By Joan von Kampen | Editor-in-chief
In less than a year and a half, at least 61 employees have left Nebraska’s Department of Economic Development, with only two of those involuntary terminations, according to department spokesman Justin Pinkerman. Justin Hubly, executive director of state employees union Nebraska Association of Public Employees, said he’s never seen attrition numbers like this in any state agency, calling it “mind-boggling.”
Maureen Larsen, director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and former general counsel to the governor, at an inaugural public roundtable of Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen's cabinet. April 20, 2026. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
STATE GOVERNMENT
By Erin Bamer
After 26 years working in Nebraska’s Department of Economic Development, former director of field operations Sheryl Hiatt said she didn’t want to retire, but she felt she had no other option.
According to Hiatt, changes made within the department — most of which came after Gov. Jim Pillen’s appointment of Maureen Larsen as interim director in July 2025 — made her time working there unpleasant enough that she chose to leave earlier than she previously planned.
Members of Virginia Professional Firefighters association hold signs during their biannual convention in May to protest Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s veto of collective bargaining legislation. New research found a significant spike in labor union membership, but growth is highly dependent upon state politics. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
LABOR & GROWTH
By Kevin Hardy
Labor union membership continues to climb in the United States, though the increase remains sharply divided by the politics of individual states. At the end of last year, more than 14.6 million American workers belonged to a union — about 10% of the workforce, the study said.
While union membership grew across the country, the State of the Unions report found that states that have sought to protect or strengthen collective bargaining rights added three times as many union members as so-called right-to-work states, which prohibit mandatory union membership or dues as conditions of employment.
Sean McMaster, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, speaks to Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Nebraska Department of Transportation Director Vicki Kramer at a press conference on Sept. 4, 2026. (Erin Bamer/Nebraska Examiner)
ICYMI
By Erin Bamer
OMAHA — Overlooking Interstate 480 from downtown Omaha Friday, state officials celebrated Nebraska’s receiving $5.15 million in a collection of federal grants aimed at speeding up ongoing transportation projects.
Election workers sort ballots at Contra Costa County's election operations facility on May 27, 2026 in Martinez, California. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)
D.C. BUREAU
By Jacob Fischler
The Trump administration on Sunday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a preliminary injunction from a U.S. district judge blocking a U.S. Postal Service rule restricting mail-in voting.
An explosion of data center facilities, including the one pictured here in northeast Oregon on May 18 have been built along the Columbia River Gorge during the last few years. (Photo by Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
ENVIRONMENT
By Madyson Fitzgerald
Officials in Page, Arizona, a small city near the Glen Canyon Dam, passed a land sale agreement last fall that establishes a framework for future construction of a data center.
The sale of the 500-acre parcel about a mile away from the Colorado River’s Horseshoe Bend — one of the most visited natural landmarks in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area — to Huntley LLC for $7 million specifies that the company intends to build a 1 gigawatt data center.
Residents have been pushing back and launched a petition earlier this year to stop the planned data center from being built.
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