Gov. Jim Pillen announces resignation of Nebraska's public health director
The Nebraska State Capitol. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — The director who handles public health matters for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Charity Menefee, has resigned.
Gov. Jim Pillen announced the departure, effective May 9, in a statement Tuesday that said Menefee made the decision to devote more time to her family.
Menefee has served in the position since 2021. She oversees preventative and community health programs including epidemiology, vital statistics, regulation and the licensure of health-related professions and healthcare facilities and services.
'Leading and serving alongside the dedicated people at the Division of Public Health has been the greatest honor of my career,' Menefee said in a statement.
The Governor's Office offered no information on interim leadership, saying details would come later.
Pillen said he appreciated Menefee's public service, including in the military. Menefee recently retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee Air National Guard after 25 years. Prior to joining Nebraska's DHHS, she served at the Knox County Health Department in Knoxville, Tennessee.
'Charity leaves public service with an impeccable record of dedication to the health and well-being of Nebraskans,' Pillen said. 'Under her leadership, the division reduced processing times from 100 days to 25 for certain licenses and improved disease tracking capabilities throughout the state.'
Steve Corsi, CEO of DHHS, called Menefee a 'shining example of a person who puts others first,' citing late-night meetings coordinating with stakeholders and weekends spent on operations tracking and containing infectious diseases.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
43 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Nebraska is the latest state to ban transgender students from girls' sports
Sponsors agreed to drop the bathroom and locker room ban when one Republican — Omaha Sen. Merv Riepe — declared he would vote against it otherwise. Advertisement The measure was first introduced in 2023 by then-freshman Sen. Kathleen Kauth, but failed to advance as lawmakers angrily argued over Kauth's other bill that sought to bar gender-affirming care for transgender minors under the age of 19. An amended version that banned gender-affirming surgery — but not all gender-affirming care — for minors later passed and was enacted that year. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up On Wednesday, Kauth promised to revive her bathroom and locker room ban next year, reiterating her rejection that people can determine their own gender. 'Men are men and women are women,' she said, and urged voters in Riepe's district to pressure him to support it. Republicans behind the sports ban say it protects women and girls and their ability to fairly compete in sports. Opponents say with so few transgender students seeking to participate in sports, the measure is a solution in search of a problem. Advertisement Fewer than 10 transgender students have participated in middle school and high school sports in the state over the past decade, according to the Nebraska School Activities Association. At least 24 other states have adopted similar bans. President Donald Trump also signed an executive order this year intended to dictate which sports competitions transgender athletes can enter and has battled in court with Maine over that state's allowing transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska denounced the measure. ACLU Nebraska Executive Director Mindy Rush Chipman said the ban 'slams the door shut' for some transgender students to fully participate in their school communities. 'This ban will only create problems, not solve any,' Rush Chipman said, adding that 'the constant targeting of LGBTQ+ Nebraskans must stop.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
No more vetoes, Pillen says as 2025 Legislature wraps up; two lawmakers relieved
State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha speaks on the floor of the Legislature on May 19, 2023, in Lincoln, Neb. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner). LINCOLN — Two Nebraska bills most vulnerable to a governor's veto in the waning hours of the 2025 Nebraska Legislature are about to become law without his objection. The pair — separate priority bills from Omaha State Sens. Megan Hunt and Terrell McKinney — were among a late wave of 26 bills approved by the full Legislature and awaiting action by Gov. Jim Pillen as lawmakers adjourned for the year. Both the Hunt and McKinney bills cleared final votes Friday by less than the number needed to override a veto. Pillen, in a letter early Monday to the Clerk of the Legislature, said all the bills on his desk 'will become law without my objections in the coming days.' Included in the 26 bills Pillen is expected to approve were three sent to his desk Monday. That negated any need for veto override attempts on the Legislature's final day. Hunt said she was 'surprised,' and excited to see her Legislative Bill 275 cross the finish line. The bill reforms the