Opening Remarks by Kevin Kush

On Thursday, February 24^th, the 3^rd Annual Students Accelerating in Leadership (SAIL) Conference was held at the Syracuse Middle School.  The goal of this one day event is to provide leadership skills through hand-on activities to Otoe County 7^th graders.   A total of 191 students participated this year.  Area schools participating included Nebraska City, Lourdes Central Catholic, Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca, and Palmyra.

The conference began with a Key Note speaker, Kevin Kush who presented "Competing with Character".  Mr. Kush is the head football coach at Boys Town High School in Omaha, NE.  He has been coaching and teaching for 23 years and in 2005 was featured on ABC World News Tonight as their Person of the Week.  Mr. Kush is the author of two books, The 100 Yard Classroom and Competing with Character.

Throughout the day students rotated through five sessions including:

→   Team Building, presented by Lisa Johnson & Hannah DeFreese, Nebraska Outdoor Lutheran Ministries.

→   Real Colors, presented by Sarah Purcell, Dianne Swanson, and Tracy Anderson, University of Nebraska Extension.

→   Leadership Cadre presented by Brian Hoover, NC High School Principal, and nine Nebraska City Juniors.

→   Social Media, presented by Tammi Thompson, St. Mary's Community Hospital.

→   Tough Choices, presented by Vanessa Sherman, Otoe County Juvenile Diversion, and Madison Farris, Peru State College student and graduate of Nebraska City High School.

LINCOLN (AP) - Nebraska residents would be able to discard unneeded or expired prescription drugs at pharmacies under a bill passed by the Legislature.

The bill (LB274) by Grand Island Sen. Mike Gloor would revise state law so that pharmacies could accept unused and expired prescription drugs from customers and dispose of them.  Through the program, pharmacies would be able to purchase tamper-proof containers in which unused medications would be collected. Once the container is full, it is shipped to a medical incinerator.  Gloor billed the measure as part of a national "take-back" prescription drug campaign. The campaign's goal is to help prevent prescription drug abuse and to keep disposed drugs from polluting surface and groundwater. The bill passed Friday on a 47-0 vote. It now goes to the governor for consideration.  (Source:   Omaha.com)

State Lawmakers Pass Bill that Cuts State Aid to Counties  

In an effort to cut the state's budget, the Nebraska lawmakers passed Legislative Bill 383 (Cornett) on a 36-9 vote Friday.  The bill will eliminate approximately $22 million in state aid for municipalities, counties, and natural resources districts effective July 1, 2011.

Passage of this bill may cost Otoe County up to $250,000. One of the primary ways passage of this bill will effect the local budget in Otoe County is that it will shift financial responsibility for many prisoners from the state to the county level.  Some counties in the state are at their limit for property tax levies, forcing them to either make cuts or find other revenue sources.   

LB 357 (Ashford) would give municipalities the option to levy up to 2 cents in sales tax to make up for some of lost revenue due to the passage of LB 383.  The hearing for LB357 will be held by the Revenue Committee on 3/9/11 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 1524.        

Get involved:  You can contact your State Senator about any bill or issue:

Senator LaVon Heidemann

District #1, Room 1004 State Capitol

PO Box 94604

Lincoln NE 68509-4604

Phone:  471-2733

Email:  lheidemann@leg.ne.gov 

Senator Dave Pankonin

District #2, Room 1101 State Capitol

PO Box 94604

Lincoln NE 68509-4604

Phone:  471-2613

Email:  dpankonin@leg.ne.gov 

The latest information about activities of the legislature is available at

http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov/.