Nebraska
Douglas County officials strongly oppose Nebraska bill that would change state’s voting process
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – According to Douglas County officials, 50 percent of voters now choose to vote by mail, and on average, 75 percent of all ballots are returned in secure drop boxes located across the county.
Election Commissioner Brian Kruse told members of the Douglas County Board that, if passed, LB 541 would change the way Nebraskans vote, eliminating online voter registration, restricting registration by mail, and requiring voters to give a reason for voting early.
“There’s only three state in the nation where you have to have an excuse [to vote early]: Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire,” Kruse said. “And Mississippi has some legislation now to eliminate that. I also think it’s worth pointing out that both major candidates from both political parties for president not only embraces early voting, but ran campaigns that they spent millions on to get their voters out to vote early across the nation.”
Kruse also mentioned that reducing the number of early voting days like LB 541 suggests is basically an unfunded mandate.
“If we were to move from 35 [days] to 22, you have to do the same amount of work in a lot less days,” Kruse said. “We estimate that for last fall’s election, we would have had to hire 22 additional employees. It would have been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Other provisions in the bill would require hand-counting of ballots to combat voter fraud, which Kruse says is not a serious problem in Nebraska.
“I think the bottom-line to this bill is what problems we are solving, and I don’t think there’s any question that its taking a lot of rights away from voters,” Kruse said.
Members of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners believe the bill and its changes aren’t necessary in Nebraska.
“If I had an opportunity, I could pound the heck out of this bill,” said commissioner Mike Friend. “I could take eight hours to rip this to shreds, and the lawyers better come in and convince me we’re trying to solve a problem, because this is just regulatory restraint.”
Other commissioners echoed Friend’s comments.
“This seem to me to be the latest in a long line of voter suppression efforts by people who aren’t interested in getting the highest vote total we can possibly get, and that should be all of our goals,” said commissioner James Cavanaugh.
Commissioners ultimately voted 7-0 to oppose LB 541.
“The question was asked, ‘Where did this come from?’” said commissioner Mary Ann Borgeson. “Well, look across the country. I mean, seriously, all this is is people throwing out misnomers, untruths about voter fraud.”
Kruse told the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, the Election Law Committee for Commissioners and Clerks Association, and the Nebraska Association of County Officials to oppose LB 541. Lancaster County and Hall County commissioners also voted to send a message opposing the bill.
The hearing for LB 541 is scheduled for March 5.
Copyright 2025 WOWT. All rights reserved.
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – The Nebraska baseball team lost to Kansas 9-7 on Tuesday in front of a record crowd at Hoglund Park. The Huskers took an early lead on an RBI single by National Freshman of the Week Drew Grego. After giving up three unanswered runs, Nebraska rallied to go back in front on a 3rd-inning single by Will Jesske. Both Grego and Jesske finished with two hits in the game.
Kansas, however, took control in the middle innings. The Jayhawks got home runs from Tyson Owens and Josh Dykoff in the sixth frame. Both round-trippers came off NU relief pitcher Ty Horn. Kansas added insurance in the 7th inning before a late rally by the Huskers.
Nebraska trimmed a five-run deficit to two, but couldn’t complete the comeback on the road.
The Huskers’ loss is their second to the Jayhawks this season. Nebraska’s record drops to 31-10 overall.
Will Bolt’s team returns to action on Friday at Illinois. Game one is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Champaign.
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Copyright 2026 KOLN. All rights reserved.
Softball
April 21, 2026
Nebraska jumps up to No. 2 in college softball Power 10 rankings
April 21, 2026
Check out Michella Chester’s updated college softball Power 10 rankings for the week of April 21, which sees Nebraska rise to No. 2 behind an 11-game win streak.
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.
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