Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2024

While a petition drive is underway in Nebraska to require paid sick leave for all workers, some state senators are pushing other ways to allow time off for employees.

A last-ditch effort to get federal food benefits to Nebraska children stalled, with supporters complaining that a delay in voting on the proposal was really an attempt to kill it.

After turning it down in December, Gov. Jim Pillen now says Nebraska will participate in a federal summer food aid program for families whose children qualify for subsidized school lunches.

A lack of committee support indicates a constitutional amendment to restructure the Nebraska State Board of Education may be dead for this year.

Nearly halfway through Nebraska's legislative session, Gov. Jim Pillen is standing by his goal of reducing property taxes by 40%, despite mixed reviews of his strategy.

A bill that would limit out-of-pocket costs of Epipens and inhalers for insured Nebraskans received support at a public hearing — except from insurance providers. 

A tense exchange over race, crime and disparities in the judicial system capped off an otherwise banal hearing Thursday on Nebraska's proposed "stand-your-ground" law. 

Nebraska's Jim Pillen was among 13 Republican governors who visited Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sunday for an in-person security update on Operation Lone Star at the southern border. 

An Omaha-area senator more used to fighting the growth of Medicaid on Thursday urged colleagues to add coverage of anti-obesity medications to the state's Medicaid plan.

The proposal calls for providers offering telecommunications services in Nebraska to ditch the legacy, copper wire system that regulators have blamed for contributing to a series of 911 service outages.

Nebraska could pull thousands of young children out of poverty by providing their families with a $1,000 per child tax credit, a legislative panel was told.

Nebraska lawmakers appear headed for a repeat of last year's battle over providing $25 million of state support for private and faith-based school scholarships, after a committee vote. 

Local Nebraska jurisdictions could distribute hypodermic needles to drug users to curb the spread of disease under a bill the Legislature passed Thursday. Gov. Jim Pillen may veto it. 

A bill that aims to make it easier for people to obtain occupational licenses became one of the first bills to pass the Nebraska Legislature in 2024. 

The Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission has decided not to keep the 10 semi-automatic rifles it bought last year for investigators after an internal review of the controversial purchase.

Gov. Jim Pillen expressed confidence at a town hall in Fremont that Nebraska will see a 40% property tax cut this year, even as the days tick down on the legislative session.

Nebraska lawmakers took a step Tuesday toward protecting the missile silos in western Nebraska from potential enemy agents.

Multiple controversial measures stalled in the Nebraska Legislature, including proposals to ban the death penalty and prohibit individuals under 21 from attending drag shows.

A bill to cut the time Nebraskans could draw unemployment benefits by nearly 40% stalled Tuesday in the face of a filibuster and may not return. 

Nebraska lawmakers signed off on changing the structure of the state's tourism board among over a dozen bills that passed the Legislature Thursday.

Gov. Jim Pillen's pick to lead Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services will be debated on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature. 

The Appropriations Committee delivered a budget package to the Legislature Thursday that would hold spending to a 3.1% increase and leave a record amount of state money unspent.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nine states participate in a similar restaurant meals program.

A Nebraska's lawmaker's bid to make it illegal to film police officers within 10 feet of them was blasted as unconstitutional by critics at a public hearing Thursday.