The @CityOfLincoln says there are still *NO* confirmed cases of #coronavirus or #COVID19 in Lincoln/Lancaster County. But Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird declares a local emergency in order to stem the spread.
As part of the emergency, there is revised guidance for public events, Baird says. Following the CDC's guidelines, including no events with more than 50 people.
If you have an overdue library book, Lincoln Libraries has extended your due date to May 1, Director Pat Leach says.
Pat Lopez, interim director of the health dept., says they are working "day and night" to detect any cases. No changes in other services provided to the city at this time.
If you call 911 for non-emergency related service, dispatchers are going to ask about your health before sending out rescue workers or police to your location, #LNK fire and police chiefs say.
Water and sanitation utilities will continue as always, some less essential services will be discontinued.
Lincoln is suspending water service disconnections due to non-payment.
Lincoln's before and after school programs depend upon UNL students, parks and rec director Lynn Johnson says. With UNL calling off in-person classes, it's not yet clear if those students will still be around to run those programs.
Mayor encourages Lincoln to breathe. While most won't get coronavirus, or will only get mild symptoms, everyone can do something to protect the most vulnerable among us, she says.
"The virus has demonstrated we are all connected in more ways than we can possibly imagine," she says. Small actions by an individual can reverberate in big ways.
Social distance. Stay home when you're sick. Wash your hands. Baird calls those actions heroic.
Asst City Attorney Rick Tast says McKinney's Pub in the Haymarket voluntarily agreed to not hold its annual St. Patrick's Day Festival.
I saw workers taking down the big beer garden tent on P Street this morning.
There are 12 people being monitored for #COVID19 in Lancaster County due to travel history or potential contact.
There have been 23 negative tests; 1 test is pending.
That's as of 7:22 a.m. this morning, Gaylor Baird says.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
For the last 5 years, my wife and I (and several neighbors) have been asking #LNK to make our intersection a 4-way stop.
We live near a school route and on a thoroughfare that gets pretty busy. The city has denied our requests, saying it isn't warranted. 1/4
In the last 10 days, there have been 2 crashes at my intersection. One involved a middle school student who was hospitalized with serious injuries, the second was less than an hour ago when a car collided with a school bus in the intersection. Thankfully, no one was hurt. 2/4
A 4-way stop would have prevented both, as well as a previous crash back in '19 that resulted in a car coming to a stop in my neighbor's front yard.
It shouldn't take someone getting killed for city officials to do the right thing and heed the warning of residents. 3/4
Good afternoon from the #neleg, where the Education Committee will conduct a trio of interim hearings related to parental involvement in schools, social-emotion learning, and the use of federal funds for the Launch Nebraska website.
Updates will be in this thread:
Educ Comm. Chair Sen. Dave Murman, the sponsor of the interim hearings, says the hearings were motivated by Westside school officials discussing how they would look for ways around limits put on teaching critical race theory.
Murman says he handed out a packet of screenshots of material he finds objectionable to the committee.
It includes info related to HIV education (I think he objects to references of race, sex, gender), the Trevor Project, culturally relevant teaching.
It's Day 78 of your #neleg and we're nearing debate over a proposal to combine two of the most controversial bills introduced this session:
--A ban on gender-affirming care for Nebraskans under 19
--A ban on abortion after 12 weeks gestation.
Updates will follow in this thread:
Several senators have mentioned they are trying to kill time -- apparently not all of the supporters of the transgender care/abortion ban are here right now.
The trio of senators who introduced a bunch of filibuster motions have pulled them all.
If there are only 32 senators for a cloture vote on LB574, the measure would fail today. The abortion ban amendment would not get attached.
There are a lot of conversations going on underneath the balconies and the breakroom.
On LB77 from Sen. Tom Brewer, which would allow Nebraskans to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, lawmakers got the 33 votes needed to shut off debate.
(Fixed an unfortunate typo in previous tweet.)
LB77 passes on final reading 33-14.
Someone in the north balcony starts yelling “Shame” and is escorted from the chamber.
Another woman just yelled “We’ll remember you guys” and the said she’d see herself out.
Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly just ordered the balcony cleared.
Jack Riggins, the host Drive Time Lincoln on 1400 KLIN, is not on air this evening. Riggins was apparently behind a tweet by NEGOP last week posting sexual images from a graphic novel. Station management said they are discussing the situation with Riggins.
Drive Time Lincoln is otherwise continuing with guest Matt Innis, who is on to basically defend the NEGOP tweet that the book in question is available in Nebraska schools — something dozens of teachers have said isn’t the case.
Innis is using a letter from the Nebraska Library Association asking the State Board of Education not to censor library books as evidence that the books in question shouldn’t be in schools.