Republican Attorney General Mike Hilgers continues to lead legal efforts to nullify a pair of voter-approved initiatives legalizing patients’ access to medical cannabis.
During a recent appearance on Nebraska Public Radio, Hilgers reiterated his opposition to the measures — which were passed in 2024 by more than 70 percent of voters.
“On medical marijuana, …I don’t think it’s good public policy,” he said. “The federal government has said, and has not changed their position, that marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, which means it has no, according to the federal government, no medicinal upside at all. Highly addictive, leads to lots of downsides. In that world, it has been my view consistently for years, and by the way, the view of this office, even before I became attorney general, that the sale of marijuana — medicinal or otherwise — is is not lawful, and therefore, is unconstitutional. So as the attorney general, my job is to enforce the Constitution.”
The Attorney General also said that he believes that state regulators erred when counting the number of validated signatures turned in by medical cannabis proponents, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana. Although a district court judge has rejected that claim, the AG is appealing the ruling to the state’s Supreme Court. (A separate lawsuit arguing that the state’s medical cannabis measures should be preempted by federal law is also pending.)
In March, AG Hilgers and former Governor (now US Senator) Pete Ricketts circulated an op-ed urging lawmakers not to enact legislation to facilitate the adoption of the voter-approved law.
Legislation to fund and regulate the medical cannabis access program stalled earlier this month after lawmakers on the General Affairs Committee tabled the bill. Lawmakers are attempting to revive the legislation before the close of the 2025 legislation session. [5/2/25 UPDATE: Members of the General Affairs Committee amended and advanced LB 677 to the floor. As amended, it prohibits patients from smoking cannabis and imposes a limited list of qualifying conditions, among other restrictions.] Legislators had previously sought to amend the law by banning patients’ access to botanical cannabis and by restricting the ability of physicians to use their own discretion when issuing medical cannabis recommendations.
NORML’s Deputy Director said that elected officials in Republican-led states have become increasingly hostile to voter-approved laws, despite their bipartisan public support. Lawmakers in Mississippi and South Dakota successfully sued to nullify election results in those states legalizing cannabis. In Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued several cities in order to overturn voter-initiated marijuana depenalization laws. In Ohio, GOP leadership are considering a pair of bills to significantly roll back the state’s voter-approved adult-use legalization law.
“In a healthy democracy, those with competing visions on public policy vie for voters’ support and abide by their voting decisions. However, it is becoming clear that those who oppose marijuana policy reform would rather take voters out of the equation altogether,” Armentano said. “Whether or not one personally supports or opposes cannabis legalization, these cynical and undemocratic tactics ought to be a cause of deep concern.”
Nebraska’s Attorney General and former Governor are urging state lawmakers to halt efforts to adopt a pair of citizen-initiated measures regulating the possession, use, and production of medical cannabis. Some 70 percent of Nebraska voters approved the measures on election day.
Writing in an op-ed, AG Mike Hilgers and former Governor (now US Senator) Pete Ricketts called on lawmakers to ignore the voters’ will. “The legislature has no duty to act now,” they wrote. “In fact, there are plenty of reasons to not act at all.”
The duo opined that cannabis is “harmful, easily abused, and is not safe to consume even under medical supervision.” Ricketts, a longtime opponent of marijuana policy reform, has previously alleged: “If you legalize marijuana, you’re gonna kill your kids. That’s what the data shows from around the country.”
During public hearings yesterday, a representative from the AG’s office warned that the state would consider filing a lawsuit if regulators moved forward with licensing medical cannabis providers, arguing that such actions are inconsistent with federal law. Opponents of the law have already filed a pair of lawsuits seeking to nullify the election outcome.
On Monday, lawmakers also heard testimony regarding legislation, LB 483, repealing patients’ access to botanical cannabis. NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano provided testimony against the bill, stating: “Elections have consequences. Nebraskans have made it clear that they want patients to have regulated access to botanical cannabis. Lawmakers must respect their vote.”
He added: “LB 483 is undemocratic; it is also bad public policy. … Many patients seeking rapid relief of symptoms such as pain, nausea, or spasticity will suffer by having their access limited solely to cannabis pills and other oral formulations,” which are far slower to take effect.
In total, more than 300 witnesses testified against the bill.
Lawmakers on Monday also deliberated over separate bills providing further clarity for regulating medical cannabis access. Those efforts were supported by initiative proponents Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, who held a rally at the state capitol yesterday morning during which they criticized the former Governor’s efforts.
“The individuals who are continuing to be opposed are absolutely disregarding the fact that 71 percent of people in this state support safe and regulated medical cannabis,” said Campaign Manager Crista Eggers. “And I would ask them to take a look at any state that has legalized medical cannabis and I’d like them to see that their arguments hold no weight.”
Ultimately, lawmakers did not take votes yesterday on any of the marijuana-related bills.
NORML’s Armentano warned that elected officials’ efforts in Nebraska to undermine voters’ decisions is consistent with Republican-led efforts in several other states, including Ohio, where Senate lawmakers recently voted in favor of GOP-backed legislation rescinding much of the state’s voter-approved legalization law and recriminalizing many marijuana-related activities. Separate legislation introduced earlier this year in South Dakota that sought to repeal the state’s voter-approved medical cannabis law failed by a single vote.
“In a healthy democracy, those with competing visions on public policy vie for voters’ support and abide by their voting decisions. However, it is becoming clear that those who oppose marijuana policy reform would rather take voters out of the equation altogether,” Armentano said. “Whether or not one personally supports or opposes cannabis legalization, these cynical and undemocratic tactics ought to be a cause of deep concern.”
A state-by-state guide to pending marijuana legislation is available from NORML’s Take Action Center.
