. As we move forward with conducting this study on behalf of the state, we want to make sure community members understand how nuclear technology works. We look forward to supporting local community efforts to share with residents the benefits and opportunities next generation nuclear could bring to their area,” NPPD President and CEO Tom Kent said.
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, president of the University of Nebraska system, gives his first “State of the University” address in the Nebraska State Capitol. Sept. 4, 2025. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold said Thursday that impending systemwide budget cuts of more than $40 million will be “incredibly painful” but “necessary” for NU’s survival.
Dr. Gold, speaking at his inaugural “State of the University” address, said NU will still embark on what he’s coined the “Odyssey to the Extraordinary.” He set out his vision one year ago during the formal ceremony celebrating him as NU’s ninth president. Gold returned Thursday to say he still seeks to make an “already good, already excellent” NU “something more.”
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, president of the University of Nebraska system, talks with reporters in the Warner Chamber of the Nebraska State Capitol after giving his first “State of the University” address. Sept. 4, 2025. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
Gold didn’t shy away from NU’s challenges, such as slowing state support and uncertainty in federal research dollars or policies, in an event believed by NU officials to be the first NU presidential address of its kind, and which Gold hopes to make an annual tradition.
“While the challenges are significant, I see this as a time of profound opportunity,” Gold said Thursday. “An opportunity to actively reimagine our university. An opportunity to lead. An opportunity to help define what higher education in the next decades must look like.”
Thursday’s address and Gold’s 2024 investiture were both held in the Nebraska State Capitol, which Gold said was purposefully in the “people’s house.”
Fiscal uncertainties
Gold said Thursday that since 2016, NU has had an average annual net loss of $206 million across the NU system, when accounting for inflation and state funding growth. He said the university system is funded to about 74% of where it would be if available money had matched inflationary expectations.
Tuition increases have also been kept lower over the past six years than many of NU’s national peers, increasing tuition by 13.8% in that time frame, slightly more than half what many other universities increased tuition by during that period.
Combined, those pressures mean an NU budget that has annually been about $260 million leaner in recent years.
Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature John Arch, left, talks with former Speaker Jim Scheer of Norfolk. Scheer now serves on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. June 6, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
Under President Donald Trump, NU now also faces a tightening research environment in which competition is growing for more-limited funding. Universities also need to absorb the costs of more cutting-edge research, Gold said, which he said isn’t sustainable in the long term. He said federal research dollars often make discoveries possible.
“Fewer federal resources put this nationwide research enterprise at risk,” Gold said.
At NU, nearly three out of every four students are Pell Grant-eligible, stressing federal dollars, and Gold noted that student demographics are also shifting. Instead of 18-year-old high school graduates, NU is seeing more teenagers taking dual-credit courses to get a leg up or attending community college first. Many also prefer online courses or online-only degree programs.
Combined with inflation and a smaller-than-requested bump in state dollars this spring, NU faces a $20 million shortfall by the end of this year. That comes even as the NU Board of Regents raised tuition by 5% ahead of this academic year.
‘Cannot cut out way to excellence’
NU’s four main campuses in Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney have already unveiled how much each campus will have to cut to shore up that systemwide deficit and campus-specific structural deficits, though specifics of most of these cuts have yet to be announced:
University of Nebraska-Lincoln: $27.5 million.
University of Nebraska Medical Center: $9.1 million.
University of Nebraska at Kearney: $4.5 million.
University of Nebraska at Omaha: $1.9 million.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Rodney Bennett speaks at the University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold’s investiture ceremony. Sept. 5, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
At UNL, for example, costs have outpaced revenues. UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett, the lone campus chancellor not to attend Gold’s address, is expected to announce UNL’s proposed cuts next week. UNL’s target of $27.5 million in cuts is greater than the combined budgets of the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications, UNL College of Architecture and Nebraska College of Law.
Gold said the Office of the NU President also would make cuts. He did not specify by how much, but said the combined efforts are required for a “sustainable, viable future” for an NU that still contributes to students, the state’s economy and communities.
“Make no mistake: We cannot cut our way to excellence, and certainly we cannot cut our way to our extraordinary destiny,” Gold said.
Gold told reporters that cuts would likely include eliminating whole degree programs and possibly departments, along wit combining some departments or degrees, while some new degrees might be established.
