STATE OF NEBRASKA REVENUE FORECAST UP, BUT VIRUS IMPACT A QUESTION

Lincoln- Nebraska's economic forecasters edged the state's revenue projections higher Friday in spite of questions about what impact the COVID-19 virus could have on businesses or the state's workforce. 

Generally, information for forecasts is gathered from national forecasting services, and the virus wasn't incorporated into those forecasts, Tom Bergquist, legislative fiscal analyst director, told the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board. The board revised the fiscal year 2019-20 forecast by an increase of $115 million, with projections that sales and corporate taxes would rise. Members weren't as optimistic about fiscal year 2020-21, raising projected revenues by only $25 million. 

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'WE'LL DEAL WITH IT': NEBRASKA, IOWA PREP FOR POSSIBLE SPRING FLOODING

Those living and working near Nebraska and Iowa waterways are wary, remaining on high alert for a repeat of the destruction that caused billions in damages to homes, roads, bridges and livestock operations. 

"The fact that we still haven’t recovered from last year and might get hit again this year certainly causes concern," said Audrey Cline, who lives along the Wood River in Shelton, Nebraska. Her family's property flooded twice last year, in March and July.

The weather conditions that combined to create massive, widespread flooding across the eastern third of Nebraska and parts of western Iowa last March are not quite the same this year. This winter has been warmer and drier, with less thick ice forming on rivers. 

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TRILINGUAL SOUTH OMAHA NATIVE FILES TO RUN AGAINST STATE SEN. TONY VARGAS

LINCOLN — Jorge Sotolongo, a longtime resident of South Omaha, has filed for election to the state legislative seat now held by State Sen. Tony Vargas.

Sotolongo, a 31-year-old Republican and commercial real estate executive, said he understands the "diverse" legislative district, and speaks Spanish and French as well as English.

"I'll do everything in my power to promote education, the creation of good jobs, small business and family values," he said in a press release.

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GUN CONTROL ADVOCATES BRING COOKIES, NOT GUNS, TO STATE CAPITOL

LINCOLN — A group of gun control advocates gathered Tuesday at the State Capitol, bringing cookies instead of guns to show their support for a proposed “red flag” law in Nebraska.

The gathering of about 40 people wearing red T-shirts was a smaller and less raucous event than on Friday, when more than 400 gun rights backers crowded hearing rooms and the halls of the Capitol to voice opposition to gun control proposals.

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HOUSING BILL AIMED AT INCREASING RENTAL OPTIONS DRAWS CONCERN FROM LINCOLN NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERS

LINCOLN - Lincoln neighborhood leaders have sounded the alarm about a state proposal seeking to allow duplexes, cottage clusters, town houses, triplexes and quadplexes in residential areas that have limited them locally.

"It looks like it’s just an open-ended shooting gallery, particularly, for older neighborhoods," Paul Johnson, the East Campus Community Organization Board president, said of the legislation (LB794).

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PROPERTY TAX NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE; DEBATE WON'T RESUME JUST YET

LINCOLN - Negotiations are continuing in an effort to find agreement clearing the way for the Revenue Committee's property tax reduction and school funding reform package to move forward in the Legislature, Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn said Monday.

After weekend talks with school representatives who are concerned about the proposal,  as well as some senators, Linehan said she plans to continue to visit with all the players in this year's property tax debate, including Gov. Pete Ricketts or his representatives. 

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NEBRASKA LEADERS TALK ABOUT WHETHER GUNS SHOULD BE ALLOWED AT CAPITOL

LINCOLN - The vast majority of opponents who showed up Friday at the state Capitol for a legislative hearing on gun-related bills were respectful and circumspect about the right time and place to carry a gun.

But at least two opponents openly carried assault-type long rifles around the Capitol for several hours. And one of those men, Brett Hendrix, brought it into the hearing room to testify on a suicide prevention measure (LB958) that also initially would have added semiautomatic rifles and shotguns to the category of firearms for which a purchase certificate would be required.

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UNMC LAUNCHING CLINICAL TRIALS FOR EXPERIMENTAL CORONAVIRUS THERAPY

OMAHA - In addition to serving as one of the lead quarantine sites for Americans diagnosed with COVID-19, the University of Nebraska Medical Center is spearheading the effort to find a treatment for the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.

Tuesday, UNMC announced the first clinical trial in the U.S. of remdesivir, a "broad-spectrum" antiviral therapy that has proved effective against SARS and MERS — other respiratory diseases caused by varying strains of the virus — as well as against the Ebola virus.

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BILL ALLOWING COLLEGE ATHLETES TO MAKE MONEY OFF NAMES ADVANCES

LINCOLN - Legislation giving college athletes in Nebraska the chance to endorse brands or products, promote sponsored content on social media or get paid for private lessons or to host camps advanced from first-round debate Tuesday.

Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt's Nebraska Fair Pay to Play Act (LB962), which would allow athletes to make money on their name, image or likeness, won early-round approval on a 36-4 vote.

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KOCH-FUNDED CENTER AT UNL SET TO EXPLORE FUTURE IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY

Researchers around the world are zeroing in on techniques capable of reprogramming viruses to attack cancer cells or to eradicate unwanted genetic mutations from human DNA altogether.

At the same time, new algorithms are allowing computers to anticipate changes to the financial markets with better accuracy and consistency, enabling trades to take place thousands of times every second.

