Nebraska
Partisan fight continues over committee assignments in Nebraska Legislature • Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — The fate of some conservative priorities, such as changing how Nebraska allocates its votes for president or adding a “women’s bill of rights” to state law, could depend on whether Republicans succeed this week in making Democrats a minority on every legislative committee but one.
The leading point of contention Wednesday revolved around the makeup of the eight-member Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. By the end of the first day of the session, Government was set to have five Democrats and three Republicans, including its chair.
The group deciding is the Legislature’s 13-member Committee on Committees, which includes a chair and four representatives each from three legislative “caucuses,” which roughly mirror the state’s three congressional districts to reflect statewide representation.
“Me personally, and I’m one vote, I’m not representing any caucus in this,” State Sen. Christy Armendariz of Omaha, the Committee on Committees chair, said. “I think that the committee assignments should be representative of the makeup of the entire state.”
‘They’ve chosen their party’
While the Legislature is officially nonpartisan, Armendariz, a first-time member of the committee, said all 13 members know what is going on: a fight over partisan balance, which impacts all Nebraskans.
The Committee on Committees consists of eight Republicans, four Democrats and one nonpartisan independent. There are 33 Republicans in the Legislature, 15 Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive.
“They’ve chosen their party,” Armendariz said of Nebraska voters. “I don’t think it’s fair to exclude anybody in the state from representation on the committee.”
First day of 2025 Nebraska Legislature underscores conservative stronghold
The Committee on Committees met after Republicans in the Legislature swept leadership positions for all but one committee. They left the Urban Affairs Committee in the hands of State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha, a Democrat who chaired the committee the past two years.
Under a set of unofficial, tentative placements discussed Wednesday evening, Republicans would maintain membership leads on all but the Government Committee and Urban Affairs Committee, which would still become more conservative.
Conservatives would grow their numbers on the previously deadlocked Judiciary Committee as well as on the Business and Labor, Health and Human Services and Natural Resources Committees.
All other daily committees will be led by Republicans, as will the Rules Committee and Executive Board.
‘This was a fantasy’
Wednesday’s Committee on Committees meeting began with representatives from the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts having already penciled in where the members of their caucuses should be placed on each of the daily committees. Those caucus representatives filled in names of where senators from the 2nd Congressional District might fall, which they defended as merely “placeholders.”
The 2nd District Caucus, which is led by three Democrats and one independent, immediately rejected that suggestion and said the other caucuses had overstepped.

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, the progressive independent who has served on the Committee on Committees before, described the behavior as unprecedented.
“This was a fantasy for y’all, but that’s not the reality that we were ever going to be working in,” she said.
State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte responded: “We understand that. I think we just, truly, we’re just trying to figure out what we can live with, in terms of how we want to end up.”
Hunt told Republicans on the committee to ask themselves, “Have you won enough?” The question came after the 2nd District Caucus agreed to swap freshman Omaha State Sens. Dunixi Guereca, a Democrat, and Bob Andersen, a Republican, on the Government Committee.
If accepted, the committee then would be evenly split between progressives and conservatives, 4-4, which State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, the newly elected chair, said would be better. She did not return a call after the meeting requesting further comment.
A line in the sand
Other conservatives drew lines in the sand seeking to shift the Government Committee to leaning Republican 5-3, as they had in the framework put forward by senators from the 1st and 3rd District Caucuses.

Bills stuck in a deadlocked committee can still be moved to the full Legislature with 25 votes. If the Government Committee stayed 5-3 for Democrats, and the majority killed a bill they didn’t like, the introducer could still advance the bill to the floor with 30 votes from the full Legislature.
Such bills would likely be filibustered, meaning they would need 33 votes to pass, anyway.
“I don’t see any losers on this sheet,” Hunt said of the initial committee assignments. “If you take the Government [Committee] deal — I know you want a majority, that’s what this is about, but we’re not going to get there. And I don’t think that’s a loss.”
Hunt and the 2nd District Caucus moved to advance the report with the 4-4 Government Committee. The motion failed 7-6.
Sanders voted with the 2nd District Caucus and Democratic State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln to accept the evenly balanced committee and advance the amended report.
‘An attack on the nonpartisan Unicameral’
Part of the contention comes two days after the 2nd District Caucus met in Omaha and progressives secured all four spots on the Committee on Committees, as well as two coveted spots on the Executive Board, which manages the day-to-day operations of the legislative branch. (The full 2nd District Caucus consists of eight Democrats, eight Republicans and one progressive independent.)

