On Election Night 2022, some of the smallest towns in our state will go to the ballot box and decide whether to ban abortion within their city limits.
The national debate over abortion, a debate roiling in both Washington D.C. and Lincoln, has come to Nebraska towns of 900, 600, even 300 residents. The push to get abortion bans on local ballots is stage-directed by an East Texas minister and cheered by locals — including Democrats living in these places — who think that, if they ban abortion in their hometowns, they may help ban it in Nebraska, too.
But legal experts say the local abortion bans are largely unenforceable. And opponents — including Republicans living in these places — worry that the ordinances’ language may criminalize the act of driving someone to a faraway abortion clinic, or even donating to a pro-abortion group like Planned Parenthood.
No need to sell your plasma: College kids have always been poor. This includes college athletes, despite the fact that big-time college football and basketball players help rake in untold millions annually for their schools.
My, how times have changed. Now, big-time college athletes don’t have to eat package ramen. Now, they can make NIL deals — that’s name, image and likeness — and eat filet mignon instead.
Our trusty correspondent Mike’l Severe is back with his second-ever Flatwater Free Conversation, this one with former Husker Blake Lawrence, who used to be a linebacker and is now one of the foremost businessmen in the college NIL game.
Watch Severe’s interview read the transcript of his conversation with Lawrence here.
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OK I’m outta here, because I’m going golfing at Landmand.
See you next week,
—Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Every week we like to share great Nebraska journalism, no matter who made it. Here’s what caught our eye this week:
- What a difference a few days can make in politics. Just a few short days ago, Omaha was tearing out its only protected bike lane, making it one of the biggest cities in America without one. And now, after a serious outcry, a planned protest and the entrance of an anonymous donor…that bike lane is sticking around for years, and maybe forever. Here’s the Omaha World-Herald’s Luna Stephens with the story on Mayor Stothert’s change of heart.
- It’s dry in Nebraska. Really, really, really dry. And it’s affecting the livelihoods and lives of farmers and ranchers across the state. UNL journalism professor Barney McCoy reports for Nebraska Public Media on one of the worst droughts in recent history.
- Lincoln Police think Lincoln Police may have problems. An independent review — which comes on the heels of a number of high-profile resignations — found that the city’s force has too few officers, and dissension among them. Nearly half the women in the department who responded to a survey said they had been harassed or discriminated. Others said the department gave preferential treatment to women. There’s a lot to unpack here. The Lincoln Journal Star and Nebraska Public Media dig into the report. Both let you see the report for yourself, if you’re into that sort of thing.