The CU Buffs cracked the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday, making their 2024 debut at No. 23 after a 6-2 start. The Buffs beat Cincinnati, 34-23, late Saturday night to improve to 4-1 in the Big 12.
Newly minted Donald Trump surrogates, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, will be at the Hilton in downtown Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday in the duo’s latest campaign stop for the Republican presidential nominee. Just a short 25-minute drive away, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz will also be vying for Omahans’ votes, hosting a rally at SumTur Amphitheater in Papillion.
With just over two weeks until Election Day, the two camps are fighting for a small and politically unique slice of the Cornhusker State’s eastern border. Nebraska is one of two states, the other being Maine, that doesn’t do a winner-takes-all system with their electoral college votes. The area around Omaha, the state’s second congressional district, holds one electoral vote—and this election, according to an analysis by NBC News National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki, that one vote could decide the race.
“It’s especially important for democrats,” Kornaki began, “there’s an electoral map scenario for Kamala Harris that absolutely hinges on locking it down.” That scenario looks like this: Harris takes home Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania; Trump wins North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada; Omaha, in this hypothetical, could get Harris to 270.
Since 1992, when Nebraska switched its electoral process to the one it has now, the district has gone blue twice—once in 2008 for Barack Obama and again for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. To show their support for the Harris-Walz ticket, local Omaha residents have put up campaign signs in their yards featuring a single blue dot.
Campaign signs for Democratic congressional candidate Tony Vargas, Harris Walz, and a blue dot camapign sign are planted in front of a house in Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. If Vice President Kamala Harris wins the second district, which includes Omaha, she will win one electoral vote from the otherwise red Nebraska. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Bill Clark/Getty Images
In September, Republicans across the country, along with Trump himself, tried to interfere in Nebraska’s electoral college system, executing a last-ditch and ultimately unsuccessful lobbying campaign to overturn the decades-old law and lump together all of the districts in the state. The Harris campaign has exponentially outspent Trump in Nebraska, dedicating $5 million toward advertising in the state, compared to Trump’s $200,000, according to reporting from NPR based on data from ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
Still, the Trump campaign’s choice to send RFK Jr. and Gabbard to Omaha points to a continued effort to turn the whole state red.
Kennedy—who once referred to Trump as a “terrible president” and a “bully”—and Gabbard—who opted for critiques like “corrupt” and “unfit to serve” in 2020—have both taken on prominent roles in the effort to elect the former president. Since ending his own bid for office in August, he’s been stumping for Trump. Though Kennedy—whose campaign included a sexual assault allegation first reported by Vanity Fair—paused his more forward-facing campaigning after news broke that he allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with New York magazine’s Washington, DC, correspondent Olivia Nuzzi.
AG, secretary of state target nearly 100,000 signatures on Nebraska medical cannabis petitions – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news
The center of the political universe this month has been in Omaha, Nebraska.
It’s not that the blue-collar workers in Rust Belt Pennsylvania or soccer moms in suburban Georgia have lost any of their importance in what is shaping up to be a close election, but Omaha is the only place where control of both the White House and the House of Representatives could be decided on November 5. That’s because Nebraska is one of two states that apportions its electoral votes by congressional district (the other is Maine). One of the state’s five electoral votes belongs to its second district, which includes Omaha and its surrounding suburbs and is perhaps the archetypal swing area. There are the blue-collar Catholic Democrats who have recently swung to the right and the country-club Republicans who have swung to the left; majority-minority neighborhoods in North Omaha; farms outside the rural county seat of Wahoo; Offutt Air Force Base, one of the Air Force’s key installations; and major college campuses such as the University of Nebraska Omaha and Creighton University.
The district has swung back and forth in recent presidential elections, but this year its importance has become magnified. If Kamala Harris wins the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin but loses all the remaining swing states, she would be stuck at 269 electoral votes — one shy of victory. This means that the lone vote from the Omaha area could decide the presidency. Donald Trump’s allies in recent weeks tried to get the Nebraska legislature to change state law to return the state to rewarding electoral votes on a statewide basis in an attempt to deny Harris this likely vote. Trump himself angrily posted about the situation, and Lindsey Graham, of all people, traveled to Nebraska to try to woo lawmakers. It didn’t work.
The district’s single electoral vote has been trending toward Harris, even before the failed effort to change the law. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Saturday morning showed her leading Trump 53-43. As Ian Russell, a veteran Democratic operative who has worked in Nebraska, described it, “The national trends of Democrats being a lot more competitive in suburbia and higher-educated areas are seen to a larger degree in Omaha. It has an educated population, and it has always had a more politically moderate and independent sensibility, and now it has really moved against Republicans.” The respective spending from the two presidential campaigns shows how the district has swung to the left. Nearly $15 million has been, or will be, spent on Omaha’s airwaves on behalf of the Democratic presidential ticket, while less than $200,000 has been spent or booked so far on Trump’s behalf.
The pro-Trump plot’s failure wasn’t all bad news for Republicans. One plugged-in Republican operative argued that the setback saved the district’s congressman, Don Bacon, from certain defeat. A moderate, he’s been a perpetual target for Democrats since he first won the seat in 2016 and has always managed to somehow hang on. Nothing would have done more to rile up Democrats and leave Republicans complacent than a last-minute switcheroo. National Republicans have also marveled that Bacon is the rare member of Congress who has his own political identity in his district and has taken pains to present himself as a centrist. However, that task has become slightly more difficult for the anti-abortion Bacon since the Dobbs decision. His Democratic opponent, State Senator Tony Vargas, has not hesitated to attack Bacon over the issue.
In a closely divided House, Bacon’s seat is considered a toss-up by outside analysts and has seen millions of dollars spent on television by both candidates as it is a top target from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He held on in 2020 thanks to ticket-splitting Biden-Bacon voters, and they’ll need to become Harris-Bacon voters in 2024 for him to survive.
