Midwest
Nebraska lawmakers pass bill that would allow smaller school districts to arm staff members
Students in some of Nebraska’s smallest school districts could soon be protected by armed staff, thanks to one of over 100 bills passed by the state legislature last week.
The provision that would allow such staff to carry firearms in schools and at school-related events originally included all districts across the Cornhusker State, but now applies only to those with under 5,000 residents after opposition from some areas of the state led lawmakers to compromise.
“It doesn’t apply to all the schools. This was designed for the rural schools where they didn’t have a resource officer or law enforcement wasn’t readily available,” state Sen. Tom Brewer, who introduced the measure, said, according to a local report.
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State Sen. Tom Brewer said the bill to arm staff members or to enable districts to employ other armed security aims to help rural districts. (iStock)
The measure would enable schools to either hire security or elect a specific member of the school to carry a weapon.
“It can be anyone from the superintendent to the janitor,” Brewer continued, according to the report. Regardless of the choice, those who are armed must undergo training.
Some fear that, without the imminent presence of someone capable of confronting a school shooter in the event of an emergency, law enforcement could otherwise be 15 minutes – or further – away from these rural districts.
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Nebraska lawmakers passed over 100 bills in the last week of legislative session, according to local reports. Legislative Bill 1329 was among them.
It’s among several GOP-led states’ efforts to protect or expand gun rights or firearm safety instruction to protect students and staff, including two measures in Tennessee, one in Iowa and another in New Hampshire.
Despite opposition from some who speculate the expansion of gun rights and access could hinder rather than help safety efforts, these measures have charged ahead.
In Omaha, Superintendent Matthew Ray said he could understand why Nebraska’s measure could apply to less populated school districts with fewer resources, but failed to see its need in his own district.
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Nebraska state Sen. Tom Brewer’s proposal is among several GOP-led initiatives to expand firearm protections in public schools. (Yuliia Ovsyannikova / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, at least 32 states allow teachers or school staff to be armed at school, including several states neighboring Nebraska.
Brewer’s proposed measure was passed as part of Legislative Bill 1329, an education package that passed 40-0 on the next-to-last day of the legislative session last week.
It now awaits Republican Gov. Jim Pillen’s signature.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Former Missouri Gov. Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon followed in his ancestor’s footsteps, 250 years to the day.
On July 8, 1776, Colonel John Nixon was the first person to publicly read the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall.
Jay Nixon, along with other Missouri officials from local, state and national offices, participated in a semiquincentennial celebration at the Historical Greene County Courthouse on July 8, 2026.
“As we commemorate 250 years of American independence, may we remember not only the courage of those who signed the declaration, but also our responsibility to preserve the freedoms they declare,” said Connie Yen, director of the Greene County Archives and Records Center.
While the reading of the Declaration of Independence was the main event, patriotic music from the Salvation Army Band, Springfield Sound, the Patriotic Chorale — as well as the national anthem sung by former U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft and former judge and representative Max Bacon — rang throughout the courthouse’s rotunda, which was packed with people. The music itself, Ashcroft said, was a metaphor for the nation.
“There is something charming about America that doesn’t require that we be uniform. There’s a difference between unity and uniformity. As a matter of fact, you can’t have harmony if you only have one note. You have to sing different notes for things to be harmonic and it’s much more beautiful,” he said. “Maybe America is America not because of uniformity or everybody being in unison, but America may be America because we have disparity, but we’re in harmony. We believe in unity, not uniformity.”
Before reading the Declaration of Independence, Nixon shared part of a speech he gave at Fulton’s Westminster College in August 2025, where he encouraged people to “resist apathy with action” through involvement with civic and faith organizations, and by voting. Like others, he emphasized diversity as the strength of America.
“(We’re) a nation of immigrants. Many of our ancestors fled poverty, injustice and tyranny to build something better. We are the great-great-great-grandchildren of slaves, and those who enslaved them; the first families who inhabited these lands, and those who drove them from it,” Nixon said. “A nation of scrappy strivers stitched together by our ideals, marked by original sins, but redeemed by the courage and sacrifice that saved us from fascism and unleashed freedom and prosperity — the envy of the world. That is the true story we all need to tell, the promise we made to each other that we work every day to keep.”
The reading was followed by an ice cream social, co-hosted by the Greene County Democratic and Republican women’s clubs.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Wednesday announced measures to further cut state spending, including a cut in state agency spending and a hiring freeze on most positions.
Pillen said in a news release that the measures are necessary after the state paid out $307 million more in state tax refunds than anticipated in fiscal year 2026, which ended June 30. Tax receipts have come in below projections in March, April and May, leading to a current expected deficit of $172 million.
That’s after lawmakers closed a $646 million budget hole in their most recent legislative session.
The governor has previously sought to cut spending to provide more property tax relief to Nebraska residents and had called for additional cuts during the current fiscal year.
“I am pleased with the progress we have made, but I’m not satisfied,” Pillen said in a news release.
Accompanying the release was a memo Pillen sent to state agencies, boards and commissions in which he called on them to “exercise additional fiscal restraint.”
Among the measures outlined in the memo:
- A freeze on creating any new positions or filling any vacancies without approval from the state budget office. The freeze does not apply to law enforcement or corrections positions.
- A 5% reduction in budgets for all state agencies.
- All agencies, boards and commissions must provide monthly cash flow projections.
- Agency leaders are directed to “concentrate” on eliminating redundant processes, services regulation and aid programs.
- Agency leaders are directed to reduce their agencies’ physical footprint and “consolidate teams and services.”
All state entities are required to submit their plans for reducing spending by the end of the month.
The memo also said agencies should “prepare for downward adjustments to appropriations” not only in the current fiscal year but also in the 2028 and 2029 fiscal years.
President Trump traveled to North Dakota on Wednesday to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library before its official opening on Saturday.
“He had a freakin’ wild life,” Trump told an audience at a Western-themed amphitheater, the Associated Press reported. “He didn’t want to be quiet. He wanted to be great.”
The library is expected to be a major source of tourism in rural western North Dakota.
-The Hagstrom Report
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