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The Nebraska Unicameral is debating LB577, a bill to expand Medicaid under the auspices of Obamacare. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman is on a state-wide speaking tour to inform the public and ask citizens to contact their state senators to vote no on this matter. Speaking to a crowd in Omaha, Governor Heineman discussed LB577 in detail laying out the potential costs, liabilities and tax increases the bill would entail. In essence, LB577 is a "sucker bet" in which the Federal government can manipulate the eligibility requirements and compensation criteria. If passed, LB577 can add billions of dollars in state costs...

Shocking surveillance video appears to show a Nebraska bus driver, now identified as 43-year-old Troy Fischer, punching a passenger over and over before dragging him off the bus and abandoning him on the side of a road. The two had reportedly been arguing beforehand, and Fischer can be heard yelling in the clip: “What did I say about the next question you ask me? ​WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE NEXT QUESTION YOU ASK ME? You remember? WHAT DID I SAY?…I SAID DON’T ASK ANY MORE QUESTIONS!” The passenger advances on the driver, rolling his eyes and saying something along...

United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will visit Israel April 21, according to IDF Radio. … According to IDF Radio, the subject of Iran will likely top the agenda of the visit, as will the deterioration in Syria. Hagel will likely use the visit to try and shake free of his anti-Israel image, the radio station added. …

There's no question that Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle had a rough primary election last week. But despite his weak showing, Suttle still has a chance to catch up to front-runner Jean Stothert. A World-Herald analysis of the primary numbers as well as results from the 2009 mayoral elections and the 2011 recall vote suggest that Suttle still has a path to retaining the Mayor's Office. But the same analysis shows that Suttle's margin for error is slim. And it's also possible that differences between 2009 and 2013 will allow Stothert to hold off any late Suttle charge to the finish...

Jack Hoffman, a 7-year-old cancer patient, was undoubtedly the star of Saturday’s Nebraska spring game. The Husker fan and friend of the football team led the Huskers in rushing yards on the day. “Obviously, Jack’s a young man who has touched the hearts of a lot of people,” coach Bo Pelini said. “Our football team and the student body have gotten behind him, and he’s become a big part of the team. We weren’t sure if he was going to want to do it. We brought the idea to his dad, and I thought it was a pretty special thing.”

Omaha police displayed an unbridled street gang brazenness when they chased a man who was video recording them abusing his brother into a private home, confiscating his phone and arresting him to ensure their actions would never see the light of day. However, another citizen captured the entire incident on video from a second-floor window, ensuring at least the façade of an internal investigation.

US House Energy and Commerce Committee members released a discussion draft of legislation designed to jump-start approval of the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project. The draft bill by Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) would eliminate the need for a presidential permit and find that the Aug. 26, 2011, final environmental impact statement issued by Sec. of State Hillary Clinton satisfied all National Environmental Policy Act requirements. Reps. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and John Barrow (D-Ga.) cosponsored the proposal, which also would limit legal challenges to the project so it would not be delayed further. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred...

The United States is in the midst of one of the biggest droughts in recent memory. At last count, over half of the lower 48 states had abnormally dry conditions and are suffering from at least moderate drought.... ...U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist and Drought Monitor team member, Brad Rippey, explained that when the drought began in 2012, the worst of the conditions were much farther east, in states like Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan — the corn belt states. Based on pre-drought estimates, corn used for grain lost slightly more than a quarter of its potential. By the Summer of...

A photo involving an Omaha City Council member is creating a lot of controversy. In the photo, Chris Jerram holds a photo depicting his fellow council member, Jean Stothert, on a stripper pole. Jerram apologized and said he made a mistake. “It's disgusting, and it's demeaning, and it's not only demeaning to me, but to all women," said Stothert on Monday. "You know, to be depicted of the way I was on that t-shirt should not happen." The shirt reads "Jean, quit stripping us of our tax dollars" -- and it has a woman and stripper pole next to it....

The layoff bug that Lincoln had avoided for more than two years has finally bitten. QBE North America, a subsidiary of Australia-based QBE Insurance Group Limited, on Monday confirmed that it plans to close a Lincoln office that employs more than 100 people. The employees work at a call center at 50th and R streets under the business name Sterling National Corp. Paula Symons, a QBE North America spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement that closing the Lincoln office was an "extremely difficult" decision. "With the Lincoln facility lease expiring in a few months and the size of the Lincoln...