J.L. Spray, one of the state’s RNC members, described the district as “a purple dot” in a state that no Democratic presidential nominee has won since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Although it might not necessarily be that purple anymore. One of the biggest trends among Omaha liberals in recent weeks is a simple yard sign with just a blue dot painted on, which is an effort to raise awareness of just how much the votes of local progressives matter — even if they do live in a red state.
BOULDER — The Buffs’ revived run game could be adding another option back into the fold.
CU football coach Deion Sanders said Tuesday that tailback and Ohio State transfer Dallan Hayden “looked good” during practice earlier in the day and is expected to play on Saturday against UCF.
The sophomore from Memphis, Tenn., hadn’t played since CU’s loss at Nebraska with what ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported was a high ankle sprain. Meanwhile, the Buffs’ run game has picked up considerably with the 1-2 punch of freshman Micah Welch and sophomore Isaiah Augustave. CU rushed for 109 yards on 19 carries in a win at CSU and ran it 42 times for 91 yards and three scores vs. Baylor this past weekend.
In some areas, homes are such great a risk that they’re too expensive to insure — if private insurance is even available at all.
How much does the average person spend on home insurance?
Home insurance premiums are intended to be cheaper than what it would cost to rebuild your home after a disaster or major damage. That cost is based on numerous factors, including home size and claim history, but it’s also based on location — and as extreme weather events driven by climate change bring a greater risk of floods, severe storms, hurricanes and heat waves, among other things, that location matters more than ever.
Bankrate has found that the average cost of dwelling insurance, which covers the actual structure of your home should it need to be rebuilt, is $2,285 per year in the U.S. for a policy with a $300,000 limit. But that cost is still rising.
“From 2017 to 2022, homeowners insurance premiums rose 40% faster than inflation,” a June report by the Bipartisan Policy Center says. “…For millions of households already struggling to make their mortgage payments, these monthly insurance costs are a significant burden. They can also put homeownership out of reach for prospective first-time homebuyers.”
The range of homeowners’ insurance costs is widespread. In Vermont, Bankrate data shows that people pay an average of $67 a month for a $300,000 dwelling limit, while in Nebraska, the most expensive home insurance state, people pay an average of $471 per month — an annual policy that amounts to more than $3,300 above the national average.
Other parts of insurance coverage are not included in these amounts, such as other structures, personal property and loss of use, which are typically listed as coverage B, C and D, respectively, in coverage policies. And depending on your location, you may also need separate deductibles for wind or storm damage, will likely be determined based on a percentage of your dwelling coverage.
“While inflation has slowed down since its peak in June 2022, insurance rates are reactionary,” Bankrate said in its September report. “The cost of home insurance is still increasing due to the impact inflation has had on the previous losses experienced by the insurance company, the elevated cost of building materials and the high likelihood of future extreme weather-related losses.”
Home location matters for insurance costs
Across the U.S., people are dealing with risk of earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and severe storms across the seasons. In California, which, as of Sept. 17, is battling six active wildfires, the growing risk of such events has left some areas “essentially ‘uninsurable‘,” according to researchers at First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that studies climate risks. The group found that about 35.6 million properties — a quarter of all U.S. real estate — are facing higher insurance costs and lower coverage because of climate risks.
That combination also devalues their properties.
San Bernardino County, which accounts for six out of the 10 worst ZIP codes in the state for insurance non-renewals, is also among the most at-risk of natural hazards and climate change, according to FEMA. The county in Southern California is currently combatting both the Bridge and Line Fires, which combined have burned more than 93,000 acres.
The fire risk in California — which has also been battling the historically large Park Fire for nearly two months — is now so high that both Allstate and State Farm have paused sales of property and casualty coverage to new customers in the state.
“The cost to insure new home customers in California is far higher than the price they would pay for policies due to wildfires, higher costs for repairing homes, and higher reinsurance premiums,” Allstate told CBS News.
AAA is also opting out of renewing some policies in Florida, a state that has seen increasingly devastating impacts of flooding and hurricanes. Without private insurance offers, it’s up to insurance policies made available by the government, such as the the National Flood Insurance Program, to assist.
It’s not just an issue for coastal areas and wildfire-prone states. In fact, the most impactful weather events are those that do not get categorized with names.
The Insurance Information Institute found in a May 2020 report that severe convective storms — thunderstorms — “are the most common and damaging natural catastrophes in the United States.” Tornadoes are often a product of those storms, and Nebraska, the most expensive home insurance state on average, was impacted by five of the top 10 costliest U.S. catastrophes involving tornadoes, according to the report.
There have already been 20 billion-dollar disasters nationwide so far this year, as of Sept. 10, with 14 of those involving severe weather or tornadoes.
This map shows the confirmed billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events that have already occurred in the U.S. in 2024.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
But Bankrate has also found that more than a quarter of homeowners say they aren’t financially prepared to handle the costs that come with it.
And it’s not just homeowners. While last year was not the worst year for overall U.S. insured losses due to extreme weather, it was the worst year since at least 2014 for losses due to severe storms ($59.2 billion), according to data by AON.
Renters are feeling those impacts as well.
Between 2020 and 2023, multifamily housing development insurance rates increased by an average of 12.5% annually, according to a June report by the Bipartisan Policy Center.
“One affordable housing provider, National Church Residences, saw its property insurance premiums increase by over 400% in the six years leading up to 2023, along with higher deductibles and reduced coverage,” the report says. National Church Residences provides affordable housing and independent and assisted living to seniors.
