Latest news with #NebraskaStateHistoricalSocietyFoundation
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘WanderNebraska' expands to promote more than 200 museums, tourist attractions and sites of interest
The John Phillip Falter Museum in Falls City is among the many attractions promoted by the WanderNebraska program. (Courtesy of the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation) LINCOLN — A Nebraska charitable foundation is stepping up to promote lesser-known museums and historical sites in the state. 'WanderNebraska,' a project of the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, is promoting visits to 213 museums, libraries and notable attractions this year via brochures, billboards, bus tours and prizes for visiting. The program, now in its fourth year, has grown from an idea spawned over plates of pasta to an effort that has generated 7,000 requests from 18 states this year for WanderNebraska booklets. Initially, it promoted 27 sites. 'We think it's a neat program,' said Leslie Fattig, executive director of the Historical Society Foundation. 'We're teaching people about Nebraska history and getting more people involved.' At Chimney Rock National Historic Site, more than 20,000 visitors have traversed the 'Walk to the Rock' trail since it opened in the autumn of 2023, tourism increases that Fattig attributes, in part, to WanderNebraska's marketing. The WanderNebraska program is similar to the 'Nebraska Passport' program operated by the Nebraska Tourism Department, which beckons tourists to visit 70 eateries, breweries, wineries, bed and breakfast inns and other commercial attractions. Both programs beckon people to discover new places and qualify for prizes. But Fattig said that WanderNebraska is more focused on nonprofit attractions that highlight history, and those in small towns with smaller staffs and budgets. Tourism advocates have long argued that Nebraska — which ranks as one of the least-visited states — spends too little to promote its sites of interest, so the WanderNebraska program is filling a void. About 35% of all tourism spending is for historical attractions, she said, so it makes sense to give historical sites a boost. 'A lot of these small museums are really challenged,' Fattig said, adding that many lack the funds or staff to market programs or write tourism grants. So WanderNebraska promotes sites like the log cabin courthouse in Callaway, the Old Poor Farm Historical Site and Animal Sanctuary in Nickerson and the Furnas Prairie Shelter in Brownville. The program also features several county museums and small-town libraries. 'WanderNebraska invites people to connect with the state's past in fresh, meaningful ways — whether by visiting a small-town museum, discovering a hidden landmark, or exploring a piece of forgotten heritage,' Fattig said. By visiting 10 sites, a WanderNebraska participant can get a free koozie. By visiting 25 sites, you get a free T-shirt. The program, funded by donations and grants, also includes training sessions for small museum operators on how to use social media to increase attendance. In addition, historian Sara Crook, a professor emeritus from Peru State College, leads a series of bus tours to historic sites across the state, such as a 'Wild West' tour that includes a stop at Fort Robinson. Fattig said that the Historical Society Foundation, which had for decades raised money for the State Historical Society, was confronted with a dilemma in 2019. That's when the then-director of the agency, Trevor Jones, formed a new fund-raising foundation to replace the 83-year-old foundation. Long-established Historical Society fund-raisers were told that their services were no longer needed. So, Fattig said, the foundation pivoted, and launched a statewide grant program to help sustain and develop mostly small museums across the state. The grant program has grown from $15,000 in the first year to $83,000 this year. Promoting sites via Wander Nebraska remains an outgrowth of that effort, she said, though the state Historical Society has since restored the foundation's role as its official fundraiser. None of the promotional efforts would be possible without donations from supporters of history, Fattig said. For more information about the foundation and WanderNebraska, access the websites or SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Yahoo
Nebraska AG's Office again loses case against state history director
A student walks by the headquarters building of the Nebraska State Historical Society in Lincoln. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN – For a second time, an effort by the Nebraska Attorney General's Office to prosecute the former director of the state historical society has been rebuffed. On Monday, the Nebraska Court of Appeals approved a request by attorneys for Trevor Jones dismiss a felony theft by deception charge that had been filed by the Attorney General's office. Court filings show the dismissal was approved without taking formal arguments from the AG's office – a summary dismissal. The appeals court ruled that state prosecutors failed to follow proper procedure in appealing an earlier dismissal of the case by a Lancaster County District Court judge based on the state's failure to afford Jones a speedy trial. The case could be appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. A spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office, Suzanne Gage, said Friday that the office disagreed with the ruling and would file 'an appropriate motion' laying out the arguments. Jones' lead attorney, Mallory Hughes of Omaha, said she had been 'very confident' that the Court of Appeals would dismiss the case and said she would be just as confident if the state filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. 