FUTURE MURKY FOR NEBRASKA CENTER FOR FEMALE JUVENILE OFFENDERS; HHS WORKING ON PLAN FOR GIRLS

GENEVA, Neb. — The future of the troubled state institution for female juvenile offenders in Geneva remains cloudy, nearly six weeks after state officials emptied the facility.

Dannette Smith, CEO of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, told a panel of state lawmakers Wednesday that she is still putting together a plan for serving the teenage girls who were removed from the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-Geneva.

She had ordered the girls moved to a similar institution for boys in Kearney on Aug. 19, after concluding that staff shortages, inadequate programming and deteriorating buildings had combined to create an urgent situation.

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AS HARVEST BEGINS AND BIOFUEL PLANTS IDLE, ETHANOL BACKERS GROW IMPATIENT FOR DEAL

WASHINGTON — Impatience is growing among Midwestern corn farmers and ethanol plants looking for an official announcement of the long-awaited deal to boost biofuels production.

“Would we like it to happen this week? Sure, we’d like it to happen last week,” said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

At issue is a federal mandate that billions of gallons of ethanol and biodiesel be blended into the nation’s fuel supply, a requirement known as the Renewable Fuel Standard.

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E-CIGARETTES 'NOT AS SAFE AS WE THOUGHT,' WARNS FAMILY OF OMAHA MAN WHOSE DEATH IS TIED TO VAPING

OMAHA - The wife and daughter of a Nebraska man whose May death now is linked to vaping are warning those still using the products.

“The message is, ‘Don’t do this until we know more,’ ” said Kathleen Fimple of Omaha.

John Steffen, Fimple’s husband of nearly 37 years, died May 10 after being hospitalized for what the family believed was pneumonia. His death certificate, Fimple said, listed the cause of death as acute respiratory failure, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder as a contributor.

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LISA LEE, CANDIDATE FOR DISTRICT 29 SEAT, SAYS PROPERTY TAX REFORM, EDUCATION FUNDING ARE PRIORITIES

LINCOLN — Lisa Lee, who works for a Lincoln nonprofit group, has announced her candidacy for the District 29 seat in the Nebraska Legislature.

Lee, a 57-year-old registered Republican, said her work with the Lincoln Council for International Visitors gives her a unique perspective on the strengths of the state and “where we need to improve.”

She said that property tax reform is the state’s top issue but that it must be aligned with adequate funding of education. Lee, a graduate of the University of Iowa, also said greater investment in workforce development is needed.

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GENEVA RESIDENTS WANT TO SEE ITS YRTC REOPEN, WITH SOME CHANGES

GENEVA — People testifying at a legislative hearing Wednesday painted a verbal picture of the deterioration of the Geneva Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center from the point of view of insiders.

The Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee came to the main street of Geneva, filling a room that held about 80 people, to hear from former center staff, town residents who have volunteered at the facility, board members and the Fillmore County sheriff. The hearing was centered on two interim studies (LR200 and LR103), introduced by Sen. John Lowe of Kearney and Sen. Dan Quick of Grand Island, aimed at staffing for the state's YRTCs and improvement of programming.

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LINCOLN REGIONAL CENTER WILL MAKE CHANGES AS PART OF SETTLEMENT OF WOMAN'S LAWSUIT

LINCOLN - The state of Nebraska has agreed to pay $385,000 to a woman who sued the Lincoln Regional Center for delaying her physician-ordered mammogram for more than a year, then denying many radiation treatments after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

But what is profoundly important about Ruth Cecetka's case and settlement is the significant changes the regional center has agreed to make going forward, one of her lawyers said Wednesday.

"Ruth's case and the settlement that we reached won't just affect her but every single person that is a patient at the Lincoln Regional Center," said attorney Kathleen Neary, who represented Cecetka along with co-counsel Elizabeth Govaerts and Disability Rights Nebraska.

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BOLZ WILL CHALLENGE FORTENBERRY FOR DISTRICT 1 U.S. HOUSE SEAT

LINCOLN - State Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln has decided to challenge Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry's 2020 re-election bid, centering her message on health care for families and trade opportunities for Nebraska farmers.

Bolz will announce her decision to enter the Democratic primary at a news conference in Lincoln on Thursday afternoon.

The two-term state senator said she does not believe Washington is listening to Nebraska families or Nebraska farmers today.

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SUBSIDIES TOTAL $694M FOR NEBRASKA FARMERS

As the trade war between the U.S. and China drags on, Nebraska farmers have pocketed $694 million in federal payments designed to cushion the blow of tariffs leveled against American ag exports.

The bailout payments were announced by Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in 2018 to aid farmers, already feeling the sting of low corn and soybean prices, targeted by China during the escalating economic conflict initiated by President Donald Trump.

During the first 12 months of the program — September 2018 to August 2019 — the Market Facilitation Program made 78,621 payments to nearly 40,000 farmers and businesses in Nebraska, according to data provided to the Journal Star through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce said the voluntary program, which paid $8.5 billion to farmers across the U.S. in its first year, was designed to keep producers in business until the world’s top two economies can strike a new trade agreement.

