“I get that you can turn the TV on any day of the week, and you can get upset by what you see, but I want to be judged on the things that I do. I want to be judged on the way I conduct myself, and I want to be judged on my bipartisan, commonsense results,” he said.

Throughout the night – amid frequent interruptions from an unruly crowd – Flood touted his work across the aisle. Specifically mentioned were housing efforts with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), AI deepfake restrictions with Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), and measures such as appropriations, the 21^st Century Road to Housing Act, and the Farm, Food and National Security Act.

“You sent me to Washington to fix problems, to work with people, and to do it the bipartisan way,” he said, “I am working to be bipartisan. I’m working to get you results.”

The event took place in Flood’s hometown of Norfolk at Norfolk Senior High School’s Johnny Carson Theater, where former State Sen. Chris Langemeier moderated live and write-in questions from constituents.

Raucous Crowd Started Early

While all in attendance rose for the Pledge of Allegiance and enjoyed a performance of “God Bless America” by Norfolk Senior High Students, the auditorium quickly settled into very distinct camps. The evening’s first shouts and boos erupted as Flood fielded the first live question from a constituent regarding the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

“I was presiding in the House of Representatives the day that bill was presented to the House, I not only voted for the bill, I declared the bill had passed. It was later sent to the Senate that evening, and it was approved. It was signed by the President,” he said.

The first applause followed a minute later as Flood addressed one of many questions relating to recently announced Department of Justice Anti-Weaponization Fund:

“This is less than a week old. I am going to be back in Washington on Tuesday – I will say this, though: I do not want one dollar of that going to anybody who physically assaulted police officers” he said.

The subsequent question on gas and fertilizer prices amid military engagement in Iran drew shouts of affirmation and anger from opposite aisles, Flood expressed his support for efforts to weaken the Iranian regime and talks of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Further questions ranged from the national debt to Nebraska’s progress in modular reactor construction, which produced chants of “tax the rich” beside accusations of lies and thuggery.

Flood spoke on cryptocurrencies, term limits, and immigration reform among many other issues, alternatively engaging and dismissing the many attendees who routinely interrupted him.

“I started the process in 2007 to build a college of nursing school in Norfolk. I went out personally and raised the private money to do it” he said when a Lincoln resident pressed him regarding healthcare, “So when talk about rural Nebraska, ma’am, I live here. I live in this town. I grew up in this town. I know the nurses’ names. I’ve helped get them educations.”

Flood tackled repeated questions about federal spending and budget deficits from faces he recognized from previous town halls.

“When I voted on cuts to spending last year, many of you, some of you in this room, were very upset with every single cut I voted for, but that is what you have to do” he said, drowning out a shout of protest from the back rows of the auditorium.

Marijuana Hot Topic at Town Hall

Though he went on to praise Nebraska’s balanced budget and champion the One Big Beautiful Bill’s elimination of $2 Trillion in federal spending – the latter of which earned simultaneous boos and cheers – the evening’s hottest topic was medical marijuana.

Flood, a longtime opponent of marijuana, answered five different constituents regarding the state and federal classifications of it and related cannabis products, which are broadly inaccessible despite their legality.

“I’m on the federal level, I’m not on the state level anymore,” he said, “I do not think expanding access to marijuana is in the long-term best interests of our country. That said, the state of Nebraska took this issue up, they voted, it’s the law, it should be carried out.”

The shouts of discontent, however, only escalated as Flood reiterated his wishes that the Nebraska law be upheld despite his personal opposition, escalating in an accusation that he wished to see medical cannabis patients die.

“It goes without saying, I do not want you to die” he said.

At the final rehashing of the cannabis debate, the room’s two sides descended into their only direct shouting match of the night, with Flood pausing briefly to hear what was being said before successfully tabling the issue.

Owing to federal ethics, Flood only declined to comment regarding campaign finance reform. The question gave specific attention to his own re-election bid which has garnered national attention with Democrat Christ Backemeyer and Independent Austin Ahlman running to unseat him.

“I’m standing here as a public official. The campaign is separate from the work I do as a public official, and I’m sure in the right setting we can go over that” he said.

And the fireworks from Norfolk are unlikely to settle before November, with another Flood town hall happening again soon.

“This is what I promised the people of the first district I would do when I ran for office. Last year I did three, this is the first of my town hall series this year,” he said, “These things are an experiment in democracy.”

Until then, the two crowds gathered at Johnny Carson Theater are left with Flood’s closing message to both.

“My results speak for themselves. I’m bipartisan, I use common sense,” he said, “we can have these continuing conversations, and as long as I’m in this role, I’ll do my best to represent you in Washington.”

— Lewis Thune is a writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Matt Johnson)

Governor Jim Pillen said the state was “on the right track” to continue to strengthen protections to make sure there was no more continued waste or abuse in the state’s payments for autism therapy.

“This has been — and still is — a problem, but my administration has worked hard to fix it and the data shows we are making progress,” Pillen said Tuesday in a post on social media. “Past legislatures tried to solve an autism treatment shortage by simply throwing money at the problem. When I took office in 2023 costs were skyrocketing. Out of state operators had sprung up and were taking advantage of the highest-in-America rates set by misguided legislators years before.”

Pillen said he had moved to fix the system before the discovery of high-profile cases of fraud in other states, like Minnesota. “The system was broken. I ordered it fixed. We had the courage and fortitude to bring rates down, even as special interests howled that treatment options would suffer.”

The governor’s remarks echo similar comments made by the Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Brian Hardin, who told The Plains Sentinel in March that other states should be looking to Nebraska as the model for how to fix their Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse issues.

Hardin’s comment were in response to Nebraska getting added with nine other states to an ongoing congressional investigation into Medicaid fraud. The investigation was triggered, in part, by a nearly 2000% increase since 2020 in spending on ABA services, which is therapy typically used for children with autism.

In 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services began tightening requirements in the program as costs rose in order to keep it sustainable. Pillen on Tuesday cited a New York Times article that showed Nebraska’s spending on autism therapy has leveled out since 2024, while other states like North Carolina, New York, and Oklahoma continue to rise.

The Trump administration in recent months has made cracking down on Medicaid fraud a top priority with Vice President JD Vance tasked with a “full-scale war on fraud.”

So far, the White House’s fraud task force has uncovered billions in alleged fraud and abuse as well as worked with federal prosecutors to charge individuals involved in major fraud schemes.

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Austin Ahlman Instagram)

Cindy Burbank, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, announced her endorsement of Independent candidate Austin Ahlman in his bid to unseat incumbent Congressman Mike Flood. Burbank said Tuesday she was “proud to support Austin because he truly understands the real struggles of families in Nebraska right now” and that he was not a “spoiler” candidate.

Burbank has stated publicly that she plans to drop her bid for the Senate in favor of Independent Dan Osborn against incumbent Senator Pete Ricketts.

The endorsement of Ahlman comes in defiance of her own party, as the Democratic Party has backed Osborn’s Independent Senate run but not Ahlman’s run in the First Congressional District. Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb responded to the news, saying it was “handing Mike Flood a gift.”

"The Nebraska Democratic Party supports Chris Backemeyer to defeat Mike Flood,” Kleeb said. “Chris also has the backbone to stand up to the extreme MAGA agenda.”

“Anyone jumping into this race this late to split the vote isn’t offering an alternative — they’re handing Mike Flood a gift. The united choice for change is Chris Backemeyer,” she added.

Ahlman has positioned his campaign as taking on both the Republican and Democratic establishments, criticizing both Flood and Backemeyer for their foreign policy and economic views.

Backemeyer has responded to criticism of his campaign by saying Ahlman was “someone who has never had to solve real-world problems.”

Ahlman said he launched his campaign after watching Backemeyer beat Eric Moyer, a renewable energy advocate. Backemeyer worked for former President Joe Biden’s State Department on Middle East issues. In an article from 2022, Ahlman said President Joe Biden’s decision to freeze money to Afghanistan was “tantamount to mass murder.”

Ahlman said Tuesday that Burbank’s endorsement was proof he had support from both Republicans and Democrats.

“The most supportive folks so far have actually been my Republican friends and neighbors who are sick of Mike Flood and want real change, so I’m really thrilled that we’re picking up support from anti-establishment Democrats as well who know the leaders of their own party have been failing too,” he said, adding, “I know this wasn’t easy for Cindy.”

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with comment from Austin Ahlman.

