Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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I am Eric Kamler, your Commissioner for the 4th District of the Nebraska Public Service Commission, covering 31 counties of Nebraska. The Nebraska Public Service Commission is a five-member elected statewide board that oversees several industries affecting everyday lives, including broadband internet and telecommunications, the 911 network contract, oil and natural gas pipeline routes and regulation, railroad lines, commercial grain storage licensing, commercial ground transportation licensing...
Arthur Miller wrote, “A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.” I like the idea of conversation generating from the newspaper, especially from items on this page. In college, my journalism prof, Sharon Behl Brooks, stressed how editorial (or commentary or opinion ... whatever label you pin on it) presents a point of view, sparks discussion and, at its core, prompts critical thinking. The editorial page of the Advocate-Messenger does that and presents a wide range of thoughts. On the com...
Many small businesses start as bootstrapped, one-person operations: just you, your idea, and a whole lot of hustle. But as your business grows, so do your responsibilities and risks. You might begin taking on bigger projects, handling more income, or working with contractors and vendors. Once you reach this point, it may be time to consider formalizing your business. Forming a limited liability company, or LLC, is one of the most popular ways to do it. An LLC is the most common business structure among business owners with fewer than 10 employe...
This is probably speaking to the choir because if you're reading this, you already believe that maintaining a healthy media – with fact-checking editors instead of conspiracy spreading folks in pajama pants – is really important. It's even more important now because there's so much misinformation out there, and so much wrong information, mostly spread on social media. Recently, Congress – including every member of the Nebraska delegation – voted to claw back $1.1 billion in allocations over tw...
While reading Paul Hammel’s “All Things Nebraska” column, I had to chuckle — and wonder how many of us spent our youth detasseling corn. Hand raised, even if only for two summers. If you’ve ever walked those long rows, ripping tassels out, you know about corn sweat. That suffocating heat made early mornings rough. Add a layer of center pivot water, and you’ve got the perfect mix of hot and humid. Detasseling meant climbing on a school bus before sunrise, long-sleeved shirts soaked in dew, and...
We appear to be done bombing Iran, and to be back to helping Ukraine repeal invaders from Russia. Plus, it looks like the trade war we started is going to raise our cost of buying coffee from Brazil and beer from Mexico. Great, huh? So maybe it's time to talk about something really important – corn sweat. We're entering the peak of corn sweat season, when the thick, green fields of corn that blanket eastern and central Nebraska start to emit their highest levels of moisture. It's called "evapotr...
Slow down, summer! Let us enjoy the prolonged days and light. Give us time to relax with family and friends. Stop being in a hurry for hectic schedules, hourly activities, and crisp mornings. Instead, let us linger in the sun’s glow. Let us sip lemonade or sun-kissed tea. Let us survive on BLTs and sweet corn. Let us have a chance to catch our collective breath and simply be. Soon enough, we’ll retreat to the comforts of cozy. Soon enough, light will loosen its grip and slip away for a few mon...
Today, agriculture, food, and related trades employ more than one in 10 American workers and contribute over $1.5 trillion to our annual Gross Domestic Product. In Nebraska, one in four jobs are related to agriculture. According to the latest data from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, our state is ranked first in total beef exports, second in ethanol production, and fifth in overall agricultural exports among the 50 states. We live in a time when agriculture security is emerging as a key...
Well, it's that time of year – when the corn is rising in the fields, the calves are fattening on the pastures, and politicians aplenty are announcing their candidacy for elected office. Those announcements seem to come earlier than ever, as do the negative campaign ads. The next election is the primary in 2026, about a year away. But unfortunately, it's not too early to send out some mud-slinging ads condemning so-and-so for doing something horrible, like once traveling to China, or having s...
It’s been a day. A Monday. A rainy Monday. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down. (Shoutout to The Carpenters. We sang that song in high school choir. Yes, I’m showing my age—and proud of it.) When the flood alert for Grove Lake popped up, my first thought was to grab my camera and head for Royal. But as hail—small, sharp—tapped the tall office windows, I reconsidered. Maybe it was time to head home. Instead, I took a detour around the north side of town to document the high water. Ju...
There's some good news and plenty of bad news for Nebraska's rural hospitals. Just recently, state officials cheered the announcement that the federal government had approved the state's application to join a program, already involving 44 other states, that would provide an additional $1 billion to the state's hospitals and nursing facilities. But, at the same time, there's concern that President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" will severely cut the federal funding for Medicaid, which is a major...
As the recent stench of war grew stronger, I noticed once again how much we love our machines, be they bunker-busting or surgical, life-saving or high-earning, analog, digital or artificially intelligent. But what happens when our doodads and thingamajigs act human … you know … err? To wit: Last week in this space, the modern marvel autocorrect changed one letter in one word (“defund” to “defend”) in one sentence, in one paragraph of an entire 750-word commentary. The “correction” altered the en...
