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Nebraska lawmakers question why state prison leaders failed to comply with mandates

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Nebraska lawmakers question why state prison leaders failed to comply with mandates


Grappling with nation-leading jail progress, Nebraska officers are taking a look at methods to develop the state’s problem-solving courts as a possible answer.


LINCOLN — Like a instructor lecturing a scholar for failing to show in homework, Nebraska lawmakers Tuesday questioned why state corrections leaders have so typically failed to provide reviews, plans and different work merchandise mandated by the Legislature.

A 2021 legislation gave the Nebraska Division of Correctional Providers cash to provide you with a plan for a “midway again home,” a structured surroundings for parole violators in need of returning them to jail.

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That very same 12 months, lawmakers mandated a complete amenities research, and likewise required a research to find out whether or not inmates had been being correctly labeled primarily based on safety and programming wants.

Again in 2015, lawmakers required the division to provide an digital medical information monitoring system, and likewise to comprehensively research the effectiveness of its rehabilitation programming for inmates.

Persons are additionally studying…

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Thus far, none of these issues have been produced.

“The willingness to disregard what we’ve required in laws is regarding,” mentioned State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha throughout a listening to of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.

He urged the division deliberately didn’t comply with the directives. He and different senators cited these failures as among the many causes Nebraska continues to have the nation’s most overcrowded jail system.

“Fairly frankly, not a lot has modified,” mentioned Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln.

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It fell to the division’s interim director — who has been on the job for simply days — to reply to senators’ questions. Scott Frakes, who led the division for seven years throughout the administration of Gov. Pete Ricketts, retired efficient earlier this month.

Interim Director Diane Sabatka-Rine supplied a wide range of causes for the failure to satisfy legislative mandates. The amenities research, for one, might be executed by the tip of this 12 months, and the inmate classification research by March, she mentioned.

However she additionally mentioned there’s little doubt the division has made “significant change” lately, citing enhancements in staffing and a recidivism price that she mentioned ranks in the very best one-third within the nation.

She additionally mentioned the division will proceed to discover greatest practices that may assist offenders succeed upon launch.

“I believe we will proceed to enhance the standard of life in lots of respects for our inhabitants,” she mentioned.

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Lathrop mentioned he referred to as Tuesday’s listening to as a technique to assess the place Nebraska’s long-troubled correctional system stands because the state prepares to usher in a brand new administration. The system for years has suffered from extreme inmate overcrowding and continual shortages of employees.

There’s now a chance to reset relations between the Legislature and corrections division. By subsequent 12 months, there might be a brand new governor, a brand new corrections director and far turnover within the Legislature’s management.

In response to a query, Sabatka-Rine indicated she is all in favour of changing into the everlasting corrections director. She is a 40-year division veteran, together with 10 years as a warden at three amenities, and 7 years serving inside central administration.

Throughout Tuesday’s listening to, Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln expressed frustration on the failure of the division to ship the analysis of inmate programming.

She mentioned persistent overcrowding within the prisons has led to staffing shortages, which in flip has left too little employees to supply for jail programming, which then led to inmates being launched unprepared to succeed, which then meant reoffending and extra overcrowding.

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“It’s a steady, vicious cycle,” she mentioned.

Sabatka-Rine mentioned the 2015 programming research was launched after which misplaced steam as a result of some employees turnover. However she mentioned the division “does all in its energy” to get inmates the assistance they want.

She mentioned generally inmates enter jail with sentences too brief to permit them to finish programming, or at occasions they refuse to take it.

Some senators questioned why inmates don’t get medical programming like alcohol and drug remedy till they’re inside three years of launch. Sabatka-Rine mentioned that’s primarily based on greatest practices nationally, which have discovered remedy is simplest simply earlier than inmates re-enter society.

The Legislature this previous session renewed its name for a programming research, passing one other such legislation. Sabatka-Rine mentioned the division is now engaged with the College of Nebraska at Omaha to launch the brand new research.

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The dearth of an digital medical monitoring system regardless of the 2015 mandate was raised final week as a potential issue within the loss of life of a 40-year-old inmate. The inmate had been in custody for practically 10 years earlier than she obtained a Pap smear, a preventative screening that would have revealed her treatable cervical most cancers.

Sabatka-Rine mentioned the division initially sought to satisfy the medical information mandate by shopping for an “off-the-shelf” program.

It then discovered this system wouldn’t adequately combine with the division’s different methods. The division then began to develop this system in-house, a course of that’s ongoing.

Lathrop mentioned the great amenities wants research ought to have been accomplished this 12 months, earlier than the Legislature thought-about Ricketts’ proposal to construct a $270 million, 1,500-bed jail to interchange the Nebraska State Penitentiary. Ultimately, senators determined to put aside the cash for a brand new jail however declined to acceptable it.

“It must be executed earlier than we spend one nickel on new house,” Lathrop mentioned.