Last fall, NDP Analytics surveyed 418 housing providers across the U.S. who operate a combined 2.7 million units, including 1.7 million affordable housing units. They found that nearly a third of them saw premium increases of 25% or more from 2022 to 2023. To handle those costs, over 93% of respondents said they’d have to increase their deductibles, decrease operating expenses and/or increase rent. More than half said they would need to limit or delay investments in housing stock and projects.
How to lower home insurance costs
The driver behind extreme weather events — rising global temperatures largely fueled by the burning of fossil fuels — is not going away anytime soon. The continued release of greenhouse gases that trap heat within the atmosphere will continue to heat up the planet for thousands of years to come, even if overuse of those gases stopped today, which means that there are still decades to come of worsening climate disasters putting lives and homes at risk.
But home insurance is a game of measuring risk, and there are things you can do to better protect your home that could help lessen the blow of future weather disasters.
According to Massachusetts insurance agency C&S Insurance, resilient home features can make an impact on premium pricing. Storm shutters, reinforced roofing and flood barriers can all help lower the risk of damage to your house, and therefore, your wallet.
NerdWallet says that elevating your home’s water heaters and electrical panels, developing wildfire-resilient landscaping and installing fortified roofing are among the things homeowners can do to reduce the impacts of flooding, fires and wind, respectively.
The Council on Foreign Relations, an independent nonpartisan organization, says that more government regulations on where and how homes can be built can also help reduce the costs. The group says that stopping taxpayer dollars for buildings in high-risk areas and more investment in natural infrastructure, such as wetlands and trees, can also help reduce impacts from storm surges and heat.
Li Cohen is a senior social media producer at CBS News. She previously wrote for amNewYork and The Seminole Tribune. She mainly covers climate, environmental and weather news.
BOULDER — When the bully across the road gives you a wedgie on national TV, the neighbors start to worry. Get beat by little brother? The neighbors start to talk.
“I would say (CU Buffs coach) Deion Sanders needs (Saturday) more,” CBS analyst and former NFL lineman Ross Tucker, who’s in the booth for Saturday’s Rocky Mountain Showdown at Fort Collins, told me by phone earlier this week. “The reason why I say that is when things started to go south (in 2023), they really went south. (CU) did not show the ability to really handle and overcome adversity very well.
“So based on how last year went, if you’re a CU fan or if you’re a Deion fan, you see back-to-back losses to Nebraska and to CSU, two of the four teams you beat last year, you’ve got to think about how well they’ll be able to keep the team together and in a good headspace for the rest of the season. … (It’s) not even, ‘Here we go again.’ It’s, ‘These are actually two of the teams we beat last year, so we’re going in the wrong direction.’”
LINCOLN, Neb. — Bring up Deion Sanders, and Rodney Lousberg can spot a jealous Nebraska fan from the Middle of Nowhere.
“Every (Cornhuskers fan) goes, ‘He’s egotistical,’” Lousberg said of the Buffs’ second-year football coach before CU kicked off against rival Nebraska on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. “I’m like, ‘Yeah. We knew that when we hired him.’
“That’s what their thing is. I think everybody wants to beat Deion Sanders. They want him so bad. I think that’s what made ’em mad the most is, we’re actually in the prime-time (slots) even though we’re not that good.”
LINCOLN, Neb. — You don’t bring a 30-carat diamond watch to a sword fight.
A Maybach can’t block. An NIL deal won’t chip an angry defensive end. You can’t microwave what has to be baked, slowly.
The Buffs were built for this moment. A foundation made of glitter, sand and promises, broken like so many hearts. Nebraska punched CU in the mouth. By the time the Buffs got up off the canvas, the bell had rung and the judges had gone home.
Nebraska voters will decide this Election Day on a pair of citizen-initiated ballot measures regulating medical cannabis access to authorized patients.
State regulators last week affirmed that advocates Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana had gathered the requisite number of signatures to place the measures before voters.
The two measures are complementary. The first permits qualified patients to possess and use cannabis. The second measure regulates the production and distribution of cannabis to those authorized patients. Advocates had to frame the issue as two separate ballot questions in order to not run afoul of the state’s ‘single subject’ rule. In 2020, the state Supreme Court invalidated a similar stand-alone measure for addressing issues that it deemed were “not naturally and necessarily connected to the [initiative’s] primary purpose.” A 2022 effort failed to obtain sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot.
“States have a proven track record of safely and effectively regulating medical marijuana,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “After November, Nebraskans will no longer be forced to choose between their medicine or their freedom.”
Thirty-eight states, the District of Columbia, and several US territories regulate medical cannabis products. Statewide polling indicates that between 70 percent and 80 percent of Nebraskans support legalizing medical marijuana access.
Nebraska is one of at least four states where cannabis-related initiatives will appear on November’s ballot. Voters in Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota, who also will be deciding on adult-use legalization measures this fall.
In Texas, voters in the cities of Bastrop (population 11,200), Dallas (population: 1.3 million), and Lockhart (population 15,000) will decide on municipal ballot measures prohibiting local law enforcement from making low-level marijuana-related arrests.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has announced a broad tax plan for an upcoming special legislative session that would cut property taxes on average in half — including for his own home and family farm in eastern Nebraska valued at more than $6 million.
Pillen announced the plan Thursday with the backing of several fellow Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature. But not all Republicans are on board, and it remains to be seen if he can get the 33 votes needed to break a filibuster to get it passed.
The proposal, which could be debated after the special session begins July 25, would vastly expand the number of goods and services subject to the state’s 5.5% sales tax to items such as candy, soda and CBD products, and to services like pet grooming, veterinary care and auto repairs. Most groceries and medicine would remain exempt.
Another portion of the plan would see the state foot the estimated $2.6 billion cost of operating K-12 public schools, which are now largely funded through local property taxes. It would also cap the growth of property tax revenue.