It’s my favorite time of the year: Pie, sky, and Fourth of July. Give me fireworks and freedom, summer nights chasing lightning bugs and watching the sun sink against a watercolor sky. Give me a sticky cherry popsicle to ease the heat while sitting on the steps of my childhood home, basking in the afternoon sun. Give me family get-togethers in the back yard, where Grandma’s potato salad and fried chicken are the main attraction, and an outstretched plethora of salads and sides provides a fea...
These days, besides seeing American bombers attacking Iran, we're confronted with almost daily news about immigration raids and with court rulings about what ICE can, and cannot, do. We've been treated to the arrest of man whose three sons are U.S. Marines, and of sobbing mothers, wondering who will take care of their kids. One recent ruling allowed the U.S. to deport undocumented people to "third countries," meaning that someone who came from Guatemala might be deported to South Sudan, a...
I’ve been reading a lot lately about the state of newspapers, not only locally, but across the country. While some outlets believe newspapers are dying, studies would indicate that’s simply not true. We may be rebranding ourselves, trying to report in different ways to varying demographics, but quality local news continues to be the best bang for your buck. Remember I said that because, in the next several weeks, we’re going to be talking about that buck. I’ve heard some rumblings lately...
Back in the day, I used to shake my head while watching state lawmakers work late into the night – sometimes till midnight – to get legislation passed at the end of a session. "You couldn't pay me enough to do that kind of work for 12- to 15 hours," I'd think to myself. Actually, the pay for state senators is $12,000-a-year, plus some per-diems for expenses and (as they say around Lincoln) "all you can eat and drink." The salary hasn't changed since 1988. It takes some patience and end...
Cryptocurrency kiosks – also known as crypto ATMs – are proliferating nationwide. You see them in convenience stores, gas stations, shopping centers, and other high-traffic locations. At last check, there were nearly 200 crypto ATMs in Nebraska alone. While these machines offer a legitimate and convenient way to buy cryptocurrency, they are also a favored tool of scammers. Consumer losses tied to scams using crypto ATMs increased nearly tenfold from 2020 to 2023, and topped $65 million in jus...
The Legislature has officially entered an interim period between the first and second regular sessions of the 109th Legislature. The interim provides time for senators and their staff to begin preparing for the next regular session, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. Yet, Senators also remain busy with interim studies to research topics of interest in hopes of bringing stakeholders to the table. This year, I introduced three interim studies: LR178, LR179, and LR180. LR178...
Damn you, Aaron Watson. I almost made it through Father’s Day without shedding a tear. Then you pop up on my TikTok and Facebook feeds - within a few minutes - with a sappy song that transports me back to my childhood, a track on one of the first albums I ever purchased with my own hard-earned money, and makes me think about simpler times. Watson’s Father’s Day post features the melodic notions of David Gates, part of the 70s group, Bread. Watson claims, and is backed up by ameri...
State lawmakers went home recently, ending a 90-day session marked by reductions in spending and borrowing from cash reserves to close a projected budget gap that once topped $400 million. Hard to believe that just a couple of years ago, the state was sitting on a huge surplus of cash. It was enough to set legislators dreaming big dreams, like digging a massive lake between Omaha and Lincoln and financing new marinas and other tourism amenities. But that was then and this is now, and the...
This week, my family has been buzzing with excitement for our first trip to the College World Series in Omaha. With our new home-state Huskers out, we threw our support behind our previous home state team, the LSU Tigers, hoping they'd be playing in the game for which we had tickets. Early one morning before I had finished my first coffee, my wife, surprised at our luck, told me she saw online that LSU would indeed be in that game. Eager to confirm and view the bracket, I went straight to...
This week, I would like to outline my legislative accomplishments for this year. Bills passed this session include 13 of the 15 bills that I introduced in January. My legislation that made it across to the governor’s desk includes: LB7, which updates legislation I passed last year, LB1301, the Foreign-owned Real Estate National Security Act. LB7 clarifies that (1) Native American tribes are not foreign governments and are not barred from purchasing and owning real property in the state, (2) upda...
K, ru an abbrevi8or? Or, do you tend to write text messages in complete sentences? Nine times out of ten, I fall into category 2. Occasionally, I’ll send a ‘K’ response, type a ‘U’ instead of “you,” and, if I use voice text, who knows how it will turn out. A study published in the Nov. 14 Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 99.3% of texters use abbreviations that they believe save time. Yet, recent studies by David Fang, Sam Maglio and Yiran Zhang report that abbreviation use in commun...
The 109th Legislature’s first session has adjourned sine die. As of the day of adjournment, the Legislature had passed 175 bills, excluding “A” bills, and one proposed constitutional amendment. Without going into my legislative accomplishments (that I will address in next week’s newsletter), I’d like to deviate from my normal newsletters and just provide my own personal assessment of how the Legislature did this session. In my mind, there were three major successes and one disappoin...
Despite record-high wind and solar generation, the U.S. renewable energy sector faces uncertainty. Tariffs and potential repeals of federal funding are creating roadblocks to the further buildout of energy projects. Wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects have helped revitalize rural communities by creating jobs, generating new tax revenues, and providing lease payments to landowners. However, energy projects rely on globally sourced components due to the U.S. supply chain's inability...