(Picture credits Matt Johnson)

OMAHA — For the past several years, Bill and Evonne Williams, through their nonprofit group Patriotic Productions, have held events honoring fallen service members. These include honor flights and a traveling display featuring profiles of American veterans who died in the service of their country since September 11, 2001.

This year, Patriotic Productions organized events over three separate days. Two of them—Friday, May 22, and Sunday, May 24—were intended to feature the world’s largest American flag (the “Super Flag”) at both Memorial Park in Omaha and the Sandhills Event Center in Lincoln. Rain on one day and high winds on the other forced the cancellation of the unfurlings.

“Scott Voorhees gave me this great line,” Bill Williams said Monday. “Mother Nature is undefeated.”

Many of the festivities continued despite the weather. Friday’s rain left some guests drenched, but once it passed, a giant rainbow stretched across Memorial Park.

“Oh, it was beautiful, wasn’t it?” Williams said. “We were disappointed, as most people are, that we don’t have the world’s largest American flag. But look at the turnout.”

Volunteers in golf carts shuttled guests from parking areas and nearby neighborhood streets. One volunteer was KFAB legend Gary Sadlemyer, who told The Plains Sentinel how he got involved.

“Bill Williams had been a friend for years, and they needed volunteers,” Sadlemyer said. “He asked me and I said, ‘Sure, all right.’”

Friday evening featured a drone show over the park along with musical performances by the quartet Grateful Heart, Bellevue guitarist Steve Spurgeon, and renowned Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, who headlined the event.

“It’s an unbelievable country and many of your ancestors came here and made a wonderful life,” Tynan said. “I’ve done the same and I can only thank the generosity of the American people and this great nation. It’s my honor to sing for you.”

The event also featured bipartisan local representation, including Republican Governor Jim Pillen, Senator Pete Ricketts, and Democratic Omaha Mayor John Ewing.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Pillen said.

Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn also attended, working the crowd with a campaign staffer.

On Memorial Day Monday, Patriotic Productions hosted a large pancake breakfast at Memorial Park, with 3,000 pancakes donated by Hy-Vee. Ricketts helped serve guests. Historic military vehicles were on display, along with a field of flags commemorating Americans who have died in wars since the nation’s founding.

At 9:45 a.m., three skydivers descended onto the south lawn via parachute. At 10:00 a.m., a procession of veterans wearing period uniforms marched across the lawn to the sound of Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” officially starting the ceremony. Several of these reenactors then took the stage, sharing the stories of the fallen soldiers they portrayed. Their terms of service spanned from the Revolutionary War through the Iraq War. The cousin of one soldier killed in Iraq spoke last, delivering a moving personal story about his family member.

While the commemoration continued, a small group of anti-war protesters, with a bullhorn, gathered on the Dodge Street overpass above the park to disrupt the service. One protester wore a T-shirt featuring a blue dot and blue wave design.

Several attendees from the memorial service went up to the bridge to confront them. Among them was Brinker Harding, candidate for Congress in District 2.

“I understand people have a right—a First Amendment right—but I would hope that they’d have a little respect for the program that’s going on,” Harding said afterward. “Someone’s telling their family story about someone who served.”

Arguments continued on the bridge.

“Somebody is speaking—and they’re honoring the fallen—and you’re interrupting,” one woman told a protester.

“I don’t want them to fall at all!” the protester replied.

The group was small—around half a dozen people total. One attendee eventually took the bullhorn from a woman using it and set it aside.

Patriotic Productions held a similar event in 2025 that was also met by protesters, though those demonstrators only held signs and did not use bullhorns.

While the protesters drew attention from some in the crowd and passing cars on Dodge Street, the main festivities continued largely uninterrupted. The disruption remained mostly background noise.

— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Matt Johnson)

OMAHA — U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn held a town hall in the tenth-floor ballroom of the Stockyard Exchange Building in Omaha on Thursday night, and unlike previous town hall events, this one was inexplicably closed to the press.

Osborn’s wife, Megan Osborn, said that she was specifically asked to be “gatekeeper” at the event in the lobby, citing the campaign manager as the reason. The Plains Sentinel asked if Osborn would be available for questions after the event.

“Just not from the press,” she said. “I’ve just been told by our campaign manager: no press tonight.”

There was no specific reason cited for the decision.

“I don’t know. I have no idea what’s going on. All I know is that I get to be the gatekeeper tonight.”

After the event, however, one guest on the inside provided The Plains Sentinel with an audio recording of the town hall.

Dividing Lines

In his stump speech, Osborn framed his campaign as one of the “working class” versus the “billionaires,” and he attributed his loss to Deb Fischer as the result of wealthy influence affecting the outcome.

“We ran one of the closest Senate races Nebraska has ever seen in 2024,” Osborn said. “We were tied in September before the millionaires and the huge corporations came in to rescue them [the Fischer campaign].”

And while much of his campaign messaging described closing the partisan divide between right and left, he told voters to line up in opposition to the wealthy.

“If you believe that billionaires, like Elon Musk, George Soros, or Pete Ricketts, should not be allowed to buy anything they want, including private islands for sex trafficking, and our elections, and our votes, then send them a message in cash and vote for me,” Osborn said.

Osborn Takes on Hot Button Issues

One guest asked Osborn about AIPAC and Israel. Osborn stated that he did not take AIPAC money and cited the need to overturn Citizens United. And while he described Israel as an “ally,” he was largely critical of the war in Gaza.

“No bomb or bullet that says ‘made in the USA’ should ever drop on a school or hospital, period,” Osborn said.

One guest asked Osborn if he thought the conflict was a genocide.

“I’m not an expert on what a genocide is. I see the pictures coming out of Gaza, and there’s nothing left. And they don’t let the press in there. They don’t let humanitarian aid in. They’re starving people to death. This is a human tragedy, and we should not be complicit in it.”

Another guest, who described herself as a mom with daughters, asked Osborn about a ballot initiative to establish constitutional protections for sex-separate athletics to ensure equal access to athletic opportunities for females.

“I would have to read the law, I’m not going to commit to signing a petition until I see the law written down on paper,” Osborn said.

The guest appeared to have a copy of the petition with her and offered to give it to Osborn.

“I’m not going to sit there and read that right now, but I will read it,” Osborn said. “And if the law is not rooted in hate, and the law is not rooted in discrimination, and the law is rooted in fairness, I’m all there.”

Another guest asked about ICE and Illegal Immigration. Osborn stated that he supported deportations for groups like MS-13, but he believed ICE could perform those duties at a fraction of their current budget.

“They performed that mission off of about $7 billion, and now they’re up to $80 billion,” Osborn said. “And now what we’re seeing is masked agents, thousands of them, being put in our streets. I don’t agree with that.”

Osborn also sees immigration as the solution to a labor shortage in the United States.

“The nice thing about it is, we need workers,” Osborn said. “There’s 50,000 open jobs. And we have an entire ranching industry that’s taking their licks right now with fires and with workers not showing up to work. So that’s certainly a problem.”

In the end, Osborn seemed to indicate that the pushback against illegal immigration was primarily driven by bigotry.

“We are all immigrants, unless you’re Indigenous. And so, yeah, I’m not going to put up with discrimination and hate, because people speak a different language, or they look different. They don’t fit the ideal image of what somebody thinks an American should look like. I think our diversity is our strength.”

The Race Ahead

Other questions involved the budget deficit, preferred committee assignments, and which party Osborn would caucus with. Osborn was about to take another question from one of two people who had their hands raised when Megan Osborn cut him off.

“That’s the last question,” she said.

The event was scheduled to run from 6 to 7:30 PM, but ended early after just six questions at seven o’clock.

No specific reason was given for the event being cut short. Around 40 guests were in attendance in the large tenth-floor ballroom, well below its capacity, which can seat hundreds of people.

The Plains Sentinel reached out to the Ricketts campaign for a response to the town hall and received the following from Max Oberg, Senate Deputy Campaign Manager:

“Last night, Dan Osborn refused entry to a Nebraska journalist in an attempt to hide his extreme liberal views from Nebraskans. He implied that Nebraska mothers concerned about men in their daughters’ locker rooms are motivated by ‘hate’ and advocated for open borders to fill American jobs. Once again, Dan Osborn plays an Independent on TV, but behind closed doors, he’s a liberal Democrat.”