'We agree with the rules and case law relied upon by the Court of Appeals in reaching its dismissal decision, and we will be prepared to argue the same should this matter proceed to the Nebraska Supreme Court,' Hughes wrote in an email. Jones, 52, had headed the agency he renamed 'History Nebraska' for six years before abruptly resigning in 2022, just prior to the release of a critical state audit. The audit accused Jones of misusing $270,000 in donations from the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation. Instead of using it to cover operational losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Jones deposited the funds in a rival private foundation he had set up after clashing with the older, more established Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation. Jones, who was paid $164,800-a-year in his state job, was charged with a felony in July 2023, a theft charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The case moved slowly through Lancaster County Court after Jones' lawyers challenged the evidence. His case was eventually bound over to District Court. But Jones' attorneys argued that the state failed to bring him to trial by September, when the speedy trial clock tolled. District Judge Susan Strong agreed, dismissing the charge. The AG's office then appealed. The failed prosecution was mentioned on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature recently, with State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln – an attorney – charging that the AG's office appeared too preoccupied with other matters, including investigating ballot measures seeking to legalize medical cannabis, to properly monitor the Jones case. Conrad urged the Attorney General – with whom she has frequently differed – to get the office's 'priorities in order.' 'While our attorney general is waging war on the Legislature, on the people's right to initiative, running around all over the country, bringing politically charged litigation to further a radical political agenda, right here at home his agency couldn't even prosecute this case to protect public funds,' the senator said. The AG's office had no immediate comment on Conrad's criticism. Nebraska Examiner reporter Zach Wendling contributed to this report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
AG appeals dismissal of case against former History Nebraska director
The Nebraska State Historical Society, the state agency in charge of overseeing historical records for the state, was embroiled in questions about how one of its former directors handled donated funds. Shown is the Nebraska History Museum. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — As promised, the Nebraska Attorney General's Office has appealed the dismissal of its case alleging that the former director of History Nebraska illegally transferred funds donated to the agency. A formal notice of appeal was filed late last week and was accepted by the Nebraska Court of Appeals on Monday. In December, Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong dismissed the felony theft by deception charge against former director Trevor Jones. She ruled that prosecutors with the AG's office had violated Jones' right to a speedy trial. Jones' defense attorney, Mallory Hughes, had asked for the dismissal, maintaining that prosecutors had failed to request a trial date within the six allowed months. She argued that Jones should have stood trial by Sept. 12, six months, minus exclusions, after the case had been bound over to the Lancaster County District Court. In her 12-page ruling, Strong rejected arguments by the Attorney General's office that the speedy trial clock had been 'halted' when Jones' former defense attorney, John Ball, asked to withdraw from the case a year ago, and because his formal request had not been approved by the court. The AG's office was ordered by the Court of Appeals to provide written arguments on why the prosecution should be restored by May 12. Jones, 52, resigned the $164,800-a-year director's job in 2022, shortly before a critical state audit was released that questioned his handling of $270,000 in donations from the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation to cover the agency's financial losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of depositing those funds with the Treasurer's Office, as legally required, Jones funneled the money into a new foundation Jones had set up to replace the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, with whom he'd had disagreements. The money was never used to cover COVID losses. Jones had pleaded not guilty to the felony charge, which carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison. He was a controversial figure as director of the history agency, winning praise for leading to greater digitization of historical documents, but also earning scorn from some employees for implementing a heavy-handed and time-consuming management system. The agency has been plagued by high staff turnover since. Jones rebranded the agency as 'History Nebraska,' a move rescinded by Gov. Jim Pillen, who restored the agency's historic title, the 'Nebraska State Historical Society.' Pillen recently named Daryl Bohac, a former adjutant general of the Nebraska National Guard, to lead the agency. The Society had operated under interim directors for more than two years after Jones' departure. Due to action by the Legislature, was made a code agency last summer under the control of the governor. That step ended more than a century of being an independent entity governed by a Board of Trustees. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
