Nebraska
Nebraska Supreme Court rejects two lawsuits challenging abortion-rights petition • Nebraska Examiner
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:15 p.m. to reflect the latest court action.
LINCOLN — The Nebraska Supreme Court on Thursday rejected fast-tracking a pair of lawsuits seeking to remove an abortion-rights constitutional amendment from the fall ballot.
Time is short for either effort, one from a Douglas County woman funded by the socially conservative Thomas More Society and one backed by local abortion opponents.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen has until Sept. 13 to finalize the November general election ballot. He announced on Aug. 23 that the measure qualified for the ballot.
The second lawsuit was filed Wednesday, hours after the Nebraska Supreme Court declined to take up the first. Attorneys for the Douglas County woman, Carolyn LaGreca, tried to correct a mistake on the first lawsuit and refiled it. But the court again rejected the case Thursday.
In the second lawsuit, filed Wednesday, Dr. Catherine Brooks, a Lincoln neonatologist, asked the court to remove the Protect the Right to Abortion measure from the ballot.
Criticizes proposal’s language
The proposed abortion-rights amendment would codify a right to abortion in the Nebraska Constitution until “fetal viability,” as determined by a health care provider, with later exceptions for the mother’s health.
Brooks was the public face of 30-plus medical providers who filed a complaint Monday with Evnen’s office, asking him to administratively reconsider his decision that the measure had legally qualified for the ballot.
In a statement Thursday from her attorney, Brenna Grasz, Brooks criticized the abortion amendment for redefining the viability standard by “extending the meaning into the late stages of pregnancy.” She called the proposal’s language “subjective, confusing and unworkable.”
“It subjects women and medical professionals to vague, unscientific standards, and dangerously expands the scope of abortion practice,” Brooks said.
She said the measure expands who decides viability to a person’s “health care practitioner” and called that “unsafe.” Non-physicians should not be making such determinations “outside the scope of their education, training, and experience,” she said.
Her lawsuit largely mirrored what the complaint letter argued, that the measure put forward by Protect Our Rights contains more than one subject, in violation of a state constitutional rule that ballot measures can cover only a single subject.
It argued that the petition seeks to create a new constitutional right to an abortion at the same time it seeks to define fetal viability and create an exception for a woman’s health.
The filing repeated anti-abortion criticism of the initiative that it also seeks to restrict the state’s ability to legislate and regulate abortion. It also redefines legal terms in ways the lawsuit describes as problematic.
“The Initiative violates this requirement by containing multiple proposals that are dissimilar, unrelated, and separate purposes,” the lawsuit said. “These separate purposes also lack a natural and necessary connection.”
No immediate comment from either side
Protect Our Rights had no immediate comment about the latest lawsuit or the Court’s action.
Allie Berry, campaign manager for Protect Our Rights, has said abortion opponents were “doing everything in their power to undermine the process and lay the groundwork for their ultimate goal: a total abortion ban.”
The group has noted that Evnen certified the measure and said petition organizers had “followed the appropriate processes every step of the way.” Supporters said that the measure is legal and that voters deserve a say on reproductive health.
Brooks’ lawsuit asked the Supreme Court to let it skip the step of going through District Court because time is short, similar to the appeal made in a separate lawsuit from a Douglas County woman that the court rejected for technical reasons.
That lawsuit was refiled Wednesday by the plaintiff’s attorney, who said he corrected a clerical error. The court reconsidered and still rejected it. Funded by the socially conservative Thomas More Society, this lawsuit argues similarly that the ballot measure seeking to cement abortion rights tries to do too much at once, in violation of the Nebraska Constitution.
The court decided not to take either case as a so-called “original action.” Notes on the case files said the two applications were “not supported by affidavit or positively-verified petition.”
If the ballot measure goes forward, Nebraska would be the first state since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade to have competing abortion-related constitutional amendments on the same ballot.
Abortion opponents are supporting a measure that would constitutionally limit abortion to the first trimester of pregnancy and still let the Legislature pass stricter bans than contained in current law.
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Nebraska
Nebraska Women’s Basketball Tops Purdue Fort Wayne at Emerald Coast Classic
Nebraska women’s basketball is still undefeated early in the 2025-26 campaign.
The Huskers topped the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastadons in the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida, on Monday, 80-57. NU is now 6-0 while PFW is 3-3.
But the 23-point difference is not an indication of how close this game was for much of the evening.
6-0 👏 pic.twitter.com/O9cJG8JRKI
— Nebraska Women’s Basketball (@HuskerWBB) November 25, 2025
Nebraska was held scoreless for the final four minutes of the first quarter, as Purdue Fort Wayne closed the game to just two points. The fortunes reversed late in the second quarter, with Nebraska going on an 11-0 run over the final 3:12 to take a 38-26 lead into halftime.
The Mastodons shot 46.2% in the third quarter and forced the Huskers into five turnovers, gaining ground to trail 54-44 after three frames.
That momentum continued into the fourth quarter, with a 5-2 run to cut the deficit to seven points. Then Logan Nissley made her presence known.
In a span of 1:19, Nissley hit a trio of three-pointers. The Husker junior scored all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter, where Nebraska doubled up Purdue Fort Wayne 26-13 to run away with the result.
Amiah Hargrove joined Nissley in scoring 11 points off the bench, with Eliza Maupin pouring in 13 points as another substitute. Britt Prince scored a game-high 18 points, adding seven assists, three rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot.
