By Erin Bamer | Reporter
“We’ve never had this problem before … An email to our caseworker came back undeliverable. I’ve been calling. I get hung up on … I’m nervous.” - Josh Wigginton, about his struggles with state officials to reauthorize the family’s annual childcare subsidy.
Nebraskans cite frustration with time and communication barriers in seeking approval of a public childcare subsidy in Nebraska as the state says they focus on fraud prevention and protecting taxpayer dollars. (Photo by Sue Barr/Getty Images)
SOCIAL SERVICES
By Cindy Gonzalez
OMAHA — Josh Wigginton and his wife each went to work Friday. One dropped off daughter Nayeli at their childcare center, which transports the 7-year-old to school and back. The other parent picked her up after the work day.
It’s a longtime routine that nearly collapsed earlier in the week due to what Wigginton said was an unusually long delay by the state to reauthorize the family’s annual childcare subsidy.
The Unclaimed Property Division of the Nebraska State Treasurer is in Lincoln’s historic Haymarket District. Stored in secure area here are abandoned safe deposit boxes to be up for bid during a seven-day online auction on eBay starting Oct. 6. (Courtesy of Nebraska State Treasurer)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Cindy Gonzalez
LINCOLN — Stored in a secure spot in a Haymarket District satellite office of the Nebraska state treasurer are abandoned safe deposit boxes filled with items that once were treasures to someone.
Now the public will have a shot at buying pieces of unclaimed property ranging from a diamond ring, a 1961 Topps No. 2 Roger Maris baseball card and a 1934 $500 Federal Reserve note.
The U.S. Senate hearing room where former special counsel Jack Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 29, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
COMMENTARY
By George Ayoub, Joan von Kampen
Nebraskans will remember a few years ago when a state senator made the case on the floor of the Legislature during a debate about school behavior that students were calling themselves “furries,” dressing the part and requesting litter boxes in public school bathrooms. This, the story went, was the result of some fiendish phenomenon in which our children fancied themselves felines and Fidos.
Disability rights advocates rally at the Missouri State Capitol to protest the state’s participation in a lawsuit that began as an effort to block protections for transgender people but ended in a rollback of protections for people with disabilities. Missouri eventually withdrew from the suit, but five Republican-led states did not. (Photo by Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)
HEALTH
By Anna Claire Vollers
A court battle that began when conservative-led states sued to block protections for transgender people has ended in a rollback of protections for people with disabilities — a result disability advocates have feared for months.
Providers give emergency care to patients via telehealth at Dartmouth Health, based in Vermont and New Hampshire, which announced last month it would lay off 124 employees and cancel 303 positions. Nationwide, health care jobs continued to grow in September but at a lower pace as hospitals continued to seek financial stability. (Photo courtesy of Dartmouth Health)
LABOR & GROWTH
By Tim Henderson
Jobs across the United States rose by 29,000 in September, a disappointing result as recent growth was also revised down in Friday’s monthly jobs report, the last one before midterm elections.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
COMMENTARY
Nebraska must overhaul tax system to prosper | Steve Erdman
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Dan Osborn visits Red Cloud following audio leak | Juan Salinas II
Trump is coming to Nebraska to campaign for Ricketts | Juan Salinas II
Nebraska Examiner launches 2026 General Election Voter Guide | Zach Wendling
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