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Humanities Desk

Nebraska Public Media

A special collection of Signature Stories that looks at life and culture in Nebraska through history, literature, religion, and art. This feed is updated continuously.

society & culture

All Episodes

1:09

Gov. Pillen recognizes 250th anniversary of U.S....

Humanities Desk ·

2025/11/10

Dozens of active-duty and veteran Marines gathered in the basement of the governor’s mansion to celebrate the military branch’s 250th birthday, complete with birthday cake cut by a sword. Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director John Hilgert said it symbolizes the Marines’ role as a band of warriors committed to carrying the sword so the nation may live in peace. Pillen said he’s heard appreciation for the U.S. military while on trade and diplomatic missions around the world.

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0:53

University of Nebraska-Lincoln team returns after...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/11/10

The professors and students who take part in the trip aren’t allowed to reveal exactly what they found, but whatever they did collect is transferred to the Defense P-O-W/M-I-A Accounting Agency lab at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, where a group of scientists there work on identifying missing service members. Belcher says these missions teach students about the importance of having a name and identity, and that there’s an unspeakable loss when that’s taken from someone missing in action.

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0:48

School bonds receive mixed outcomes at special elections

Humanities Desk ·

2025/11/05

School bonds had a relatively successful night overall, with voters in the Wausa, Logan View, Sterling and Minden School Districts approving tax increases to construct new school buildings and improve athletic facilities. In the Ashland-Greenwood School District, voters approved an override of the district’s property tax levy. However, in Columbus and Stanton, voters rejected bonds aimed at funding construction for new buildings.

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1:07

Lower lottery sales mean less revenue for some state...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/23

Nebraska Lottery Sales were down by more than 36 million dollars in fiscal year 2025 compared with the previous fiscal year. In 2004, Nebraska voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring that lottery proceeds are distributed among the Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund, the Nebraska State Fair Board, legislatively directed education programs and the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund.

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1:11

Advocates criticize restrictions on cannabis access...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/15

The fight over medical cannabis access continued in Nebraska Wednesday, as dozens of advocates spoke out against proposed regulations from the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission. More than 71% of voters in the state supported legalizing the use of up to five ounces of marijuana for medical purposes by qualified patients in the November 2024 election. The proposed regulations provide a pathway for patients to access that in theory, but many at Wednesday’s hearing said the restrictions amount to a

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1:11

Petitions for winner-take-all, hand counted ballots...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/14

Advocates for All Nebraskans, a nonprofit lead by former Nebraska Republican Party chair Eric Underwood, introduced its fourth and fifth petitions of the 2026 election cycle Tuesday. One of the proposed constitutional amendments would require all elections in the state to be conducted exclusively through paper ballots that are counted by hand. The other would give all five of the Nebraska’s electoral votes to the statewide winner instead of the current congressional district allocations. Lincoln

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5:18

AfroCon; no, it’s not about hair

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/13

Omaha's AfroCon was this past Saturday. A convention that focuses on all things nerdy, it also centers creating and maintaining community within North Omaha.

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1:03

WarHorse continues casino expansion following loan...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/08

Nebraska’s largest casino operator is expanding its facilities once more, thanks in part to its refinancing of $300 million in startup loans. Since Nebraskans voted to legalize casino gambling at racetracks in 2020, WarHorse Gaming – a wing of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska’s economic development corporation, Ho Chunk Inc. – has taken full advantage. WarHorse currently operates casinos in Lincoln and Omaha, and a new location is being planned for South Sioux City. CEO Lance Morgan said the

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5:26

U.S. Rep. Mike Flood discusses fed shutdown, Farm Bill

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/08

U.S. Rep. Mike Flood discusses the federal government shutdown, ACA tax credits, agriculture economic assistance and the Farm Bill.

