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.

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.

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.

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.

BREAKING: Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana says the pair of initiatives to legalize medical cannabis failed to qualify for the November ballot. Clarification: The Nebraska Secretary of State says it notified NMM that the ballot initiatives did not qualify.

GREENWOOD — We’re a little more than an hour away from Charles Herbster speaking at a rally at I-80 Speedway that was rescheduled from Friday due to severe weather.

Trump is scheduled to appear at 5 pm. A dance party has broken out up front, as others wait in line. I believe they are going to fill out the bleachers and some standing room only areas in the wings.

BREAKING: Trump rally is postponed. A few people have left, but there’s a lot of confusion. People still standing around.

The first person who waved LJS photographer Kenny F. and I through at the Trump/Herbster rally was Fanchon Blythe from #LNK, who told us we are from the “Urinal Star.” #original Talked with Thomas Sullivan from Plattsmouth who said he came to see Trump, who he believes could “say something historic.”

Sullivan said he was a Herbster voter until the allegations made against him. Now he’s “50-50.”

This is the most media I’ve seen at a University of Nebraska Board of Regents meeting. The boardroom is also at overflow right now. Meeting will begin at 9 am. Here’s a bad pano:

A handful of #neleg state senators are raising objections to the governor's appointees to the State Health Board. Sixteen of 17 members are men. Sen. Justin Wayne says the lack of representation is geographic: No board members work in communities of color. Sen. Megan Hunt says the Legislature has abdicated its oversight responsibility for many of these boards. She says they have become a place for political donors and backers, and lawmakers don't exercise their authority to prevent that from happening.

A bill (LB639) from Sen. Jen Day would require schools to designate an employee who is prepared to respond if a student has an epileptic seizure. All Nebraska schools would be required to appoint someone to take the free training. Opponents have said they have a problem with the state mandating "one more thing" to local schools, and that it removes discretion from district leaders; they also take issue that private, parochial and nondenominational would also be required.

The State of Nebraska is suing #AltEn for violations of the Nebraska Environmental Protection Act and Nebraska Integrated Solid Waste statutes. AG Doug Peterson says the company has made it clear it won't comply with administrative orders. Peterson says the 97-page complaint details repeated violations by AltEn

"It's one of the clear cases of a corporation coming in and failing to be a good partner with the state of Nebraska," he says.

The line of testifiers for Sen. Ben Hansen’s bill (LB643) that would allow people to opt out of mandatory vaccine directives. Just about everyone indicated they wanted to speak. Testimony will be limited to 3 min. First time we've seen a crowd like this in the Capitol this session. Masks aren't required in the building, but there are signs recommended social distancing be observed, which obviously isn't happening here.

In a joint statement by doctors at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, the state is entering "a dangerous period" when it comes to COVID, with daily counts equal to May peak and "rapidly rising." "To absorb the increasing load of patients, Nebraska is relying on hospitals that are currently more than 85% full, which is a very different scenario than in April and May, when hospitals were 50% full."

"It is a potential perfect storm."

Stay tuned for live tweeting from this morning's press conference regarding Husker Athletics getting back up and going here this fall.

Just waiting for the Zoom meeting to go live... The meeting is started, just waiting for the press conference to begin.

There was an open mic going from the meeting's host a little bit ago, but nothing in the way of news that was shared.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, enrollment ~51k, has done 294,000+ tests since school started through its on campus, saliva-based rapid testing.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, enrollment ~25k, has done 3,671 through the nasalpharyngeal swab-based Test Nebraska. UNL researchers made the pitch to do saliva-based COVID testing (less invasive, easier to get supplies), estimating with existing lab capacity on campus they could do 1,000 tests/day, but were told NU had already signed on with Test Nebraska: journalstar.com/news/local/edu…

Nebraska Supreme Court says medical marijuana initiative violates the single subject rule -- won't go before voters this November.

The Nebraska Supreme Court's decisions on challenges to several ballot initiatives should be posted any. minute. now. Me hitting that CTRL + F5 every 2 seconds.

UNL temporarily suspended 6 sororities and fraternities for violating the local and university COVID-19 guidelines: Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Story tk Last week, UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green met with Greek student leaders over Zoom to assure them there wasn't any negative connotation with quarantining due to COVID clusters, & to remind them of the university's policies.

Seems like some didn't get the message.

“You could have a very high-level athlete who’s got a very superior VO2 max...who gets infected with COVID and can drop his or her VO2 max and cardiac output just by 10 percent, and that could make them go from elite status to average status." centredaily.com/sports/college… In college cross country, our coach told us once before a pretty tough interval workout the effort could increase our VO2 max by 1-2%, but even a number that small would be a "significant" boost in our fitness level heading into the final stretch of the season.

So...👀

Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Director Pat Lopez says contact tracers have not confirmed any transmission of COVID in a K-12 or college classroom.

The transmission on college campuses has been tied to social events, Lopez said. Most students have been cooperative with contact tracers, Lopez says, but adds they need to follow the guidelines in order to keep on-campus learning going.