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American Press
6 days ago
- Politics
- American Press
Jim Beam column:Independent thinkers are rare
U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, is leaving Congress like others who are frustrated about the failure of members of Congress to compromise for the good of the country.(Photo courtesy of Nebraska Public Media). Moderates are leaving Congress as fast as chickens would run from an open coop. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who said his fifth term would be his last, is among the latest. The Advocate last week ran two columns talking about moderates leaving Congress. Kathleen Parker wrote about U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, announcing he wouldn't seek re-election after President Donald Trump threatened to support primary challengers to any Republican who dared oppose his Big Beautiful Bill Act. Parker said a lengthening line of dropouts that GOP members like to call RINOs — Republicans in Name Only — have left office since Trump first became president. Steve Roberts in his column said, 'While Trump had promised to protect Medicaid funding, Tillis argued that his bill would eventually deprive almost 12 million Americans of health care coverage, including 663,000 in Tillis' home state. Tillis joined all 47 Democrats and Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Susan Collins in voting against Trump's BBB Act. Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote to pass the bill. The Nebraska Examiner quoted Bacon when he announced he was leaving Congress who said, 'I hope to be remembered for … I'm a Christian, first … American, second … somewhere down here being a Republican. It's about doing the right thing .. I'm a traditional conservative at heart.' Like Louisiana's Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge, Bacon cast a pivotal vote for President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill that put him at odds with Trump. After the vote, Trump criticized Bacon during a May 2022 visit to Nebraska, calling him 'bad news.' His political team worked for years to recruit potential GOP primary challengers. The Examiner said, 'But Bacon kept winning and continued to publicly spar with Trump…' Bacon did vote for the BBB Act and was criticized for it by some national and Nebraska public officials. NBC News in a story about Bacon's retirement from Congress said he spent 30 years in the Air Force and specialized in intelligence matters. He is a retired brigadier general who did four tours of duty in Iraq and also spent time in Afghanistan. The NBC report said Bacon is one of the few sitting Republicans willing to publicly criticize Trump who has a reputation for retaliating against his enemies and ending their political careers. Bacon insisted that neither the public feuds with Trump nor the violent threats he and his wife have faced had any impact on his decision to leave Congress. He said he didn't have the 'fire in my belly' for another congressional run. The news about Bacon caught my attention because, like me, he is a strong defender of Ukraine in its war with Russia. He has a photograph on the wall of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And he has consistently been critical of Trump's handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Trump's 'appeasement' of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered a pause in sending a shipment of missiles and ammunition to Ukraine and Bacon said whoever ordered the weapons pause should be fired. Bacon said, 'If Ukraine falls, the world's a more dangerous place. I really don't understand why President Trump doesn't see that. And if Ukraine goes down, Moldova will definitely fall. I think Georgia is in trouble.' Although he said he was embarrassed to say it, Bacon said, 'President Trump has done worse than Biden (on Ukraine). I don't like it. He seems to have a blind spot with Putin. I don't know what purpose it serves to withhold weapons to Ukraine and not see that Putin is the invader.' Trump has since resumed weapons for Ukraine, but the delay has been costly in terms of lives lost and damage in Ukraine. Bacon added, 'I do believe that if I was president, I'd be trying to provide Ukraine with every weapon they needed to convince Putin he has no chance to win.' He added that he wished GOP Vice President JD Vance 'saw the Russian threat a little better.' Tillis confirmed where this country is at the moment when he said, 'In Washington over the last few years, it's become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species.' Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or
The Hill
04-07-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Sanders points to Nebraska medical center closure after GOP bill passes: ‘Dark day for rural America'
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the Thursday passage of the GOP's spending bill symbolizes a 'dark day for rural America,' citing cuts to federal funding for medical centers and hospitals in remote areas. 'While Republicans celebrate the passage of the largest Medicaid cut in history, the Curtis Medical Center in Nebraska announced it will shut down as a result of these horrific cuts — the first of many hospitals to close,' Sanders wrote in a Thursday statement on X. 'This is a dark day for rural America and for our country,' he added. An hour prior, Community Hospital in McCook, Neb., announced its closure. 'Unfortunately, the current financial environment, driven by anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid, has made it impossible for us to continue operating all of our services, many of which have faced significant financial challenges for years,' Troy Bruntz, President and CEO of Community Hospital, said in a news release, according to Nebraska Public Media. Six of the state's hospitals could be forced to close due to provisions in the 'big, beautiful bill.' 'We currently have six hospitals that that we feel are in a critical financial state, three that are in an impending kind of closure or conversion over to the rural emergency hospital model,' Jed Hansen, executive director for the Nebraska Rural Health Association, said during a meeting this week, as reported by Nebraska Public Media. 'We would likely see the closures within a year to two years of once [the bill is] fully enacted.' Other states are facing similar shutdowns due to reduced funding under the Republican backed bill approved by Congress. A total of 760 hospitals are at risk of closure nationwide, according to Becker's Hospital Review. Fifteen hospitals in New York are also at risk of closure in GOP districts, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump seeks to end fed funding of public media; Nebraska Public Media says order ‘limits' them