That meant kicking off Republican State Sens. Brad von Gillern of Omaha from the Committee on Committees and Merv Riepe of Ralston from the Executive Board.
Von Gillern called the move “the most intentionally partisan thing I’ve experienced since I was sworn in two years ago” and “an attack on the nonpartisan Unicameral Legislature by those who typically wave that flag harder than anyone else.”
He said the decision doesn’t set a “constructive tone” ahead of conversations like winner-take-all when progressives make “such a partisan act.”
“Votes on important issues often fall on party line, but this was not issue-driven and did nothing to improve their vote count on the overall Committee on Committees,” von Gillern said in a text. “There will still be a Republican majority there. There is no discernible strategy that I can see.”

State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha, who got a spot on both the Executive Board and Committee on Committees, said: “That’s where the votes landed.”
A cautionary tale
At one point, Jacobson suggested that a path forward might include the 2nd District senators accepting the pre-slated committee assignments from the 1st and 3rd District Caucuses.
Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler cautioned that if the committee chose to cross that threshold, “you’re not coming back.”
“I think that’s dangerous for not only CD 2, but I think it’s dangerous for CD 3, from an urban-rural split,” Metzler said. “The caucus system is inherently political. We have never had a choice made for a caucus that they were not, as a caucus, on board with. But that’s the determination of this committee to decide.”

Factors in committee assignments
State Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus said there are multiple factors to crafting committee assignments, such as:
- Incumbency — Not kicking senators off of committees they most recently served on.
- Senator preference — Lawmakers typically provide first and second choice for assignments.
- Caucus balance — The Committee on Committees usually weighs this by giving each caucus a set number of seats on a committee, based on who the chair is and proceeding through the caucuses in order after (such as 1-2-3).
Moser said there is another important consideration: partisan balance.
Hunt asked him: “Should all committees be 2:1, Republican to Democrat?”
“That’s what the average of — since there’s 66% Republicans and 33% Democrats — that’s about what it should reflect on all the committees,” Moser responded.
A path forward?
Lawmakers said if the Omaha-area lawmakers wouldn’t budge, they could find other solutions, which Jacobson and Moser said would require more deliberation.

“If the Second District is locked in where they’re at, then there may be some actions in response that other caucuses make,” Moser said. “Maybe they’re not going to be pleasant, but we’re going to think about that overnight, talk about it a little bit and come back tomorrow.”
Asked whether that meant some 1st or 3rd District Caucus members might lose committee positions they previously held, or not get their top preferences, Armendariz said that’s up to the districts.
“They get to make their own decisions,” Armendariz said. “I would never want to get in the middle of that, if that’s what they choose to do.”
Committee assignments will ultimately be kicked out to the full Legislature in a preliminary report. The Legislature would then vote to accept, or reject, the placements after the Committee on Committees advances a final report.
However, preliminary reports often become final committee placements.
The Committee on Committees reconvenes shortly after 10 a.m. on Thursday.

