During the months of June, July and August 2024, Nebraska Extension will be offering one-day (eight hour) courses across the state to prepare individuals to pass the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aeronautical Knowledge Exam.

“The Part 107 Test Prep Course has been very successful, and students have been doing very well,” said Dirk Charlson, statewide extension educator of digital ag and course instructor, referring to the same course offered in early 2024.

During the months of January through March, Charlson taught this course across the state at six locations from the Nebraska Panhandle to Lincoln. The course had a total attendance of 87 students, who represented a mix of backgrounds from growers, educators, real estate accessors, professional photographers, and individuals involved in emergency management. In addition to Nebraska, students traveled from several states to attend, including Wyoming, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.

This course covers aviation topics such as regulations, airspace, radio communication, weather, aircraft performance, and other basic aviation concepts necessary to pass the Part 107 knowledge exam. The exam is taken at an FAA designated location and consists of 60 multiple-choice questions.

The Part 107 Remote Pilot Exam Prep Courses are available to the public. Aviation experience is not essential to be successful in the course. The course will be offered at seven locations across the state from June through August, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time:

• June 7 — UNL Panhandle Research, Extension and Educator Center, 4502 Ave. I, Scottsbluff.
• June 14 — Syracuse Public Library, 480 Fifth St., Syracuse.
• June 21 — Hall County Extension Office, 3180 W. Hwy 34, Grand Island.
• June 28 — Gage County Extension Office, 1115 W. Scott St., Beatrice.
• July 10 — Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center, 76025 Rd. 329, Grant.
• Aug. 8 — Dodge County Extension Office, 1206 W. 23rd St., Fremont.
• Aug. 16 — UNL West Central Research, Extension and Education Center, 402 W. State Farm Rd., North Platte.

Registration is available online for each location. Pre-registration is required with a $275 registration fee.

Please contact Dirk Charlson for more information on this course at 402-460-0742 (text or call).

The introductory level crop scout training is designed for entry-level scouts who are working for crop consultants, industry agronomists or farm service centers in Nebraska and neighboring states. The training is also ideal for growers who scout their own fields or are interested in improving productivity, as well as for students being employed by agribusinesses.

The course, which will be held in-person, is from 8:55 a.m. to 5:10 p.m. with registration at 8:30 a.m. at the University of Nebraska’s Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center which is located at 1071 County Road G, Ithaca, NE 68033. Nebraska Extension Educator Aaron Nygren says, “We look forward to providing participants a hands-on, in-person experience focusing on important crop scouting skills.”

Topics covered during the day include:
• Scouting Tips and Understanding Corn & Soybean Growth & Development
• Crop Diseases & Quiz
• Scouting Techniques – Soil, Tissue, Disease Samples & Drone Best Practices
• Identifying Weeds – Morphology, Using a Key to Identify Weed Seedlings
• Corn & Soybean Insect Scouting, Identification, Management
• Nutrient Deficiencies in Corn & Soybeans
• Hands on Practice

Some of the benefits past registrants stated the training provided included practical/working knowledge and better accuracy in field scouting. Other participants appreciated the hands-on, practical format. Past participants have consistently given the training high marks and state that the knowledge gained from attending improved their scouting skills.

Cost for the program is $100, which includes lunch, refreshment breaks, workshop materials and a 3 ring binder instruction manual. The take-home instruction manual includes a variety of reference materials that provide resources for crop scouting. For those attending the daylong training that don’t want a copy of the instruction manual, the fee is $60. Attendees should preregister to reserve their seat and to ensure workshop materials are available the day of the training session.

Certified Crop Advisor continuing education credits are being applied for with 6 credits in pest management, 1 in crop management and .5 in fertility/nutrient management.

To register or for more information, go to https://enreec.unl.edu/fieldcropscouttraining, contact Nebraska Extension at (402) 624-8030, or e-mail Aaron Nygren at anygren2@unl.edu. Preregistration requested by May 17 for meal planning purposes.

Extension is in the university’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

LINCOLN — Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana announced Thursday it has likely crossed one of two significant hurdles as it tries to get the issue on the ballot  for the third straight election year. Crista Eggers, campaign manager of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana. Sept. 13, 2023.

Crista Eggers, campaign manager for the petition drive, said the group is confident it has collected the minimum required signatures for two petitions across at least 38 of the state’s 93 counties. That multicounty requirement is for at least 5% of voters in each county to sign.

“The finish line is absolutely in sight, but not without all hands on deck,” she said.

‘We need to come in strong’

Eggers declined to release the list of counties expected to qualify but said the campaign has at least 55,000 signatures on each of its petitions. Volunteers are now shifting their work to get at least 87,000 verified voter signatures on each petition before July 3. 

However, volunteers are seeking many more signatures over that threshold, and more counties, to provide a buffer against any challenges, Eggers said. Volunteers with Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana sort through boxes of petitions submitted just before a deadline in 2022 to submit signatures to qualify for the November ballot. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)

For example, in 2020, the campaign gathered enough signatures and passed the multicounty requirement but the measure was kicked off the ballot because it wasn’t a “single subject.” In 2022, the group tried again but fell short in gathering overall signatures and for qualifying counties.

This is why the effort kicked off earlier this time, with two petitions: one that would protect patients and caregivers and another that would set the regulatory environment for medical cannabis.

“We cannot come in here just crossing the finish line — we need to come in strong,” Eggers said. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us in the next 50 days.”

‘A really great beginning’

Last month featured one of the group’s largest pushes, with 45 events across the state in 22 counties on April 20, a date that holds significance for advocates of marijuana. The events stretched from Alliance in western Nebraska to Nebraska City, near the Iowa border.

Eggers said those events spread visibility as she and others fight for their loved ones or for themselves. Patients bear the weight of pressing for legalization, she said, “which is absolutely wrong.”

“It should not take mothers of sick children and individuals who have spouses on hospice at home,” she said. “They shouldn’t have to be out gathering these signatures, but that is the reality, and this is how important it is for all of these individuals.” Lisa Post, at left, holds a Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana T-shirt beside Trisha Petersen on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, on Lincoln, Neb. The two became best friends during the campaign. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Lia Post of Springfield, who is one of the original signature gatherers, says she is involved  with the petition campaign because she has a rare illness called complex regional pain syndrome.

“I think it’s a really great beginning,” Post said of Thursday’s milestone. “But we’re really far from the end, and I hope people get involved.”

Federal reclassification moves ahead

Thursday’s announcement came the same day the U.S. Justice Department formally moved ahead in reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

The Drug Enforcement Administration will next take public comment on the proposed shift, which would reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I drug, such as heroin and LSD, to a Schedule III substance, like ketamine and some anabolic steroids, which have medicinal properties.

Gov. Jim Pillen said in September that legalizing marijuana “poses demonstrated harms to our children” and that access to medical marijuana should only happen if it obtains approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Thirty-eight states have legalized medical marijuana while 24 of them, plus Washington, D.C., have also legalized recreational use. The other states, including Nebraska, allow limited access to cannabis products with little to no THC, according to the Pew Research Center.

Eggers said the reclassification doesn’t change what the Nebraska campaign is doing but underscores that what the advocates are doing is right.

“Now we know, without a doubt, that this is a medicine and patients in our state deserve this as a treatment option,” Eggers said. “We as a state have to make that stance, and we have to solidify that.”

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.