Opponents say the plan would shift the tax burden from wealthy home and landowners to low-income residents who can least afford to pay more for the goods and services they need. Pillen countered that “they have choices on what they buy and how much they’ll pay for that.”
OpenSky Policy Institute, a Nebraska tax spending watchdog group, said it’s still trying to gather details but worried the proposal will amount to a disproportionate tax shift to the working class.
“The plan proposes a significant re-invention of the way we fund public schools, and we believe that should merit the time, deliberation and collaboration necessary to get it right,” said Dr. Rebecca Firestone, executive director of OpenSky. “We don’t believe that a special session is the appropriate vehicle for initiating such a fundamental change.”
But Pillen reiterated Thursday that annual revenue from property taxes has risen dramatically in the last 20 years — from about $2 billion in 2003 to more than $5 billion last year. The last five years alone saw a $1 billion jump in property tax revenue. For comparison, revenue collected last year from individual and corporate income taxes was $3.6 billion and from sales tax was $2.3 billion. Pillen said his shift to sales taxes would “better balance Nebraska’s three-legged tax stool.”
If not addressed soon, Pillen said the rapidly increasing property taxes could force elderly people who’ve already paid off their mortgage out of their homes.
“It’s running ranchers off the ranch and running people out of their homes,” he said.
The governor has been crisscrossing the state holding townhalls to try to bolster support. On Thursday, he announced an online dashboard that allows residents to type in their address and receive an estimate of how much their property tax bill would decrease under his plan.
The dashboard showed Pillen’s home and farm in Columbus is valued at about $6.2 million and that his taxes on the property would drop from about $113,400 logged last year to $59,580.
Real estate taxes have skyrocketed across the country as U.S. home prices have jumped more than 50% in the past five years, leading a bevy of states to pass or propose measures to reign in property taxes.
Nebraska has one of the highest average property tax rates in the nation at 1.46% — tied with New York and behind Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey, according to Bankrate.
A person’s property tax can vary greatly, even within the same county, based on local school and government subdivision tax levies. But in 2023, the average annual tax bill on a Nebraska home worth about $420,000 was more than $6,100.
All state lawmakers and most residents agree the state’s property taxes are too high, said state Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island. Aguilar is a Republican who usually supports Pillen’s agenda, but not in this case.
“The governor is telling me he has the votes for this, but I don’t think so,” Aguilar said Thursday. “The people I’ve been talking to don’t think so, either.”
Aguilar’s main criticism is that the plan represents little more than a tax shift and doesn’t do enough to cut taxes.
“It’s a problem for working people and for manufacturers. I just don’t think this is the solution,” he said.
A small Nebraska city revealed part of a 50-year-old mystery on Independence Day.Take a look inside the pyramid in the video player aboveSeward, Nebraska — the self-proclaimed “Fourth of July City” — stepped back into time as they opened a pyramid that guards the world’s largest time capsule.”We are opening the pyramid this year because we can’t figure out how to get the capsule open with the pyramid on top,” said Trish Johnson.It was the brainchild of Trish’s father, Harold Davisson. In 1975, the local furniture store owner decided to build a 45-ton vault in the ground, sealed with a brand-new Chevy Vega, motorcycle, and other treasures inside.”All the good stuff is in the time capsule down below,” Trish said. Davisson, who died in 1999, left instructions saying it should be opened on the 50th anniversary: July 4, 2025. The problem was the pyramid was added in 1983.”By putting a pyramid on top, it preserved what was below it,” Trish said. The pyramid also preserved the largest time capsule title, but getting in was harder than expected.”It took them six hours to cut this away,” Trish said. A 4-ton slab and woven layers of insulation revealed a beat-up Toyota Corolla and a lot of other memorabilia.”We had water damage, we had heat damage. But we do have a table full of letters for people to come find and retrieve,” she said.Inside the pyramid were murals that were painted — even some from Trish’s daughters, who were just kids.”We had all steeled ourselves for all of the murals to be pretty much gone. So, seeing any of it intact was pretty neat,” said Kathryn Johnson. They still haven’t figured out how they will get into the main vault for next year’s big event.”We’re calling this our dress rehearsal, and we really think we needed one. The mystery continues,” Trish said.
A small Nebraska city revealed part of a 50-year-old mystery on Independence Day.
Take a look inside the pyramid in the video player above
Seward, Nebraska — the self-proclaimed “Fourth of July City” — stepped back into time as they opened a pyramid that guards the world’s largest time capsule.
“We are opening the pyramid this year because we can’t figure out how to get the capsule open with the pyramid on top,” said Trish Johnson.
It was the brainchild of Trish’s father, Harold Davisson.
In 1975, the local furniture store owner decided to build a 45-ton vault in the ground, sealed with a brand-new Chevy Vega, motorcycle, and other treasures inside.
“All the good stuff is in the time capsule down below,” Trish said.
Davisson, who died in 1999, left instructions saying it should be opened on the 50th anniversary: July 4, 2025.
The problem was the pyramid was added in 1983.
“By putting a pyramid on top, it preserved what was below it,” Trish said.
The pyramid also preserved the largest time capsule title, but getting in was harder than expected.
“It took them six hours to cut this away,” Trish said.
A 4-ton slab and woven layers of insulation revealed a beat-up Toyota Corolla and a lot of other memorabilia.
“We had water damage, we had heat damage. But we do have a table full of letters for people to come find and retrieve,” she said.
Inside the pyramid were murals that were painted — even some from Trish’s daughters, who were just kids.
“We had all steeled ourselves for all of the murals to be pretty much gone. So, seeing any of it intact was pretty neat,” said Kathryn Johnson.
They still haven’t figured out how they will get into the main vault for next year’s big event.
