By Erin Bamer | Reporter
“The vitality of our state depends on the vitality of its university system … At a time of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, investing in the University of Nebraska is not just an investment in higher education, it’s an investment in Nebraska’s future.”- University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold, on the NU Board of Regents’ request for a $166 million increase in taxpayer dollars in the state’s next budget.
Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature John Arch, left, talks with former Speaker Jim Scheer of Norfolk. Scheer now serves on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. June 6, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
EDUCATION
By Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — The University of Nebraska Board of Regents unanimously approved a request to seek $166 million more in taxpayer dollars for the 2027-29 budget cycle.
Mid-Plains Community College in McCook. (Photo courtesy of the Nebraska Community College Association)
EDUCATION
By Erin Bamer
LINCOLN — The effects of Gov. Jim Pillen’s 5% spending reduction across all state agencies aren’t likely to hit Nebraska’s community colleges until mid-2027.
DHHS CEO Steve Corsi, left, and Drew Gonshorowski, the state agency’s Medicaid and Long-Term Care director during a news conference in July, 2025. (Photo by Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Cindy Gonzalez
LINCOLN — The director of the Nebraska program that oversees Medicaid and long-term care has resigned after less than two years in his position and as Nebraska became the first state to implement more aggressive work requirements for program participants.
Creighton University’s Magis Hall opened this week as the school’s latest development project helping to change the face of downtown Omaha. (Photo courtesy of Creighton University)
LABOR & GROWTH
By Cindy Gonzalez
OMAHA — A new $50 million Creighton University student residence hall opened this week, adding to the private university’s continued transformation of parts of Omaha’s urban core.
A new federal rule is ending Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming hormone therapies and procedures for young people. (Photo by Dana DiFilippo/New Jersey Monitor)
HEALTH
By Nada Hassanein
A new federal rule will end Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming hormone therapies and procedures for kids under age 18.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Tuesday a rule that prohibits state Medicaid plans from covering gender-affirming procedures for minors and using federal Medicaid dollars for such care.
Students walk across the University of Louisville campus. Kentucky is one of 17 states the Trump administration sued to block in-state tuition for students in the country without permanent legal immigration status. (Photo by McKenna Horsley/Kentucky Lantern)
D.C. BUREAU
By Shauneen Miranda
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has sued New York, Connecticut and Vermont over laws that allow immigrants in the country without permanent legal status to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they live.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Judge dismisses RNC lawsuit challenging Nebraska voter law | Zach Wendling
Lincoln leaders tout $17M youth volleyball complex headed to ballot | Cindy Gonzalez
Nonpartisan Mark Cohen certified for ballot in NE-03 race | Zach Wendling
COMMENTARY
OPINION: Belief, popularity differ from the truth | George Ayoub
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Thanks for reading Examiner Today. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.