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.

Last week the legislature heard LB 809 on the floor. This is a Natural Resources Committee priority bill. LB 809 was introduced by Senator Mike Moser of Columbus. It amends the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Act and the Wastewater Treatment Facilities Construction Assistance Act. The changes will reflect the existing federal regulations and also the new provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

During this second session of the 107th Legislature, I have introduced twelve bills and one proposed constitutional amendment. Additionally, I have cosponsored several other bills from other senators that I believe deserve to be debated on the legislative floor, and ultimately passed. Here are highlights of a few of those bills.

The saying goes “time heals all wounds”, but what happens when a wound does not heal? Wounds go through many stages while healing and complications at any step can prolong the process. The first step is stopping the bleeding.

We’re over halfway through this year’s session. There is still a lot of work to be done. The committees are done with hearings for this year unless they have confirmation hearings for appointees to Boards and Commissions. All day debate started this week and beginning next week, there are several evening hour debates scheduled. There is a short amount of time this year due to it being a 60 day session as well as the time spent debating how to most effectively spend the ARPA money. Therefore, even if a bill is advanced out of committee it may not be debated this year unless a senator, a committee, or the speaker make it a priority bill. If not designated a priority, a bill could also be amended into another bill that is moving through the legislative process.

The New York Times wants you to believe that farmers and ranchers are destroying the planet. In an opinion video called “Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet,” the first of a three-part series, the narrator rants for 14 minutes about the supposed evils of agriculture.