The race between Pete Ricketts and Dan Osborn is shaping up to be one of Nebraska’s most competitive in years. Betting markets like Polymarket and Kalshi currently give Ricketts roughly a ~60% chance of winning over Osborn. The money tells a similar story, with Ricketts raising just shy of $5 million and Osborn raising almost $4 million, with each holding around $1 million cash on hand.

And with roughly 24 weeks left before the general election, Osborn has plenty of time to hold several more town halls—it remains to be seen whether the press will be invited.

— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Lewis Thune)

OMAHA — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner visited with Governor Jim Pillen and Omaha Mayor John Ewing on Thursday to highlight the promise of Opportunity Zones for impoverished communities.

The three men toured Omaha’s Highlander Accelerator Neighborhood, which sits within North Omaha’s federally designated Opportunity Zone.

“This is an amazing full-circle moment for me, having lived here as a child,” Ewing said.

Opportunity Zones, a creation of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, are low-income census tracts designated by state governors and certified by the Department of the Treasury.

“There’s 8,764 around our country, and the money that is invested inside of these opportunity zones are capital gains,” Turner said.

Capital gains invested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) enjoy deferred taxation, and QOF investments appreciate free of tax if held for 10 years. The QOF in turn, invests in business, housing, and revitalization within its designated Opportunity Zone.

Governor Pillen likened such community investments to those of Nebraska farmers.

“The day any farmer has ever bought a farm in the history of this state, the day they bought the farm, it made no sense – no economic sense. It takes 10 to 20 years before you could ever think about a return,” he said. “We need to put community investments together and not worry about the return for 10 or 20 years.”

Of particular concern was how to create affordable housing in and around these Opportunity Zones. Observing the Highlander Neighborhood’s 400 housing units, Secretary Turner stressed the importance of deregulation as detailed in HUD’s best regulatory practices.

“I’m encouraging all localities, states, and cities to take inventory of the regulatory environment. Regulatory environment cripples development,” he said.

In response to a question from The Plains Sentinel, Turner pointed to two Trump Administration initiatives to lower the cost to construct a single-family home.

“The International Energy Conservation Code — which is a final determination that was made during the Biden Administration — it said, if you do not comply with this code, then you won’t be able to build new single-family construction. Well, that was added up $31,000 per project, and so we rescinded that. We also took down the Affirmatively Further Fair Housing Rule, which made Washington a national zoning board” he said.

Ewing pointed to projects of Omaha’s Affordable Housing Task Force in the city’s efforts toward creating affordable housing units.

“We know there are more than one way to build a house. It doesn’t have to be a stick house, it can be SIPs panels, it can be pre-manufactured. We need to look at all of those types of things because they add quality housing to our inventory,” he said.

Pillen expressed encouragement at the bipartisan and cooperative efforts.

“We all three were singing out of the same hymnal. It doesn’t matter what color vest we’re wearing, we all want to make these incredible homes for our people” he said.

And with eyes toward the Highlander Accelerator, all three expressed their continuing optimism. Turner found Omaha’s Opportunity Zone exemplary:

“When you have the federal, the state, and a local working together, and you have mayors who are dialed in and want to be great partners, and the governor who’s leading with an entrepreneurial mind and a private business mind, this is a great example of what can happen!”

— Lewis Thune is a writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.

A bite from one of the ticks can leave a person with a lifelong allergy to red meat. The allergy is caused by the alpha-gal sugar molecule that is found in red meat like beef, pork, and venison, as well as the saliva of the lone star tick.

When a person is bitten by the tick and contracts alpha-gal, the immune system identifies the molecule as an invader, which then causes it to have a strong response when eating red meat that can range from mild to “life-threatening,” according to Jody Green, an entomologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

So far, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that up to half a million Americans have contracted AGS and with summer weather meaning more people outside, cases are expected to increase.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which started monitoring cases of the meat tick in January of 2025 told The Plains Sentinel they are aware of at least 33 recorded cases of AGS in the state since they began monitoring.

While the likelihood of getting AGS from the lone star tick increases in the spring and summer, DHHS said they have not been monitoring long enough to know whether AGS cases will continue to increase overall from last year. DHHS said that “presently, the largest populations of the Lone Star ticks are found in the eastern part of the state.”

Currently, there is no cure for AGS or a way for the spread of the lone star tick to be stopped, but researchers are working on therapies to lessen the impact of the disease.

The link between the red meat allergy and ticks was first discovered in 2002, but the spread of the lone star tick has greatly increased in the last decade. When first discovered, the lone star tick and AGS were mostly confined to the South, but cases of AGS have now been confirmed in at least 30 states.

In the meantime, Nebraskans can take precautions to limit the possibility of getting bitten by the tick.

“Reduce the number of ticks brought into the house by putting field clothes in a clothes dryer on high heat for 30 minutes,” Green recommends. “Regular, full body, tick checks on your person should be performed after coming in from the pastures. Lone star ticks are aggressive and will bite on the lower legs.”

The CDC also recommends using insect repellent or avoiding areas where you might come in contact with ticks.

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

(Headshot courtesy of Michael Dwyer)

Now in it’s 52nd year, National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week is an opportunity to celebrate the essential role that our Emergency Medical Responders (EMRs), Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), and Paramedics play in Nebraska’s communities and in the healthcare and public safety systems - daily. But what does “essential” actually mean?

Nebraska statute 38-1203 says “emergency medical care is a primary and essential health care service and that the presence of an adequately equipped ambulance and trained emergency care providers may be the difference between life and death”. In addition, EMS is required to respond by regulation and the assumption that when any citizen calls 911 and asks for medical assistance, EMS must respond.

In Nebraska, approximately every two minutes, someone calls 911 to ask for help with a medical emergency. For over half a century, an exceptional network of local Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers has admirably ensured that residents and visitors of Nebraska have access to high-quality, low-cost pre-hospital emergency medical care. In rural Nebraska, virtually all of those providers are volunteers.

Common sense, the public pulse, and 60 plus years of the 911 system would certainly say that if you, your family, or your friends have an injury, pain in your chest, difficulty getting your breath, or a change in cognition — you assume someone is coming to help – and in the vast majority of Nebraska that’s true!

However, from citizens to policy makers, most Nebraskans just don’t think about EMS until they really need it - in an emergency, when seconds matter, and lives hang in the balance. But what if you called 911 – and nobody showed up?

Everyone inside the EMS system, from doctors and nurses to paramedics, to flight services, to volunteer EMTs and EMRs in the smallest Nebraska towns, knows that EMS in Nebraska and around the nation is struggling with two fundamental issues: staffing and funding.

The health of EMS is more critical in rural and “frontier” areas because these areas lack the tax base to create their own funding and the breadth of population to draw recruits - paid or volunteer - into EMS. While Nebraskans understand EMS is essential, they have been much less willing to show that they will support it. The buzzword for this support is sustainability.

Until Nebraska embraces the significance, the value, and the cost of emergency medical services in rural Nebraska, every effort to put band-aids on this essential service will frustrate Nebraska responders, devalue rural Nebraska communities and continue to risk the lives of rural Nebraskans.

While there are no easy answers, there is a plan to support rural volunteers with a regional support framework that includes a broad range of clinicians, training, leadership, and technology – the current issue is funding.

Loosely defined, sustainability hopes to create a “transformational” system and find the funding to support it. The Nebraska Department of EMS, along with the Nebraska EMS Task Force, has recommended a regional, advanced life support system that would include 911 response to assist existing agencies, community paramedicine, and regional medical direction.

The hope is that with funding from the new Rural Health Transformation Program, the state will be able to provide “seed money” and leadership that will support and hopefully transform EMS. The challenge is that in order to receive any of that money, we must have a plan to sustain it!

The work to provide and sustain any EMS system is a process of convincing enough policymakers in Nebraska that EMS is essential and worthy of financial support.

The word for this is advocacy. Local EMS teams and I need the help of ordinary Nebraskans in helping advocate for a sustainable EMS system so we can continue to help serve Nebraskans now and into the future.

Micheal Dwyer is the retired President of Nebraska’s MDP Inc, served as a volunteer firefighter and EMT for 42 years, and is the Co-Chair of the Nebraska EMS Task Force.

We are excited to announce the addition of Lewis Thune as the newest member of The Plains Sentinel team. Lewis is joining us as a writing fellow this summer, where he will help with daily reporting, investigative work, and coverage of public meetings across the state.

