Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/26/2026 - 12:00am
President Donald Trump derailed a housing overhaul that he was set to sign into law Wednesday, canceling a signing ceremony for the broadly popular bipartisan bill until Congress passes an election security measure.
Trump had been scheduled to sign the bill, which passed the Senate Monday and House Tuesday with wide margins, during a Capitol ceremony.
But in a pair of social media posts prior to the event, he derided the overhaul aimed at lowering housing costs as “minor” before refusing to sign it entirely.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/19/2026 - 12:00am
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — After decades waiting for justice, relatives of women murdered by New York’s Gilgo Beach serial killer laid into him Wednesday before he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his admitted crimes.
“A million years isn’t enough,” Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, said. “Nothing will ever make this right.”
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/19/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was at the Country Club of Lincoln on Friday to campaign for Nebraska U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in his bid for reelection.
Both Ricketts and Cruz emphasized the seriousness of the Senate race in Nebraska, a noticeable shift in tone from earlier in the cycle as Republicans face a midterm environment that typically does not favor the party in power.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/19/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement officials disrupted a planned attack targeting President Donald Trump's UFC cage-fighting show at the White House this past weekend, according to court papers unsealed Tuesday that say plotters who harbored fringe conspiracy theories spoke of flying explosives-laden drones and shooting panicked crowd members as they fled.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/12/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — Two Nebraskans are among 39 state lawmakers selected to participate in a bipartisan training program that each year “identifies and assists promising state leaders” in the Midwest.
Sens. Margo Juarez and Dunixi Guereca, both of Omaha, will gather with other participants July 17-21 in Madison, Wisconsin, for the Council of State Governments’ 31st annual Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development .
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/12/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON – A North Carolina jury convicted a man for carjacking a truck from a McDonald’s parking lot by holding something “cold and hard” on the driver’s neck. A federal appeals court overturned the conviction in 2016, citing insufficient evidence.
“The evidence was insufficient to support a rational finding beyond a reasonable doubt that (Kenneth) Bailey possessed the specific intent, conditional or otherwise, to kill or seriously harm his victim when he took control of the vehicle,” a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit wrote in its ruling.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/12/2026 - 12:00am
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas after declaring the method violates the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Emily Marks issued the ruling hours after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional. Marks permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffrey Lee, 49, by nitrogen gas. He was scheduled to be executed Thursday.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/12/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bill Gates said Wednesday that he made a “grave error in judgment” by meeting with Jeffrey Epstein but denied any wrongdoing as the Microsoft co-founder faced hours of questioning from lawmakers about his relationship with the disgraced financier.
In an opening statement provided to The Associated Press, Gates said he “should never have met with Epstein in the first place,” but that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct.”
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 06/05/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — As demand for electricity grows across Nebraska, Gov. Jim Pillen expressed his preference for establishing public-private partnerships to shoulder some of the cost burdens of new infrastructure.
Pillen ceremonially signed Legislative Bill 1261 Tuesday alongside state lawmakers, public power representatives and other stakeholders. The bill alters the authority of public power districts to allow private companies to build energy infrastructure, like power plants, without the risk of having a public power board take them over using the power of eminent domain.