Columns

Last week the Legislature began debate on the first major revenue proposal of the session: raising the tax on cigarettes by $1/pack. In November, I made a very public pledge that I would not support tax increases, along with three of my colleagues, so our vote should have been the least surprising issue of the day, yet tempers flared with frustration that we would not support this tax increase.

For this month’s superintendent's corner, I am going to cover a topic that I am definitely not an expert in. I don’t know if you are like me, but I have reached the age where change is more than just a little unsettling. If you remember what a Commodore 64 looked like or if you remember playing your favorite music on an 8-track tape, I am guessing you are as uncomfortable as I am with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Sitting is an art that isn’t getting passed along. People these days feel as though they have to be doing something.

Last week, I was pleased to see my fentanyl sentencing enhancement pass on Final Reading as part of Senator DeKay’s LB 795, with a vote of 32-14-3. As a reminder from my Week 4 newsletter, LB 817 aligns the weightbased penalties for fentanyl distributors/traffickers with those currently in state statute for other exceptionally hazardous drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.

Last week, I received an email from a reader who shared his thoughts on my column that appeared in the Feb. 12 Courier, in which I criticized the NFL halftime show. The reader suggested that I should have done more research on the topic I was writing about, and the letter made me question whether other readers might have similar concerns.

Is this what all of us 75+ year-olds, and those yet to-be, have to look forward to? This is something that happened at an assisted living center. The people who lived there had small apartments, but they all ate at a central cafeteria.

Last week, I talked about our “nature” of bringing nature indoors with us. I talked mostly about animals.

A couple of weeks ago, I did something I have not done in my more than 25-year career in media. I took a full two weeks off. No phone calls, no writing, no checking emails - a total vacation. And it was amazing!

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons.

Capitol Update: Strengthening Accountability, Supporting Families, and Protecting Rights It's hard to believe February is already here. By the end of last week, the Legislature completed Day 17 of the session, and the pace at the Capitol has picked up quickly.