Nebraska
Douglas County GOP central committee flips endorsements to Dan Frei and John Glen Weaver • Nebraska Examiner
OMAHA — Newly elected leaders of the now-populist Douglas County Republican Party brushed aside questions about the legitimacy of hosting its April meeting Tuesday without the approval of its chairman and flipped the party’s federal endorsements.
Until this week, Douglas County had been the lone county GOP in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District to endorse Nebraska’s Republican incumbents in the House and Senate, including Rep. Don Bacon and Sens. Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer.
Members of the group’s central committee who attended Tuesday’s meeting voted to withdraw endorsements of Bacon and Ricketts and voted by voice without an audible objection to endorse their opponents in the primary, Dan Frei and John Glen Weaver. Fischer kept her endorsement.
State GOP Chairman Eric Underwood and national committeewoman Fanchon Blythe basked in victory over a county party they and local organizers worked to change. Blythe said she helped register 100 delegates for the county convention.
For nearly two years since populists took over the state party, the Douglas County GOP fought to preserve a place within a more traditional party structure for the moderate Republicans who have won races in the more politically divided 2nd District.
“I’m proud of what you’ve done,” Underwood said of the takeover. “But there are next steps…. More and more people are coming to this party because of the stability that you’re bringing.”
Censure vote rare
The group also censured Bacon. The Douglas County GOP last rebuked a member of the congressional delegation — then-U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse — in 2021.
That Sasse censure vote fell short of passage when an organized group left the room, so it passed as a separate sense of the group, or rebuke.
The 2nd District primary winner will face Democratic State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, who lost to Bacon in 2022 by three percentage points.
State and local populists have faced pushback from current and former county party leaders who preferred a big-tent party and those who back Bacon and Ricketts. Both incumbents hold sizable leads in primary polling and are likely to win.
One upset Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed concerns that an active and engaged local GOP chapter had turned against itself. He said new party leaders “are the dog who caught the car. Now what are they going to do with it?”
No immediate comment from Bacon, Ricketts
Neither the Bacon nor Ricketts campaigns had any immediate comment. Both have previously criticized some of the actions of the state party in pushing to flip local parties in a new direction, including in Sarpy County and more recently in Saunders County.
Bacon announced more than 100 endorsements Monday from state and local Republican elected officials, many of whom said the party should be unifying around the GOP candidate who can win a general election in the Omaha area.
Ricketts, long a top donor for the state GOP, has stopped giving to the party since the new leaders ousted a team in 2022 that was loyal to him. None of Nebraska’s all-GOP congressional delegation sought the state party endorsement this year.
Douglas GOP Chairman Chris Routhe, reached on a “day of action” he organized Tuesday for local down-ballot Republicans, said he did not call the county GOP meeting, as required by the county party constitution. He called the gathering “unsanctioned.”
Routhe said late last week that he was waiting until after the primary election to hold the party’s next meeting, following the county party convention. His critics said he tried to cancel a long-planned regular meeting that included a reserved room at a hotel.
“While I and many others were out knocking on doors for … candidates across Douglas County, two NEGOP state party leaders organized an unconstitutional meeting,” Routhe said. “Therefore the results of tonight’s unofficial meeting are null and void.”
‘MAGA patriots’
Those assertions mattered little in a Marriott Regency ballroom packed with people who called themselves “MAGA patriots” loyal to former President Donald Trump. Nor did they worry Mike Moran, the chair of the county GOP’s constitutional committee.
Moran argued that 85 of the county party’s 115 central committee members were present and that the party’s constitution allows them to call a meeting on their own.
“We govern, not the chairman,” Moran said. “The decision of whether we are going to have this meeting lies with this group.”
The group elected former Douglas County GOP chair Jon Tucker to chair the meeting. Tucker and interim 2nd District chair Scott Petersen spoke at the meeting, evoking their similar roles in organizing a county party leadership change in 2012.
Weaver told the group, “I came to this body before, and I was denied, so I’m persistent. I knew when the vessel-less cowards that are controlled by Pete Ricketts did not endorse me, I knew they were cowards.”
