Nebraska
‘Ecstatic’: Nebraska caregivers get some relief in the form of a tax credit
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Thirteen years ago, Nebraska nursing instructor Tara Spiehs Garst had to leave her job to take care of her son who was born with Trisomy 18, a genetic condition that causes multiple birth defects.
Three years later, she had a daughter who was born with the same condition. Since then, Spiehs Garst’s family has lived on a reduced income and pays thousands of dollars out of pocket for services and supplies, having to cut numerous corners. Spiehs Garst even went without a cell phone for a year, but the emotional impacts have been just as daunting.
“My people that I interact with are physicians, are therapists, my children’s medical providers, that’s who my social interaction is with because they’re my full time job,” Spiehs Garst said. “I can’t leave them to go and do other things. Somebody has to be there to take care of them.”
She is just one of 179,000 caregivers in Nebraska who face similar challenges, including emotional and financial burdens, every day.
These challenges sparked the Caregiver Tax Credit Act, sponsored by Nebraska State Sen. Eliot Bostar. The act would create a nonrefundable tax credit for caregivers that would cover about 50% of eligible expenditures used for the care of family members each year. The maximum credit is $2,000, and it is $3,000 for family members who served in the military or who have a dementia diagnosis.
This potential tax credit comes as federal and state governments are trying to solve the senior care crisis, in which the cost of care continues to skyrocket while more of the population ages. Today, there are over 53 million caregivers in the United States, as people have stepped in to care for family members who can’t afford rent at senior care centers or to pay at-home nurses.
“We’re relying more and more on caregivers and family members to provide that care because the healthcare system is bursting at the seams,” Associate State Director for Advocacy and Outreach with AARP Nebraska, Jina Ragland said. “We have a huge desert of accessibility to health services but also for having the workforce development enough to provide inside facilities.”
If passed, Nebraska would be the second state to establish a caregiver tax credit. Bostar’s bill is modeled after Oklahoma’s, which went into effect at the beginning of this year. Unlike Oklahoma’s legislation, Nebraska’s potential tax credit would not have an age requirement for eligible family members, recognizing that people of all ages receive care at home.
The non-refundable tax credit would be capped at $2.5 million, but Ragland points out that it would save the state money in the long run. According to the Nebraska AARP, family caregivers in the state provide over 168 million hours of unpaid care valued at approximately $2.8 billion every year.
“Family caregivers are the backbone of the U.S. care system, helping parents, spouses and other loved ones remain in their homes,” Bostar said during a floor debate last month. “LB 937 will help ensure Nebraskans in need or care can stay in their homes when their health is failing, eliminating the need for the much more costlier option and added emotional burden of being cared for in a taxpayer-funded nursing home.”
Although the tax credit has wide bipartisan support, it saw an unexpected roadblock during the first round of debate in late March when a handful of amendments, including a controversial dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donations to crisis pregnancy centers, were tacked on at the last minute. The credit was eventually advanced and passed with a unanimous vote on the second to last day of session. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has until Wednesday to sign it into law.
“With the baby boomer generation retiring and getting older and all of our nursing homes seemingly closing right and left, we will have to address more creatively how we take care of these folks,” state Sen. Jana Hughes said during floor debate. “Encouraging them staying at home is a very, very good thing.”
More: Caregivers spend a whopping $7,200 out of pocket. New bill would provide tax relief.
‘The backbone’
Like caregivers across the country, Sarah Rasby of Nebraska had to make financial and emotional sacrifices to take care of her 35-year-old twin sister, Erin Lewis, who went into cardiac arrest and survived an anoxic brain injury, leaving her unable to walk, speak or move her body. Rasby spent hours a day caring for her sister for three and a half years before she passed away in 2022.
“There’s just really not a lot of time for the caregivers to care for themselves because they’re giving so much of their life to the other person,” Rasby said, noting may caregivers face social isolation. “The tax credit will help them identify as caregivers, but at the same time, those in the thick of it will start feeling some more value.”
Joyce Beck had made similar financial and emotional sacrifices to take care of her husband, Jerry. Beck’s husband suffered a heart attack while he had multiple sclerosis and had to have a quadruple bypass at the age of 52. He was later diagnosed with cancer, leading Beck to retire early from her position as a hospital CEO to care for him after it spread. Jerry eventually passed away about three years ago.
Beck is “ecstatic” the caregiver tax credit passed, saying it is an acknowledgment of the sacrifices caregivers make and will relieve some of the financial burdens they face.
“I’m proud that Nebraska is the second state in the United States to pass this because it shows the rest of the country that we are compassionate, we care about our people, and we want to take care of everyone,” Beck said.
Although she’s not a caregiver anymore, Beck knows the experience all too well. She wasn’t able to return to work after her husband passed and had to collect her pension and social security early on top of paying thousands of dollars out of pocket for medical bills. Despite the financial and emotional hardships, she was honored she got to spend the last few years of her husband’s life caring for him.
“It’s so hard to watch someone pass away by inches, it’s like almost a nightmare to watch,” Beck said. “It is truly just an honor to be able to take care of someone like that and to help them every step of the way. It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do but it is the most rewarding thing you’ll ever do.”
