Dear Dave, My wife and I have three young daughters. Is there a Baby Step for weddings? We didn’t see one in your plan, but I was wondering if it was included in any of the other Baby Steps. Cedric Dear Cedric, This is a really good question. I’m glad you’re thinking about the future and planning accordingly.

In addition to serving as vice-chair of the Banking, Commerce, and Insurance Committee these past two years, I also served on the Natural Resources Committee. This committee heard many power-related bills that could impact District 42. We are fortunate to be home to the Gerald Gentleman power plant. Gerald Gentleman Station is Nebraska’s largest electric generation facility and is consistently ranked as one of the lowest production- cost electric generating plants in the nation. It is capable of producing 1,365 megawatts of power and employs over 200 employees.

I CAN PRINT ON TUESDAYS!!!!!!!! Hallelujah!!! These were the texts between my husband Dane and I earlier this month after I’ve spent over nine months working six if not seven days a week for a 9:00 a.m. Monday print deadline.

If you come inspect our toilets (I wouldn’t recommend it), you’ll see that like many things around here, cleaning them has definitely been put on the back burner. Though they must not be too bad because I’ve learned over 15 years of marriage that if something gets too gross, Dane will clean it!

When I agreed to run for the Legislature, I did so with the intent to support and advance legislation that would positively impact District 42 and rural Nebraska. For far too long, rural Nebraska has been underrepresented in the Nebraska Legislature, and as a result, we have not gotten our “fair share” of funding and have been left out of many economic development programs.

It was great spending the week back in North Platte this past week. I returned to town on Saturday night, and after attending church on Sunday morning, Julie and I had the opportunity to attend the musical “Something Rotten” at the Fox Theatre. It was another great performance by many of our very talented local performers. It was just what the doctor ordered after a long 60-day session.

Every year after the Nebraska Press Association Convention, I hope I have somehow absorbed just an ounce of the talent and knowledge of those who I have been around for two full days. I’m not sure how many NPA conventions I have attended, but between two March babies and COVID, I think it’s around 10 in the last 15 years.

Dear Dave, I have a roommate, and we’ve shared the same twobedroom apartment for about three years. During that time, we’ve always had an agreement that we would split the bills fifty-fifty. But for the last several months, he’s been very late paying his half of the bills. There have even been a few times when he didn’t pay his part at all, and I had to cover the entire bill. We both work good jobs, so money isn’t an issue. He says he’s broke, but when I ask him where all his money goes, he just shrugs and acts like he doesn’t know. We’re good friends, so I don’t want to be cruel. How can I approach him about the situation? Mikhail Dear Mikhail, No matter whether you’re talking about friendships or business dealings, to be unclear is to be unkind. Believe me, I understand you don’t want to be mean to a friend. But situations like this should always be addressed directly and quickly, before things get out of hand.

At 6:35 p.m. last Thursday, the 108th Legislature adjourned Sine Die, bringing the session to an end. The last day of this 60-day session was anything but normal. We considered eight bills on Final Reading along with the appropriation bills (“A” bills) associated with the funding for those bills if required. Three of the eight bills were filibustered. Comparatively, most legislative sessions end with consideration of any gubernatorial vetoes, outgoing speeches from outgoing Senators, and a few ceremonial activities.

How mentally tough are you? Mental toughness is something I never really thought much about until I started running 5Ks (and one half marathon) as an adult and then had natural labor and deliveries with both of our kids. Our 11-year-old has way more experience at mental toughness than I had at his age.