“We’re calling this our dress rehearsal, and we really think we needed one. The mystery continues,” Trish said.
A shooting in Crete, Nebraska, left six people injured and the suspect dead on Friday evening.Nebraska State Patrol said multiple reports were called in about the shooting around 4:30 p.m. After law enforcement arrived at the residence, they found the victims suffering from gunshot wounds.Three of the victims were children, and three were adults. The six victims all suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Police said shots were heard from the residence across the street, and officers breached the home, finding the suspect suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. On Saturday, Nebraska State Patrol identified the suspect.Billy Booth, 74, fired shots from inside his home at neighbors.NSP said there were about 15 people inside and outside of the residence, and most of the victims were outside when they were shot.Some of the victims have been treated and released. One is being treated in Lincoln, and two are being treated at Children’s Nebraska in Omaha.After getting help for the victims, law enforcement was able to establish a perimeter and find the barricaded suspect.They entered the home, finding Booth with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a shotgun nearby.NSP said they don’t believe there was verbal contact in the moments leading up to the shooting, but the Booth and the family had a prior history.Crete Police Department said the prior history included improper parking, nuisances, and a single report from the victim that the suspect had told them to go back to where they came from and to speak English.Police said the family decided not to take the matter further, and the situation had been resolved.On Saturday, sister station KETV talked with Mark Martinez.He’s a retired U.S. Marshall, Omaha police deputy chief and a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens.He spoke about the political rhetoric surrounding the southern border and immigrants.”It adds fuel to the fire. Individuals with that sort of hatred inside of them, hearing that kind of rhetoric, yeah, it doesn’t do anybody any good right,” Martinez said.He also wants Nebraska law enforcement to build trust with minority communities year-round, not just when something bad happens.”Trust us to a certain level, trust us to come and seek out help, trust us to be a witness to a crime. Everybody wins,” he said.
A shooting in Crete, Nebraska, left six people injured and the suspect dead on Friday evening.
Nebraska State Patrol said multiple reports were called in about the shooting around 4:30 p.m.
After law enforcement arrived at the residence, they found the victims suffering from gunshot wounds.
Three of the victims were children, and three were adults. The six victims all suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said shots were heard from the residence across the street, and officers breached the home, finding the suspect suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
On Saturday, Nebraska State Patrol identified the suspect.
Billy Booth, 74, fired shots from inside his home at neighbors.
NSP said there were about 15 people inside and outside of the residence, and most of the victims were outside when they were shot.
Some of the victims have been treated and released. One is being treated in Lincoln, and two are being treated at Children’s Nebraska in Omaha.
After getting help for the victims, law enforcement was able to establish a perimeter and find the barricaded suspect.
They entered the home, finding Booth with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a shotgun nearby.
NSP said they don’t believe there was verbal contact in the moments leading up to the shooting, but the Booth and the family had a prior history.
Crete Police Department said the prior history included improper parking, nuisances, and a single report from the victim that the suspect had told them to go back to where they came from and to speak English.
Police said the family decided not to take the matter further, and the situation had been resolved.
On Saturday, sister station KETV talked with Mark Martinez.
He’s a retired U.S. Marshall, Omaha police deputy chief and a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
He spoke about the political rhetoric surrounding the southern border and immigrants.
“It adds fuel to the fire. Individuals with that sort of hatred inside of them, hearing that kind of rhetoric, yeah, it doesn’t do anybody any good right,” Martinez said.
He also wants Nebraska law enforcement to build trust with minority communities year-round, not just when something bad happens.
“Trust us to a certain level, trust us to come and seek out help, trust us to be a witness to a crime. Everybody wins,” he said.
An attempted robbery at a highway rest area in eastern Nebraska left a 72-year-old man dead and his 71-year-old wife critically injured in a knife attack Wednesday, authorities said.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to an Interstate 80 rest area shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday and found the couple both injured with knife wounds. Authorities said Gary and Mary Weaver had been traveling across Nebraska in their mobile home before the attack occurred.
Gary Nelson died at a Grand Island hospital. Mary Nelson was in critical condition Wednesday at the hospital with life-threatening injuries, authorities said. The Nelsons were from Eureka, Missouri.
The suspect fled the rest area in a vehicle before authorities arrived, but Grand Island Police Captain Dean Elliott told television station KSNB that officers were able to get a description.
The Nebraska State Patrol tried to stop a vehicle matching that description near Wood River and chased it at speeds of up to 120 mph before that vehicle exited the interstate and turned south. Elliott said the vehicle eventually drove into the Platte River. State troopers used a police dog to find the suspect and arrest him about 30 minutes later.
“Excellent teamwork by Troopers and Hall County Deputies to quickly locate and apprehend the suspect,” the Nebraska State Patrol said on social media. “Our hearts are with the two victims and their family.”
Initial details on this morning’s active investigation in central Nebraska. Excellent teamwork by Troopers and Hall County Deputies to quickly locate and apprehend the suspect.
— Nebraska State Patrol (@NEStatePatrol) June 19, 2024
James Thompson Jr., 22, of Elyria, Ohio, was being held Wednesday in the Hall County Jail. He faces numerous charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, robbery and fleeing from police. Because he hasn’t appeared in court yet he doesn’t have a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
Earlier this month, a man was shot and killed at a rest stop during an attempted robbery in California.
OMAHA, Neb. — Brody Donay hit a grand slam for the first of his two homers, Jac Caglianone became Florida’s all-time home run leader, and the Gators rode a seven-run first inning to a 15-4 victory against Kentucky in a College World Series elimination game Wednesday.