Lewis is a Nebraska native and a magna cum laude graduate of Hillsdale College. At Hillsdale, he developed skills in print and broadcast journalism, serving as a Washington D.C. Correspondent and Assistant Opinions Editor for The Hillsdale Collegian.

During his time at college, he hosted a radio show, which was awarded 2026 Best Sportscast by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. Prior to his fellowship with The Plains Sentinel, he worked in arboriculture in Omaha and interned in the Washington, D.C. office of Senator Deb Fischer.

We look forward to sharing Lewis’s work this summer as The Plains Sentinel continues to grow and expand our coverage of Nebraska news, politics, and culture.

(Picture courtesy of the Attorney General’s Office)

Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced a new lawsuit with three other states against Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) over claims that they have promoted an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agenda with activist groups in a manner that undermined companies and investors.

“ISS sold Nebraska investors on the promise of objective, independent research. What they were actually getting was advocacy—coordinated with ESG activist organizations, untested against any financial standard, and driven by an ideological agenda that ISS never disclosed,” Hilgers said in a statement Wednesday. “Despite heavy criticism for promising objectivity and delivering ideology, ISS has refused to make any changes. But you cannot promise one thing and deliver another in Nebraska. We are taking action to put a stop to it.”

Texas, Iowa, and West Virginia all filed separate lawsuits against ISS on Wednesday, too. Hilgers said that ISS worked with “activist groups” like Climate Action 100+, Ceres, and The Children’s Investment Fund “without disclosing their influence to clients.”

A spokesperson with ISS responded to news of the lawsuit, saying the company believed the “allegations lack merit and will vigorously defend against them.”

ISS, the largest proxy advisor firm in the world, provides advice to institutional investors that can have a substantial impact on how companies are governed.

In the lawsuit, Hilgers claims, “ISS runs a parallel ESG consulting business, selling expensive services to the same companies it covers in its research reports. This is no different than a health inspector selling cleaning services on the side.”

“Instead of providing its clients objective and impartial investment advice, as advertised, ISS has provided and continues to provide advice tainted by ISS’ own ESG ideological considerations untethered to its clients’ best financial interests and prepared in close coordination with ESG activists,” the lawsuit adds.

ESG was first coined by the United Nations Global Compact in 2004, and its goal is to create metrics that measure a company’s social and economic impact. The concept has come under attack as critics say its a method to politicize business, particularly in a left-wing direction.

The lawsuit also details how ISS pushed DEI in its advice to investors “regardless of effect on the company’s bottom line and share price.” “ISS nowhere discloses to its advisory clients that its recommendations based on race and ethnicity violate civil rights laws,” the lawsuit said.

Hilgers said that ISS’s policies has had a direct impact in Nebraska, citing the company opposing Warren Buffett as a director of Berkshire Hathaway.

“ISS exerts outsized influence over corporate decisions in Nebraska and the United States, injecting anti-fiduciary activism into the performance of investments that everyday Nebraskans hold and often rely on for retirement and financial well-being,” he said. “The fact that they could provide a disfavored recommendation as to seating Warren Buffet as a director at Berkshire Hathaway reflects how far they went astray in pursuit of their climate ideology.”

In late 2025, Florida filed a similar lawsuit against ISS over claims they were “manipulating corporate governance.”

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

The group, Tax Relief Nebraska, boasts a total so far this year of $5.65 million in donations from the parent companies of out-of-state online sportsbook brands such as BetMGM, Draft Kings, and Fanatics. According to state financial filings, it has spent millions in the past few months on Omaha-based consultants and political strategists with a history of involvement in Nebraska GOP politics.

The Plains Sentinel reached out for comment to two such firms, Neilan Strategy Group and Flyover Strategies. Both directed their questions to an official with Tax Relief Nebraska to respond on their behalf.

“If they had to find volunteers to collect signatures, they’d never get it on the ballot, and they know it,” Pat Loontjer of Gambling With the Good Life told The Plains Sentinel. “Unfortunately, they’ve got millions to spend and they’re going to buy Nebraska.”

But while opponents like Loontjer concede the petition effort is likely to succeed, they vow to take the fight to the voters in the fall, even if they are outmatched financially.

“We are examining our options and will act later,” Loontjer said.

Another prominent critic of legal gaming, Nate Grasz of the Nebraska Family Alliance (NFA), likewise pledged to put up a fight at the ballot box.

“It’s unsurprising that the gambling industry has the money to buy its way onto the ballot. NFA is fully prepared to lead a ‘vote no’ campaign and will be urging voters across the state to reject the fraudulent online sports betting initiative, which is being funded entirely by predatory out-of-state gambling companies under the guise of property tax relief,” Grasz said in a statement to The Plains Sentinel.

“While we may not have as much money, the one thing we have that they can’t avoid is the truth. And the truth is that online sports betting has been a massive public policy failure that benefits the companies that run the games while imposing life-altering social and economic costs on families, children, and student athletes,” Grasz added.

Addressing criticisms of his group’s efforts, Jordan McGrain of Tax Relief Nebraska told The Plains Sentinel that “[t]he real crisis facing Nebraska is the growing property tax burden that is forcing families out of their homes, farms and ranches, and driving people to leave the state altogether.”

“Conservative estimates show that allowing mobile sports wagering would generate over $60 million in direct property tax relief to help alleviate the burden for all Nebraskans,” McGrain added, referring to a March 2026 analysis by a research firm specializing in analysis of trends in the gaming industry.

“[A] huge component of this is the money that will be generated for the property tax credit cash fund, and property taxes continue to be a significant issue around the state. It’s something that every voter talks about,” McGrain told The Plains Sentinel earlier this spring in a comment for a previous story on the campaign effort.

With regard to Loontjer’s complaint about paid petition takers, McGrain said it was fairly standard for ballot petition efforts to hire paid petition collectors as “ballot access in Nebraska requires significant time and resources, and it is extraordinarily difficult for volunteer-only petition initiatives to succeed.”

“Our initiative requires both a constitutional amendment and a statutory amendment, needing more than 200,000 valid signatures collectively to access the ballot,” he added.

“When our work is done, we will have collected hundreds of thousands of signatures from Nebraskans who support this issue. Nebraskans will put this on the ballot. Nebraskans will vote to approve, and Nebraskans will create and regulate the marketplace. That’s as grassroots as it gets,” McGrain said, addressing concerns that his group’s effort lacks genuine support from everyday Nebraskans.

But even if smartphone gambling proves a tempting sales pitch to voters hungry for tax relief, Grasz warns expanded gambling in Nebraska to smartphone apps would be incalculably costly to Nebraska families who find the house always wins.

“The massive increases in addiction, bankruptcy, underage gambling, and domestic violence that accompany online sports betting aren’t unforeseen side effects,” Grasz said. “They are the necessary components of an industry that relies on deception and exploitation. The privileged few who stand to profit from this initiative can choose to ignore the costs that online sports betting imposes on children, teens, and student-athletes, but parents and families cannot.”

— Ken Shepherd is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel. He is a former editor at Fox News Digital and the Washington Times.

The drought, which has lasted around a year, has helped fuel the historic devastation from wildfires across the state.

Fifteen miles north of the unincorporated town of Whitman, population ~200, lies the Phipps Ranch. Brett Phipps is a fifth-generation rancher, and on April 22, his ranchland started up in flames after lightning struck his property.

Phipps, who has gone through firefighting training, said he knew there were going to be fires the day they occurred because lightning was expected in the area, but he was caught off guard by how early the fires started.

“I was going to take a pickup and trailer to town, well, this is like 1 o’clock, and my lightning detector starts going off,” he said, noting that he hurried back to the ranch as fast as possible. “I forgot to shut the door on the pickup. That’s how much of a hurry I was in.”

The Phipps Fire, which Phipps said will likely get officially named the “Calf Creek Fire” when the government documentation is finished, burned up an estimated 1,700 acres of his land as well as parts of neighboring properties.

(Brett Phipps points towards the edge of his property where the fire damaged his land/Picture credits John Gage unless otherwise noted.)

Phipps has more professional gear to help battle wildfires than many of his neighbors, with a dedicated pickup for the job. Ranchers have what they call “rigs,” which are small mobile units with water tanks and hoses that can be put in the back of a pickup or an ATV.

Rigs get refilled at water tanks scattered throughout the ranch, where windmills continuously pump water up from the Ogallala Aquifer.

