By Aaron Sanderford | Editor-in-chief
“There are people I’ve run into who don’t even realize the war is still going on.” - Former State Sen. Tom Brewer, who is organizing another Ukraine trip.
Supporters of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people gather outside the Nebraska State Capitol every Saturday to honor Ukraine in its continue resistance to Russian invasion, including on Feb. 28, 2026, marking the four-year mark of the war. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — A former Nebraska state lawmaker and U.S. Army veteran hopes his ninth trip to Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion next week keeps a spotlight on what he fears has become a “forgotten war.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska speaks at a Ukrainian Appreciation Dinner hosted by the House of Prayer in north Lincoln. Nov. 7, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — One Nebraska congressman is helping force a vote on additional Ukrainian aid and Russian sanctions. Retiring U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., is one of just two Republicans signed on to a “discharge petition” for the “Ukraine Support Act.”
The need for rural broadband is nearly universal, though the decision of whether to lay fiber optic cable like this or to connect people in rural places wirelessly or by satellite stirs debate. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
ICYMI
By Erin Bamer
LINCOLN — As Nebraska establishes its first broadband connections through the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, the future of more than $300 million in allocated-but-unspent funds remains up in the air.
A wave of book bans have hit school libraries in the last few years. (Getty Images)
COMMENTARY
By George Ayoub
When author Alex Haley’s “Roots: The Saga of an American Family” became part of the American psyche in 1976, first as a best selling book, then as a miniseries, it sent scores of Black Americans in search of their own family’s genealogical history.
Community members protest ahead of a special Box Elder County Commission meeting to discuss the Stratos project, a massive data center proposed for an unincorporated area in Box Elder County, Utah, on May 4, 2026. (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch)
TECHNOLOGY
By David Lightman
WASHINGTON — The future of data centers and their huge appetite for electricity is quickly escalating as a political flashpoint from coast to coast, moving from cities and states now to the nation’s capital.
A man gets a checkup at the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit mobile clinic parked at the City Heritage Park in Parlier, Calif., on May 16, 2025. California is one of five states plus the District of Columbia that have scaled back state-funded healthcare coverage in response to Medicaid cuts and the expiration of subsidies. (Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)
HEALTH
By Shalina Chatlani
Budget constraints are forcing liberal-leaning states that spend their own money on healthcare for noncitizens to scale back that aid, as they grapple with federal Medicaid cuts and the expiration of federal subsidies that helped people buy Obamacare plans.
Private equity firms own nearly 3 million apartment units, about 13% of the total apartments across the country, according to a new analysis. (Robbie Sequeira/Stateline)
HOUSING
By Robbie Sequeira
Private equity firms own nearly 3 million apartment units, about 13% of the total apartments across the country, according to a new analysis from watchdog group Private Equity Stakeholder Project. And most have been fairly recent purchases.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
House ethanol bill faces uncertain Senate path | By David Lightman
Trust backers sue state over funds | By Paul Hammel
HUD Secretary visits Nebraska | By Cindy Gonzalez
COMMENTARY
OPINION: Truthful adults good for kids | By George Ayoub
EDITOR'S CHOICE
How did Powell beat NE-02 dynasty | Juan Salinas II
Leaders tout Malcolm X birthsite | By Cindy Gonzalez
Petersen wins GOP primary | By Erin Bamer
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