The headquarters of Nebraska Public Media on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's East Campus. (Courtesy of Nebraska Public Media) LINCOLN — President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Thursday seeking to end federal funding for public media. It marks the White House's latest escalation in its political battle with the media, as Trump and some congressional Republicans fulfill a pledge to cut funding to the organizations. Unlike other executive orders that he signed in public ceremonies, Trump signed this one behind closed doors, while flying on Air Force One, Politico reported. Initial reactions to the order from the Nebraska all-Republican federal delegation have been mixed. U.S. Reps. Mike Flood, who represents eastern Nebraska's 1st Congressional District, echoed Trump's criticisms of NPR's national bias but defended the unique value Nebraska Public Media provides locally. U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, who represents the largely rural 3rd District and U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts had no immediate comment Friday. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, who represents the Omaha-based 2nd District, highlighted how crucial Nebraska Public Media remains to the state. Gov. Jim Pillen also offered no immediate comment through a spokeswoman while visiting Washington, D.C., to see the president this week. If Trump's order withstands promised legal challenges, PBS could lose nearly 15% of its annual revenue and NPR could lose 1% of its budget. While federal funding is a fraction of the budget for the national independent public news organizations, federal funding does help smaller, often rural, local affiliate stations of both afford to operate in places the free market might not serve as well. Closer to home, the impact could be significant. Nebraska Public Media could lose up to 16% of its annual budget, which could put essential services at risk, including emergency alert systems. The timing creates a budget hole that the state might be hard-pressed to fill during a budget shortfall. Trump's order calls for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress to receive federal funds and distribute them to support public broadcasting, to 'cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and … decline to provide future funding' to the news organizations. 'Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,' the order reads. 'What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.' Trump also has claimed that NPR and PBS produce 'biased and partisan news coverage.' The heads of NPR and PBS have defended their federal funding and coverage before a U.S. House Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, subcommittee meeting in March. Bacon said, 'he respects the great job that NPR and PBS have done in Nebraska.' Congress allocates more than $500 million annually to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and specifies its intended use. The funding is administered in two-year cycles, scheduled in advance, a structure designed to shield public media from political pressure. CPB officials questioned the legitimacy of the president's new order. The private nonprofit is already suing the Trump administration over another executive order seeking to fire three of its five board members. PBS and NPR have called the order unlawful, saying it infringed on the freedom of the press. Both plan to challenge it in court. Nebraska Public Media, which is responsible for all public TV and radio stations in the state, receives approximately $4 million in federal funding, representing roughly 16% of its annual budget. NPM General Manager and CEO Stacey Decker said that while the station is still evaluating the impacts of Trump's latest executive order, NPM is 'deeply disappointed.' 'It limits Nebraska Public Media's ability to make independent and locally focused decisions about the programming and resources we provide to Nebraskans,' Decker's statement reads. 'It also severs the strong local-national partnership that is the backbone of public media, delivering trusted, valued and essential programming and services to all Americans.' The state funds roughly 44% of the NPM budget, according to information published on the NPM website. Nebraska Public Media is tasked with live-streaming the legislative session and public hearings on bills. NPM also is among the few Nebraska news organizations staffing the State Capitol with reporters daily during the session. 'Even during this challenging time, we are steadfast in our commitment to provide every Nebraskan with trusted, valued and essential programs and services,' Decker said. 