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COUNTY LEADERS SAY SARPY ISN'T THE RIGHT PLACE FOR A PROPOSED NEW STATE PRISON

LINCOLN — Two Sarpy County leaders are making it clear that they don’t want the suburban Omaha county to become the site of a new state prison.

“It just wouldn’t make any sense to build a large maximum security prison in the fastest growing and among the most populated counties in the state, where the unemployment rate is less than 3%,” said Don Kelly of Papillion, chairman of the Sarpy County Board.

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SUICIDE ATTEMPTS, ASSAULTS, ESCAPES, AN UPRISING: WHAT'S GOING ON AT THE KEARNEY YOUTH CENTER?

KEARNEY, Neb. — Tammie Jones’ heart raced every time her cellphone rang with a call from the state’s largest juvenile justice center.

The calls often brought bad news about her 17-year-old son, who was at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-Kearney.

Jones, 37, got the latest gut-punch call on Feb. 12. Her son was hospitalized after trying to take his own life by overdosing on pills. It was his third suicide attempt while at the facility.

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PRIVATELY BUILT PRISONS - AS ENVISIONED IN NEBRASKA - ARE STARTING TO CATCH ON

LINCOLN — The largest and oldest prison in Kansas, the Lansing Correctional Facility, opened when Abraham Lincoln was president.

So when Kansas officials decided to replace the 2,400-bed Lansing facility because of overcrowding, rising operating costs and its age, they opted for a novel solution: hire a private company to build a replacement, and have the state staff it with their workers and lease it for 20 years, when it would then own it.

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RICKETTS, STATE SENATORS CONDEMN WHITE SUPREMACIST COMMENTS MADE DURING HEARING ON GUN CONTROL BILLS

LINCOLN — Gov. Pete Ricketts and State Sen. Julie Slama have joined Sen. Megan Hunt in condemning the white supremacist testimony of a Lincoln gun shop employee before a legislative committee on Friday.

Hunt, of Omaha, issued a press release during the hearing saying white supremacy has “no place in our country” and must be opposed and “called out.”

“Elected officials must draw a bright line against normalizing racism and white supremacy while working to promote policies of equality and inclusivity,” said Hunt, who is the Legislature’s first openly bisexual senator.

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THREE NEBRASKA SCHOOL GROUPS UNITE IN OPPOSITION TO PROPERTY TAX

LINCOLN — Groups representing Nebraska schools, from the smallest to the largest, have united against the Legislature’s main property tax proposal.

The Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association, representing smaller schools; Schools Taking Action for Nebraska Children’s Education, or STANCE, representing midsize schools; and the Greater Nebraska Schools Association, representing large schools, issued a joint press release Friday opposing Legislative Bill 974.

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I-80 TO BE REBUILT THROUGH OMAHA; $860 MILLION PLAN OUTLINES FUTURE OF METRO AREA FREEWAYS

OMAHA - Interstate 80 through Omaha will be widened under a new state plan to plot the course for the metro area’s freeways.

The Nebraska Department of Transportation has completed a major study that outlines $860 million in changes over the next 25 years to Interstates 80, 480 and 680, the Kennedy Freeway, West Dodge Road and the West Dodge elevated expressway.

Most notably, it outlines plans to widen I-80 from four main lanes each way to six lanes through Omaha between I-480 and 680.

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OMAHA-BASED ETHANOL COMPANY SAYS IT WON'T MAKE MONEY OFF CONTROVERSIAL GRANT

LINCOLN — The head of the nation’s largest ethanol producer says his firm is being unfairly portrayed as the beneficiary of a controversial shift in a state lottery grant recommended by the Nebraska Environmental Trust Board.

Todd Becker of Omaha-based Green Plains Inc. said the $1.8 million shifted away from wetland and conservation easement projects would be parceled out in grants to retail gas stations, not his firm, to help pay for the installation of “blender” pumps that can deliver fuel with 15% to 85% ethanol.

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30 CABINS FLOODED, 2 PEOPLE RESCUED IN ICE JAM FLOODING ON PLATTE RIVER IN DODGE COUNTY

OMAHA - Ice jam flooding over the weekend inundated about 30 cabins along the Platte River west of Fremont and required a harrowing water rescue that left four people injured.

The sudden surge of the Platte River out of its banks west of Fremont on Saturday generated a rush of anxiety as people worried about a recurrence, even on a modest scale, of last year’s catastrophic flooding. Last year, in March, about $2.7 billion in damage occurred across Nebraska when runoff from snowmelt and rain poured into area rivers, triggering overland and ice jam flooding. At least 7,000 homes were damaged and several people died.

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DON WALTON: TAX REFORM AND PRISON REFORM PRESENT TOUGH CHALLENGES

LINCOLN - Tax reform and prison reform, both heavy legislative lifts.

One requires a balance of economic, regional and political interests; the other requires a reality check.

So far, the legislative play call for both has always been simple: Punt.

Prison reform looks like the easier challenge to resolve with a combination of increased funding now — at a time when state government already has the revenue in hand or on the way — and when sentencing reform legislation is on the floor and sitting in the Legislature's lap.

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NEW 1,600-BED PRISON BETWEEN LINCOLN AND OMAHA PROPOSED

LINCOLN - Just a few years ago, Nebraska administrators and lawmakers were trying everything possible to avoid having to sink state money into building a new prison.

Things have changed.

Corrections Director Scott Frakes said Tuesday the state is considering a public-private partnership to build a new, 1,600-bed prison between Lincoln and Omaha to help deal with overcrowding and staffing issues. It could even have potential to expand by hundreds of beds.

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