Lincoln, NE— The Nebraska Wheat Board (NWB) will hold its next meeting via Zoom conference on Thursday, April 29, 2021. The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m.

The Calendar says it’s springtime. It’s Nebraska. Sunday was a beautiful day and on Tuesday we wake up to see the ground covered with snow! But! The big concern is possible freeze damage to the wheat. The Tuesday morning temp was right at 20 degrees here on The Hill and most likely was lower than that in the Valley. Time will tell.

A new monthly series by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will explore the science and secrets of Nebraska nature.Nebraska Nature Nerd Night, a free webinar series for adults, will begin at 7 p.m. Central time April 20 and will continue on the third Tuesday of every month through November.

LINCOLN, Neb., April 13, 2021 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has funding available to Nebraska’s farmers and ranchers to develop Conservation Activity Plans. These plans are developed to help identify and find solutions for specific natural resource concerns on a farming operation. Applications for this year’s funding are currently being accepted at local NRCS offices through June 18.

“Find a job you enjoy doing and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” Mark Twain was a lot of things I aspire to be - witty, funny and a brilliant wordsmith. But we can’t all be witty, funny or brilliant, so with this publication, you’re stuck reading my scribbles.

Earlier this year, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) published draft health standards for public comment that included several sex education topics. Like many Nebraska parents, I was deeply troubled by the standards. They would teach young children age-inappropriate content starting in kindergarten. They would also inject nonscientific, political ideas into curriculum standards. That’s why I have called on the NDE to scrap the proposed sex education topics in the standards.

My grandmother was a lively, caring, wonderful woman, who remained very active late in her life. One spring day, after an unusual April blizzard, she stepped out of her apartment on her way to her weekly bridge game. She fell on the ice, in an event that led to an open ankle fracture and changed the course of the remainder of her life.

Last week I received a few phone calls and emails regarding LB 271. Sometimes there are groups that will intentionally try and get people upset without giving all the facts. So I appreciate it when constituents reach out to me to find out what I know about a bill. This is a bill that I listened to closely during the floor debate because if I only heard what the constituents reached out and told me, I'd be upset about this bill also. But once I listened to the floor debate and read the bill and the amendments I quickly realized that there was a lot of very good stuff in this bill. The program created in this bill, the 24/7 Sobriety Program Act, is actually a more strict way to deal with repeat drunk driving offenders. Not only does a person have an interlock device for the first 30 days, this would require them to get alcohol or drug tested twice a day. So if a person only had an interlock device they could choose not to drive that vehicle if they want to drink, but under this program, that person is tested twice a day no matter if they want to drive or not. This program is designed for repeat offenders as an alternative to incarceration. South Dakota has used this for quite some time and has found it very successful.

04/12/2021 Venesa Lofton of Beaver City : Attempted possession of a Controlled Substance; Sentenced to probation for 18 months and pay court costs. Jonathan Geise of Beaver City: Possession of Controlled Substance with Intent to deliver; Preliminary Hearing April 19, 2021 @ 3:00 P.M.

The National Business Education Association has named McCook Community College’s Lorrie Mowry, their Post-Secondary Business Teacher of the Year. Lorrie Mowry, who resides in Cambridge, received the award for outstanding contributions to business education by a business instructor at a community, a two-year college or technology institution.