Any cuts of that nature would need the approval of the eight-member NU Board of Regents, likely by the board’s December meeting. Most campuses hope to finalize budget decisions by late October.
Changing state dynamics
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen served as an NU regent for 10 years before becoming governor in 2023, a period that included confirming Gold as UNMC chancellor in 2013.
Pillen in January initially proposed cutting NU’s budget by 2% over the next two fiscal years. Gold and Pillen negotiated, landing at a staggered increase this fiscal year and a smaller bump next year.
Asked whether P
U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Gov. Jim Pillen joined a dozen speakers in favor of President Jeffrey Gold’s installation as head of the University of Nebraska system. Sept. 5, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
illen had indicated whether NU would not get its increase next year, a 0.625% increase, Gold said no. He said Pillen has also not asked NU to make deeper cuts.
Laura Strimple, a Pillen spokesperson, said Thursday that Nebraska provides more than $720 million to NU each year, equivalent to 13% of state tax spending and the largest spending area that comes out of the main state piggy bank. She said Nebraskans expect fiscal responsibility across state government.
“Governor Pillen applauds the university for recent steps to curb spending and notes that more can and should be done as a good steward of taxpayer dollars to meet the mission of educating students and ultimately making sure that the university’s focus is on improving graduate outcomes,” Strimple said.
A recent third-party analysis of NU’s annual economic impact, done at NU’s direction, indicates an impact of $6.4 billion and a return on investment for every state dollar of $10. NU also educates one in seven working-age Nebraskans and represents 9% of Nebraska’s gross domestic product.
Lawmaker reactions
State Sen. Dave Murma of Glenvil, chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee, was one of about a dozen lawmakers to attend Gold’s event. He said NU is vital as an economic driver and for research and education that officials hope to build and grow, even in tight budget times.
“We will do what we can to fund the university,” Murman said. “Our goal is that the university will continue to be the premier university in Nebraska … and one of the best universities nationwide.”
Nebraska State Treasurer Tom Briese of Albion, left, and State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee, talk during a break of a School Financing Review Commission meeting on Aug. 12, 2025. Briese and Murman attended the 2025 “State of the University of Nebraska” address by NU President Jeffrey Gold on Thursday. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, also a member of the Education Committee and the Legislature’s most senior member at 11 years of service, said she is proud of NU’s accomplishments but placed the blame for NU’s challenges on Pillen and the Legislature.
Conrad said support for higher education, such as during her first two legislative terms in the 2000s and early 2010s under former Gov. Dave Heineman, wasn’t political. But now, NU and others are caught in the “crosshairs of ridiculous political battles” that she said have passed on the state’s “fiscal mismanagement” to NU students and families. She called it a “Pillen tax.”
“Being a supporter of the university means more than just waving a flag on game day,” Conrad said.
‘Ability to emerge stronger’
Gold said the 10:1 return is a good deal for state officials but that NU leaders will not waver from quality and growth, even if that means a deep cut in one area to help preserve NU’s ability in the others.
“I’d rather see programs disappear than do anything to dilute the quality of what that diploma means to people,” Gold said.
State Sens. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, left, and Danielle Conrad of Lincoln. May 12, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
Any students in degree programs slated for elimination would still be guaranteed a chance to graduate, Gold said, adding: “Rest assured, we’ve got you and we’ll take care of you.”
Gold also took his address Thursday to explain how NU is already engaging in its “odyssey” to improve despite budget challenges, including major investments in health care, a groundbreaking clinical trial in a multiple sclerosis treatment, continued emphasis on digital and precision agriculture, growing collaborations in national defense and security, athletics achievements and a record-setting year in philanthropic support (though about 99% of the $416.6 million raised is restricted and must be used for specific purposes, not for core budget functions).
“If I were to go to the major donors and say, ‘Listen, we’ve got a leaky roof down on city campus. Maybe you’d like to help us replace that roof.’ I can only tell you that it would never work,” Gold told reporters.
NU will also create a new center for excellence in artificial intelligence for “groundbreaking discovery” for every campus, college and NU faculty, staff or student. Gold said that for Nebraska to thrive in an increasingly complex and competitive world, it needs bold investment, particularly from state leaders.
