Opinions

I guess it is a good thing for both you and I that we didn’t have a shortage of news this week. Man, what a week it has been. From the return of Men’s night to the opening of the Bison Activity Dome to the Christmas Under Wraps celebration there was certainly plenty of news to cover. Plus sports on top of that.

So much brain development occurs in the teen years, it is important to understand that social media does impact your child. During the teen years, the brain has a hard time regulating and discerning how much time should be spent on social media.

In Nebraska, the crops we grow, livestock we raise, goods we manufacture, and innovations we develop make an impact far beyond our borders. Nebraskans have long known that. Increasingly, the world does too.

Weight, it is something that this time of year a lot of us begin to think about. Wrestlers begin to worry about making weight and many of us begin to worry about how much we will put on this holiday season.

In our digital era, less and less face-to-face conversations occur, as email or text is much faster and easier. In preschool, although we focus on early academic skills, such as literacy, math, science, and social studies, the development of social-emotional, language, and play skills are also extremely important.

Public safety has rightfully been on the minds of Americans across the country. Violent crime rates remain high. So far this year, nearly 300 police officers have been shot in the line of duty – an 11% increase from this point in 2020. Deadly drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine continue to flow into the United States at disturbing rates. Regardless of whether you live in a larger city or a small town, so many Americans are worried that their communities simply don’t feel as safe as they used to.

A quick look at the calendar shows that Thanksgiving is upon us and it is time to break out those stretchy pants that you wore during the pandemic. It will be a busy week for many with travel and holiday fun but Saturday will also be a busy day for our small business community as we hit Small Business Saturday, the unofficial kick off to the Christmas shopping season.

Happy Thanksgiving! As Nebraskans have done for generations, we gather with family, friends, and loved ones this week to reflect on the many blessing in our lives and to share good news with one another.

Over the past year, Nebraska set an all-time high for employment. Our rapid growth is creating thousands of great-paying jobs. There are currently over 50,000 openings listed on the State’s job site: NEworks.Nebraska. gov. That’s more than double the number of unemployed Nebraskans who are looking for work.

The Activities Department is excited about some of the recognition sections in our new Bison Activity Dome. Several different areas have been created from new trophy cases to record boards.