By Erin Bamer | Reporter
“I am so excited to bring his expertise, energy, intentionality and relationships to one of my key priorities, economic development,” Omaha Mayor John Ewing said of Javier Saldaña’s hiring.
Javier Saldaña Jr., at the time representing the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, signs the final beam of a OneWorld Community Health Centers training center that’s under construction in South Omaha. The facility is funded in part with a $9.5 million award from the North and South Omaha Recovery Grant program that Saldaña guided as part of his DED responsibilities. (Courtesy of OneWorld)
LABOR & GROWTH
By Cindy Gonzalez
OMAHA — A key manager of a Nebraska program that’s investing multimillions into historically disadvantaged North and South Omaha neighborhoods has left state government to join the administration of Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr.
Supporters of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people gather outside the Nebraska State Capitol every Saturday to honor the homeland in its continued resistance to Russian invasion, including this weekend on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, marking the four-year mark of the war. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
PUBLIC SAFETY
By Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — The U.S. House of Representatives, in a bipartisan way Thursday, passed the first major aid package to Ukraine under President Donald Trump since he returned to the White House.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen. Dec. 27, 2023. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has directed the state’s largest agency to seek federal approval to temporarily waive new Medicaid work requirements in Dawson County.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen in December announced that Nebraska would be the first state in the country to start implementing new federal work requirements for Medicaid health insurance recipients. The launch is Friday, May 1. Pillen appeared with a virtual Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
ICYMI
By Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — Nebraska became the first state to implement new federally mandated work requirements for Medicaid recipients in May, and the federal government this week released a first look at what all states would need to follow by Jan. 1.
Montanans stand in line to register to vote at the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller/Daily Montanan)
D.C. BUREAU
By Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Senate rejected the SAVE America Act on Thursday, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose voting restrictions ahead of the November midterm elections.
A federal judge on June 5, 2026, struck down several Trump administration policies that halted processing for asylum-seekers following a shooting in Washington, D.C. of two members of the National Guard deployed to the nation’s capital. In this photo, tourists pass by members of the guard stationed outside Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 18, 2025. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)
D.C. BUREAU
By Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Rhode Island Friday struck down several Trump administration policies that halted processing for asylum seekers following a shooting in Washington, D.C., that left one West Virginia National Guard member dead and another seriously injured.
A volunteer records details about a person experiencing homelessness in Salt Lake City on Jan. 30, 2026. There was a slight year-over-year decline in homelessness between 2024 and 2025, according to new federal data. (Photo by Aline Walker for the Utah News Dispatch)
HOUSING
By Robbie Sequeira
There were fewer homeless people in the United States on a single night in January 2025 than in January 2024, but homelessness increased in 28 states, according to the latest federal count.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
GOP-leaning petitions seek to change Lincoln elections | Zach Wendling
Pillen boosts private energy help in public power state | By Erin Bamer
Powell-Harding NE-02 race joins DCCC program | By Juan Salinas II
COMMENTARY
OPINION: Good on those calling bad ideas bad | By George Ayoub
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Passengers facing hantavirus risk head home | By Aaron Sanderford
Deb Fischer seeks more fiber in Nebraska broadband diet | By Erin Bamer
U.S. Rep. Mike Flood is still doing town halls. Why? | By Juan Salinas II
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