“We must acknowledge the hard truths of our challenges … but never lose faith in our ability to emerge stronger,” Gold said. “Our ‘Odyssey to the Extraordinary’ requires nothing less.”
Eric Underwood, former chair of the NEGOP, center, leads a news conference with his new nonprofit Advocates For All Nebraskans to announce two ballot measures intended to lower property taxes and cap annual increases to property valuations. Aug. 25, 2025. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Advocates launched a pair of ballot measures Monday for the 2026 election, one that aims to halve property taxes and the other to cap annual property valuation increases.
The petitions are the first of a handful being sought for 2026 by the new nonprofit “Advocates For All Nebraskans.” Leading the effort is former Nebraska Republican Party Chair Eric Underwood of Malcolm, State Board of Education member Kirk Penner of Aurora, former Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Tom Nesbitt of Lincoln and former Lincoln talk radio host Doug Fitzgerald.
Eric Underwood, former chair of the Nebraska Republican Party and leader of the new nonprofit Advocates For All Nebraskans. Aug. 25, 2025. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
The first petition would amend state law and halve the percentage of a property’s valuation subject to property taxes after 2026 — for homes, from 100% to 50%, and for agricultural or horticultural land, from 75% to 37.5%.
A total of $5.3 billion in property taxes was assessed statewide in each of the past two years. A 50% reduction would mean a property tax savings of more than $2.6 billion.
“This immediate property tax relief and others that are out there are literally one signature and then one vote in 2026 away from becoming reality for the people,” Underwood said at a Monday news conference launching the effort.
The second petition would amend the Nebraska Constitution to cap property valuation increases at the growth rate of Nebraska’s general fund tax receipts (as calculated at the end of each calendar year) or 3%, whichever is less.
The valuation cap would not apply when a property is built, sold or purchased.
Influence of valuations
Reducing property valuations does not mean property taxes will go down at the same rate, or at all.
There are more than 2,300 taxing subdivisions in the state, including 245 school districts, 93 counties, 528 municipalities, 408 fire districts and 327 townships. About 60% of property taxes pay for local schools, 17.2% for counties and 11.5% for municipalities.
The proposed ballot measures would offer no replacement revenue to cover immediate reductions in property valuations.
Qualifying for the ballot
Voter-led changes to state law require verified signatures from at least 7% of registered voters (about 90,000). Voter-led changes to the Nebraska Constitution require signatures from at least 10% of voters (about 126,000).
Voter totals are calculated when petitions are due to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office.
Petitions seeking verification on the November 2026 ballot must be submitted in early July 2026.
Some local officials speaking with the Nebraska Examiner after Monday’s announcement said they were still reviewing the ballot language but noted a taxing entity at or below half of its tax-asking authority could theoretically make up the difference over time.
That would mean a school district at or below a 52.5-cent levy and counties or municipalities at or below 22.5-cent levies. The Legislature has capped how fast these three governments can increase property tax rates year over year.
School and local government officials have in the past worried that tight spending caps could hinder growth or hurt employee recruitment or retention, and some have noted local leaders are buying products facing inflationary pressures as taxpayers are.
Property tax rates can vary widely in the allowable range, such as for school districts. In the most recent year, Hyannis Public Schools and Humphrey Public Schools had mainline school levies of roughly 35 cents, while others were at or just below a $1.05 cap — public schools in Sidney, Plattsmouth, Medicine Valley, Gering or Walthill
Entities within the upper half of their tax-asking authority would absorb the reduced valuations and resulting decline in tax revenue, unless they have access to additional state funding or other sources of revenue.
In short, some Nebraskans would not receive a straight 50% reduction in property taxes.
It’s not yet clear how lower valuations might pair with changes to the state’s main funding formula for schools. A new state commission is looking at long-term fixes to that funding, with first recommendations to the Legislature due Dec. 1.
Leadership for the Nebraska State Education Association, Nebraska Association of County Officials and League of Nebraska Municipalities had no immediate comment Monday.
Underwood argued property tax savings from the ballot measure would be spent in local communities, which he said would energize and boost state and local sales or income tax revenue.
‘Rebalancing the funding structure’
Penner, who sat on the Aurora school board for 16 years before joining the State Board of Education in 2021, said he understands that property taxes play a balanced role in supporting schools. He said the ballot measures are “not about crippling local services. It’s about rebalancing the funding structure.”