(Phipps’ pickup, which he uses to fight fires with. The pickup is optimally manned with three people — one driver, another in the back operating the rig, and a third up front making sure they don’t fall off a hill through the smoke.)

(Water tank refilled with water from the Ogallala Aquifer)

Phipps credits the help of his neighbors in keeping what was, relatively speaking for this year, a small fire from destroying his home and more of the surrounding community.

Whenever a fire occurs in the community, ranchers call the fire department, but they rely on quick responses from surrounding neighbors even more. Phipps said it takes the fire department at least an hour to reach his ranch.

When lightning is expected in an area, ranchers will perch themselves on top of a hill to observe the surrounding land. When the lightning strikes and smoke is observed, the first call goes to the fire department, but Phipps said each rancher has a list of neighbors they call through to have them join and help put out the fire.

Phipps said the urgency of the fire at his place meant he didn’t have much time to make calls. Instead, as he was pulling into his property, he pressed talk to text on his phone and hit send on a Facebook post with a call for help.

‘Dust Bowl’ Conditions Threaten Ranchers

The ongoing drought means that wildfire recovery is, for many ranchers, not even their top concern.

“We are two weeks away from many ranchers having to make some really tough decisions,” Matt Cover, a sixth-generation rancher and a first-generation landowner in Grant County, told The Plains Sentinel during a recent visit to his ranch.

Cover said the drought conditions in western Nebraska were causing ranchers to sell off some of their livestock, and if it continued, it could likely cause many ranchers to close their operations permanently.

“This year has really changed a lot of things,” he said. “Some of it’s from the fires, but the drought has caused way more [issues].”

“Until we get some relief, hopefully this weekend, guys will continue to liquidate cows, and if we don’t get anything here in the next two weeks, a lot of places in Nebraska are just kind of done for,” he added.

The drought conditions have put additional pressure on ranchers who are still trying to recover from the wildfires that ripped through their properties. Part of the Cover Ranch was hit by the Ashby fire that burned 36,000 acres starting on March 25 and was not contained until April 2.

(Part of the Cover Ranch where the wildfires ripped through)

The Ashby Fire was the third-largest fire in the state this year after the Morrill and Cottonwood Fires, which burned over a combined 750,000 acres. The Ashby Fire was only extinguished after circling back and eventually meeting at the same area where the Morrill Fire had already burned through days earlier.

“You pull into town, and it’s just this orange, red glow. And you are hearing cars explode,” Cover said, describing the Ashby Fire. “It was like a doomsday war zone, and you are wanting to slap yourself and say ‘Is this a nightmare?’”

(Pictures of the Morrill Fire courtesy of Sara Cover)

Off a road just south of the town, one can see where the Ashby Fire met up with the remains of the Morrill Fire. Counterintuitively, much of the area burned up looks green in the distance as grass sprouts up following the fire, whereas the grass that did not get burned remains brown with a deadened look from drought conditions.

(On a road south of the town of Ashby, where the Ashby Fire met up with the Morrill fire. The green hills in the distance are the new growth of grass following the fire.)

Cover said his family was luckier than many during the fire. In places where the fires burned hottest, ranchers’ grasslands have been reduced to looking like a desert. “The root systems are still there and in place, but the problem is when you open up these sand dunes to the wind that we’ve had this winter, and that sand gets blown out on top of these root systems and covers it up. It is impossible for those roots to grow grass through 2, 3 feet of sand,” he said.

Cover said the only solution was “time and moisture.” “We are at the mercy of God sending us moisture,” he added.

Cover’s wife, Sara, chimed in, saying it was the driest winter in the Sandhills in generations. She said even older ranchers have “never seen anything like this,” and that many ranchers were “still in shock” over the drought conditions and did not fully have a plan to deal with it.

“It feels like 1930,” Sara Cover said. “It feels like we are in the Dust Bowl.”

The lack of moisture means there’s very little for cattle to eat on many of the hills where they typically graze — Matt said many ranchers will need to move parts of their herd out of state if they want to keep them, or they will be forced to sell.

“It looks very bleak. There is little to no green grass,” he said. Later on a tour of his ranch, most of the hills were covered in brown grass except in the spots where the fire had ripped through. There, small green blades were just starting to poke through the sand.

Cover said that he won’t graze cattle on the burned-over parts of his land for a year, and for some ranchers, it might be at least two years.

(The hills brown in the background on the Cover Ranch are grass untouched by fire but dead-looking from lack of moisture, while the green is grass sprouting back in where the fire raged)

Fires Could Come Back at Any Moment

In the Sandhills, fire season is year-round, and vigilance is always necessary. “It’s anytime,” Phipps said, mentioning a fire last January that had occurred on Turner’s ranch despite there being snow on the ground.

The spring is usually the season when the Sandhills get the most rain. “It should be the time we are least worried about fires,” Matt Cover said, but because of the drought, fires could crop up at any time.

“Nobody has seen anything like this,” he said. “On the fire side for sure, let alone on the drought aspect as well.”

Matt recalled how the fires had made his family “paranoid” for a month as they were “constantly watching the horizon” to see if another fire started on their property.

“You’d wake up thinking you were smelling smoke,” Sara said, noting that one of their neighbors slept in his jeans for a month straight so he would be ready in case a new fire started.

As the drought lingers on, the Covers and ranchers across Nebraska are praying for rain so they don’t find themselves dealing with more fires this summer.

“If something started right now,” Matt said. “We could be in somewhat of the same situation.”

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Matt Johnson)

OMAHA — For several years, Bill and Evonne Williams have been finding ways to celebrate America and its veterans through their volunteer-driven nonprofit, Patriotic Productions. The group’s Memorial Day displays and ceremonies have featured historic reenactments and the “Remembering Our Fallen” traveling photo memorial—a “Wall of Honor” honoring Nebraskans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the past five years, the group has held an annual Patriotic Parade in downtown Omaha. The event began in 2021, shortly after a tumultuous year marked by riots and what co-founder Bill Williams described as a general lack of patriotism across the country.

“It was after the riots downtown, and much of the national media narrative was that America is a horrible, hateful, racist country,” Williams told The Plains Sentinel. “The vast majority of us don’t believe that. Most of us know how lucky we are to be Americans. We’re the most diverse, generous people in the world. But our children and grandchildren get the message that it’s a horrible place. So that’s why we started.”

The event has drawn notable special guests. Last year’s parade brought Pat Boone and Ann-Margret to Omaha; both cruised through the Old Market in a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

This coming Friday, the organization plans to unfurl the world’s largest American flag—the “Super Flag”—on the south lawn of Memorial Park in Omaha, in honor of America’s 250th anniversary.

“A year ago, we first heard about the Super Flag,” Williams said. “I thought, well, it’s the 250th, let’s make a big to-do out of it this year.”

The flag measures 250 feet by 505 feet and will require about 650 volunteers to help unfurl and raise it. Anyone interested in volunteering should arrive at Memorial Park at 6 p.m. Friday for training.

World-renowned Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will perform “God Bless America” as the flag is unfurled around 9 p.m., shortly after sunset, followed immediately by the National Anthem. The evening celebration will also feature a drone show with 400 red, white, and blue lights.

Williams hopes the moment will be captured in photos showing multiple generations participating.

“To me, that would be the money shot—generational,” he said. “Grandma, daughter, and grandchildren with their hands on the flag. Everybody should come: families, friends, grandparents. Bring your grandkids.”

On Memorial Day, the organization will host another event at Memorial Park. It will begin with a free pancake breakfast from Hy-Vee, followed by skydivers descending around 9:50 a.m. A procession of reenactors in chronological order—from the Revolutionary War to modern conflicts—will then walk across the lawn to the song “Fanfare for the Common Man,” marking the official opening.

Expected attendees include U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts, and Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen. Omaha mayor John Ewing has also been invited.

Above all, Williams hopes the annual events will inspire a sense of pride in America among the nation’s youth.

“The whole idea,” he said, “is to get these young families to come so their children understand how lucky they are to be Americans—and what the meaning of Decoration Day, which we now call Memorial Day, truly is.”

More information is available on the group’s official website, patrioticproductions.org.

— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.

“It’s just extraordinary the explosion of phone calls and allegations and emails and so forth that are pouring into my office,” Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley told Fox News Digital in an interview Saturday. “And as the media focuses on this more and more, it just makes the phone ring all the more, which is fine. We’re happy to receive those calls and try to filter through them and find out which ones are the most legitimate ones for us to pursue. But it’s clearly on the rise.”