New Jersey’s governor has branded them “political thugs.” A former federal education official has likened them to terrorists. Less vilified in Kansas than some other parts of the country, those teachers unions still find their clout under attack in the Legislature. The battle over teachers unions has marched its way across the country. Ohio. Michigan. Wisconsin. Idaho. And now it’s in Kansas, greeted by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his conservative allies in the Legislature. Lawmakers are moving to undercut the tenuous power of teachers unions by barring them from using voluntary paycheck deductions for politics. And they’re going after...

Chuck Hagel won confirmation Tuesday to become defense secretary over objections to his views on Middle East security and the administration’s handling of an attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya. On a 58 to 41 vote, the Senate confirmed the former GOP senator as four Republicans joined 54 Democrats in approving Hagel, ending a nearly two-month battle that included an unprecedented filibuster against the nominee. The four Republican senators voting in favor were Thad Cochran (Miss.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Richard C. Shelby (Ala.) and Rand Paul (Ky.). All 41 no votes came from Republicans. The vote marked a foreign...

An attempt by Senate Democrats to push through their controversial nominee for defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., failed today on a 58-40 vote as Republicans said they haven’t been given answers to their questions. Among his opponents are 14 retired U.S. admirals and generals, including high-profile names such as Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin and Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely. Hagel has endorsed subjecting the U.S. to the U.N.’s International Criminal Court, and he’s sat on the board of numerous globalist groups promoting U.S. funding for the Third World.

Senator Roy Blunt indicated Wednesday that there are enough votes in the Senate to delay the Hagel confirmation.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Sunday threatened to filibuster former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)'s nomination for Defense secretary, if necessary to prevent his confirmation. “I want a 60-vote margin and you don’t have to filibuster to get that,” said Inhofe in an interview on Fox News. “I would threaten to cause a 60-vote margin. If it took a filibuster, I’d do it that way.” Inhofe, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that requiring 60 votes to confirm nominees was common and dismissed suggestions that GOP colleagues would be reluctant to back him. Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/282153-sen-inhofe-threatens-filibuster-of-hagel#ixzz2KYLsXDEC Follow...

Remember when the mainstream media mocked a politician who had to attend five colleges to graduate, whose academic record was less than outstanding, and whose subsequent success was proof of nothing? Remember how that was supposed to be a threat to national security, the economy, and so much else? That was so 2008, so Sarah Palin. It turns out that former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who is now awaiting confirmation as Secretary of Defense, attended five colleges and was a "D" student. He volunteered to serve in Vietnam,

The nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to Secretary of Defense has been held up due to Hagel’s failure to turn over required documents to the Senate Armed Services Committee, even after a letter prompting him for those documents. Those documents concern Hagel’s stream of income from foreign sources; obviously, being in a sensitive position such as Secretary of Defense, Hagel must be cleared by the committee of any possible financial entanglements with suspicious foreign sources. On Wednesday, 25 Senators sent Hagel a letter with the following text, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News: Dear Senator Hagel, On January 29,...

Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) is not providing the Senate any more information about past speeches or funders. Luckily, a few of his former audiences are only too proud to share his remarks with the world. The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations recently published a recording of a speech Hagel gave to its conference in 2007. In addition to calling for unconditional talks with the Iranian regime, Hagel said that the U.S. had to "reverse optics" in its relationship with Israel in order to restore its credibility as an honest broker between Israelis and Palestinians, and to boost its diplomacy...

Wednesday, Feb 13th, 1:30pm to 4:30pm. Nebraska State Capitol 1445 K St., Lincoln, NE We have a tentative hearing date for LB 482 (to stop Agenda 21 in Nebraska) on February 13th at 1:30 pm. Could you please ask the folks if they would consider attending the hearing at the Capitol on that date to support Senator Kintner? He is sticking his neck out for this cause & it would mean a lot if we supported him and were there in the audience! They don't have to testify unless they want to - they just sign in as being for...

Parents of a deaf child named Hunter were told by his Nebraska public preschool that they must change his name because he was in violation of the school district’s weapons policy. To sign his name, the three-year-old crosses his index and middle fingers then wags his hands. This sign apparently appeared to school officials to represent a gun. Grand Island Public Schools’ policy section 8470 — Weapons in Schools states: “Students are forbidden to knowingly and voluntarily possess, handle, transmit or use any instrument in school, on school grounds or at school functions that is a firearm, weapon, or looks...