By Joan von Kampen | Editor-in-chief
“While Nebraskans are more than willing to help families in need, allowing hard‑earned taxpayer dollars to be spent on tobacco, gambling and video games is completely unacceptable.” - Gov. Jim Pillen, on limiting use of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits.
CEO Steve Corsi of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services at an inaugural public roundtable of Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen's cabinet. April 20, 2026. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Zach Wendling
The federal government has approved Nebraska’s request to bar use of temporary financial assistance for “inappropriate and nonessential purchases.”
U.S. Assistant HHS Secretary Alex Adams, head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, approved the request Tuesday, just four days after Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen filed to change Nebraska’s participation in the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families’ Aid to Dependent Children benefits.
Gas and diesel prices in Forest Glen, Maryland, on Oct. 5, 2026. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)
ELECTION 2026
By Juan Salinas II
Nebraska U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and his top opponent, registered independent Dan Osborn, agree the cost of living is top of mind for voters.
As in nearly all midterm races across the country, Osborn and Ricketts have been trying to convince voters that they also feel the economy's pain.
The 2026 candidates for Nebraska attorney general: Republican Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Democrat Jocelyn Brasher of Omaha. (Photos by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
ICYMI
By Erin Bamer
While Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said he views his public service one term at a time, it was a quick decision to seek reelection: He has unfinished business.
The GOP incumbent faces a challenge from Democrat Jocelyn Brasher, who said she decided to run after watching Hilgers take the Attorney General’s Office in what she believes is the “completely wrong direction.”
A recent court decision on voter rolls marks the latest rebuke of the Trump administration during more than a year of legal confrontations with dozens of states and voting rights groups. (Photo by Will Steinfeld/New Hampshire Bulletin)
D.C. BUREAU
By Jonathan Shorman
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge.
Police investigate a crime scene where three people were shot at a housing complex in Chicago. A new survey of nearly 50 crime scholars points to community violence intervention programs, pandemic recovery and focused deterrence as potential contributors to the historic decline in homicides in the United States. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
PUBLIC SAFETY
By Amanda Watford
As candidates debate public safety ahead of the midterm elections, a new assessment of the nation’s historic homicide decline suggests there is no single explanation for the drop — and that some widely discussed enforcement strategies may have played little role.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
COMMENTARY
Letting them read ‘The Vanities of October’ | George Ayoub
EDITOR'S CHOICE
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