LINCOLN – Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts hosted his ‘Get Nebraska Growing’ briefing late last week where History Nebraska provided information of what their group has been up to.
From the Governor’s Hearing Room in the Nebraska State Capitol, Trevor Jones addressed information that History Nebraska is looking to document the COVID pandemic. Jones is the Director and CEO of History Nebraska, formerly the Nebraska State Historical Society.
With many events going on, Jones said they are looking to help future Nebraskans remember what happened during these historic times and 2020 will be a year that will be remembered for a long time.
“I think if we’re lucky Nebraska school children someday will be assigned to find somebody who’s lived through 2020,” said Jones. “And they will come and find you and ask you what was it like to live through that year and report back to their class. That’s how significant this year is, we’re all creating history right now.”
Visit history.nebraska.gov for more information as all of the History Nebraska facilities across the state opened on Tuesday, July 7.
A question History Nebraska staff have been asking themselves is what would we save so that future Nebraskans could understand our lives at this moment. Jones added they’ve been busy.
“We’ve collected banners honoring high school students who did not get to have a graduation ceremony, we’ve been collecting journals written by children who’ve been learning from home and we’ve even collected rolls of toilet paper that were given out free for getting an oil change,” Jones added. “So, everything you can imaging from the pandemic we’ve been collecting.”
History Nebraska is still looking for more items from artwork, video diary’s, photos to share, homemade masks that are not being used, protest signs and more outside of the Lincoln and Omaha area.
Governor Ricketts also rescinded his Executive Order (20-05) amending the due date for Nebraskans to renew a driver’s license or complete vehicle titling and registration requirements.
“So, August 31 two months from now is approximately is how much longer people will have to have those things waved,” Ricketts mentioned. “So, by the end of August everybody should have the expectation that if your driver’s license is expired you need to catch up on it or if your vehicle needs to be registered you need to catch up on it. So, end of August.”
Those who are 72 and older will have until the end of the year to get their driver’s license renewed.
Monday’s 10 a.m. news conference was postponed to a later date as Governor Ricketts will try and get back into a routine hosting a weekly press briefing.