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – A deeper look tonight as First Alert 6 continues to dig deeper into the state of mental health care in Nebraska and possible solutions, ever since last week’s two instances involving law enforcement.
A Douglas County sheriff’s deputy was shot responding to a domestic call. Investigators said the suspect, Brian Huggins, had a history of behavioral health issues. Huggins died by suicide.
And then Noemi Guzman, who police say kidnapped a 3-year-old from inside an Omaha Walmart and cut him in the arm and face with a stolen kitchen knife. Omaha police officers shot and killed her before she could strike again.
Guzman had been on a court-ordered mental health treatment plan since last summer for her schizophrenia. According to court records, psychiatrists determined she could live in the community. Remember, this was after she was arrested for setting her father’s house on fire and threatening a priest with a knife.
Monitoring system
We wanted to know who is part of the system monitoring those who may not be following their mental health treatment plan and are a risk to others or themselves. When that happens, the Board of Mental Health will often notify the local sheriff so a warrant can be issued and deputies can track the individual down.
Here are the numbers since 2023:
In 2023, 842 warrants were issued for those not following their treatment plans according to the Board of Mental Health. In 2024, 756. In 2025, 690. So far in 2026, 190.
But out of these 2,500 warrants, 85% of them didn’t have a second warrant, meaning deputies picked them up, got them back into treatment and the individuals continued to thrive after the one hiccup.
But in 15% of these cases, the individuals messed up again and had another warrant issued by the Board of Mental Health. Twenty-five individuals had five or more issued in Douglas County.
Sheriff Hanson said there has to be a better way, a more team approach for this.
One model to explore is the way Nebraska’s problem-solving courts work like drug court and veterans’ treatment court where experts from a variety of stakeholders help individuals who are on the fringes to do everything to make them productive citizens.
Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.
(InvestigateTV) — Sometimes sports are about more than the final score.
For Jack Burke, a high school football player in Nebraska, a medical diagnosis at birth has never stopped him from competing — and a touchdown catch in his first play back from open heart surgery proved it.
Born with a rare heart defect
Burke was born with Scimitar syndrome, a rare heart defect in which babies are born with an underdeveloped right lung and pulmonary artery. The condition also affects blood flow to the right lung. Treatment often includes surgery, and many adults with the condition go on to live healthy lives.
“As a kid, I never really understood,” Burke said. “It was always natural for me that I had to push myself harder to keep up.”
His mother, Bridget Burke, says the condition was not initially considered dangerous for sports participation.
“His Scimitar Syndrome never really came into play as being dangerous for him to play sports,” she said.
The decision to operate
That changed in the spring of 2025, when Burke’s family and doctors decided it was time for a surgery that had been anticipated for years.
“I’ve kind of known I’ve had to get surgery my whole life,” Burke said. “Once I knew I could get the surgery sooner, I was all in. I wanted to get it so I could get back to sports.”
His father, Ryan Burke, says the timing was deliberate.
“This will be done before school gets started, and still have a chance to do almost everything you want to do,” Ryan Burke said.
Jack Burke underwent open-heart surgery, leaving a visible reminder of what he went through.
“There’s a six-inch scar in the middle of his chest that represents a pretty big thing that happened,” Ryan Burke said.
For Bridget Burke, the moment her son was taken to the operating room was difficult.
“When the rubber hits the road and your kid is being wheeled back to the OR, it is scary and emotional,” she said.
The comeback
Burke eased back into football following his cardiologist’s recommended recovery timeline. His return came in week three of the season.
“Before the Schuyler game I talked to his dad and he’s like, ‘I think we might be ready,’” said coach Jay Landstrom.
Bridget Burke says the family approached the return with caution.
“I mean, I was nervous. We didn’t really know how much he would play. It was going to be some cautious situations,” she said.
Those concerns were set aside — at least for a moment — when Burke caught a touchdown pass on his very first play back.
“All the parents were high-fiving everybody and they were like, ‘Was that really Jack?’” Bridget Burke said.
Landstrom called it a special moment.
“It was just meant to be and that was really special,” he said.
For Burke, the touchdown meant something beyond the scoreboard.
“I just remember one of my teammates came up to me and said, ‘He’s back. He’s back,’” Burke said. “It kind of shows something that tried to stop me — I hurdled that obstacle.”
Burke says the surgery has given him a new sense of freedom.
“Now I can do whatever I want. Nothing can hold me back,” he said.
Copyright 2026 Gray Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The results are in for the Nebraska Lottery’s draw games on Sunday, April 19, 2026.
Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on April 19.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 19 drawing
4-3-3
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 5 numbers from April 19 drawing
14-19-24-30-34
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning 2 By 2 numbers from April 19 drawing
Red Balls: 01-02, White Balls: 09-26
Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning MyDay numbers from April 19 drawing
Month: 08, Day: 16, Year: 61
Check MyDay payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 19 drawing
32-42-52-53-55, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Nebraska Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3, 5: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- Lucky For Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- 2 By 2: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- MyDaY: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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