LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – The Nebraska state senator behind the filibuster that has spanned most of the legislative session said Tuesday that the signing of LB574 wasn’t the end of her fight for the LGBTQ community.
State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha took particular issue with a comment made by Gov. Jim Pillen, flanked by Republican senators, at the end of Monday’s question-and-answer session following the signing of the ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
“Your Nebraska Legislature believes you have been ‘duped by Lucifer,’ that you don’t love your child, and that’s why you’re giving your child the care that they need. No, you’ve been ‘duped by Lucifer,’” she said.
At the end of a question-and-answer session that followed the signing of LB574, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said kids need to be protected from trans care.
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Alongside his two eldest granddaughters and surrounded by the state’s Republican senators, Pillen signed LB574, the bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors — which sparked ongoing filibusters from opponents throughout the session — and its attached 12-week abortion ban, AM1658, days after it was passed by Unicameral.
“We enact laws simply because kids lack the necessary judgment to make the best decisions for themselves,” he said before signing the bill. “LB574 steps towards making sure our kids aren’t making harmful decisions that they’re gonna regret for the rest of their lives and that they’re duped by outside voices.”
While not specifically referencing Cavanaugh, State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, or any of the other senators who participated in the filibuster this session, the governor in his comments on Monday took indirect aim at senators in the Unicameral who had spoken out against the bill, dismissing “all the other stuff that people are trying to make it out to be,” and saying the bill is “simply about our protecting kids and saving babies.”
State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, who authored LB574, echoed the governor’s sentiments in her comments ahead of the bill-signing ceremony, calling gender-affirming care “a social contagion” being inflicted on children.
“We have too many kids who are being swept up in what is a social contagion and being told their bodies are not perfect the way they are, and if they just switch their gender, they’ll be fine. Everything will be great,” she said. “That’s not true. Our kids need help. They need to know they’re perfect exactly the way they are, not the way they think they should be.”
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And while the GOP senators who gathered in the governor’s hearing room Monday signaled the newest laws were just the beginning, Pillen said that the state was prepared for any legal challenges that might lie ahead.
LB574 SIGNED INTO LAW
LB574, which the governor called “the most significant win for social conservative agenda that over a generation has seen in Nebraska,” goes into effect Oct. 1. The law bans gender-affirming surgeries for those younger than age 19, the age of consent in Nebraska. In what the bill’s author called a compromise on the original legislation, which originally included a ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for those patients, new regulations for those treatments are set to be decided by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and the state’s chief medical officer, currently Dr. Timothy Tesmer, an ear, nose, and throat doctor appointed by the governor earlier this year.
Nebraska Medicine re-affirmed its opposition to LB574 on Monday after the bill had been signed ceremony, but acknowledged the new laws put in place: “While Nebraska Medicine remains opposed to legislation that interferes with the doctor-patient relationship, the health system will comply with the newly passed law, even as it conflicts with long-established medical standards of care. Nebraska Medicine will continue to support its patients, staff, and physicians through these changes.”
Watch Monday’s full Q&A session
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen took questions Monday, May 22, 2023, after signing LB574, the bill banning trans care for minors, and its attached abortion amendment.
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Producer Sophia Ridder contributed to this report.
A Greeley man who won $300,000 last month on a scratch card he got at the convenience store he managed now is being investigated on suspicion of lottery fraud.
This week, the Nebraska Department of Revenue got a search warrant to take back the money that Jeremiah Ehlers had won, which came to $213,000 after taxes.
In response, his bank turned over a cashier’s check for just under $128,800. Some $84,200 shy.
In the affidavit for the search warrant, Deputy State Sheriff Bradley Burleigh of the Nebraska Department of Revenue said that on April 12, Ehlers had taken a winning “Diamond Dollars” scratch ticket to the Nebraska Lottery headquarters, claimed the prize and deposited it in his bank account the same day.
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Burleigh said Ehlers was fired a week later from his job as manager of the Rapid Stop convenience store in Greeley, where he’d gotten the ticket.
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He said the district manager for the chain later contacted the Nebraska Lottery investigation unit saying he was investigating Ehlers for allegedly stealing lottery tickets from the Greeley store.
Burleigh said the district manager suspected Ehlers had been taking lottery tickets from the business without paying for them since October, and security video from April 12 allegedly showed him taking a “Diamond Dollars” lottery ticket without paying, scratching it, scanning it twice on the lottery terminal and only then paying for it.
In the affidavit for the search warrant, Burleigh said he believed the money in the bank account “will disappear if not seized, and the money is evidence of theft.”
An employee told him Ehlers already had bought a 2019 Dodge Ram and was contacting people around Greeley paying debts. Ehlers hadn’t been charged with a crime as of Thursday afternoon.
LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Athletics Press Release) – The Nebraska softball team travels to Minneapolis this weekend for a three-game series against Minnesota to close out the regular season. Friday’s opener will start at 6 p.m. with Saturday’s game slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch and Sunday’s finale set for Noon.
Nebraska (27-21) and Minnesota (26-22) are both battling to be one of the four teams that receives a bye for next week’s Big Ten Tournament. The Gophers enter the final weekend in fourth place in the Big Ten standings with a 12-8 conference record. The Huskers are just a half game behind in fifth place with a 10-8 Big Ten record.