'Just as we have for more than 70 years.' Flood said the Trump executive order is 'an opportunity for America to scrutinize the work of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop the liberal bias that has infected National Public Radio, and to rethink how federal funding works for local public broadcasting networks.' But Flood, who runs his own private media company that includes News Channel Nebraska, emphasized Nebraska public media's 'unique value' for rural communities in the state and how it 'operates independently of CPB.' '[NPM] is the backbone of our state's emergency alert system, and they have gone all-in on delivering quality coverage of youth sports,' Flood said. Nebraska Public Media broadcasts and streams local high school and college sports, including from the Nebraska School Activities Association and the University of Nebraska and Creighton University. It also issues essential vital alerts for severe storms and other emergencies. A cut in federal funding could jeopardize those services, according to the NPM website. Flood added that he would 'ensure [Nebraska] public broadcasting network remains strong' by visiting with NPM leaders to discuss how the order impacts them. The Legislature's Appropriations Committee has a proposal to increase the funding of the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission, the state agency responsible for overseeing and licensing the public television and radio stations that make up Nebraska Public Media, for the next two years. Still, the state budget shortfall has grown by $190 million, and lawmakers have less than a month to balance the budget. The committee this week made attempts to close the gap by taking another $135 million from cash funds held by various state agencies and reducing the funding state agencies would get for the next two years. If NPM loses funding, Bacon said, their 'absence' would 'leave a void.' Editor's Note: Nebraska Examiner Reporter Juan Salinas II previously worked as a news intern at KERA, an NPR station serving North Texas. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Forbes
24-03-2025
- Forbes
Nebraska Attorney General Ramps Up Delta-8 THC Crackdown
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has launched a renewed effort to rid the state of unregulated ... More delta-8 THC products, including warning letters sent to more than 100 Omaha retailers last week. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers last week ramped up the state's crackdown on businesses selling delta-8 THC products, saying the retailers are breaking state law. The attorney general's office sent cease-and-desist letters on Thursday to 104 vape shops, dispensaries and gas stations, ordering them to stop selling products containing delta-8 THC and other intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids. 'Today, we have taken legal action against every single store in the Omaha Metro area,' Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said at a Thursday press conference, according to a report from Nebraska Public Media. 'The stores have 30 days to comply with our terms and take these products off their shelves, like other stores have, or we will sue.' Closely related to delta-9 THC (more commonly known simply as THC), the compound primarily responsible for the classic marijuana 'high,' delta-8 THC is found in small amounts in cannabis plants. Delta-8 THC can also be produced by altering hemp cannabidiol (CBD), which was legalized nationwide with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. Delta-8 THC, which has psychoactive effects described as similar to but less intense than delta-9 THC, is the active ingredient in hundreds of unregulated intoxicating products, such as snacks, vapes, beverages and more. Delta 8 products have appeared on store shelves at retailers across the country, including convenience stores, smoke shops, and other businesses. The Nebraska attorney general's office has filed lawsuits against 15 retailers for selling delta-8 products since 2023. A dozen of the retailers have accepted settlement agreements, while the remaining three cases are still pending. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers The retailers in the Omaha metropolitan area that were sent cease-and-desist letters last week were given 30 days to remove delta-8 and other intoxicating hemp products from their shelves. Those who fail to comply face further action, potentially including criminal prosecution. 'We promised that we would escalate our fight and today are fulfilling that promise. Operating in Nebraska's largest city does not immunize you from the law,' said Hilgers, KOLN television news reported. 'These stores are selling harmful and unlawful products despite being on notice. Because of that, once litigation ensues, we will seek penalties to the fullest extent of the law and will refer for criminal prosecution when necessary.' 'We gave them plenty of warning,' Hilgers added, according to a report from the Nebraska Examiner. 'We thought criminal prosecution was not the right tool. They have decided not to change. Now criminal prosecutions are on the table as well.' While last week's warning letters were limited to shops in the Omaha area, Hilgers promised to expand the crackdown on intoxicating hemp products across the Cornhusker State. 'We're gonna go after every single store selling these products in the state of Nebraska,' Hilgers said. 'As we go over the coming weeks and months, our efforts are only going to accelerate and escalate until we have the entire industry covered.' Hilgers is supporting legislation (LB 316) that would ban all hemp-derived cannabinoids other than CBD, similar to a bill passed by the Texas Senate last week. If the measure passes, the attorney general said he will reconsider his enforcement strategy. Nebraska's hemp industry is opposed to the proposed ban on hemp-derived cannabinoids. Joseph Fraas, the owner of G&G Smoke Shops in Omaha and Lincoln, told the legislature's Judiciary Committee in January that he employs 18 people. A Nebraska delta-8 ban, he said, would 'severely damage' his business. 'If our businesses survive this ban, it is likely that most of our employees and their families will not,' he said at the hearing. 'Not only that, but this bill will destroy millions of dollars in economic activity.'
