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The dozens of independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news organizations that make up the Rural News Network are developing the broadest news alliance reporting on rural America. These newsrooms are pursuing coverage that provides a more complete picture of what it means to live and work in these communities.
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LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Where’s the beef? Not all Nebraska producers on board with Pillen’s proposed ‘lab-grown meat’ ban
February 07, 2025
The governor, who founded one of the largest hog enterprises in the country, said the state needed to protect its farmers and ranchers, a critical piece of Nebraska’s economy and identity.
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Nebraska companies, strapped for workers, face ‘mild concern to abject terror’ as immigration crackdown begins
January 24, 2025
An unlikely coalition of pro-business groups and activists see a solution to Nebraska’s workforce shortage: More immigration. Now they’re watching the crackdown, wondering how it will impact foreign-born workers and their employers.
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Beef over beef: In North Platte, promises of economic boom smash into fears over immigrants
November 15, 2024
In the years since Sustainable Beef – a rancher-owned meatpacking plant – announced plans to open in the west-central city of 22,523, City Council meetings have been peppered with complaints about the project – worry over the smell, traffic and assumptions about the plant’s future 2,500 employees.
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Now a political liability, Tim Walz’s trip to China left a lasting impression on his fellow Nebraskans
October 04, 2024
Walz’s personal tale has prompted a national media surge of visits and calls to rural Nebraska. But the close inspections of Walz’s biography generally overlook a more local narrative: the ordinary Nebraskans influenced by his ambition.
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‘Quinceañeras every weekend’: Nebraska’s Latinos are increasingly native born – and eager to keep traditions alive
October 03, 2024
Once fueled by immigration, Nebraska’s growing Latino population is now overwhelmingly native born. Like others before them, these younger Nebraskans are eager to hold onto their heritage.
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Who’s Buying Nebraska? Philly organic farm is 2nd-biggest buyer of Nebraska farmland
September 13, 2024
The Flatwater Free Press analysis shows that seven of the top 10 land buyers in Nebraska are headquartered outside the state.
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Nebraska Evolving
September 06, 2024
The perception is that Nebraska’s smaller communities are dying. The reality is that many rural Nebraska counties are now growing for one reason. Immigration.
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Quick Hit: Immigration is changing, and maybe saving, some small Nebraska communities
September 06, 2024
A new FFP series, “Nebraska Evolving” will dig deep into several smaller Nebraska cities and small towns – places like Wakefield, the star of the first story, and also Columbus, Madison, North Platte, South Sioux City and Schuyler.
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Nebraska’s Cowboy Trail still incomplete nearly 30 years later
June 28, 2024
The campaign to complete a 17-mile segment between Gordon and Rushville started roughly 20 years after a now-defunct railroad sold hundreds of miles of abandoned rail stretching across northern Nebraska.
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Letters warning of fraud, calls to form ‘your militia’: Election conspiracies spread in Nebraska
June 07, 2024
A grassroots group is pushing claims of voter fraud. A Loup City woman is sending 1,500 letters suggesting Nebraskans’ identities are being stolen to move foreign money into U.S. campaigns. Experts say these claims have no basis in fact.
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Family tradition: For Nebraska ranch families, cattle branding is springtime rite
May 10, 2024
Brands have been used to prove cattle ownership since farmers and ranchers first settled Nebraska’s vast, unfenced prairie, and cattle drives brought large mixed-ownership herds to Ogallala and other railroad towns.
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Over 170 jobs require a license in Nebraska. The state will soon recognize some earned elsewhere.
April 26, 2024
Nebraska was ranked the 22nd most burdensome state in the country for licensing barriers in 2023, according to the Archbridge Institute, a public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. Kansas was the least burdensome state.
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Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen’s office, industry groups crafted bill easing ag permitting process, emails show
April 04, 2024
The Pillen administration is pushing to ease the permitting process of livestock feeding operations, such as those owned by his business, Pillen Family Farms.
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Recalling and name-calling: The political fight fracturing a southeast Nebraska community
March 21, 2024
Voters in Brownville recalled two members of the village board. Then the board created two new jobs and hired the ousted members.
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Power play: Project to move power through Nebraska Sandhills has stalled … for 12 years.
February 21, 2024
The R-Project transmission line was supposed to be done by 2018. But not a single mile of the 226-mile line has been built. Why?
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