Doing enough for Trump?
Weaver and other speakers complained that Nebraska’s congressional delegation wasn’t doing enough to support Trump. Weaver said if he were in the Senate today, he’d be in New York City, “going after the judges and crooked judicial systems that we’ve got” there.
Trump is on trial in New York on 34 felony counts, accused of conspiring with a tabloid publisher to conceal hush money paid to a porn star with whom Trump allegedly had an extramarital affair. Prosecutors allege he wanted to avoid a potentially negative campaign story during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Frei also was endorsed Tuesday by the Saunders County GOP, which changed leadership recently as well. The previous leaders had not endorsed in the 2nd District House race.
Frei, speaking at the Marriott, criticized Bacon’s support for aid to Ukraine, saying he would never “tell you one thing on the campaign trail and do something different in Washington.”
Several of those in attendance asked whether the county party could stop airing and sending radio advertisements and mailers proclaiming the county GOP’s endorsements of Bacon, Ricketts and Fischer, but were told they might be too late to stop.
The effort to remove Bacon’s endorsement received 76 votes, Tucker told the county party crowd. The push to rescind the Ricketts endorsement received 63 votes, after a handful of people left the meeting.
Underwood said the time for “transactional politics” was done. He said it was time to find “people that you want to validate.”
“Politically, this is changing our mindset,” he said.
Andy Allen, a Douglas County GOP volunteer who participated in Routhe’s call for helping local candidates, said he thinks Republicans pushing to flip the endorsements should have sought them when the incumbents did.
He said both sets of candidates could have been endorsed. He said party members need to remember that Douglas County is diverse and requires appealing to more than just the support of people who are “my way or the highway.”
“Sometimes you have to be willing to listen,” he said. “We’ve got some people that don’t seem to understand that listening is an important part.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Is Nebraska a new tourism hot spot?
A new report from Visit Nebraska shows a major increase in travel, providing an economic boost.
Last year, out-of-state visitors spent $4.6 billion in Nebraska, an all-time record.
And since 2019, the number of overnight hotel guests has doubled, with 76% of them coming from out of state.
What happened in 2019? Visit Nebraska began a new marketing strategy that included ideas such as finding out what locations it should be promoting and focusing on attracting out of state visitors.
“Truly it’s just because people have been invited to the state in a way they understand, in a way that makes sense,” said John Ricks, executive director of Visit Nebraska, also known as the Nebraska Tourism Commission.
SEE ALSO: Nebraska tourism slogan is no more. ‘Everything has a shelf life,’ official says
Ricks says the preconceived notion of Nebraska being a flyover state isn’t true. The commission just had to let people know what the state offers.
After talking with out-of-state visitors, it learned what barriers were keeping people from the Cornhusker State.
“There’s just a simple awareness problem and a familiarity problem,” Ricks said.
SEE ALSO: Nebraska Tourism receives second national award for ‘not for everyone’ campaign
We asked users of the Now Local News App, some who live here and some who don’t, what their favorite spots are in Nebraska.
“I think that going out to western Nebraska is my family’s favorite place to go,” Melanie Dawkins said. “I don’t think enough Nebraskans make it all the way out there, like to the Panhandle.”
Kimberly Grace, who lives out of state, said she likes visiting the Stuhr Museum at Grand Island.
“You can learn about the pioneer days, and they have houses that they put on the land where you can go to visit.”
SEE ALSO: Rooms fill up in Lincoln, one of Airbnb renters’ top college football destinations
Ricks says to keep this growth going, it’s always going to be about getting the word out.
“The more people we make aware, the more people who are discovering that, ‘Hey, whatever I heard in the past isn’t true, and this is actually a cool place.’”
According to Ricks, despite the 2023 numbers just getting released, this year’s numbers are already beating last year’s by over 10%.