Foley said that Nebraska fraud was not at “the scale of Minnesota, but we have our problems here in Nebraska as well.” The auditor said the waste, fraud, and abuse need to be fought by imposing consequences for those committing the abuse.

“There needs to be consequences when we find these kinds of abuses, and there are,” he said. “Many people are losing their jobs because they've abused the trust of having access to a credit card or other assets of the government, or there could be even further legal complications, infractions, and jail sentences even. We've put a number of people behind bars because of abuse and stealing of public funds.”

In Nebraska, one of the largest publicly reported complaints of waste was a 2000% increase in therapy services being used related to autism. The increase caused Nebraska to be included in a congressional investigation into alleged abuse of Medicaid funds.

State Sen. Brian Hardin, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, told The Plains Sentinel back in March that the only reasons the federal government knew there was any waste occurring were because he had worked with Governor Jim Pillen and the auditor to raise the alarm about abuse.

“Congress waved the flag because we told them about the waste,” he said. Hardin added that when it came to finding fraud, Nebraska was ahead of other states.

“Congress is asking stupid questions. They should be asking how these other states can be more like Nebraska.”

Pillen responded to the announcement of the congressional investigation, saying that he had already ordered an internal review of DHHS.

“When the widespread fraud under the Walz administration came to light, I immediately ordered my DHHS team to conduct an internal review to confirm that similar fraud is not happening here in Nebraska, and they did so,” Pillen said. “We have the safeguards in place to protect Nebraska taxpayers from the fraud that occurred under the Walz administration.”

Foley said he continues to look for fraud across all state agencies.

“I can cite so many examples of contractors that are over billing or double-billing the state, all kinds of state employee infractions of using state vehicles and state assets improperly, having contractors bill us for hours which we know they did not work, having state employees billed us for time served when we know that they were at a different place of employment, public school districts that are milking public school funds for all kinds of extravagances and so forth, but at the end of the day, the tone has to be set at the top.”

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

(Photo credit Matt Johnson)

Governor Jim Pillen called on the University of Nebraska College of Law to drop its “DEI rules” following an announcement by the American Bar Association (ABA) that it was moving to end a requirement for law schools to show a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

“Nebraskans expect—and I demand—that the law school will immediately clear out of its coursework, publications, curricula, and catalogs ALL ‘cross-cultural competence’ and related material implemented as a result of these now-obsolete (and always misguided) ABA rules,” Pillen said in a statement Sunday. “The weak excuse for this DEI creep within Nebraska’s flagship taxpayer-funded university law college no longer exists.”

The ABA had previously suspended its rule in February 2025 after the Trump administration began pushing back against DEI on college campuses. On Friday, the ABA council that deals with law school accreditation voted to end the rule permanently, although it likely will not be until next year when the change officially takes effect.

“Even though I personally agree with [the diversity and inclusion standard] and what it tries to achieve, I think it’s appropriate as an ​accrediting body that we eliminate that standard so we don’t inhibit the diversity of ideas out there in ​various types of legal education environments,” David Brennen, a council member and a former dean ⁠of the University of Kentucky College of Law, said.

Pillen said that the ABA had been acting like an “activist” organization by implementing the rule, which he said was “discriminatory.”

“The activist American Bar Association—which has long since outlived its credibility as an accrediting organization and has a shameful history of smearing constitutional conservatives, including here in Nebraska—has dropped the final remnant of its backward DEI rules for law schools,” he said, adding, “Good riddance.”

In 2017, the ABA received backlash from Nebraska’s elected leaders after it gave Steve Grasz, President Trump’s nominee to the Eighth Circuit, an unanimous “not qualified” rating for his “strongly held social views.”

Conservatives accused the ABA of targeting Grasz because of his work in defending Nebraska’s partial-birth abortion ban as the state’s chief deputy attorney general. The Senate went on to confirm Grasz to his current position as a federal judge on a 50-48 vote.

UNL Law Requires ‘Cross-Cultural’ Courses

The “DEI” rule by the ABA, passed in February 2022, is known as “standard 303(c)” and it required that “a law school shall provide education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism.”

UNL Law had several courses that fulfilled the requirement including Law 729: Civil Rights Litigation, Law 680: Employment Discrimination, and Law 629: Prison Law.

Pillen has been aggressive in his stance against DEI efforts in the University of Nebraska system. During his State of the State address this year, he promised to rid “DEI and CRT [critical race theory] from Nebraska’s higher ed system.”

“How destructive would it be if our great University of Nebraska followed the same path that so-called ‘elite’ coastal schools have, embracing pronoun culture, DEI discrimination, antisemitism, and radical critical race theory invasion into curriculum,” Pillen said in his speech. “Nebraska’s higher education system should be a model of true academic freedom, rigor, and race blindness. It should be governed by the same principles that have made this state great, and by doing so it will be a beacon to kids across the country who want to come to a place truly devoted to higher learning.”

The Plains Sentinel has reached out to the University of Nebraska College of Law for comment on the story.

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Austin Ahlman Instagram)

Just two days after Nebraska’s primary elections ended, a new candidate emerged to challenge both Mike Flood and Chris Backemeyer in Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District.

Austin Ahlman, a registered Independent, said he plans to file with the Secretary of State’s office right away to begin petitioning for the general-election ballot. He needs to gather 2,000 signatures by August 1. The Plains Sentinel spoke with Ahlman about his candidacy on Thursday.

“I have a big old family,” Ahlman said. “Most of them are Republicans, and they have all made it clear that they will march to every door in this district to get me on the ballot.”

Following his announcement, reaction from the left and right was swift, with many viewing Ahlman as a “spoiler” candidate. Nebraska Democratic Party state chair Jane Kleeb posted on Twitter: “Austin has no shot. He’s a spoiler. He’s not been involved at all in local or state politics. The real question is who is funding his campaign? This is a winnable seat this cycle and seems to have GOP fingerprints on it.”

A Flood spokesperson said Ahlman is “a far-left Elizabeth Warren donor” who is “trying to sabotage the campaign of a Kamala Harris advisor because the Democratic Party is in shambles.”

Ahlman pushed back against the criticism. “I think it’s a pretty unfortunate form of partisan politics meant to scare people,” he said. “I am taking on the establishment of both parties here. I get that. I didn’t think it was going to be easy. But the establishment is fighting back.”

In contrast, State Sen. Megan Hunt — who identifies as a progressive but is a registered Independent — posted on Twitter: “This is a campaign in Nebraska that I’m really excited about.” Ahlman received similar praise from dozens of mostly progressive journalists and media figures across the country, which helped his launch video go viral with nearly 2.5 million views.

Ahlman Takes on Populist Mantle

Ahlman described himself as a populist in the tradition of Nebraska’s Gilded Age populists, including Congressmen Omer Madison Kem and William A. McKeighan, as well as U.S. Senator William V. Allen.

“It was Nebraskans, first and foremost, that shattered the Gilded Age,” Ahlman said. “We sent independents of all kinds to Congress. And we scared both party establishments until they were forced to take our issues seriously again.”

His platform shares notable similarities with independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic Socialist — including Medicare for All, making billionaires pay their “fair share,” and breaking up monopolies.

Ahlman says he sees himself as an “anti-monopolist” and eschews the term “socialist,” democratic or otherwise.

“I am an anti-monopolist, first and foremost, and so I have a deep respect for markets,” Ahlman said. “And the thing that I have the most expertise in is how you distribute power to make sure that there’s not one actor that can dominate a market and get rid of competition and put on a form of corporate socialism.”

In the past, Ahlman has donated to left-leaning candidates like Elizabeth Warren. He has also donated to Republican Thomas Massie.

“I may not agree with him on everything, but he’s one of the only people in Congress that stands up for what he believes in and holds beliefs accountable, even if it’s going to put his own personal political standing at risk,” Ahlman said.

One reason Ahlman jumped into the race was his belief that neither Republicans nor Democrats gave voters a meaningful choice on issues like foreign wars, such as the current conflict in Iran.

“There is absolutely a big uniparty problem where it doesn’t matter who’s in office or who you pull the lever for,” Ahlman said. “Things are exactly the same, and somehow we just have another war that we have to go fight or somebody else’s war that we have to go pay for.”

