May 13, 2013 - 12:43 pm
Debate in the Nebraska Legislature is underway on a bill that would end capital punishment in the state. Watch the debate live on NET Television’s NET2, and participate in a live chat from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. CT with legislative reporter Fred Knapp, news director Dennis Kellogg and reporter Bill Kelly, who recently produced a documentary on the history of the death penalty, “… until he is dead.”
Check out a timeline of efforts to repeal the death penalty in Nebraska.
Brief background on this week’s debate:
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, a longtime foe of the death penalty who has returned to the Legislature this year after being forced out for four years by term limits.
When a similar proposal was voted on in 2007, it was defeated on a vote of 25-24. But only 18 of the senators who voted then are still in the Legislature now.
The debate comes at a time when an increasing number of states have abolished the death penalty: from 2007 to the present, six states have done so, bringing the total number of states without capital punishment to 18. In some cases, the prohibition applies only to new sentences; those under current death sentences remain so.
Nebraska’s proposal to abolish the death penalty was advanced by the Judiciary Committee on a vote of 7-0, with one abstention. It would require 25 votes in each of three rounds of voting in the 49-member Legislature to pass. But it would require 30 votes to overcome an expected veto by Gov. Dave Heineman.
Apr 9, 2013 - 2:25 pm
NET News reporter Ryan Robertson took these shots while reporting in western Nebraska. He’s been traveling along Highways 26 and 92, south of Scottsbluff on the way to Bridgeport. Robertson reports that visibility is about half a mile, with near-whiteout conditions when the wind blows.
Several stretches of road have been closed, including:
According to Weather.com, a “wild Wednesday” is in store for much of the Midwest, as parts of western Nebraska, much of South Dakota and even parts of Minnesota will see snow. Sleet and freezing rain are possible in eastern Nebraska.
Robertson has been in the panhandle reporting for stories about home health aids (one of the fastest-growing jobs in the U.S.) and about the state of film production in Nebraska.
Mar 7, 2013 - 12:00 pm
Mar 6, 2013 - 3:16 pm
Video by Fred Knapp, NET News
Nebraska State Sen. Bob Krist demonstrates how to bet on a horse race using equipment from AmTote, International, Inc. of Hunt Valley, Maryland. As the Nebraska Legislature debates legalizing betting on “historic” horseracing, this sample of one of the video terminals that could be used for such betting is on display in the Legislative Research Division.
For more, tune into NET News reporter Fred Knapp’s legislative update on NET Radio at 5:30 p.m. CT.
For background, read Knapp’s coverage of attempts last year to institute “historic” horse race betting, which ultimately failed.
Mar 5, 2013 - 7:30 pm
Sgt. Dana Korell of the Nebraska State Patrol
NET News reporter Bill Kelly recently traveled to the western edge of Nebraska to see how Colorado’s medical marijuana legalization is affecting the panhandle. Law enforcement told him that trying to keep the drug outside Nebraska’s borders “is just running us ragged” - and this before the legalization of recreational marijuana has even gone into effect.
Learn more in tomorrow’s Signature Story, airing on NET Radio at 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and available online and via the NET Radio Nebraska mobile app.
Feb 27, 2013 - 12:00 pm
Jan 25, 2013 - 3:05 pm
Check out these behind-the-scenes photos from the taping of tonight’s Medicaid expansion news program, hosted by NET News reporter Fred Knapp and featuring State Sens. Jim Smith and Jeremy Nordquist, hospital CEO Sharon Lind and Jim Vokal from the Platte Institute.
Watch a preview of the show, which airs on TV on NET-1/HD at 7 p.m. CT tonight.
Nov 21, 2012 - 2:29 pm
NET News wishes everyone in Nebraska and beyond a happy, healthy Thanksgiving!
Here’s a neat compilation of Thanksgiving by the numbers, via CNN:
1.5 — The number of pounds of turkey the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line recommends per guest so that you have plenty left over for sandwiches.
2 — The ranking of Thanksgiving in the list of America’s favorite holidays. Christmas is No. 1.
2 — The total number of days the FDA suggests keeping a fresh turkey before cooking it.
2.5 — The number in miles of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
4 — Americans celebrate Thanksgiving every year on the 4th Thursday of November.
4-5 — The number of months it takes for a newborn turkey to reach maturity.
4.5-5 — The number of hours it takes to cook a stuffed 20 to 24 pound turkey in an oven set to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
10-12 — The number of hours it takes to thaw a frozen 20 to 24 pound turkey in cold water. Compare that to the five to six days it takes to thaw in the refrigerator!31 — The number of years between 1981, when the Butterball Talk-Line opened, and Thanksgiving 2012.
36 — The number of years it took Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Ladies Magazine, to crusade for an annual Thanksgiving holiday. National and local days of thanksgiving had been celebrated over the years, but President Abraham Lincoln finally proclaimed the fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving in 1863.
46 million — The estimated number of turkeys eaten in the U.S. on Thanksgiving 2011.
Oct 30, 2012 - 12:38 pm
This video report from the BBC looks at the challenge in the U.S. of producing food for more and more people while facing problems such as drought, dwindling harvests and human wastefulness - and it’s centered in a familiar place: Lincoln, Nebraska.
Aug 17, 2012 - 8:14 am
In eastern Nebraska’s First Congressional District, incumbent Republican Congressman Jeff Fortenberry is being challenged by Democrat Korey Reiman. And while voters may be most concerned about the economy, that’s not where the sharpest contrasts are being drawn.