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CHINA GIVES NEW WAIVERS FOR TARIFF-FREE U.S. SOYBEAN PURCHASES

The Chinese government has given new waivers to several domestic companies to buy U.S. soybeans without being subject to retaliatory tariffs, according to people familiar with the situation.

The companies received waivers for between 2 million and 3 million tons, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Some firms already bought at least 20 cargoes, or about 1.2 million tons, from the U.S. Pacific Northwest on Monday, the people said.

The waivers follow a meeting between working-level officials last week in the U.S. and before top negotiators meet next month to try to resolve the trade dispute. China’s commitment to buy more U.S. agricultural products is central to the talks, with President Donald Trump looking to shore up support from American farmers.

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KEARNEY STATE SEN. JOHN LOWE ANNOUNCES REELECTION CAMPAIGN

LINCOLN — Kearney State Sen. John Lowe announced Tuesday that he will seek reelection in 2020.

Lowe, 60, a registered Republican, was elected in 2016, edging Kearney City Council member Bob Lammers.

In a press release, Lowe said that in his first term, he has worked to reduce property taxes by “putting every dollar we can find into the property tax credit relief fund and reducing government spending.”

The senator said he is endorsed by Gov. Pete Ricketts as well as former Gov. Kay Orr and the Nebraska Republican Party.

Lowe, a Kearney small-business owner, introduced bills to protect gun rights and to address staffing and security issues at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-Kearney.

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TRADE AGREEMENT WITH TAIWAN COULD ALSO HELP NEBRASKA FARMERS

LINCOLN — Another trade agreement announced Wednesday was trumpeted by Gov. Pete Ricketts as positioning Nebraska to grow its exports to Taiwan.

Taiwan signed letters of intent to buy more than $2.1 billion in U.S. soybeans, corn and distillers grains.

The country last year purchased about $70 million in corn from Nebraska, which was about 5% of the total corn exports from the state. Taiwan was Nebraska’s fifth-largest export market for corn in 2018.

Representatives of the Nebraska corn and soybeans boards signed letters of intent with Taiwanese firms Tuesday evening, according to a press release from the Governor’s Office. The release did not specify how much grain would be purchased from the state, though it said past agreements had resulted in “millions of dollars” of sales.

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STATE SENATORS ASK FOR PUBLIC INPUT AND 'PRESSURE' TO HELP SOLVE HIGH PROPERTY TAXES

OMAHA - A panel of state senators asked for public input, and even “pressure,” on Tuesday to help them solve Nebraska’s decades-old problem of high property taxes.

And those who filled half the seating area at the Omaha Firefighters Hall attempted to oblige, asking lawmakers why the state’s taxes pinch homeowners and landowners harder than in neighboring states like South Dakota and Iowa.

A farm manager from Waterloo provided the most dramatic testimony, saying that property taxes on cropland he oversees have risen by 278% over the past decade and gobble up 36% of the rental income from the property.

The tax burden will drive farmers out of business, said Ed Herlein, who supports shifting the tax load onto sales or other taxes. Before he stepped into the hall Tuesday evening, he signed an initiative petition that — if passed by state voters — would do that, by mandating a 35% state rebate on property taxes to all property owners. Senators have said it would force either drastic cuts in state services or steep increases in state sales and income taxes.

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT LEADER LEAVES GREATER OMAHA CHAMBER AFTER 16 MONTHS

OMAHA - The Greater Omaha Chamber’s senior vice president of economic development has left the post, the chamber announced.

Dee Baird came to the Omaha chamber in May 2018. She was hired from the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Metro Economic Alliance and had worked in higher education.

Chamber President David Brown said at the time that her key challenge was attracting more workers to keep up with the Omaha area’s business expansion rate.

Finding enough skilled workers for Nebraska businesses has been described as a “crisis” and “the most pressing economic issue in the state.”

The Omaha chamber is in the second, five-year phase of its Prosper Omaha campaign that, among other things, aims to attract 10,000 new jobs paying $50,000 and above to the metro. The Omaha and Lincoln chambers in June announced an ”Opt In” campaign seeking to lure tech workers from Chicago, Detroit, Denver and Sioux Falls.

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NEBRASKA'S JUVENILE PROBATION SHOWING PROGRESS AT REDUCING SERVICES COSTS, REPORT SAYS

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s juvenile probation system has made progress on reducing the costs of services and increasing the use of home- and community-based services for juvenile offenders in the past few years, according to a new report.

The Legislature’s Performance Audit Committee released a report Wednesday that looked at the system over three years, from July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2018.

The report found that juvenile probation spent $45 million on services for youths in fiscal year 2018, a drop of $9.4 million from the amount spent two years earlier.

According to the report, a reduction in spending on group homes and institutions for treating youths accounted for almost all of the difference. The number of youths sent for such treatment dropped to 231 in fiscal year 2018, down from 424 two years earlier. In addition, the average cost of that treatment declined to $26,459 per youth, down from $33,987.