What You Need To Know
Florida eliminated Kentucky with a 15-4 victory Wednesday in the College World Series
The Gators will have to defeat Texas A&M twice to stay in the tournament, starting Wednesday night
Brody Donay homered twice, including a grand slam, for Florida
Jac Caglianone hammered his 35th homer of the season to pass Matt LaPorta and become the Gators’ career leader
The game had been scheduled for Tuesday night but was postponed because of rain.
The Gators (36-29) return to the field Wednesday night to face another Southeastern Conference rival, Texas A&M.
The victory over Kentucky was extra satisfying for the Gators because they lost a weekend series at home to the Wildcats a month ago.
“We had to get some sort of revenge, I guess,” Caglianone said. “No better opportunity than to do it on this stage. All the guys were pretty pumped up about it.”
Kentucky (46-16) went 1-2 in its first CWS appearance after giving up the most runs since it lost 16-6 to LSU on April 13, 2023.
“This is not how you want to end your season, but this is where you want to end your season,” Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said. “Just so proud of our group of men. They’re unbelievable in every sense of the word. They made history. This hurts. It hurts a lot because this team is fully capable of accomplishing our goal of being national champions. That wasn’t the case this year. That’s not what the Lord planned.”
This will be the second time Florida has had to play two games in a day in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Gators won two games in regionals on June 2. They are 5-0 in elimination games in the tournament.
Florida would need to beat Texas A&M on Wednesday and again Thursday to advance to the best-of-three finals for the second year in a row. The Aggies beat Florida 3-2 in their CWS opener Saturday.
The Gators’ bats didn’t require a wake-up call for the morning game. They banged out 15 hits and finished with their third-highest run total of the season.
They rocked Kentucky starter Dominic Niman a second straight time while putting up seven runs in the first. Niman faced six batters in his one-third of an inning. He allowed three hits and was charged with five runs. Niman gave up six runs in four innings in a 10-1 loss to the Gators last month.
Niman (8-5) was gone by the time Donay came up with the bases loaded in the first. Dale Thomas greeted reliever Cameron O’Brien with a base hit before Donay hit his first pitch to him out to right field, barely clearing the fence with the aid of a light north wind on a 66-degree morning. The wind had not blown out at Charles Schwab Field the first five days of the CWS.
Donay’s second homer was monstrous, a 414-footer that exited his bat at 118 mph and landed in the last row of the left-field bleachers. The homers were the 13th and 14th of the year for the No. 8 batter in the order, and his five RBIs were a career high.
Pierce Coppola (1-4), who came back in April following back and shoulder injuries that caused him to miss the 2023 season, gave the Gators exactly what they needed in his career-long five innings. The left-hander struck out nine, and the Gators had a five-run lead when his day ended.
“I thought this was the best Pierce had thrown all year long,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He was crisp. Him not throwing in (super regionals) probably helped.”
The Gators, who entered the game batting .190 in Omaha, gave their batting order a makeover with four players in new spots.
“Sometimes you make lineup changes and they work out, and sometimes they don’t,” O’Sullivan said. “We were at the point we had to do something because the first two games we weren’t very productive.”
Most notably, O’Sullivan had Caglianone bat leadoff for the first time in his career. Caglianone, projected to be among the first players taken in the amateur draft, was intentionally walked six times in the regular-season series with the Wildcats.
Kentucky again had no answer for Caglianone. The .400 hitter singled, hit his 35th homer of the season and 75th of his career to pass Matt LaPorta on the school career chart. Caglianone was walked three times, once intentionally.
“I was all in on it — show off the bat, show off the wheels,” Caglianone said, smiling. “I embraced the role today.”
OMAHA, Neb. — Two-way star Jac Caglianone broke the Florida single-season home run record to give his school the lead an inning after he struggled on the mound and got pulled, and the Gators eliminated North Carolina State from the College World Series with a 5-4 victory Monday.
What You Need To Know
Florida defeated NC State 5-4 on Monday in a College World Series elimination game
The Gators on Tuesday will play the loser of Kentucky-Texas A&M in another elimination game
Jac Caglianone homered in the second inning to break his own single-season record with 34
With Wolfpack runners on base in the seventh and eighth, Brandon Neely ended the innings with strikeouts
Florida (35-29) moved to another elimination game Tuesday against the loser of Monday night’s Texas A&M-Kentucky matchup.
The Gators are 4-0 in elimination games since regionals and 8-1 in win-or-go-home games in the past two NCAA Tournaments.
“That’s the standard around here, and it’s our responsibility to uphold that standard, to play winning baseball and get here to Omaha and be the last team standing,” Florida’s Tyler Shelnut said. “Anytime we’re in a spot where our backs are against the wall, we honestly play our best baseball, hands down without a doubt.”
Caglianone, a projected top-five pick in next month’s amateur draft because of his bat labored through a 33-pitch first inning on the mound. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound left-hander hit a batter and walked two to loaded the bases, gave up Brandon Butterworth’s RBI single and then got a strikeout and fly out to mitigate what could have been a big inning for NC State.
His fastball averaged 89.5 mph in the inning, and it had never been below 92 mph in his career, according to ESPN. After the first inning, he could be seen rubbing his elbow in the dugout.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan opted to lift him for Cade Fisher (4-3). He said Caglianone wasn’t sharp in super regionals against Clemson, and he could tell he was off on Monday.
“Definitely didn’t have my best stuff today,” Caglianone said. “I knew I would still have opportunities at the plate to step up for my team.”
Caglianone stayed in the game as the designated hitter and atoned for what happened on the mound. NC State starter Dominic Fritton (3-7) struck him out on three pitches in the first inning, but in the second, Caglianone drilled his low fastball over the right-center field fence for a three-run homer and 4-1 lead.
The 404-foot low rider was his 34th homer of the season, breaking his school’s single-season record of 33 set last year. The home run tied him with Matt LaPorta (2004-07) for career homers at Florida with 74.
