OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – New Census estimates show that Nebraska’s population grew at a faster rate than the total U.S. population for two years in a row between 2008 and 2010. Nebraska’s population grew nearly 1 percent to 1.83 million between July 2009 and July 2010. During that same span, the U.S. population posted its smallest growth since 1945 by increasing only 0.84 percent to 309.35 million. University of Nebraska at Omaha Census researcher David Drozd says this is the first time that Nebraska’s growth rate has exceeded the national one two years in a row. Drozd says Nebraska’s population growth rate improved partly because the state’s economy remained relatively strong while the nation was going through the worst recession since the Great Depression.