As this update goes to press, the Nebraska Legislature will have completed 57 days of this year’s 60-day legislative session. Much of the focus and debate this week has been on taxes.

I enjoy visiting with my colleagues who are medical specialists. We dive in and explore the depths of a particular condition. However, there is something to say about the breadth of knowledge that a family medicine physician is expected to have. Your family doctor can run through the alphabet of conditions from acne to the zika virus.

My number one priority while serving the past 8 years in the Nebraska legislature is to pass meaningful property tax relief. Although we did not achieve the level that I was hoping for over the years I’ve been here, we have made progress. Last week we passed the first round of across the board tax relief. Income, social security, corporate and property taxes will be reduced in the upcoming years. The vehicle for these changes was LB 873 a bill introduced by Senator Curt Friesen of Henderson. The Revenue Committee amended LB 873 with AM 2649, completely changing the bill from its original form. AM 2649 had many components, and therefore was divided into 4 amendments, but the section that was left in was the part o eliminating the tax on social security by the year 2025.

For many Nebraskans, Lent means two things: a time for personal reflection, and a time for weekly fish fries. My daughter-in-law comes from a big Catholic family who have called Omaha home for generations.

As we approach the final days of the 2022 legislative session, the Nebraska Unicameral has the opportunity to deliver smart criminal justice reforms that will enhance public safety and benefit all Nebraskans. These changes will allow us to better manage our inmate population and provide modern resources to prepare offenders for life after time served—without compromising public safety.

Life expectancy is a measure commonly considered when it comes to the overall health of a population. In this day and age, when most of us think about which medical interventions are most important to increase life expectancy, we probably think about things like treatment of cancer, interventions to treat heart attacks, or surgeries for life threatening illnesses.

Well we did it. The opportunity came up for Dale and I to visit Hawaii, and we took it. Although I must admit that I was not looking forward to it that much, there are a lot of places in the continental US that I want to see and my walking ability has been impaired quite a bit over the past year or so, making travel a little less ‘fun’ shall we say.

After this week, the Nebraska Legislature has only fifteen working days left in this year’s sixtyday Legislative session. Most of the debate this week and next week has centered on (and will focus on) the State’s budget and how we spend the federal ARPA funds. A major component of these discussions this week has involved whether to build a new state prison and whether the state should adopt criminal justice reform measures that aim to reduce crime and recidivismg.

Lately my teenager has been fascinated by medical dramas. Although my “doctor self” is usually rolling my eyes throughout the program, it’s often a good conversation starter.

As both my childhood experiences in 4-H and these past seven years of raising a 4-Her have taught me, rarely does anything go as planned, particularly with livestock. The universe also seems conditioned to make sure timing works against us at every turn. Such was the case last week.