Nebraska
Opinion | A Leading Law Scholar Fears We’re Lurching Toward Secession
Here’s how rickety our constitutional system has become: The fate of the 2024 election could hang on the integrity of a single Republican state senator in Nebraska.
To understand why requires getting a bit deep in the Electoral College weeds. Almost all states use a winner-take-all system to apportion their presidential electors, but Nebraska and Maine award some electors by congressional district. In 2020, Joe Biden won one of Nebraska’s five electoral votes, and Donald Trump won one elector from rural Maine. This year Kamala Harris’s clearest path to victory is to take the so-called blue wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, plus one electoral vote in Nebraska.
One reason that both states have resisted partisan pressure to switch to winner-take-all is the assumption that if one did so, the other would as well, balancing out any Electoral College effect. But this year, Republicans waited until it was too late for Maine to change its rules before starting a push to change them in Nebraska. If they succeeded and Harris held the blue wall but lost the other swing states, there would be a tie in the Electoral College. For the first time in 200 years, the election would go to the House, where each state delegation would get one vote and Trump would almost certainly be installed as president.
So far, one man, State Senator Mike McDonnell, who defected from the Democratic Party this spring, is standing in the Republican Party’s way. We should all be grateful for his courage. But the pressure on him from his new party will be intense, and he can still change his mind in the coming weeks.
Whether or not McDonnell remains steadfast, this is a preposterous way to run a purportedly democratic superpower. The Electoral College — created in part, as the scholar Akhil Reed Amar has shown, to protect slavery — has already given us two presidents in the 21st century who lost the popular vote, and it continues to warp our politics. It is one reason Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the U.C. Berkeley School of Law and an eminent legal scholar, has come to despair of the Constitution he’s devoted much of his life to. “I believe that if the problems with the Constitution are not fixed — and if the country stays on its current path — we are heading to serious efforts at secession,” he writes in his bracing new book, “No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.”
Chemerinsky’s description of the way our Constitution thwarts the popular will — including through the Electoral College, the growing small-state advantage in the Senate and the rogue Supreme Court — will be familiar to readers of books like last year’s “Tyranny of the Minority” by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. The surprising part of his argument is his call for a new constitutional convention, which can be triggered, under the Constitution’s Article V, by a vote of two-thirds of the states.
Many on the right have long dreamed of an Article V convention, hoping to pass things like a balanced-budget amendment. Chemerinsky wants to use the process to advance changes sought by progressives. It is imperative, he writes, “that Americans begin to think of drafting a new Constitution to create a more effective, more democratic government.” Without radical reforms, he fears, the country could come undone.
Chemerinsky arrived at his somewhat despairing view of our predicament with reluctance. “What makes it painful is the underlying pessimism or the underlying sense of crisis,” he told me. “I’m by nature an optimist.”
That optimism seems to drive his belief that a country as polarized as ours is still capable of sweeping positive change. “I want to believe that if a group of men and women came together and had to draft a Constitution that they knew would have to be ratified by the country, they would come up with a better document than we have now,” said Chemerinsky. “And if they failed, if it went off the rails, it wouldn’t get approved.”
I lack his faith. My fear is that while our Constitution has become a kind of cage, it’s also the only thing holding our country’s hostile factions together. The paradox of our founding document is that it’s both an accelerant to authoritarianism and a bulwark against it. The Constitution is the reason that Trump could again become president in defiance of the wishes of the majority. But if that happens, the Constitution would be one of the few tools we have to restrain him. Given our furious divisions, I’m skeptical that we could agree on a new and better one.
But I agree with Chemerinsky that because of the deep structural flaws in our Constitution, the union is more fragile than many assume. And like him, I can easily imagine America getting to a place where the idea of breaking it up no longer seems unthinkable.
America could, of course, get lucky. For this election, McDonnell could continue to resist his party’s entreaties, or Harris could win enough Electoral College votes to make any chicanery in Nebraska moot. Eventually, Congress could enact reforms that lessen some of our system’s antidemocratic distortions. One law Chemerinsky suggests would mandate that all states allocate their electors proportionally, so that all voters, regardless of their states’ partisan leanings, have a role in choosing the president. And in time, America’s demography and its political coalitions could change in ways that might help our politics come unstuck. If Texas were to become a blue state, for example, conservatives might suddenly find themselves open to Electoral College reform.
But right now, we’re staring down yet another election in which Trump could win after losing the popular vote. Chances are he’ll have a Republican-controlled Senate, even if most people who go to the polls vote for Democrats. He’ll operate under the protection of a widely distrusted Supreme Court — the only one in any major democracy where justices have lifetime tenure — that has granted presidents broad impunity for crimes they commit in office. “The mistakes made in 1787 are haunting us in the 21st century,” writes Chemerinsky. The question is whether America is capable of fixing them before they destroy us.
