Martha Stoddard
- Bio
Martha Stoddard keeps legislators honest from The World-Herald's Lincoln bureau, where she covers news from the State Capitol. Follow her on Twitter @StoddardOWH. Phone: 402-473-9583.
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Ricketts again asked people to keep their Thanksgiving gatherings small, and added a new precaution: stay out of the bars on Wednesday evening, traditionally a busy time.
The new law prohibits an abortion method known medically as dilation and evacuation. The procedure involves dilating a woman’s cervix and removing the fetus in pieces. Abortion opponents call it dismemberment abortion.
The state has accumulated a backlog of 2,600 COVID cases await contact-tracing efforts. "The simple answer is we didn't do our job," the governor said at a Friday press briefing.
The Kansas-based contractor overseeing Omaha area child welfare cases has wrapped up an investigation into alleged mismanagement within the organization.
Both Iowa and Nebraska are in the top 5 in the nation for new COVID cases per capita, but they have different approaches to mask mandates.
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Ricketts has repeatedly refused to consider a statewide mask mandate, arguing that he doesn’t want to use government power to force mask use and that doing so would breed resistance.
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Ricketts said "education" is what's needed to compel more people to wear masks in confined spaces and avoid congested bars and restaurants.
The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday upheld murder convictions against two inmates and gave another inmate another a chance at an appeal.
Gov. Pete Ricketts lays out plans for more restrictions should COVID patients fill 25% of beds. At the current rate of increase it would be only a few days before Nebraska hits the that mark.
Among the new laws going into effect Saturday are a ban on indoor vaping, a measure that doesn't hold people liable for breaking into a vehicle to rescue a child, and special hunting permits.