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Testifiers question need for proposed Nebraska requirements for abortion pills
State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue prepares to testify Thursday to the Nebraska Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee. (Screenshot of Nebraska Public Media stream) LINCOLN — Advocates for a Nebraska legislative bill that would add new steps women must take to access abortion pills said they want to make using the pills safer for pregnant women. Opponents testifying during the public hearing Thursday for Legislative Bill 512 said the goal of the measure by State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue is to reduce the use of the drugs. LB 512 does not outright ban or directly restrict mifepristone or misoprostol, the typical two-drug regimen for a medical abortion. But it adds several required steps. It would require women to see a doctor three to 14 days after being given the pill, in addition to before, which state law already required. It would require testing for an ectopic pregnancy. The bill also would require doctors to estimate and document the gestational age of the pregnancy before the pill is given and to report information about the use of the pill to the state. Part of the screening requirement had been aimed at ensuring whether the woman's blood type requires offering women an additional treatment to reduce the likelihood of future miscarriages. But Holdcroft told the Health and Human Services Committee that he introduced a white-copy amendment to remove that blood screening because medical practices have moved away from the value of that type of testing. He said his goal is to make sure no place acts the way he perceives some abortion clinics have, by providing abortion pills without proper oversight. 'No matter how any of us feels about the issue of abortion, we can all agree that no pregnant woman should ever be neglected or endangered by a careless abortion provider,' Holdcroft said. Abortion-rights groups and medical professionals supportive of reproductive rights said the result of the new restrictions and requirements on the use of abortion pills is aimed at reducing the ease of use. While Nebraska law requires in-person dispensing of abortion pills, some women still obtain them online from out-of-state sources. Opponents argued that the bill's additional restrictions could push more women toward darker corners of the internet to seek out pills, which they said would likely increase risks. Some also said they fear the state or federal government knowing what they were doing. Critics of how the pill is used said the ease with which abortion pills can be obtained online makes enforcing time-tied abortion bans like Nebraska's difficult to enforce. They want the bill to more strictly and explicitly clarify that the pills cannot be ordered and delivered independently of a local medical provider. Supporters argued they cannot accurately track complications like excessive bleeding and ineffective or incomplete abortions from the abortion pills without requiring a follow-up appointment. They say they want to close the data gap on medical abortions, particularly any going untracked today. Nebraska law today prohibits most abortions after 12 weeks gestational age, with legal exceptions after that for the life of the mother or for rape or incest. Voters in November passed a state constitutional amendment cementing current law as the latest an abortion could happen, banning abortions after the first trimester of pregnancy. The way the amendment was written left room for state lawmakers to restrict abortion further, up to a full ban, so Holdcroft's bill would be legal, if approved. Gov. Jim Pillen and some in the administration of President Donald Trump have embraced the anti-abortion movement's focus on tightening restrictions on medical abortions. Some abortion opponents opposed LB 512 on Wednesday, fearing that its language might somehow codify the legality of medical abortions in Nebraska beyond the scope of the bill. Teresa Fondren of Abolish Abortion Nebraska said her God equates abortion with murder. She says she opposes LB 512 and all forms of abortion, including medical abortion. She said she doesn't want to make it safer. 'This bill plainly treats abortion like health care, which can be regulated, rather than murder,' she said. State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha apologized to the crowd of testifiers for the all-male HHS Committee not having at least one member who knows what it means to be pregnant. State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, a swing vote on abortion bills, questioned why the measure appeared worded broadly enough to affect more than the state's two abortion clinics. 