Opinion

As anyone who has spent any time in the Cornhusker State or the central part of the United States knows, good food is the cornerstone of Midwestern hospitality. From funeral visitations to open houses and even civic ceremonies, there is rarely a time that I attend an event that doesn’t feature some type of spread.

To all concerned voters, I find myself compelled to address the School Bond Issue. Yes, I love my children and grandchildren. Fiscal responsibility is also close to my heart and I have done some due diligence, in researching this, and believe $18 million plus $13 million in interest over 25 years is not a need, but a want.

With the short session of the Nebraska Legislature slightly more than half over, repeat after me: When it comes to taxation, it’s all about whose ox is getting gored. The governor wants a forty percent reduction in property taxes by the end of the year.

In the coming days and weeks, we will slowly slip past some of the major anniversaries of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which started to grasp the nation’s attention in March of 2020. When I think back to the craziness that ensued in the days, weeks, and years following the onset of the pandemic, I still get goosebumps and my palms still start to sweat.

Wait, what? Governor Jim Pillen has reversed his opposition to a federal summer grocery program that would aid around 150,000 children of low-income families. Pillen succumbed to a lot of outside pressure from a bipartisan group of state lawmakers, a bill introduced by one of them to request the aid and another state senator who made it his priority to ensure it would be debated in the remaining days of the legislative session.

Over the years, if there is one thing that I have come to realize, it is that the older you get, the more stuff you accumulate. There is that melon baller in your kitchen drawer that you somehow wrangled into your possession; every toolbox, it seems, has a framing hammer, yet no one ever seems to frame anything; and every bookshelf is littered with books that only come off the shelf when it is time to dust.

I’m sure that a year ago the Revitalize Rural Nebraska Grant Program proposed by Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams and passed by the Legislature sounded like a great deal.

When you grow up in rural America, there are some common sayings that you not only learn at a young age, but, over time, come to believe in yourself. If you don’t believe me, just ask around.

Full Disclosure: My wife and I drive a fouryear- old hybrid sedan. It runs on the electric motor up to fifteen miles -per- hour before the gasoline engine engages. It feels and sounds like it’s dead at stop signs. It averages forty-four miles-pergallon in highway driving. But it’s a hybrid, not an all- electric vehicle.