By Joan von Kampen | Editor-in-chief
“I applaud the work of the commission and what's being presented here, but we have to be much more ambitious in what we propose here somewhere.” - Tom Briese, a member of the School Financing Review Commission, about the commission’s new recommendations to state lawmakers .
Former state Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, center, speaks at a meeting of Nebraska's School Financing Review Commission on Oct. 20, 2026, at the Nebraska Department of Education in Lincoln. At left is Tom Briese, a former state treasurer and former state senator from Albion. At right is Grant Latimer, a policy adviser to Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
EDUCATION
By Zach Wendling
Among recommendations to increase state funding for Nebraska’s 244 school districts was one adopted Tuesday to increase per-student aid by at least 4% annually.
A draft of the 16-page report from Nebraska’s School Financing Review Commission offers 18 recommendations, most of which would tweak the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act, known as TEEOSA. The formula distributes state aid to school districts statewide.
The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission listens to a representative of one of the commission's four licensed cultivators during a meeting on Oct. 19, 2026, at the State Office Building in Lincoln. Commissioners seated, from left: Bud Synhorst of Lincoln, Jim Elworth of Nebraska City, Lorelle Mueting of Gretna (interim chair) and former District Judge J. Michael Coffey of Omaha. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
HEALTH & GOVERNMENT
By Zach Wendling
Nebraska’s four licensed medical cannabis cultivators are pushing for changes to testing, fees and legal protections for healthcare providers as questions loom over when the fledgling program will provide for legal sales.
The Iowa Board of Regents on Oct. 20 2026, selected a permanent director for the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa. From left: Regents JC Risewick, Robert Cramer and Christine Hensley attend a regents meeting on April 24, 2025. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
EDUCATION
By Brooklyn Draisey, Iowa Capital Dispatch
Carson Holloway of the University of Nebraska at Omaha will become the director of the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa, opening a new chapter for the center amid conflict over its development.
Norm Crain displays an ear of corn and a beaker of 200 proof ethanol produced at the Adkins Energy ethanol production facility October 4, 2004 near Lena, Illinois. (Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
COMMENTARY
By Rob Owen
Nebraska has the ingredients to build a stronger bioeconomy. The opportunity now is to turn those assets into a focused strategy for growth.
Dan Osborn, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, sits at a conference room in Hyannis, Nebraska, on Oct. 15, 2026. Osborn met with three voters, including a local rancher who supports President Donald Trump. (Photo by Jonathan Shorman/States Newsroom)
D.C. BUREAU
By Jonathan Shorman
HYANNIS, Neb. — With 19 days until Election Day, Dan Osborn sat across from three skeptical voters in a conference room in this blink-and-you-miss-it rural Nebraska town.
Osborn, a bearded former union leader and Navy veteran, wants to become the first independent U.S. senator from Nebraska since World War II by defeating Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. The state’s top Democrats are backing Osborn’s bid rather than fielding a candidate.
But this is Trump country. President Donald Trump has never received less than 58% of the vote in Nebraska.
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