LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has formed a 150-member commission to craft a report recommending what the school should look like 25 years from now.

The commission of faculty members, students, staff, and businesspeople will consider changes such as technological improvements, growing diversity and declining state money, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

Lisa Smith, senior vice president for the D.A. Davidson investment firm in Lincoln, said the commission’s leaders told members early on to “think big.”

The commission aims to produce work that is “bold, distinctive, inspirational, universally understood,” Smith said.

The project started in March. The commission hopes to have a draft in September and to share the report in November.

The school hired a consulting firm for $190,000 to assist in the process and lead sessions seeking additional input.

Executive Vice Chancellor Donde Plowman said she could envision the commission looking at whether a degree must average 15 hours over eight semesters or if students should blend a variety of subjects for a major. The commission might also consider finding more opportunities for students to learn through experience and increasing partnerships between the university and community.

The discussion comes as the university plans to celebrate its 150th anniversary next year.

“Not many institutions have been around for 150 years,” said history professor Will Thomas, who co-leads the commission. “That begs the question, how will we carry that legacy forward for another 150 years?”

OSHKOSH, Neb. (AP) — There will be no jury for the trial of a western Nebraska school superintendent accused of assaulting a student.

Court records say the motion by the lawyer for Paula Sissel was granted after a hearing Wednesday in Garden County Court. Sissel has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault.

Judge Randin Roland is scheduled to hear the evidence and testimony on June 20 in an Oshkosh courtroom before issuing his verdict.
Nebraska State Patrol Sgt. Brian Eads (eeds) has said it’s his understanding the assault occurred Nov. 13, when the 61-year-old Sissel was attempting some corrective action with the student.

Sissel is superintendent of the Garden County Schools district.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol and other agencies have successfully coordinated a delivery of potentially lifesaving medicine from Omaha to a children’s hospital in Colorado.

The Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora requested a rare medication from the University of Nebraska Medical Center late Tuesday evening, according to Nebraska Medicine spokeswoman Taylor Wilson. The medicine treats amoeba-related infections.

The weather was too rough to fly the medicine from eastern Nebraska, so Nebraska Medicine contacted the State Patrol to help relay the medicine 540 miles (869 kilometers) to the hospital.

“All they tell us is there’s a child that really needs this and it’s a critical moment,” Patrol Lieutenant Matt Sutter said. Troopers weren’t given any further information about the child’s condition, he said.

The request was the longest distance patrol officers have transported medical necessities under an urgent time frame, according to Sutter.

Nebraska troopers needed to drive the drug closer to the state’s western border with Colorado, where they would pass off the medicine to the Colorado State Patrol.

The effort included seven troopers, who would hand the package off to the next patrol car in the relay. Sutter tracked the medicine across the state while monitoring weather and air-transport options.

Weather conditions in western Nebraska improved so troopers passed the medication to an airplane pilot in North Platte, who flew the drug to a Colorado airport near the hospital. The medicine arrived at the hospital early Wednesday morning. The transportation totaled less than 6 hours from when the first trooper started the relay.

“We try to look at it from the perspective of what would we want the state patrol to do for us if we were that family in that situation?” Sutter said. “When you put things in that perspective and you use that empathy as your measuring stick it’s amazing how all the resources come together and ultimately do the right thing.”

Radio Ink magazine is known for world-famous lists. In April, they published a list of Radio’s Top- 20 leaders. It includes Eagle Communications’ President Gary Shorman.

“These are the radio industry’s best. They know how to motivate their teams to success. They are winning at sales, programming, and management.

They are relentless in what they do, and they do not fail. This list is made up of radio’s most positive. They are the people who take the time to mentor others and make a lasting impact on careers. They give time back to the radio industry to help it grow. They may not be promoting themselves or be among the powerful executives we always write about, but they are making the radio industry run like a well-oiled machine.”

Gary Shorman was very detailed in his response when we asked him about the characteristics of a successful leader. “Team builder,” he says. “No one can win with a dysfunctional team, so do the opposite. Find players who love their community and want to make it better. Find players who want to build their success year after year. Find players who want to be on a winning team. Once that is done, give them the opportunity to participate in decisions and goals, then give them the tools to succeed. At Eagle, I interview all our potential employee-owners before we bring them on board. I’m encouraged by what I see and how many of our newest have a strong desire to play on a winning team.

“Creativity. I get a chance to listen to a lot of radio stations. We win when our clients and advertisers win. That happens with creative marketing campaigns and continued brand-building. At Eagle, our businesses are the local businesses that compete with the big national companies. At one time it was the Sears & Roebuck catalog or the new Walmart store coming to town.

Today our customers battle for business with the brown delivery truck that brings products from around the world. To win, our local businesses need us to help tell their story on the radio and through our digital products. We win with creativity.”

Finally, he says, “Get results.

If something is not working, find another way. Ratings, no ratings. Good economy, bad economy. Stocks up, stocks down. Whatever is happening in the world, we all get paid for results. If you cannot find a way to get results, you will probably be working somewhere else.”

Shorman says leadership in any industry takes hard work and the ability to work with the people on your team.

“Radio is no exception. I have not met many leaders who made it to their position without learning the basics of the business and working harder than others around them to succeed. In any business, but especially radio, you must enjoy being a part of a team, loving those you work with and encouraging those who are facing challenges.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Legislature’s staunchest opponent of the death penalty is furious that the state attorney general is asking that the state’s first execution in decades occur on the senator’s birthday.

Attorney General Doug Peterson last week asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to speed up its decision on issuing a death warrant for Carey Dean Moore, who was sentenced to death for the 1979 killings of two Omaha cabbies. The attorney general suggested July 10 or another date in mid-July, because one of the state’s four lethal injection drugs will expire at the end of August.

Chambers told the Omaha World-Herald that he “was really outraged” by Peterson’s request, saying he’s disrespecting the court by drawing them into the political maelstrom over the death penalty.

Peterson’s spokeswoman, Suzanne Gage, says neither Peterson nor his staffers were aware that July 10 is Chambers’ birthday and weren’t sending any message to Chambers.