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Whereas Ricketts had bought the brand new jail as a substitute for the penitentiary, Lathrop urged the older facility will finally be repurposed for extra prisoner housing. Pressed by Lathrop on whether or not that was probably, Sabatka-Rine mentioned it’s troublesome to foretell future capability wants.

“I’m closing the door,” she mentioned of the likelihood. “I’m not locking the door.”

Lathrop mentioned he nonetheless doesn’t perceive what occurred to the Legislature’s request for the halfway-back home. The concept behind the power was to offer parolees who commit technical violations a spot to reset their lives in need of having them returned to jail.

Lathrop mentioned he thought the directive was clear in each the laws and in a subsequent assembly he held with Frakes. As a substitute, the division not too long ago produced a report back to create 96 beds of transitional housing for paroled inmates.

“It’s not what we requested for,” Lathrop mentioned. “And we couldn’t have been clearer.”

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The World-Herald’s occasional collection on Nebraska’s jail disaster begins with the the state’s nation-leading incarceration spike, and the way previous actions by lawmakers have performed a job in that progress.

Paying the Price: Well-worn path to prison in North Omaha fuels racial incarceration disparities

Nebraska locks up individuals of shade at larger charges than the U.S. as a complete. The gaps between its low White incarceration price and excessive charges for racial minorities are among the many widest within the nation.

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Paying the Price: Lure of Omaha gangs proved too strong at age 12

Anthony Washington now sees his devotion to his gang as a “false idolization” that helped steer him to jail.

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Paying the Price: Once on death row, he wants to show that inmates can change

When Shakur Abdullah speaks to jail inmates who’re getting ready to transition again to society, he counsels them not to surrender hope they will flip their lives round.

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Omaha shows stiffer sentences aren't only way to tackle gun violence

Omaha police have labored hand in hand with affected communities to make use of all-new techniques, together with a beefed-up gang specialty unit, shot detection expertise and enhanced rewards for ideas.

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Gun law shifted hundreds of gun cases from federal courts — at state taxpayer expense

Nebraska’s powerful 2009 legislation despatched offenders to a state jail cell as an alternative of a federal one. Apart from the price to Nebraska taxpayers, the shift meant inmates had been higher capable of hold native gang ties.

cordes@owh.com, ​402-444-1130, twitter.com/henrycordes

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Nebraska

How to watch #7 Nebraska vs. Wisconsin wrestling: Time, TV channel, FREE live streams

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How to watch #7 Nebraska vs. Wisconsin wrestling: Time, TV channel, FREE live streams


The 7th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers are back in the Delaney Center Friday night for a Big Ten Conference dual with the Wisconsin Badgers. The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT) with TV coverage on BTN and streaming on-demand.

  • How to watch: Live streams of the Nebraska vs. Wisconsin match are available with offers from FuboTV (free trial), SlingTV (low intro rate) and DirecTV Stream (free trial).

Wisconsin Badgers (4-8) at #7 Nebraska Cornhuskers (8-2)

NCAA wrestling match at a glance

When: Friday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT)

Where: Delaney Center, Lincoln, Neb.

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TV channel: BTN

Live streams: FuboTV (free trial) | SlingTV (low intro rate) | DirecTV Stream (free trial)

The Huskers are back in Lincoln after a dominant weekend in the state of Michigan, opening with a big 38-6 win over No. 18 Michigan on Friday and following with a 38-3 win over Michigan State. Nebraska has remained within striking distance of the Big Ten’s big three while handling the competition for that honor, assembling an 8-2 dual record with losses only to No. 1 Penn State and No. 10 Northern Iowa.

The Badgers are limping through the dual season with a 4-8 overall record and four consecutive losses in Big Ten action. Wisconsin has a manageable slate of matches down the stretch after the trip to Nebraska, wrestling Purdue and Michigan State at home next Friday and Sunday.

Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Wisconsin Badgers: Know your live streaming options

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  • FuboTV (free trial)excellent viewer experience with a huge library of live sports content; free trial lengths vary.
  • SlingTV (low intro rate) discounted first month is best if you’ve run out of free trials or you’re in the market for 1+ month of TV
  • DirecTV Stream (free trial) not the same level of viewer experience as FuboTV, but the 7-day free trial is still the longest in streaming.

The Cornhuskers and Badgers are set for a 9 p.m. ET start on BTN. Live streams are available from FuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial) and SlingTV (low intro rate).



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Nebraskans want and support strong public schools • Nebraska Examiner

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Nebraskans want and support strong public schools • Nebraska Examiner


In Nebraska, we have a constitutional obligation to provide education for our children in the common (public) schools. It is an obligation we take very seriously. 

And in that obligation, we recognize that we need to provide a variety of learning environments for our students and that parents should have a say in determining that environment. That is why, for more than 30 years, Nebraska’s option enrollment program has enabled tens of thousands of students to choose the public school that best fits their needs, even if that school is not the one right down the street. 

In fact, in my home community of Omaha, in Millard, roughly one in four students choose to attend a public school that is not their neighborhood school.