'Why wouldn't you limit this piece of legislation to just abortion centers?' Riepe asked. Holdcroft said he wrote the bill to limit the reach to abortion providers. Riepe said the language of the bill risked reaching accidentally into miscarriage care and other medical care. Doctors who testified argued that the pills commonly prescribed for chemical abortions can be used during miscarriage care, and are sometimes prescribed for that purpose. Holdcroft said the bill would hold no woman responsible if she does not attend the follow-up exam. It aims consequences at physicians, and Riepe said that might create liability concerns. 'What my bill does is it tries to establish a standard of care for chemical abortions,' Holdcroft said. 'That's all it is.' Dr. Timothy Tesmer, Nebraska's chief medical officer, represented Pillen's support for LB 512. He said the state would like to know more about complications. The lack of follow-up appointments and U.S. Food and Drug Administration research on potential complications like bleeding and infection show the need for more information and data on what the drugs do to pregnant women. He said the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services can't say much about the impacts of the drugs HHS says were responsible for 82% of Nebraska abortions in 2023. Under questioning from Fredrickson about the medical safety of one drug used in medical abortions, Tesmer said, 'I'd have to say it's safe to use … in the right or proper context.' Marion Miner of the Nebraska Catholic Conference said the church would prefer no abortions, but they would rather see a minimum standard of care than see pregnant women die or be injured. 'You screen for ectopic pregnancy,' Miner said in his testimony. 'You schedule a follow-up afterward. You report complications. It's that simple.' Sandy Danek, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, said her group opposes abortion but backs LB 512 because 'supporting the woman who participates in an abortion is not an approval of the procedure.' Dr. Elizabeth Constance, a maternal-fetal specialist testifying for the Nebraska Medical Association, pushed back on the bill, saying it stepped the Legislature once again in between patients and the best care physicians can provide. She said she runs a fertility clinic in Omaha and said the same medications used to terminate pregnancies can also be used to help with miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. 'Requiring in-person follow-up does nothing to help patient safety,' Constance said. 'But it does put an unnecessary and undue burden on our patients, particularly those from rural communities who may have to travel several hours.' Constance said requiring reporting of heavy or adverse bleeding misunderstands what the drugs do, because 'every single person' who uses the drug will have 'heavy bleeding.' Adelle Burk, senior manager of public affairs for Planned Parenthood North Central States, said her group opposes LB 512 because it is 'unnecessary government overreach.' Burk said there is no medical reason to require the follow-up appointment. She said the reporting process is designed to make life more difficult for clinics. 'LB 512 creates a one-size-fits-all political mandate that doesn't consider the patient's individual needs,' she said. State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair asked Burk if her organization might be more willing to be neutral on the bill if the mandated visit and reporting requirements were tweaked. Burk said changes could make the bill 'better,' but she stopped short of saying the organization would support it. Dr. Emily Patel, an OB-GYN speaking in her personal capacity, called LB 512 a 'thinly veiled attempt' to make abortion care harder for patients to obtain and more difficult for medical professionals to provide. She said that if safety were the priority, the bill would regulate the drug for all uses, not just some. She said research shows erectile dysfunction pills are riskier and less regulated. 'Let me be clear, LB 512 will not improve patient safety or help outcomes,' she said. 'It is about controlling women's reproductive choices.' Taylor Givens-Dunn of I Be Black Girl called LB 512 a 'direct attack on reproductive autonomy' that she said could disproportionately impact people in poverty and people of color. 'It undermines the doctor-patient relationship and disregards the expertise of medical professionals,' she said. Bailey Joy Annenson of the League of Women Voters of Nebraska said she and her partner are deciding where and whether to have a family and that state laws like LB 512 will have an impact. She said the risk of having fewer maternal care doctors is a very real risk for young professionals deciding where to locate and where to raise young families. Holdcroft and Riepe agreed at the end of the hearing that they need HHS to do a better job holding wayward providers accountable. The committee took no immediate action on LB 512. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