Ahlman views corporate dollars and special interests as a major problem on both sides of the aisle. He said “Mike Flood has to go,” citing Flood’s reliance on corporate PACs and large donors. He also criticized the Democratic nominee in the 1st District.

“The current nominee, I tend to believe, parachuted in with a bunch of lobbyists and defense contractor money,” Ahlman said. “And he bought the primary.”

Ahlman was also critical of Denise Powell’s victory in District 2.

“I’d like to think I was pretty prescient when I saw how that race was going to go,” Ahlman said. “I watched a lot of things happen that led me to believe big money is going to win again. And damn it, this time, after everything that we have been through, I can’t let that happen again.”

During his time as a reporter as a journalist at the Intercept, a left-wing nonprofit news organization, Ahlman aimed much of his criticism at the Democratic establishment over its handling of Middle Eastern affairs, support from AIPAC, and ties to corporate money.

In an article from 2022, Ahlman said President Joe Biden’s decision to freeze money to Afghanistan was “tantamount to mass murder.” Later that year, Backemeyer joined the Biden State Department to work, in part, on Middle Eastern affairs.

Despite his criticisms, Ahlman says he plans to keep most his fire trained on the incumbent. “My Dem opponent, a former Biden-Trump DC State Department official, just described me as someone who’s ‘never had to solve real-world problems,’” Ahlman said. “I’m focused on my GOP opponent, but boy, I think I’m more in touch with the problems Nebraskans face than you’ll ever be.”

Path to Victory

To fund his own campaign, Ahlman has turned to family and associates from the legal world.

“I have called almost everybody on the plaintiff’s side in the monopoly world that I could find that’s willing to donate,” Ahlman said. “These are the people that sue the corporations for taking advantage of smaller firms and regular people.”

He launched his campaign with a $15,000 video produced by Omaha agency Creative Olsen and is using yard signs printed by Goldenrod Printing, a union print shop in Lincoln. Keeping the campaign local is central to his platform.

“All of that was cheaper, all of it was easier, and so you didn’t have to call a whole bunch of people for a whole bunch of money,” Ahlman said. “You’re taking a little bit of money from a lot of people who believe in you and putting it into the hands of Americans who actually live here.”

And instead of being a “spoiler,” Ahlman sees himself as a viable alternative when the two-party system doesn’t offer a real choice.

“I don’t know anybody that is not excited to have something to vote for and not against,” Ahlman said. “I am focused solely on demonstrating that I am viable and that I am fighting for people and that I am the choice that will actually give them something different for a change.”

— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Matt Johnson)

Headed into Tuesday night, Bob Evnen was the unquestionable favorite to win the GOP primary for Secretary of State, where he would, in all likelihood, go on to win a third term in office. But as votes started to roll in, things quickly took a turn towards challenger Scott Petersen.

Most political observers ahead of the primary predicted Petersen would put up a fight, but expected he would lose. It was only a matter of by how much.

As the first round of votes came in Tuesday evening, the early vote was nearly split, a result that appeared to surprise even Petersen, who told The Plains Sentinel he had expected his voters to be more likely to vote on Election Day than by early ballot.

Petersen has a 55-45% lead on Evnen, culminating in the biggest grassroots upset in the state since then-State Sen. Deb Fischer beat then-Attorney General Jon Bruning and State Treasurer Don Stenberg in the 2012 U.S. Senate GOP primary.

Evnen’s fall is more complicated than it might appear on first glance. Petersen ran a campaign focused almost entirely on election integrity, claiming the secretary of state did not do enough to secure Nebraska’s elections. GOP distrust of elections certainly played a leading role in Evnen’s loss, but political insiders say there are more reasons that added to his downfall.

Voter Fatigue, Grassroots Betrayal, a Better Ballot Name

On Wednesday, The Plains Sentinel spoke with a handful of Republican consultants and leaders to ask what they thought the major causes behind Evnen’s loss were. Most of the Republicans spoke on background so they would be able to speak candidly about Evnen.

A myriad of reasons were given for the secretary of state’s defeat, including voter fatigue. Evnen is the only statewide official going for a third term in a row for the same office.

Almost everyone said that Evnen did not take the race seriously enough. “Bob didn’t do any favors or help himself,” one GOP consultant said. “He did not take voter concerns seriously.”

Another consultant, Rod Edwards, agreed. “After 2020 when all of the election integrity concerns came up, justifiable or not, the feeling was he dismissed them,” he said. “And it’s been building ever since then.”

Multiple people pointed to the fact that they were not aware that the state had an Election Integrity Unit until Evnen sent out a press release the day before the election announcing the team was “on standby” in case any concerns or complaints arose.

Petersen ran a “boisterous” campaign, which included stunts like purchasing a new Trump sign for the “iconic” I-80 Trump Barn, that contrasted sharply with Evnen’s sometimes stiff and aloof presence on the campaign trail.

Still others said Evnen had been a boon to Democrats in the state, pointing to “incompetence” that had hurt Republicans and helped Democrats in high-profile fights. Among examples cited were mishandling of ballot access fights with Democrats and pushing for a “weak” voter ID law.

“He’s done everything to help the Democrats in his role,” one Republican leader noted, adding that Republicans voters had already expressed their dissatisfaction with his leadership four years ago when he only garnered 44% of the vote in a three-way primary.

Another point made by Republican insiders was that state leaders’ support for Evnen was “muted” as he had “angered everyone” in statewide or federal office at one point or another. Particularly noted was the way Evnen has used his office, including questions raised by Auditor Mike Foley over how the secretary of state was using a nonprofit and his frequent trade missions.

Well before the election, Republican leaders had privately questioned Evnen’s frequent trade missions and whether they were actually meant to benefit the state. The secretary of state’s “antics” made it less likely for Republican leaders to come to his defense even after it became clear that the race with Petersen was becoming closer than expected.

“Foley provided the death nail,” one Republican leader told The Plains Sentinel.

Perhaps the most unique reason given for Evnen’s loss was lack of name ID and the fact that “Petersen” is a better ballot name. “I think on its face Scott Petersen ran an aggressive campaign and deserves a lot of credit for that but I think a lot of credit goes for having a common last name,” Chris Peterson, who runs CP Strategies, said. “For better or worse, I’m not sure Bob Evnen had strong name recognition despite two terms in office.”

‘RINO Bacon’

Petersen supporters have their own theory as to why their candidate won. On Tuesday, grassroots supporters of the campaign mockingly thanked Congressman Don Bacon for supporting Evnen, calling him “RINO Bacon” and saying that it exposed the secretary of state as being a “RINO” himself. One prominent Petersen supporter, online activist “Beard Vet,” tweeted out “Don Bacon is finished” with a clown meme following the announcement that Petersen had won.

Throughout the end of the primary, Bacon had mixed it up with Petersen supporters online after accusing several of them, including former secretary of state candidate Robert Borer, of being antisemitic. Petersen distanced himself from his supporters’ comments and said that he’s never said an antisemitic thing in his life.

On Steve Bannon’s War Room show on Wednesday morning, Petersen attributed his win to a “true grassroots victory.” “I was plugged in, and I had one thing on my mind,” he said. “If we don’t fix our election systems, we are in danger of losing our country. And locally, there is a big group of people across our state who do not trust our election system.”

Petersen promised Bannon that if he wins in the general election, he will be “the true first Trump supporting candidate elected federally or statewide” in Nebraska.

General Election Looms

Petersen will face Democratic candidate Sarah Slattery in the general election. Slattery won the Democratic party nomination with over 90% of the vote against Lee Cimfel.

Slattery has run for office before, challenging Republican State Sen. Rob Clements for his legislative seat four years ago. Slattery lost 56-44% in the heavily Republican seat but raised a respectable $50,000 for her run.

So far, the Democratic candidate has only raised $10,000 in her bid to become the next secretary of state, but it is possible Democratic donors invest more into the race following Evnen’s loss.

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Matt Johnson)

OMAHA — Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson hit back at Omaha Mayor John Ewing for comments he made about his handling of crime in the city. Ewing had described the current sheriff’s office as an “occupying army” at an event last month endorsing Hanson’s opponent.

Hanson responded to the mayor’s comments on Monday while speaking to a group of Republicans and tied the words directly to recent acts of violence involving law enforcement officers.

“He actually referred to the men and women of DCSO as an occupying army,” Hanson said. “And less than 40 days later, I’ve had two deputies shot by armed individuals who refused to be taken into custody—armed individuals who would do harm to others.”