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – A deeper look tonight as First Alert 6 continues to dig deeper into the state of mental health care in Nebraska and possible solutions, ever since last week’s two instances involving law enforcement.
A Douglas County sheriff’s deputy was shot responding to a domestic call. Investigators said the suspect, Brian Huggins, had a history of behavioral health issues. Huggins died by suicide.
And then Noemi Guzman, who police say kidnapped a 3-year-old from inside an Omaha Walmart and cut him in the arm and face with a stolen kitchen knife. Omaha police officers shot and killed her before she could strike again.
Guzman had been on a court-ordered mental health treatment plan since last summer for her schizophrenia. According to court records, psychiatrists determined she could live in the community. Remember, this was after she was arrested for setting her father’s house on fire and threatening a priest with a knife.
Monitoring system
We wanted to know who is part of the system monitoring those who may not be following their mental health treatment plan and are a risk to others or themselves. When that happens, the Board of Mental Health will often notify the local sheriff so a warrant can be issued and deputies can track the individual down.
Here are the numbers since 2023:
In 2023, 842 warrants were issued for those not following their treatment plans according to the Board of Mental Health. In 2024, 756. In 2025, 690. So far in 2026, 190.
But out of these 2,500 warrants, 85% of them didn’t have a second warrant, meaning deputies picked them up, got them back into treatment and the individuals continued to thrive after the one hiccup.
But in 15% of these cases, the individuals messed up again and had another warrant issued by the Board of Mental Health. Twenty-five individuals had five or more issued in Douglas County.
Sheriff Hanson said there has to be a better way, a more team approach for this.
One model to explore is the way Nebraska’s problem-solving courts work like drug court and veterans’ treatment court where experts from a variety of stakeholders help individuals who are on the fringes to do everything to make them productive citizens.
Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.
(InvestigateTV) — Sometimes sports are about more than the final score.
For Jack Burke, a high school football player in Nebraska, a medical diagnosis at birth has never stopped him from competing — and a touchdown catch in his first play back from open heart surgery proved it.
Born with a rare heart defect
Burke was born with Scimitar syndrome, a rare heart defect in which babies are born with an underdeveloped right lung and pulmonary artery. The condition also affects blood flow to the right lung. Treatment often includes surgery, and many adults with the condition go on to live healthy lives.
“As a kid, I never really understood,” Burke said. “It was always natural for me that I had to push myself harder to keep up.”
His mother, Bridget Burke, says the condition was not initially considered dangerous for sports participation.
“His Scimitar Syndrome never really came into play as being dangerous for him to play sports,” she said.
The decision to operate
That changed in the spring of 2025, when Burke’s family and doctors decided it was time for a surgery that had been anticipated for years.
“I’ve kind of known I’ve had to get surgery my whole life,” Burke said. “Once I knew I could get the surgery sooner, I was all in. I wanted to get it so I could get back to sports.”
His father, Ryan Burke, says the timing was deliberate.
“This will be done before school gets started, and still have a chance to do almost everything you want to do,” Ryan Burke said.
Jack Burke underwent open-heart surgery, leaving a visible reminder of what he went through.
“There’s a six-inch scar in the middle of his chest that represents a pretty big thing that happened,” Ryan Burke said.
For Bridget Burke, the moment her son was taken to the operating room was difficult.
“When the rubber hits the road and your kid is being wheeled back to the OR, it is scary and emotional,” she said.
The comeback
Burke eased back into football following his cardiologist’s recommended recovery timeline. His return came in week three of the season.
“Before the Schuyler game I talked to his dad and he’s like, ‘I think we might be ready,’” said coach Jay Landstrom.
Bridget Burke says the family approached the return with caution.
“I mean, I was nervous. We didn’t really know how much he would play. It was going to be some cautious situations,” she said.
Those concerns were set aside — at least for a moment — when Burke caught a touchdown pass on his very first play back.
“All the parents were high-fiving everybody and they were like, ‘Was that really Jack?’” Bridget Burke said.
Landstrom called it a special moment.
“It was just meant to be and that was really special,” he said.
For Burke, the touchdown meant something beyond the scoreboard.
“I just remember one of my teammates came up to me and said, ‘He’s back. He’s back,’” Burke said. “It kind of shows something that tried to stop me — I hurdled that obstacle.”
Burke says the surgery has given him a new sense of freedom.
“Now I can do whatever I want. Nothing can hold me back,” he said.
Copyright 2026 Gray Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The results are in for the Nebraska Lottery’s draw games on Sunday, April 19, 2026.
Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on April 19.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 19 drawing
4-3-3
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 5 numbers from April 19 drawing
14-19-24-30-34
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning 2 By 2 numbers from April 19 drawing
Red Balls: 01-02, White Balls: 09-26
Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning MyDay numbers from April 19 drawing
Month: 08, Day: 16, Year: 61
Check MyDay payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 19 drawing
32-42-52-53-55, Bonus: 05
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.
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