Proponents of measures that would divert public resources to private schools often claim that public school advocates do not believe in choice. Nothing could be further from the truth. We believe that if a school is funded through public dollars, it should be publicly accountable and should follow the most important belief we hold: that we have the privilege of educating all students who come through our doors. 

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During the debate on the first version of the “Opportunity Scholarships” voucher bill, an amendment was proposed to ensure that was the case. The amendment simply required that any private school receiving a publicly funded scholarship would be prohibited from discriminating against students based on elements like race, religion, sexual orientation or disability. 

Supporters of the voucher bill rejected that amendment.   

We strongly believe that education policies should meet the needs of all students. Voucher supporters do not agree. Across the river, in Iowa, we are watching in real time as that state’s school voucher program becomes a massive subsidy for the wealthy. 

Only 12% of the applicants to Iowa’s program had previously attended a public school.  The average income of a family applying for a voucher to move from a public school to a private school in Iowa is more than $128,000.  Perhaps most concerning is the fact that since Iowa passed its voucher program, private school tuition has increased by 25%.

Nebraska needs to heed the warnings from other states. The research has been comprehensive and clear: Large-scale voucher programs do not improve academic outcomes. In fact, in a comprehensive report that was done by Indiana University, after reviewing more than a dozen studies, the report concluded that, “As programs grew in size, the results turned negative, often to a remarkably large degree virtually unrivaled in education research.” 

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These programs not only fail to improve academic outcomes, they also drain a disproportionate number of resources away from our public schools. The Nebraska Legislative Fiscal Office noted that the voucher programs proposed would not reduce public school expenses. 

In fact, depending on who takes these vouchers, the proposed programs could result in a loss of millions of dollars of state aid to public schools. Sadly, that isn’t a hypothetical. In Arizona, its voucher program has ballooned to nearly $1 billion in its cost to taxpayers — while the Isaac Public School District does not even have enough money to pay its staff.

Importantly, the people of Nebraska saw the failings in these other states and reinforced their commitment to a school system that welcomes all students, regardless of their background. In November, hundreds of thousands of Nebraskans voted to support their public schools and to reject vouchers for the fourth time in our state’s history. 

The result was consistent across the state, with a majority in 82 of Nebraska’s 93 counties voting to repeal the voucher bill. Our lawmakers in the Legislature should respect the will of the people and acknowledge that Nebraskans do not support using public funds to pay for private schools.

While the evidence may be clear that a voucher program will not improve the educational outcomes in Nebraska, that does not mean we are content with the current state of education. We believe we need to and can improve on how we serve our students in our public schools. 

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Yet research, as well as our fundamental belief in public education, leads us to know that voucher schemes are not the solution. We have proposed several measures in this Legislative session that would help address our state’s ongoing teacher retention challenges. 

We are also supporting measures like Sen. Margo Juarez’s Legislative Bill 161, which would increase funding for public preschool. States that have demonstrated the greatest progress in improving math and reading outcomes for students are those that have committed to expanding preschool access. 

We want every child in our state to have the best possible learning environment. The evidence is clear that vouchers are not the answer. The answer is strengthening our Nebraska public schools.

Tim Royers, a public school educator and Nebraska’s 2016 Teacher of the Year, is president of the Nebraska State Education Association. He taught in the Millard Public Schools.

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Busboom Kelly gets major pay bump as Nebraska volleyball head coach

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Busboom Kelly gets major pay bump as Nebraska volleyball head coach


LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – New Nebraska volleyball head coach Dani Busboom Kelly has signed a six-year, $4.575 million contract with the Huskers, set to begin Friday.

According to documents released by Nebraska Athletics, Busboom Kelly will earn a base salary of $700,000 in her first year, with annual increases of $25,000. By the final year of her contract, which runs through Jan. 31, 2031, she will make $825,000.

According to documents released by Nebraska Athletics, Dani Busboom Kelly will earn a base salary of $700,000 in her first year, with annual increases of $25,000. By the final year of her contract, which runs through Jan. 31, 2031, she will make $825,000.(Nebraska Athletics)

Her contract includes performance bonuses, including $50,000 if Nebraska wins the Big Ten Conference Championship and $100,000 if she is named AVCA National Coach of the Year.

She would also receive a $50,000 bonus for reaching the NCAA volleyball tournament’s Final Four and $100,000 for winning the national title.

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Another clause of the contract states that if the Huskers make it to the Final Four in any given year, the contract will be extended another year, with the same $25,000 base salary increase.

At Louisville, Busboom Kelly’s base salary was $400,000 through 2028.

Busboom Kelly will succeed her former coach and mentor, John Cook, who announced his retirement on Wednesday after 25 seasons as Nebraska’s head volleyball coach.

Cook was earning $825,000 before retiring, having signed a contract extension in May 2024.

Busboom Kelly will be formally introduced as the Huskers’ head coach on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The welcome event will be open to the public with an introductory press conference to follow.

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