Nebraska
Wisconsin and Nebraska are both seeking bowl eligibility and an end to their losing streaks
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Bowl eligibility goes to the winner. Wisconsin is looking to extend its bowl streak to 22 seasons, third-longest in the nation. Nebraska has lost four straight after a 5-1 start and is looking to go to a bowl for the first time since 2016, the longest drought in the Power Four. The Badgers, losers of three straight, have clinched bowl eligibility the last two years with wins over Nebraska.
KEY MATCHUP
Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola vs. Wisconsin pass defense. Raiola will be playing his second game with new offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen as the play-caller. The freshman has struggled against Big Ten opponents. He’s thrown just three touchdown passes and been intercepted eight times over the last six games. Wisconsin has one of the best pass defenses in the conference and has allowed just three TD passes in six games.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Wisconsin: QB Braedyn Locke, like Raiola, has struggled and will have a new offensive coordinator following the firing of Phil Longo. The Badgers have scored a combined 33 points during their three-game losing streak, with Locke completing 49.4% of his passes (49 of 99) with two TDs and four interceptions.
Nebraska: DE Ty Robinson, a sixth-year player, will need to be his best in his final home game going against a Wisconsin offensive line that has allowed just 11 sacks. He’s one of the most disruptive defensive linemen in the Big Ten, with 10 tackles for loss and six sacks.
FACTS & FIGURES
Wisconsin has won 10 straight meetings with Nebraska, including all nine since the Freedom Trophy was introduced in 2014. The Badgers are 11-1 against Nebraska since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. … Nebraska is 0-8 under second-year coach Matt Rhule when trying to win a sixth game to become bowl-eligible. … Badgers have allowed only two plays of 40-plus yards, tied with Ohio State for fewest in the country. … Wisconsin’s Tawee Walker is averaging 97.3 rushing yards per game in his six Big Ten starts.
(WOWT) – Stabbed at least a dozen times, the body of 17-year-old Mary Kay Heese was discovered along a country road in 1969.
In an update to an exclusive First Alert 6 investigation, the detective who helped solve the decades-long cold case is speaking out.
“It’s been a dark cloud over Wahoo for a long time. There’s a lot of people who remember that,” Saunders County Attorney Investigator Ted Green said.
For nine years, Detective Green has learned much about the victim’s life and how it came to an end.
“She fought some, there was a struggle,” Green said.
The suspect, Joseph Ambroz, was 22 years old in 1969 and paroled from prison for about six months when he came to live with his mom in Wahoo.
“I still don’t understand how she got in the car because that wasn’t Mary Kay’s personality,” Kathy Tull, the victim’s cousin, said in an interview.
Detective Green believes a party grove was the destination.
“And she’s just thinking its ok a couple of guys I know from the restaurant and we’re going out for a ride,” Green said.
Green reveals that Mary Kay likely got in the car with the suspect and another young man who was with them.
“He committed suicide in 77 so if he wasn’t an active participant or just didn’t realize what was going to happened all of a sudden it just happened,” Green said.
A tip line set up by the victim’s cousin led to a lake west of Wahoo where the suspect’s car may have been dumped in 1969 where dive teams found a large metal object.
“It’s everybody’s hope the golden nugget you hope had been there. But there’s evidence I can’t discuss that there’s something there,” Green said.
Evidence that remains in the lake because Green got estimates of up to $400 to pull it from the muddy, murky water.
But Green said he has plenty more evidence, including an autopsy after exhuming the body of the victim with a forensic pathologist from the Offutt Military Identification Lab adding expertise.
“There’s DNA available, its just I’ve got to go off of we have available to us,” Green said.
Though forensics will play a part in this case, it appears solved the old-fashioned way.
“This is a case that didn’t have anything glaring but had small pieces along the way. This is all gum shoe, all gum shoe work,” Green said.
Green would not respond when asked if he has found a murder weapon.
The 1969 murder of a small town high school Junior led to hundreds of interviews and tips over 55 years, and the investigation narrowed from ten suspects to one.
“Well been able to exclude everybody mentioned as a suspect way back when except for this guy,” Green said.
Even though the suspect is in custody, the case is not closed.
If you have information on the murder of Mary Kay Hesse, call the Saunders County Attorney’s Office at 402-443-5613.
—
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