State Board of Education member Kirk Penner of Aurora. Aug. 25, 2025. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
Over the next 18 months, Penner challenged local governments and taxing entities to prepare and engage with constituents to find new efficiencies and sustainable funding models. He said it could be a “new era” for transparency and direct public engagement.
“This is where elected representation should always be: a purposeful engagement of government to their constituents in a time and manner that truly listens to the voice and embraces the will of the people,” Penner said.
Underwood told the Examiner he understands the effort might seem a “forceful way” forward, but he asked at what point conversations would occur without the people as the “primary driver.” He said he also believes the effort could increase voter turnout in the 2026 midterm elections.
The group intends a “staged” release of petitions for 2026, Penner said, with the first two. He pledged another petition would “ensure our schools are properly funded while still moving them away from heavy reliance on property taxes.” He said the school funding mechanism is “broke” and has been for a while.
Doug Fitzgerald, a former talk radio host in Lincoln, Aug. 25, 2025. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
Underwood said subsequent petitions would prioritize local control and lead to a “historical rebalancing of schools” with a focus on caring for teachers and ensuring student education.
The group did not further detail or offer a timeline for when future petitions would be released.
Countering or pairing with EPIC Option
The Nebraska Constitution requires ballot measures to contain no more than a “single subject,” barring detailed but interconnected changes from appearing as a single item and requiring signatures to be gathered across multiple petitions, with each voted on separately.
However, juggling multiple petitions has proven challenging, as indicated in past years for medical cannabis advocates or the similarly tax-centered “EPIC Option.”
The “EPIC Option,” an acronym for the effort to eliminate property, income, inheritance and corporate taxes, is trying again for November 2026 with a “2.0” version that would take effect in 2028. Instead of two petitions to detail an alternative consumption tax, supporters landed this cycle on a single sentence.
If the EPIC Option is successful, the Legislature would be left to devise alternative revenue.
Then-State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard leads a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol on his EPIC Option tax proposals at the Nebraska State Capitol. May 21, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
Underwood told reporters Monday that his group’s effort no way counters EPIC and can be complementary or parallel.
“We don’t think there’s going to be confusion,” Underwood said.
However, former State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, an EPIC creator and spokesperson, said while the Underwood-led effort might make Nebraska’s tax system better, it won’t fix the issue.
“There’s only one way to fix it, and that’s start over,” Erdman told the Examiner.
Erdman said he is worried about confusion because the more explaining his team had to do with EPIC, it hurt signature gathering in the past year, compared to now. He also expressed concern about whether the Legislature would carry out the intended 50% property tax reduction or whether capping valuations up to 3% would instead lock in unfair valuations.
State Sens. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha and Bob Andersen of north-central Sarpy County are continuing to look at legislative ways to tackle property valuations, including a cap as Underwood’s team proposed.
The Andersen-Kauth effort did not advance past the Revenue Committee this spring, but the pair has not given up ahead of the 2026 legislative session, with hopes to reach the 2026 ballot, too.
‘Historic, lawful power’
Underwood, who led the Nebraska Republican Party between 2022 and 2025, and his fellow ballot sponsors said the Legislature has not listened to the public on property taxes, an argument Erdman has also championed.
Retired Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Tom Nesbitt. Aug. 25, 2025. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
The 49-member, officially nonpartisan Legislature, where members do not formally caucus by party, has a Republican supermajority. Underwood and his supporters are Republicans.
Fitzgerald said he’s heard loud and clear from Nebraskans fed up with the state’s “property tax nightmare.”
Nesbitt said he appreciates the one-house Legislature, the only statehouse of its kind in the country. But he said that “over the years, I’ve watched an erosion of something fundamental: the will of the people taking a back seat to the machinery of government.”
“Our petitions aren’t radical by any means, or even partisan,” Nesbitt said. “They’re to return to a historic, lawful power of Nebraskans to legislate of, by and for the people.”
Rep. Mike Flood, a Nebraska Republican, faced a heated Town Hall on Monday where hundreds booed him for supporting the GOP-backed tax-break and spending bill President Trump signed last month.
Rep. Mike Flood, a Nebraska Republican, faced a heated Town Hall on Monday where hundreds booed him for supporting the GOP-backed tax-break and spending bill President Trump signed last month.
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