By Erin Bamer | Reporter
“These guys get up every day to try and feed the state and feed the country, and anything that we can possibly do to support them, it’s— I mean, they really do, they work their butts off, and they continue to work their butts off … They haven’t slowed down.” - State Sen. Paul Strommen of Sidney, about rural Nebraska communities bouncing back after historic wildfires.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, right, and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, center, survey wildfire damage over Nebraska on March 23, 2026. (Photo courtesy of the Nebraska Governor’s Office)
ENVIRONMENT & AGRICULTURE
By Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — Nebraska farmers across 21 counties impacted by major wildfires in March and April now have access to federal financial loan assistance through the USDA.
Google’s Papillion data center site, in 2022, before an expansion to the west. (Courtesy of Google)
COMMENTARY
By Heath Mello
The global competition between the United States and China for artificial intelligence leadership will not be decided only in Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., or Beijing.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks as South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster looks on during a press conference in the governor’s office at the Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina, on Aug. 9, 2022. (File photo by Travis Bell/STATEHOUSE CAROLINA/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
D.C. BUREAU
By Jane Norman
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham died on Saturday night of a “brief and sudden illness,” the South Carolina Republican’s office announced early Sunday.
(Illustration by Alex Cochran for Stateline)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Jonathan Shorman and Kevin Hardy
A quarter millennium after its founding, the United States faces a stark choice that will define its future.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Will Democrat Cindy Burbank drop out of U.S. Senate race | Juan Salinas II
Nebraska abortions rose nearly 8% in 2025 | Erin Bamer
Bellevue cybersecurity campus poised for takeoff | Cindy Gonzalez
COMMENTARY
OPINION: The Supreme Court headline is not what you think | George Ayoub
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Nonpartisan NE-03 candidate enters race as write-in | Juan Salinas II
Pillen pivots focus from primary to general election | Zach Wendling
Nebraska Secretary of State calls RNC lawsuit ‘a little baffling’ | Juan Salinas II
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