use of Social Security benefits received by eligible Nebraska foster children, in part strengthening communication between the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and the youth's representative. Hunt described recipients as among the state's most vulnerable, because the benefits are related to the death of a parent or guardian or a physical or mental disability. DHHS currently intercepts the Social Security benefits bound for those kids and uses the funds to offset the state costs of the youths' care. LB 275 requires DHHS to set aside at least 20% of all Social Security benefits in a separate trust fund, beginning when the foster youth is 14, with the percentage increasing gradually to 50% at age 18. Meant to ease transition to adult independence, it brings Nebraska 'in line with federal law to provide further accountability, transparency and conservation of a portion of the funds in a trust account for the youth's own use when they exit state care.' Hunt said she thought LB 275, which advanced to Pillen's desk on a 29-19 vote, might be in jeopardy partly because of a roughly $1 million in annual notification and operational costs estimated in a fiscal note and also because of a pattern of Pillen's vetos, which she said have been 'less about policy and more about the introducer.' McKinney said Monday that he was unsure what Pillen might do on LB 48, his bill aimed at helping to keep youths out of the criminal justice system. He said he was happy to see it unobstructed by a veto, and proud of the accomplishment. 'It's good legislation that's going to help a lot of families and juveniles, keeping them out of the system,' he said. LB 48 calls for an around-the-clock Family Resource and Juvenile Assessment Center pilot program in Omaha. The goal is two sites that will address family dynamics, mental health, substance abuse and educational challenges to juvenile delinquency. The bill faced resistance and near demise during earlier legislative debate. It passed final reading on a 27-21 vote. Of 26 bills awaiting Pillen's signature Monday, two others passed final legislative debate with 33 votes; four passed with vote tallies in the mid to upper 30s, and the rest secured 40 or more votes. Said Hunt: 'I'm excited now to breathe a sigh of relief and move on to the next issue.' Nebraska Examiner reporter Zach Wendling contributed to this report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
After multiple arrests, Iowa man sues when he's denied SNAP benefits
(Photo by) An Iowa man who says he has no stable access to food is suing the state, alleging it has unfairly denied him access to food assistance based on a criminal conviction later voided by the courts. Charles Hasselmann, 32, of Ankeny alleges that in 2023, he applied for food assistance while residing in a correctional facility as a result of a probation-revocation order that was premised on a finding of him being a habitual offender. The sentence was later vacated by a district court judge, Hasselmann claims, with the judge finding the habitual-offender enhancement to his sentence on a theft conviction lacked sufficient factual basis. Because of that finding, the court also set aside the related order that revoked his probation, Hasselmann claims. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Court records indicate the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services later disqualified Hasselmann from receiving food assistance through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, for at least 12 months. It also demanded restitution for overpayment, citing 'stolen' funds that Hasselmann says are due to others' unauthorized use of his benefits card. In his lawsuit against DHHS, Hasselmann is seeking an injunction that would award him SNAP benefits and halt any further efforts at collections for the alleged overpayments. In his petition, Hasselmann claims he was recently released from more than two years of incarceration and now has no reliable access to food or income. The public interest, he argues, strongly favors his access to 'basic nutritional support.' The state has yet to file a response to the lawsuit, but in a related court case attorneys for the state argued that while a judge did find there was insufficient factual basis to impose the habitual-offender sentence enhancement on the conviction for theft, the court did not disturb the underlying conviction for theft. The state's lawyers say that under a plea deal that was later reached, Hasselmann had agreed to a prison term of no more than five years on the theft charge. The court then set aside the earlier probation violation order, the state alleges, not because it represented 'an illegal sentence,' but because, through the subsequent plea deal, a five-year prison sentence had been agreed to and imposed. Court records indicate that since 2012, Hasselmann has been charged with numerous felony and misdemeanor offenses, resulting in seven convictions for theft, five convictions for driving while barred, five convictions for forgery, two convictions for assault and two convictions for drunken driving. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
