Nebraska
Nebraska tourism slogan is no more. 'Everything has a shelf life,' official says | Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Frankly, it was a state tourism slogan that wasn’t for everybody.
On Monday, the Nebraska tourism director announced publicly that it was ditching its edgy, 5-year-old tagline: “Nebraska, honestly it’s not for everyone.”
Officials said the slogan was successful in getting previously uninterested travelers curious about visiting Nebraska, but it had also been criticized — including by Gov. Jim Pillen — as reinforcing the state’s lack of soaring mountains and ocean beaches.
‘Thing of the past’
“It’s a thing of the past,” John Ricks, director of the Nebraska Tourism Commission, told members of the Legislature’s budget-writing Appropriations Committee on Monday.
“Times change. Everything has a shelf life,” added David Budge, who runs North Platte’s Nebraskaland Days festival.
Ricks made the revelation during a public hearing in which he requested an increase in spending authority for his commission, from $7.4 million to $10.5 million, to increase marketing of visiting the state.
“We want to keep pounding in Chicago,” Ricks told senators.
Funds for more marketing
The Windy City and Oklahoma City were targets of new state marketing campaigns in the past year that, he said, were financed by federal coronavirus funds.
The increased spending, Ricks emphasized, would be financed by a combination of state lodging taxes and surplus tourism commission funds, not tax dollars.
The marketing, however, won’t include the tagline: “Nebraska, honestly it’s not for everyone.”
Motto increased interest
Ricks said the motto was successful in increasing interest in visiting the state, saying that a survey of tourists in the target market for Nebraska showed interest rising from 19% in 2019 to 39% more recently.
He said that when he was hired 7 ½ years ago, Nebraska suffered a publicity problem. It ranked last among states that tourists were interested in visiting. It had a reputation as flat, boring and a long way across.
“The only way we could get their attention, honestly, was by agreeing with them, and then counteracting it,” Ricks said.
That led to billboards showing groups of happy people riding down a Sandhills stream in a livestock tank with the headline: “Lucky for you there’s nothing to do here.” Or a billboard of hikers hopping between rock formations at northwest Nebraska’s Toadstool Park with the line, “Famous for our flat, boring landscape.”
Pillen slammed slogan
In the last “Portrait of American Travelers” report last fall, Ricks said that Nebraska had risen to a tie for 41st — up from 50th — as a state travelers were interested in visiting.
But Pillen slammed the slogan during his recent State of the State address, calling it “nonsense” and a barrier to recruiting new residents to the state.
Dropping the slogan comes as a proposal is being considered in the Nebraska Legislature to transfer the now-independent Tourism Commission back under the control of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.
Budge, who was testifying for both the state travel and hospitality associations, called that move “backwards.”
The commission, he said, was moved out of DED a decade ago because its work in promoting the state’s third largest industry was being lost amid a large bureaucracy.
The decision to drop the tagline came last fall, Ricks said, before the governor’s public dart.
Ricks added that most of the criticism of the tagline wasn’t coming from out-of-state visitors, but from Nebraska residents, or former residents, who considered it a putdown, which wasn’t the purpose.
The Appropriations Committee took no action on the request to raise the Tourism Commission’s spending authority after the public hearing Monday.
People across Nebraska and Kansas reported feeling an earthquake Sunday afternoon.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a quake measuring 4.1 on the Richter Scale struck around 1 p.m. about 3 miles east of the Webster County village of Cowles, which is in south-central Nebraska near the Kansas border.
A quake of that magnitude is considered “light” and not likely to cause damage.
But the USGS received dozens of reports from people who said they felt the quake, some as far away as Omaha and Manhattan, Kansas. Numerous people took to social media to report feeling the quake.
Two aftershocks of 2.6 magnitude later occurred near the original quake site, one about 90 minutes after the initial quake and one later Sunday night.
Earthquakes are relatively rare in Nebraska, but the state does usually record one or two minor ones per year. The last time Nebraska recorded a quake of a magnitude 4 or above was in December 2023, also in Webster County.
The results are in for the Nebraska Lottery’s draw games on Monday, March 2, 2026.
Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on March 2.
Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing
02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from March 2 drawing
21-28-58-65-67, Powerball: 25
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from March 2 drawing
7-5-8
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 5 numbers from March 2 drawing
03-08-09-17-25
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning 2 By 2 numbers from March 2 drawing
Red Balls: 14-26, White Balls: 17-18
Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning MyDay numbers from March 2 drawing
Month: 05, Day: 03, Year: 23
Check MyDay payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 2 drawing
28-41-42-50-55, Bonus: 02
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Nebraska Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3, 5: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- Lucky For Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- 2 By 2: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- MyDaY: By 10 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.
NioCorp announced Monday that it plans to start work on its critical minerals mine in southeast Nebraska.
The project, which the company is calling its mine portal project, will involve building a main entrance to the Elk Creek underground mine and will serve as the primary access point for personnel, equipment, and materials for the underground mining operations. It also will include excavating bedrock, drilling and blasting to establish the twin mine ramps, on-site access road construction, and construction of on-site supporting infrastructure.
The project, which will cost nearly $45 million, is set to get underway before the end of the month. It marks the first time Colorado-based NioCorp will actually start any significant work on the main mine, from which the company hopes to extract niobium, scandium, titanium and other minerals.
“Given the size of this excavation work, the portal project really marks the beginning of a major pre-construction activity at the Elk Creek Project site and is an important step toward preparing for underground development,” Scott Honan, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said in a release.
Mark A. Smith, Niocorp’s chairman and CEO, called the project, “a significant milestone.”
Niocorp has spent more than 15 years trying to develop the mine on land in Johnson County, about 65 miles southeast of Lincoln.
The company still needs to raise a significant amount of money to make the $1.2 billion mine a reality, though. In December, NioCorp said it had raised about $360 million, or a little more than a quarter of the total cost. It is still waiting for approval of a $780 million debt financing application from the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
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