Nebraska shot 56.9% for the game, including 8-of-18 on three-pointers. Purdue Fort Wayne made 38.9% of their shots, going 8-of-27 from downtown.
Both teams had double-digit turnovers, with NU notching 14 to PFW’s 18. Those turned into 26 Husker points and 18 Mastodon points.
Nebraska advances to the championship of the Emerald Coast Classic on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. CST. The Huskers will take on the winner of Northwestern State and Virginia, with the game streaming on FloHoops.
Box score
Have a question or comment for Kaleb? Send an email to kalebhenry.huskermax@gmail.com.
Nebraska Women’s Basketball 2025-26 Schedule
Home games are bolded. All times central.
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Nebraska
Let’s Have an Honest Conversation About Nebraska Football
Adam Carriker speaks off the cuff/Gut Reaction style about Nebraska, Matt Rhule, Emmett Johnson, TJ Lateef & Husker football in this unique episode of the Carriker Chronicles. Carriker always prepares a lot, but he doesn’t use many notes in this raw and candid show! Nebraska football has to get better and do so very soon.
Big Ten football & college football fans…Let’s talk Huskers & about what’s happened! Adam Carriker does a position by position analysis of what’s taken place so far this year. What does he see between Dylan Raiola and TJ Lateef at quarterback? What does Adam see when it comes to Lateef playing versus Iowa, and what may happen during the off-season, also who may be being overlooked in that quarterback room right now?
When it comes to the running back, Adam points out absolutely amazing stats about Emmett Johnson. One is good and one is also concerning for Nebraska as a team. It also must be addressed at some point who is the true backup as well.
The wide receivers have done something this year that Adam couldn’t be more happy about, but that being said, they also need to improve in a drastic area as well, and Carriker addresses that too. Why does Adam feel the tight ends have been under-utilized when it comes to not only Luke Lindenmeyer, but Henrich Haarberg as well? Tune in to hear Adam‘s thoughts on this specifically!
Has Nebraska been playing six-on-11 football this year at times when it comes to the offensive line? Maybe that’s a bit unfair, but it is pretty obvious that Dana Holgorsen has completely changed how he calls games due to what he believes the offensive line’s limitations are.
Let’s also chat about the defensive line and why, while nobody knew for sure what was gonna happen up front defensively this year, Adam Carriker mentioned that some of this may have been a little easy to predict — even easier than Husker fans may have liked to admit.
The second level of the defense has had some ups and downs. Let’s chat about that and what the future looks like there as well! The defensive secondary has been elite, or has it? And finally, Adam points out some absolutely amazing statistics about Nebraska special teams. Also, what has been the one thing that’s been a little bit underwhelming to this point?
Adam gives us summation of Matt Rhule’s approach to rebuilding Nebraska football, and he compares it to Curt Cignetti, Deion Sanders and other college coaches as well. Why does Matt Rhule not mind taking a couple of steps backward in order to go forward? And the ultimate question, will Nebraska ultimately take those big steps forward that Matt Rhule is hoping for?! This is a can’t-miss episode of the Carriker Chronicles!
Go Big Red and always remember to Throw The Bones!
☛ Get more Carriker Chronicles here on Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, at Adam’s website and on YouTube.
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
Nebraska
Penn State’s vets shined in the team’s romp vs. Nebraska, and so did these young Lions
Kaytron Allen is now Penn State’s all-time leading rusher after yet another stellar performance on the ground.
Nick Singleton, Allen’s 2022 classmate and good friend, added two more touchdowns to his impressive career total, along with 95 combined rushing-receiving yards.
Singleton has amassed 53 touchdowns for PSU, tying him with Saquon Barkley for the most in program history.
Penn State’s offensive line, led by vets Vega Ioane, Nick Dawkins, Drew Shelton, Anthony Donkoh and Nolan Rucci, paved the way for the Lions’ 231 rushing yards and four rushing scores in PSU’s 37-10 steamrolling of Nebraska on Senior Night in State College.
Senior defensive linemen Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant combined for two sacks and two pass breakups in the contest.
The Penn State veterans came to play as the Lions improved to 5-6 in their final 2025 game at Beaver Stadium.
It was a good night for a few of the program’s gifted young players, too.
Ethan Grunkemeyer. The Lions’ redshirt freshman quarterback, in his fifth career start, completed 11 of 12 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown.
Grunkemeyer became the first Penn State quarterback to complete 90 percent of his passes on 10 or more attempts – “Grunk” was at 92 percent – since Todd Blackledge completed 10 of 11 (91 percent) passes at Syracuse in 1981.
Penn State running back Kaytron Allen
Daryus Dixson. Penn State’s rapidly developing true freshman cornerback was a difference-maker against Nebraska, finishing with a career-high eight tackles, five of them solos.
Yvan Kemajou. The Lions’ true freshman edge rusher collected four tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack against the Cornhuskers. The sack was Kemajou’s first.
Kemajou has 4.5 tackles for loss.

Koby Howard. Penn State’s true freshman wideout delivered another explosive play on the Lions’ first touchdown drive – a 31-yard catch that positioned PSU at its 47. The Lions capped their 98-yard scoring march three plays later.
Howard, who has three explosive plays in 2025, is averaging 19.8 yards on five receptions.
Alex Tatsch. PSU’s true freshman linebacker produced a career-high five tackles, three of them solos.
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