Humanities Desk | Net Radio

Last year two Native American girls in Cody, Nebraska had their hair cut at school without their parents’ permission. That action prompted a First Amendment lawsuit in which the girls’ parents said their family’s religious rights were violated.

Last year two Native American girls in Cody, Nebraska had their hair cut at school without their parents’ permission. That action prompted a First Amendment lawsuit in which the girls’ parents said their family’s religious rights were violated.

Chadron State College became the first school in Nebraska to sponsor an NCAA sanctioned women's wrestling team. Chadron’s Director of Athletics, Joel Smith, did not believe the lack of competing teams was a reason to turn away this new sport. He saw it as an opportunity. Adding a new sport had the advantage of being a good business decision.

CDC stats show that COVID cases are up nearly 20% over the past two weeks in Nebraska. The Cornhusker State is among many northern states seeing increases. Overall, cases are up 18% nationwideCOVID hospitalizations are increasing too. Active hospitalizations increased to 477 statewide on Tuesday, which is nearly 11% of the state's beds. At the same time last week, there were 415.

Chamber of Commerce leaders from the state and nation discussed today (Wednesday) how Nebraska could benefit from the hard infrastructure bill recently passed by Congress. As Will Bauer of Nebraska Public Media News reports, those Chamber leaders believe the state could see projects during the next construction season.

President Joe Biden and CMS announced a COVID-19 vaccine mandate earlier this month for all healthcare workers. The rule applies to institutions receiving Medicare or Medicaid funding. Hospitals are expected to comply or federal financial support will be revoked. The mandate affects 17 million workers across the country.

Justin Nix is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at UNO and said most states analyze officer-involved shootings by only looking at fatal shootings. He explained why that’s problematic. “You might actually be drawing conclusions based on the differences in the likelihood of mortality, than in differences in police behavior,” Nix said. “So, to get a more accurate understanding of the behavior, police shootings, we need data on all police shootings, because at the end of the day, I would hope we’d all want to minimize police shootings to the extent possible.”

Since the United States pulled military operations out of Afghanistan and the Taliban took control of the country in late August, 290 refugees have begun the process of relocating to Nebraska, and 191 migrants remain at military bases, but are prepared to depart for the Lincoln-Omaha area.

Meaghan Stout was 16 years old when she first learned she was being paid less than a man. She was the head hostess at Round the Bend Steakhouse, in Ashland, Nebraska, training a younger employee. The two were bantering about some of the more frustrating parts of the job when he mentioned his pay."The only reason why I'm still here is because I make $11 an hour." he said, according to Stout,. She said she didn't believe it. "No you don't," she replied. "Yeah, I do," he said. Armed with that information, Stout asked for a raise and got it.Speaking to the owner of the restaurant, she found out that the kitchen manager had given raises to the male workers, but not to the women. Even after getting the raise, Stout said she was mad at the kitchen manager for giving her co-worker that raise so early in his time on the job. The new employee had a fraction of her experience, but was compensated more because he was friends with the kitchen manager. “It was kind of depressing to only be barely in high school and finding

On Veteran’s Day, Nebraskans are paying homage to all our veterans, including Mexican-Americans in the Panhandle. Three new monuments with some 600 names engraved in stone will be revealed in Scottsbluff.

Nearly 50 years after Congress passed Title IX to protect students from sexual discrimination, outcries about sexual violence at the University of Nebraska Lincoln are still present. Also looming: Ten women are suing the school as part of two lawsuits. They allege the university’s Title IX office mishandled their reports of sexual misconduct.

A groundbreaking 1995 lawsuit demanding girls softball in Minden set a gender equity precedent nationally. A mother and her daughter sued in federal to include girl's softball and force improvement of facilities and treatment of girl athletes.

The state of Nebraska ( along with more than a dozen other states) has joined onto Tennessee lawsuit that questions whether the Biden Administration has the authority to expand Title IX protections to include transgender students and staff. I talk with the daughter of a transgender student, Governor Pete Ricketts and several lawyers to help outline the state's position, it's opposition and what's at stake for transgender students if the lawsuit were to succeed.

The evolution of Nebraska’s Volleyball team may be the most visible effect of Title IX in Nebraska. By providing more funding and access to facilities, the team grew into a national powerhouse. Two of the team’s founders – Nancy Colson and Terry Pettit – discuss what the early days of Title IX was like.

Four decades ago, a town in Kansas and a town in Colorado competed to become home to a giant meatpacking plant that, at the time, was the largest of its kind in the world. Here’s what has happened to them since.

The Genoa Indian School in Nebraska closed in the 1930's, but the known death toll of children at the school is still growing. Nebraska Public Media's Jackie Ourada has more on the latest research into one of the country's largest Native American boarding schools and who might be buried there.

Peterson says his office will not criminally pursue any abusers because the statute of limitations has expired. Those are legal frameworks that set when a criminal action must be taken. Still, Peterson has a message to churches. “Don’t ever put the reputation of your association, your church organization, above protecting the children," he said.

Hospitalizations are up 6.5% over the past two weeks, according to state data. Currently, 417 beds in Nebraska are occupied. That's just more than 10% of the state’s capacity – which may mean the state could update COVID data daily instead of weekly if hospitalizations stay above the 10% threshold.

Because Nebraska is so dependent on agriculture, a sector that relies on exports and imports, Ernie Goss says the supply chain problems could hurt the local economy. In all, though, the ag economy keeps growing, he says.

Then, he was able to draw inspiration recently from a book called ‘The Portable Nietzsche,’ to write the song he submitted.“The song that I submitted ‘Overman’ was one of the first that I wrote, as I read the book from which the song sort of imagery and inspiration is taken,” Siebler said.