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Nebraska
Nebraska Downs Michigan State in a Familiar Fashion
LINCOLN—Copy and paste—same story, different opponent.
It was another sweep for top-ranked Nebraska — it’s 11th in a row as it hit .382 for the match while limiting Michigan State to .118.
The Huskers did not allow an opponent to reach 20 points again, a feat that had happened just five times during the sweep streak. In the last 33 sets, teams are averaging 16.3 points per set against the Huskers.
For the third straight match, no Nebraska player reached double-digit kills as freshman outside hitter Teraya Sigler finished with a match-high nine kills.
Not that the Huskers (20-0, 10-0) would complain since all the streaks are positive in their favor. NU earned a 25-15, 25-15, 25-18 straight set win over the Spartans Saturday evening at John Cook Arena in front of 8,496 fans.
NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said they have a lot of weapons and depth, which gives the Huskers a lot of options to attack and depth to cover players when they might not be on for a match.
After Sigler, Rebekah Allick and Harper Murray finished with eight kills, while Virginia Adriano and Andi Jackson put up seven kills.
“Nebraska has always been great defensively and sometimes hasn’t put up offensive numbers,’ she said. “This year, we’re really putting up really high offensive numbers as well. It’s just the attention to detail and the awareness that we’re going to be great on both sides. We’re not going to rely on one or the other to win games.”
Bergen Reilly tallied 37 assists against Michigan State and passed Lauren Cook for fourth all-time on Nebraska’s career assist list. The junior setter now has 3,225 assists in her career, while Cook finished with 3,198. Next up on the all-time chart is Sydney Anderson in third place with 3,332 career assists.
Against Michigan State (15-5, 5-5), the NU freshman took center stage. Senior outside hitter Taylor Landfair was available, according to Busboom Kelly, after spraining her ankle on Friday night, but Sigler played all six rotations for most of the match while giving way to redshirt freshman Skyler Pierce in the late second and third sets.
Adriano started the match with some noise, recording kills on the first two rallies. The Turin, Italy native finished with seven kills on nine swings with a career-best hitting percentage of .667. She gave way to senior opposite Allie Sczech in the third set, who terminated on all three of her swings.
Even though the pair compete for playing time at the same position, Adriano said Sczech has been a great resource in helping her adapt to the American game and become a better player. She said she is proud when Sczech plays well in her opportunities.
“We push each other a lot in practice, so that helps when struggle (against other teams) is going to come, hopefully it won’t, but I think it will,” Adriano said about Sczech. “When that’s going to happen, we are going to be prepared for that by helping each other in practice.”
— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) October 26, 2025
Michigan State kept it close as the Huskers led 11-10 midway through the second set. Murray served during a 4-0 run, and then Maisie Boesiger was at the service line for a 6-0 run as NU pulled away. Allick provided the offensive firepower as she recorded seven kills on 11 swings in the set.
The Spartans’ offense was led by seven kills from Biance Mumcular and Zuzanna Kulig. Nebraska won the blocking battle 11-9 as Reilly and Jackson finished with five stuffs. In an odd quirk, neither team recorded an ace in the match.
For the second straight match, Manaia Ogbechie came on in relief in the third set and put up impressive numbers. On Friday, the 6-foot-3 middle blocker recorded four kills on eight swings for a .375 hitting percentage versus Northwestern. Against the Spartans, Ogbechie finished with five kills on six attacks and added a block.
While Ogbechie didn’t know she was going to play until after the second set was over, she quickly got ready and made an instant impact.
Even though she is experiencing college volleyball for the first time, she said she leans on her teammates to help her get used to the success the Huskers are experiencing.
“It does get a little bit old, but being able to even participate in the third set, for me, that’s more than fulfilling,” Ogbechie said.
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
Nebraska Lottery results: See winning numbers for Pick 3, Pick 5 on Oct. 23, 2025
The Nebraska Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Lottery players in Nebraska can choose from popular national games like the Powerball and Mega Millions, which are available in the vast majority of states. Other games include Lotto America, Lucky For Life, Pick 3, Pick 5, MyDaY and 2 by 2.
Big lottery wins around the U.S. include a lucky lottery ticketholder in California who won a $1.27 billion Mega Millions jackpot in December 2024. See more big winners here. And if you do end up cashing a jackpot, here’s what experts say to do first.
Here’s a look at Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025 results for each game:
Winning Pick 3 numbers from Oct. 23 drawing
9-7-8
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 5 numbers from Oct. 23 drawing
02-08-24-26-33
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning 2 By 2 numbers from Oct. 23 drawing
Red Balls: 08-24, White Balls: 07-23
Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Oct. 23 drawing
12-30-33-39-40, Lucky Ball: 03
Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning MyDay numbers from Oct. 23 drawing
Month: 05, Day: 05, Year: 80
Check MyDay 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.
Winning lottery numbers are sponsored by Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network.
Where can you buy lottery tickets?
Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.
You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer.
Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: jackpocket.com/tos.
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.
Nebraska
Husker Nation on Edge and Nebraska Football’s Pivotal Week Ahead with Mike’l Severe
Mike’l Severe joins the Common Fans to discuss Nebraska’s meltdown in Minneapolis, the chatter among Husker Nation this week, and the coming battle against Northwestern.
What went wrong against Minnesota:
Sacks and Dylan Raiola’s struggles:
Checking the pulse if Husker Nation:
Troy Dannen’s comments about being in year three of a rebuild:
The importance of the Northwestern game to the remainder of the season:
This and so much more on the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast! As always, GBR for LIFE!
Listen on the Common Fan website, or any audio platform where you get your podcasts. Find us on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeart Radio, and PocketCasts.
Or watch now!
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
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