It should be a close series as Nebraska and Minnesota are similar on paper. Both teams boast one of the top offenses in the Big Ten. The Huskers are hitting .290 as a team and average 5.7 runs per game while the Gophers are batting .292 and score an average of 6.1 runs per game. Nebraska has hit 86 doubles and 52 home runs while Minnesota has totaled 83 doubles and hit 51 home runs.
In the circle, Minnesota’s team ERA of 4.22 is nearly identical to Nebraska’s 4.26 ERA, and the Gophers allowed 4.8 runs per game compared to 4.9 runs per game by the Huskers. The teams are also the top two fielding teams in the Big Ten as Minnesota leads the league with a .972 fielding percentage and Nebraska ranks second, fielding at a .971 clip.
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The first two games of the series will air on the Big Ten Network while Sunday’s final game can be seen with a subscription to Big Ten+, with subscriptions starting at $9.99 a month.
Scouting Minnesota (26-22, 12-8 Big Ten)
Minnesota is 26-22 on the season and enters the weekend in fourth place in the Big Ten standings with a 12-8 conference record. The Gophers are coming off a three-game sweep at Iowa last weekend.
Nebraska and Minnesota share six common opponents this season in Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, San Diego State, Washington and Wisconsin. The Huskers posted a 7-4 record against that group while the Gophers also went 7-4.
Minnesota is batting .292 as a team while averaging 6.1 runs per game, a total that ranks 27th nationally. The Golden Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank 12th nationally in walks. Defensively, Minnesota owns a 4.22 ERA and a .972 fielding percentage while allowing 4.8 runs per game. The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank 30th nationally in fielding percentage.
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Jess Oakland is Minnesota’s top hitter and is among the best hitters in the country. Oakland is hitting more than .100 higher than any other Gopher, as she leads the team with a .455 average, 71 hits, 16 doubles, 19 homers, 64 runs and 54 RBI.
Oakland has put up remarkable statistics in Big Ten play. She is batting .523 in the conference season with 34 hits, 11 doubles, 11 home runs and 34 runs.
With three conference games still remaining, Oakland already ranks second in Big Ten history for home runs in a conference season (11, one shy of tying the record) and runs in a conference season (34, four shy of tying the record). Oakland’s 11 doubles currently rank as the fourth-most in conference season in Big Ten history.
On the season, Oakland leads the Big Ten in batting average, hits, home runs, runs, on-base percentage (.552) and slugging percentage (.923) while ranking second in the conference in RBI.
Nationally, Oakland ranks third in runs per game and slugging percentage, sixth in batting average, home runs and on-base percentage and 19th in RBI.
Morgan DeBord is batting .354 this season and has produced eight doubles, three home runs and 27 RBI.
Taylor Krapf owns a .306 average and has 12 doubles, 10 home runs and 45 RBI.
Sydney Strelow is hitting .299 and has tied Oakland for the team lead with 35 walks.
Breezy Burnett has started every game and is a perfect 13-of-13 on stolen bases.
In the circle, Bri Enter has seen the most action but she has not pitched since April 17. Enter is 12-7 on the year with a 3.16 ERA in 110.2 innings. She leads the Gophers in wins, ERA, innings, starts (19), complete games (4) and strikeouts (67) while tying for the team lead with one save.
Jacie Hambrick is 6-8 on the year with one save and a 4.80 ERA in 89.0 innings. She leads Minnesota with 30 appearances and ranks second in starts (16) and innings.
Macy Richardson and Sydney Schwartz have also seen significant time in the circle. Richardson is 5-4 with a 5.30 ERA over 27 appearances, 10 starts and 67.1 innings. Schwartz is 3-2 with one save and a 3.21 ERA in 28.1 innings over 10 appearances.
Jessa Snippes (0-1, 6.66 ERA in 13.2 IP) and Cameron Grayson (0-0, 3.50 ERA in 8.0 IP) round out the Gopher staff.
Piper Ritter is in her fourth season as Minnesota’s head coach. She has guided the Gophers to a 122-80-1 record. Prior to becoming the head coach, Ritter spent the previous 13 seasons as Minnesota’s pitching coach.
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Kansas State baseball suffered its worst loss of the season Wednesday night against Nebraska. The Wildcats failed to collect a hit through nine innings, suffering an 8-0 loss. Cornhusker starting pitcher Jackson Brockett stayed on the mound for all nine innings, striking out 12 as three runners made it on base.
Brockett made quick work of the Wildcat bats all night, throwing just 107 pitches while facing 29 batters.
K-State gave Brockett his biggest challenge in the fifth inning. After a throwing error allowed catcher Raphael Pelletier to make it to first base, left fielder Chuck Ingram walked to bring runners to first and second with one out. The Cornhuskers bounced back with a double play off third baseman Jaden Parsons’ bat. The only other runner to advance on base for K-State was designated hitter Jayden Lobliner off a walk in the ninth inning.
On the mound for K-State, Josh Wintroub got the start, pitching just 2 1/3 innings and allowing an unearned run. Wintroub suffered the loss, moving his record to 2-3. Six other relievers took the field for the Wildcats, with pitchers JJ Slack, Blake Dean and Adam Arther allowing six of the final seven runs in less than three innings combined.
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The loss moves K-State’s record to 26-18 on the season. It was the second no-hitter this season after the Wildcats’ Jacob Frost and Jackson Wentworth threw a combined no-hitter against Cincinnati.
Next up is the Jayhawks off an 8-1 win over Wichita State, which marked Kansas’ seventh straight win. The Sunflower Showdown series begins at 6 p.m. Friday in Manhattan.
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