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1:13

Cannabis Commission approves pair of cultivator...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/07

The first two medical cannabis cultivator license applications have been approved in Nebraska. Nancy Laughlin-Wagner on behalf of Midwest Cultivators Group in Omaha and Patrick Thomas of Raymond will each receive an offer of licensure to grow and cultivate up to 1250 flowering marijuana plants for medical purposes. Their applications were among the four that were randomly selected to be scored by the members of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission’s evaluation team, which includes all three

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5:24

Bureaucratic headwinds slow construction of Santee...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/07

If you turn on a faucet on the Santee Sioux reservation, the water that comes out looks normal enough. But there’s a good chance the sink it’s pouring into is discolored or corroded. Drink the water, and you’re putting yourself at risk of negatively impacting your memory, attention, or motor skills, particularly if you’re very young or very old. That’s because the water here has a dangerously high level of manganese, a naturally occurring mineral that can’t be boiled away. The tribe has issued a

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5:21

Nebraska author and photographer remembers the late...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/10/03

Jane Goodall spent her life studying the behavior of primates – their relationships, their behaviors, their emotions. But they weren’t the only animals she admired. For more than twenty years, the great sandhill crane migration drew the legendary primatologist to the center of Nebraska. Author and photographer Alan Bartels told Nebraska Public Media’s Jackie Ourada about his friendship with Jane Goodall that began after a visit she made here.

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1:01

Cannabis Commission will miss deadline to grant licenses

Humanities Desk ·

2025/09/30

The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission will not meet its Oct. 1 deadline to begin granting registrations for marijuana cultivators. During its meeting Tuesday, commission chair Dr. Monica Oldenburg said the commission’s evaluation team was unable to provide recommendations for licensure after two of its members resigned. Earlier this week, Commissioners Bruce Bailey and Kim Lowe resigned from their positions on the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen. That also

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1:12

Group launches petition to require state to fund K-12...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/09/29

Advocates for All Nebraskans, a group that wants to lower property taxes in Nebraska, announced a new petition Monday asking the state to play a bigger role in funding public education. The latest proposed statutory amendment would establish a minimum base salary of $50,000 for all certified public-school teachers and asks the state to fulfill its constitutional obligation to fund K-12 education. Teachers with 12 or more years of experience would receive a minimum salary of $62,000. According to a

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0:41

Cultural Centers of Lincoln Collaborative starts...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/09/29

The Cultural Centers of Lincoln Collaborative is one step closer to its new home. The building, located on a site at 21st and Vine streets, will connect four initiatives: the Good Neighbor Community Center, the Asian Community and Cultural Center, El Centro de las Américas and the Malone Center.

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0:55

Flood says spending compromise unlikely before govt....

Humanities Desk ·

2025/09/29

With federal government funding set to expire at the end of the day Tuesday, one Nebraska congressman isn’t holding out hope of avoiding a shutdown. Rep. Mike Flood, a Republican who represents Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, said Sunday that compromise with the Democrats, at least in the short term, seems unlikely. “Sadly, at this time, I'm not hearing about anything that gives me hope that we're going to be able to get past this, basically because Senator Schumer in the Senate says he's

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5:22

Union Pacific merger sparks safety concerns among...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/09/24

Omaha-based Union Pacific may soon become the first transcontinental railroad company in the United States, thanks to a proposed merger with Norfolk Southern. But the move has some rail employees worried about worker safety and a lack of government oversight. Nebraska Public Media’s Brian Beach visited Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte to learn more.

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1:01

Dan Osborn his campaign trail with populist,...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/09/23

The 2026 general election may be more than a year away, but the U.S. Senate race in Nebraska is already heating up. Dan Osborn, the industrial mechanic and independent candidate who made national waves for his closer-than-expected race with Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024, is back on the campaign trail – this time against another Republican incumbent, Sen. Pete Ricketts. Osborn may have lost to Fischer by more than 6 percentage points, but in a state that hasn’t elected a non-Republican to the Senate

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1:01

Kearney Cancer Center set to provide new cancer...

Humanities Desk ·

2025/09/22

The Kearney Regional Medical Center – owned by Bryan Health – and Cancer Partners of Nebraska are coming together to open the Kearney Cancer Center, a 25,000-square-foot facility dedicated to cancer treatment. The center includes a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner to detect early signs of cancer, a linear accelerator for delivering radiation to treat tumors, and infusion bays with views of Yanney Park for chemotherapy patients. It will also offer on-site lab and diagnostic imaging, access

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5:11

First ever Otoe-Missouria art exhibition held in Lincoln

Humanities Desk ·

2025/09/21

The Otoe-Missouria tribe called Southeast Nebraska home for over three hundred years but was displaced by the U-S in 1881, and forcibly moved to Red Rock, Oklahoma. Now there are efforts from the tribe to reconnect with their spiritual homeland through art.

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