“It’s a cool feeling,” Caglianone said. “Mr. LaPorta has reached out a couple times during the year. He’s actually here now with his kids and family. It was a special moment for sure. But end of the day, I was too caught up in just trying to win, staying here and surviving and advancing.”
Caglianone became the first starting pitcher to homer in a CWS game since Auburn’s Tim Hudson did it against Rice in 1997.
NC State coach Elliott Avent said he knew he would be replacing Fritton with Logan Whitaker in the third inning, but he left Fritton in to face Caglianone because of his success against him the last time he was up.
“We thought we’d see if Caglianone wanted to chase again,” Avent said. “That ball he hit to right-center, you’re looking at a future big-leaguer. I can tell you that.”
Whitaker replaced Fritton to start the third. He allowed two hits and a run and struck out 10 over seven innings.
The Wolfpack’s Alec Makarewicz and the Gators’ Shelnut also homered, and NC State cut the lead to 5-4 in the fifth on Butterworth’s RBI double.
NC State had its leadoff man reach base in the sixth, seventh and eighth but couldn’t push the tying run across. Luke Nixon got caught stealing second in the sixth. Then the Wolfpack left two runners on base in the seventh and stranded a man on third in the eighth when Brandon Neely ended both innings with strikeouts.
NC State, which was third in the nation with seven walk-off wins, had the top of the order up in the bottom of the ninth. Neely caught Eli Serrano III looking at strike three, Garrett Pennington struck out when he couldn’t check his swing on a pitch out of the zone, and Makarewicz lined out to left field to end the game.
Neely, who earned his fifth save, allowed one hit and struck out six in three innings. He has surrendered just three earned runs and struck out 32 in 21 innings in the NCAA Tournament.
NC State (38-23) went 0-2 in the CWS for the first time in four all-time appearances.
“These players took us on a ride of a lifetime,” Avent said. “This place is magical. It’s so hard to get here and so hard to leave.”
OMAHA, Neb. — Jace LaViolette robbed Cade Kurland of a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning, Justin Lamkin and two relievers struck out 16, and Texas A&M held off Florida 3-2 in a weather-delayed College World Series opener that ended early Sunday.
What You Need To Know
Florida lost to Texas A&M 3-2 in the teams’ College World Series opener
Jace Violette, 6 feet, 6 inches tall, reached above the fence in the ninth to prevent what would have been Cade Kurland’s winning homer
The game was delayed because of weather and did not finish until early Sunday
The Gators play North Carolina State on Monday afternoon in an elimination game
The Aggies (50-13) will play Kentucky on Monday night in a Bracket 2 winners’ game.
The Gators (34-29), the national runners-up to LSU last year, will meet North Carolina State in an afternoon elimination game.
Texas A&M scored its runs in the first three innings against Liam Peterson (3-5), the first freshman to start a CWS opener for Florida, and then relied on Lamkin, Chris Cortez (10-3) and Evan Aschenbeck to hold down the Gators’ high-powered offense.
Florida had come from behind in four of its six NCAA Tournament wins and nearly did it again.
Down a run in the eighth, the Gators loaded the bases with two outs against Aschenbeck. The left-hander, named Stopper of the Year as the nation’s top closer, got out of the inning when second baseman Kaeden Kent gloved Dale Thomas’ slow roller and got his underhand flip to first baseman Ted Burton in time for the third out.
In the ninth, Michael Robertson reached with one out before Kurland sent a fly deep to right-center field. With his back against the fence, the 6-foot-6 LaViolette reached above it to make the catch. Aschenbeck walked All-America slugger Jac Caglianone before getting his 10th save with a strikeout of Ashton Wilson.
“Super awesome game, and I told Jace I’m really happy he’s tall,” Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle said.
The wind was blowing in at 14 mph at the start of the game, which was delayed 4 hours, 7 minutes because of rain and lightning. The wind gusted over 25 mph in the afternoon before calming down after storms moved through.
“I got a total wrong read off the bat, I’m not going to lie,” LaViolette said. “I looked up and thought this might be a homer, and my heart dropped for a second and then I was at the wall. I give a little credit to the wind. This ballpark plays a lot bigger than what it is, and the wind knocked it down a little bit. It was a real cool play.”
Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said he thought the ball was out, mostly based on Kurland’s reaction.
“He thought he got it. I thought he got it. Right fielder made a heck of a play,” O’Sullivan said.
Schlossnagle took a calculated risk starting Lamkin and saving fellow left-hander and season-long No. 1 pitcher Ryan Prager for the Aggies’ game on Monday. The Aggies are short of starting arms after a season-ending arm injury to Shane Sdao in last week’s super regional against Oregon.
Lamkin had been in the weekend rotation until the final regular-season series, but he struggled in his previous two starts. In the last month, Lamkin’s only outing was a nine-pitch relief appearance against Louisiana in regionals.
Schlossnagle needed Lamkin to give him a few innings and then turned the game over to Cortez and his 100-mph fastball. Lamkin did his part, allowing one baserunner and striking out six in three innings.
The Aggies scored on Travis Chestnut’s bases-loaded infield single and a wild pitch in the second and on Caden Sorrell’s double in the third.
Cortez kept Florida scoreless when the Gators threatened in the fourth and sixth, but they broke through in the seventh on back-to-back doubles by Tyler Shelnut and Thomas. Aschenbeck came on to face Michael Robertson, whose RBI groundout cut the Aggies’ lead to 3-2.
The eighth and ninth inning turned out to be much more stressful for Aschenbeck and the rest of the Aggies.
“Evan had to make really good pitches to get out of it,” Schlossnagle said. “Really good (opponent), playing in the College World Series with your season on the line, we trust Evan. You’re going to ride or die with your best.”