The first incident Hanson referred to involved a deputy who was shot, with the bullet lodging near the edge of his ballistic vest, while responding to a domestic disturbance on April 12 in the Irvington area. The second incident occurred on May 8 in South Omaha’s Brown Park neighborhood, where a Special Operations deputy was shot in the leg while trying to apprehend a wanted parole absconder who was armed and facing felony firearm charges.

While overall crime in Douglas County has gone down over the past year, some violent incidents have made headlines nationwide.

The Plains Sentinel asked Hanson about an incident on April 15, when a woman in the Walmart parking lot on 72nd Street stabbed a three-year-old boy. Body camera footage of the attack went viral online, sparking discussions about how to handle mentally ill individuals who may pose a danger to themselves or others.

Hanson tied these challenges to long-standing restrictions on mental health facilities.

“It’s made it very difficult and moved a lot of the acutely mentally ill into our jails, our prisons, and tent encampments,” Hanson said. “Nebraska is one of the faster-growing populations of homeless … I’m talking about the acutely mentally ill and drug-addicted living in these tent encampments out in our community. That’s what we’re seeing grow.”

Hanson noted that mental health also plays a major role in Omaha’s tent encampments and argued that society applies a troubling double standard based on age.

“If a 68-year-old grandma or 72-year-old grandpa was dealing with dementia and living in a tent encampment at 72nd and Hartman, we would not tolerate that,” Hanson said. “So why do we tolerate it for the 32-year-old meth-addicted bipolar schizophrenic? The only difference is age.”

Hanson also highlighted the growing problem of young people being radicalized online, including one local case involving a young man of color who was targeted by white supremacists in other states.

“A young man here in our community who was radicalized by white supremacists in other states to inflict violence on the Jewish community here locally,” Hanson said. “The most bizarre part of it is, the one that lived here was a young man of color—radicalized by white supremacist rhetoric on social media.”

One guest thanked Hanson for his office’s work protecting the Jewish community after witnessing anti-Semitic incidents.

“I want to personally say thank you to you, because our temples—they’ve been putting swastikas on the walls of our temples and giving bomb threats,” the guest said. “I want to say thank you to you and your group for protecting us.”

Hanson also addressed reckless street racing in Omaha. His office pursues violators aggressively—jailing offenders and impounding vehicles—while offering a legal alternative.

“When my CAT [Community Action Team] deputies approach them, we say, ‘Hey, don’t make poor choices. Here’s a free pass to I-29 Speedway. You can do the burnout pit. You can race to your heart’s content in a safe and legal way.’”

Hanson even joined the racers at the track himself.

“These kids, they were following me like goslings around the group,” Hanson said. “One of them goes, ‘Sheriff, do you want to do a burnout?’ I go, I’m not doing a burnout. ‘Sheriff, will you get in my passenger seat while I do a burnout?’ I go, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that.’”

Hanson will face off against his Democratic challenger Mark Martinez in the general election this fall. Hanson was first elected sheriff in 2022 by a slim margin, defeating Democrat Greg Gonzalez 50.1% to 49.5%. Now facing Martinez, Hanson has made his record of tough, no-nonsense law enforcement the central issue in the race.

“My opponent recently said on KETV that I take an aggressive stance against sex offenders. I throw them in jail before they can repeat their crimes,” Hanson said. “Apparently, some people running for sheriff think that you don’t have to lock guys like that up. … But when it comes to people committing crimes that put you or your innocent family members at risk, my tolerance level is zero.”

Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credits Matt Johnson)

OMAHA — The morning after Nebraska’s primary election, Build Nebraska—a PAC formed to boost Republican candidates in the Second Congressional District—hosted a unity event at its office in Omaha.

Attendees included County Attorney Don Kleine, congressional nominee Brinker Harding, candidate for state legislature Derek Schwartz, candidate for county commissioner Chris Chapplear, and Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s campaign manager, Cole Lumsden.

Harding secured the Republican nomination unchallenged after his sole opponent, Brett Lindstrom, dropped out in January. He emphasized the need to reach beyond the party base in CD-2.

“We need to make sure that we energize not only our base, but we need to energize those non-partisans and Democrats,” Harding said. “I’m running for District 2 of Nebraska. I’m not running for a little blue geometric shape—a blue dot—because that only represents a part of the second district.”

Former Congressman Hal Daub also spoke, warning Republicans against taking any race for granted this fall.

“We feel confident of Western Sarpy County. We feel confident of Saunders County. But not Douglas County,” he said. “I don’t think you should think that the Senate race is a slam dunk. I think we’ve got a tough race for the Senate. I think we’ve got a tough race for governor. These are not easy races anymore.”

Charles Herbster, in particular, warned that Democrats are targeting the governor’s race and the U.S. Senate race in both Nebraska and Iowa. The Plains Sentinel asked Herbster—who was long rumored to be considering a rematch against Gov. Jim Pillen—whether he had any advice for the governor’s reelection bid.

“He’s going to have to be willing to do some debates,” Herbster said. “You cannot hide in the basement, you can’t hide somewhere, you can’t not do a debate if you’re running for governor… because the voter wants to hear both of them present what their plan is if they get elected governor.”

Pillen did not participate in a full debate in his 2022 run for governor, calling them “political theater.”

During his unity speech, Herbster took a swipe at Evnen in the form of advice to winning candidates, saying that voters “didn’t trust him” following the secretary of state’s loss on Tuesday evening.

“People will not give you money, people will not do business with you, they’ll not vote for you if they don’t trust you, number one, and they don’t like you. There was a race in Nebraska last night, a person without mentioning names who was in office, who got beat last night, at the state level. You know why? They didn’t trust him, and they didn’t like him. We’ve got to remember that.”

Herbster stressed that pocketbook issues will be the biggest challenge for Republicans in the midterms, though he expressed optimism that President Trump’s ongoing trade negotiations with China could deliver economic benefits.

He also urged Republicans to find common ground, pointing to the relationship between President Ronald Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill as a model.

“Tip O’Neill would say this almost every week,” Herbster recalled. “‘Mr. President, we know there are certain issues that we don’t agree on. But let’s not waste our time talking about those, because 80% of the issues we can come together on. Let’s work on the 80%.’”

Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.

(Picture credit Matt Johnson)

Secretary of State Bob Evnen is weighing options on whether he will plan to keep Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Cindy Burbank on the ballot if she demands to have her name taken off for the general election. Burbank beat out alleged “plant” candidate William Forbes on Tuesday, receiving nearly 90% of the Democratic vote.

Burbank has stated publicly that once she wins the Democratic primary, she plans to drop her name from the ballot. Evnen says he might not honor the request, though.

“I’m going to wait and see if she wins that primary,” Evnen said at an event in Omaha ahead of the primary elections. “If she submits a withdrawal, then I’m going to ask, ‘Well, what is my obligation with respect to this now? Do I have to accept it?’ So I’ve submitted this question to the Attorney General to see what happens.”

The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment for the story.

The Tuesday primary election marks the end of what some national observers have dubbed the “weirdest race” in America, between the matchup between Burbank and Forbes as well as the Legal Marijuana NOW party race, which featured a second candidate accused of being a “plant.”

Ahead of the Democratic primary, Burbank campaigned against Forbes on a promise to drop out of the general election race in order for Democratic support to coalesce behind Independent candidate Dan Osborn in his race against incumbent Republican Senator Pete Ricketts.

“I don’t wanna split the ballot,” Burbank told The New York Times after her win. “I have no expectations of being able to win in November.”

Any attempt by Evnen to keep Burbank on the ballot will likely lead to litigation, which would mark the second lawsuit between the pair after Evnen initially removed Burbank from the primary ballot arguing she was not a “good-faith” candidate.

“We get our nose rubbed in this. I don't think I have to ignore this,” Evnen said in March about why he took Burbank off the ballot. “And I'm just talking about the law right now. Just the law. The one thing that guides me is the law. And so I said, well I have the authority. The Secretary of State has the authority, even though the objection was late and was denied, has the authority to keep this person off the ballot because she has declared that she's going to violate the oath.”

The Nebraska Supreme Court eventually ordered Evnen to put Burbank back on the ballot, saying the compliant with the Secretary of State’s Office had missed a seven day deadline to challenge her candidacy.

The Plains Sentinel has reached out to Burbank for comment on the story.

John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.