Profiles
She emigrated from Russia to Minnesota, fresh after graduating college, with scant money to her name – to no doubt achieve the American dream.
At that point, a law career wasn’t even visible on the...
Former Husker football coach Tom Osborne (center), speaks at a February 2023 event with Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (just behind Osborne), at which Pillen designated the month as “Nebraska Mentoring Month.” (Courtesy of Nebraska Governor’s Office)
LINCOLN — The full Nebraska Legislature is set to weigh whether to make an exception in state law to add former Husker football coach and former U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne to the Nebraska Hall of Fame as...
Though my email address is at the bottom of each of the articles that I have written, the only people to ever send me replies are restaurants looking to get reviewed by me, while strangely I have yet...
In the way that a needle rips your senses from their lazy slumber, the first below-zero day of the winter brought with it a piercing chill. It had been put off for too long, pushed back by a warm...
Attorneys preparing to appear before Judge Richard McGowan may want to plan for a late morning docket, as Douglas County's newest judge isn't known as a morning person.
McGowan was sworn in as judge...
Today’s News
State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams (center), speaks with State Sens. John Fredrickson of Omaha (left), and Bruce Bostelman of Brainard, July 30, 2024. (Zach Wendling / Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — State budget tensions boiled over onto the floor of the Nebraska Legislature Thursday in the aftermath of lawmakers’ rejecting a $50 million proposal to increase the state’s cigarette tax....
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Hassan Ammar / AP Photo)
What the F*%k!!!
Those were the first words out of my mouth last Saturday when I heard that the United States had joined Israel in starting a war with Iran.
Why would the president that brags about...
Pflugerville police officers stand outside a Walmart near the Pflugerville Justice Center in Pflugerville, Texas, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, as law enforcement responds to a student protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Several Democratic states are moving to bar federal immigration agents from being near polling places and other election sites, amid persistent worries that President Donald Trump will use federal...
Pflugerville police officers stand outside a Walmart near the Pflugerville Justice Center in Pflugerville, Texas, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, as law enforcement responds to a student protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Several Democratic states are moving to bar federal immigration agents from being near polling places and other election sites, amid persistent worries that President Donald Trump will use federal...
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, March 3, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo, File)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Thursday said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will be leaving the post for a job as a special envoy, following an appearance before a U.S. Senate panel...
This Week's News
State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams (center), speaks with State Sens. John Fredrickson of Omaha (left), and Bruce Bostelman of Brainard, July 30, 2024. (Zach Wendling / Nebraska Examiner)
03/09/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — State budget tensions boiled over onto the floor of the Nebraska Legislature Thursday in the aftermath of lawmakers’ rejecting a $50 million proposal to increase the state’s cigarette tax.
Lawmakers appear to be in a standoff over options...
Pflugerville police officers stand outside a Walmart near the Pflugerville Justice Center in Pflugerville, Texas, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, as law enforcement responds to a student protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman via AP)
03/09/2026 - 12:00am
Several Democratic states are moving to bar federal immigration agents from being near polling places and other election sites, amid persistent worries that President Donald Trump will use federal law enforcement or the military to disrupt the...
Pflugerville police officers stand outside a Walmart near the Pflugerville Justice Center in Pflugerville, Texas, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, as law enforcement responds to a student protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman via AP)
03/09/2026 - 12:00am
Several Democratic states are moving to bar federal immigration agents from being near polling places and other election sites, amid persistent worries that President Donald Trump will use federal law enforcement or the military to disrupt the...
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, March 3, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo, File)
03/09/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Thursday said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will be leaving the post for a job as a special envoy, following an appearance before a U.S. Senate panel this week that provoked bipartisan criticism of her...
Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks beside Vice President JD Vance during a news conference on efforts to combat fraud, in the Old Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (Tom Brenner / AP Photo)
03/09/2026 - 12:00am
State Medicaid budgets will be reduced by a total of $665 billion over the next decade, after President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act cuts federal investment in the health insurance program, according to a new analysis.
Researchers from...
(mitagalihs / Shutterstock)
03/06/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is suing online gaming platform Roblox to hold it “accountable for misleading Nebraska parents and children about the dangers” of the platform and steps the company took “to address those dangers.”...
(Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock)
03/06/2026 - 12:00am
The Oregon Supreme Court on Feb. 5, 2026, issued a ruling that will have a wide impact. More than 1,400 criminal cases had to be dismissed, the justices ruled, due to lack of adequate counsel available for defendants.
Like other states, Oregon must...
A debate is set to unfold at Tuesday’s Omaha City Council meeting over a pricey wastewater treatment expansion project. The body meets at the City-County Building in downtown Omaha. (Cate Folsom / Nebraska Examiner)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
OMAHA — One of Nebraska’s best-known construction companies has challenged the City of Omaha’s handling of one of the priciest city infrastructure investments ever.
Hawkins Construction Company, whose local roots harken back to the 1920s and...
State Sens. Rob Clements of Elmwood, Paul Strommen of Sidney and Myron Dorn of Sidney (from left), Feb. 2, 2026. (Zach Wendling / Nebraska Examiner)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — After new economic forecasts grew Nebraska’s projected budget deficit by roughly $175 million, lawmakers turned to the state’s rainy day fund to help fill the gap.
The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee voted 8-0 Friday to recommend...
(Wirestock Creators / Shutterstock)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan
Scientists are philosophers, explorers, data collectors and number crunchers. They are also storytellers, placing data within a broader scientific and societal context. How they tell these...
(AJR_photo / Shutterstock)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
The UNC System Board of Governors wasted little time on Thursday in approving a definition for academic freedom that has been a year in the making. The policy protects the rights of all faculty to engage in teaching, research and scholarly inquiry...
A "For Rent" sign is displayed outside an apartment building, in Wheeling, Ill., Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
As the Trump administration continues to focus on the legal immigration statuses of many across the country, a revived proposal by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could impact many families’ ability to receive rental assistance...
(Unai Huizi Photography / Shutterstock)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON — American colleges and universities received gifts and contracts worth more than $5.2 billion from foreign entities in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Education, which also recently published summaries of foreign investment in...
(SpeedKingz / Shutterstock)
03/04/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature, at the urging of Gov. Jim Pillen, passed a bill Friday to allow schools to once again suspend students in grades pre-K-2 for engaging in violent behavior capable of causing physical harm.
Legislative Bill 653,...
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
Questions flew at the city engineer as he explained what the “heaviest construction year” on the Omaha streetcar project would mean for downtown’s Capitol District. About 20 neighborhood business owners and residents attended the January info...
President Donald Trump leaves the stage after speaking at the Port of Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (Michael Gonzalez / AP Photo)
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday demanding the administration refund businesses that paid tariffs to import goods into the United States under authority the Supreme Court has ruled the...
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
Pressured by businesses on the importance of immigrant labor, some Republican states are backing off plans to require all employers to check for legal employment status before hiring workers.
State and federal legislation to require that employers...
The Ten Commandments on the Nebraska State Capitol, April 17, 2025. (Juan Salinas II / Nebraska Examiner)
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — A new economic forecast effectively doubled the size of Nebraska’s projected deficit from what state lawmakers had reduced it to so far this legislative session.
Lawmakers entered the session aiming to fix a $471 million budget deficit,...
Then-Neb. State Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg (right), speaks to Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, in the Legislative Chamber in Lincoln, Neb. (Nati Harnik / AP Photo)
03/03/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — A former state lawmaker from Gothenburg, Matt Williams, will lead the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry as interim president.
Chamber board chair Pat Keenan announced the transitional role Thursday to the board and business...