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LINCOLN STATE SEN. KATE BOLZ WEIGHS CONGRESSIONAL BID AGAINST JEFF FORTENBERRY

LINCOLN — State Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln says she is weighing a congressional challenge to eight-term U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry.

Bolz, a 40-year-old Democrat, has represented a south Lincoln legislative district for the past seven years but is barred from seeking reelection to her District 29 seat because of term limits. She said Monday that she plans to decide soon whether to enter the 2020 race.

If she runs, it would be the most formidable challenger to Fortenberry, a 58-year-old Republican from Lincoln, in several election cycles.

In the Nebraska Legislature, Bolz is vice chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee and is known for her work on health and human services issues and workforce development. She is a native of Palmyra, Nebraska, and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master’s degree from the University of Michigan.

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JUUL REPLACES ITS CEO AND UNVEILS A NEW MARKETING STRATEGY AS VAPING CRISIS ESCALATES

Juul co-founder Kevin Burns is out as CEO of the embattled maker of e-cigarettes, the company announced Wednesday.

He is being replaced by K.C. Crosthwaite, who had been chief growth officer at tobacco company Altria, a major investor in Juul. In that position, he oversaw expansion into alternatives to traditional cigarettes and played a key role with commercial and regulatory efforts related to the US launch of iQOS, a device that heats tobacco rather than burning it.

Juul and other makers of vaping products are facing a crisis due to a growing number of deaths and illnesses tied to their products. Several states are moving to ban their use.

The company also said Wednesday it has a new marketing strategy: It will suspend all TV, print and digital ads and it will stop some of its lobbying efforts.

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ELECTION COMMISSIONERS SHOULD BE ELECTED, NOT APPOINTED, SAYS OPINION FROM NEBRASKA ATTORNEY GENERAL

LINCOLN — The century-old method of choosing election commissioners for Nebraska’s most populous counties is “constitutionally suspect,” according to an opinion from Attorney General Doug Peterson.

The opinion was issued Tuesday in response to questions posed by State Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln. His questions followed up on an issue raised by Civic Nebraska, a Lincoln-based group working to promote civic involvement and protect voting rights.

In the opinion, Peterson concluded that election commissioners and chief deputy election commissioners are county officers and, therefore, under the Nebraska Constitution, must be elected to their positions.

The opinion raises concerns about a state law requiring the governor to appoint election officials for Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy Counties, the Nebraska counties with more than 100,000 residents.

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NEBRASKA OFFICIAL APOLOGIZES FOR CALLING STATE WORKERS UNION 'COMMUNIST AGITATORS'

LINCOLN — A state agency director has apologized for a social media post that referred to the leadership of a state labor union as “communist agitators.”

Trevor Jones, the head of History Nebraska (formerly the State Historical Society), sent a message to employees referring to a July 10 meeting between agency employees and the Nebraska Association of Public Employees. The union represents state workers, including History Nebraska employees.

“Don’t spend your noon hour throwing hands and dustin’ it up with communist agitators,” the post said. “Consider instead spending a peaceful hour at ‘Lunch with Trevor.’ ”

 The post, which featured a photo of a 1934 labor riot in Loup City, Nebraska, drew a harsh rebuke from a union official who called it “unprofessional, inappropriate and a prohibited (labor) practice.”

“In my 34 years as a state employee, I’ve never seen the head of a state agency … treat our union with such contempt,” wrote Deb Strudl, chairwoman of NAPE/American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 61. “Your implication that we are communist agitators, violent and unfriendly is without merit and completely false.”

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RICKETTS SAYS NEBRASKA DOESN'T NEED NEW TASK FORCE ON PRISON STAFFING

LINCOLN — Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday that the state doesn’t need a new task force to explore the staffing shortages at state prisons but that the Department of Corrections is always open to new strategies to fill vacant posts and reduce high worker turnover.

“If someone has some ideas, I certainly suggest they get them to us or talk to (State Corrections Director) Scott Frakes,” said Ricketts, in his first public comments about a critical state watchdog’s annual report.

That report, issued a week ago, described a continued “downward spiral” in hiring and retention of state prison staff, particularly the officers, corporals and sergeants who guard inmates.

Nebraska spent a record $15 million on overtime to fill vacant posts last year, according to the report, and turnover of security staff, while down slightly, was still roughly 30%, which is about twice the rate considered desirable.

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FOUR STRUGGLING NEBRASKA NURSING HOMES WILL CLOSE IN NOVEMBER

LINCOLN — The company that recently purchased a group of Nebraska nursing homes announced plans Monday to close four of the homes Nov. 21.

The four are Blue Hill Care Center, Crestview Care Center in Milford, Mory’s Haven in Columbus and Utica Community Care Center. Employees and residents were notified of the planned closings Monday.

The four were part of a group acquired last week by Azria Health, a company with operations in Omaha and Kansas. The nursing homes have struggled financially in recent years.

Heath Boddy, president and CEO of the Nebraska Health Care Association, said reimbursement rates from Nebraska Medicaid make it difficult for long-term care facilities to survive in the state.

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