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You probably heard the tires squealing.

Nebraska state senators got the heck out of Dodge on Thursday, leaving their slightly abbreviated 88-day legislative session behind with the likelihood that most senators aren't going to spend much time looking back.

It started on a cold day in January, worked its way through months of delay, grievance and animosity, ending two days earlier than its scheduled 90 days in session.  And no one objected.

There may be fewer fond memories than usual and freshman senators must have been disappointed by their initial legislative experience.

Not gonna point any fingers, but it was the product of both dominance and angry retribution.

With legislative intrusion into personal and private lives lighting the filibuster match.

Tears flowed on the floor of the Legislature several times this year and that is not a common occurrence.

The Capitol Rotunda, hallways and committee rooms were filled and sometimes overflowing, certainly more often than usual, signaling citizen engagement and sometimes citizen outrage.

A conservative Republican agenda that strayed into personal and family social issues was the dynamite in the room.

And Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh's fierce and firm opposition lighted the fuse with a session-long filibuster that forced senators into night session after night session and hours and hours of time-consuming "debate."

Speaker John Arch managed to get all the big stuff acted upon while senators also packaged bills — in apparent disregard for the state constitution's mandate that "no bill shall contain more than one subject" along with a recognition that the courts tend to respect separation of powers.

Not gonna suggest any heroes and heroines in this session or any villains; that judgment is in the eye of the beholder.

Conservative Republicans dominate the Nebraska Legislature and they were going to win the legislative battles. Even if it took a while.

Gone are the more moderate Republican voices of John McCollister, Mark Kolterman, John Stinner, Matt Williams and sometimes Robert Hilkemann, who occasionally steered the Legislature into more middle ground.

What has also changed is a new Republican emphasis on personal lifestyle that is quite different from past GOP insistence that the best government is the least government and the government closest to home along with a belief that government should stay out of people's lives.

That latter argument was voiced by Democrats in the Legislature this year.

If you look at voter registration figures in Nebraska, and specifically in each of the 49 legislative districts, you will see that Republican governance is what voters want.

Republicans hold a voter-registration advantage over Democrats in 38 legislative districts; their 32-member majority in the 49-member Legislature could grow.

The same cast of characters will return to Lincoln next January for a 60-day legislative session. 

But no one is looking forward to that yet. 

* * *

Jim Pillen has emerged as a consequential governor in his first year, building a broad and deep conservative political record in concert with Republican senators.

Perhaps no governor has been more impactful in his or her first year since Republican Gov. Norbert Tiemann half a century ago. 

Although they moved the state in starkly different directions.

Pillen points to deep tax reduction, tight state government budgeting, extensive school reform, water supply initiatives, a narrowing of abortion rights along with restraints on transgender surgery.  And more.

With a promise that there is more to come: "We will end elective abortion in Nebraska," the governor said in his farewell address to state senators.

"Nebraska will protect its children," he said, "including babies in their mother's womb."

Pillen said his governorship has focused on "our conservative Nebraska values: faith, family, freedom, grit, hard work and personal responsibility."

Whether you agree politically with Pillen's record or not, he is halfway through a remarkably successful first year.

* * *

Finishing up:

* Keisei Tominaga's decision to remain with the Husker men's basketball team for one more year is good news. Has there ever been a more joyful player?

* Secretary of State Bob Evnen says his office will conduct "an educational campaign that informs voters" about the state's new voter ID requirements, which will be in effect for the 2024 primary election next May.

* The University of Nebraska's looming funding crisis and apparent lack of political support or political determination should set off alarm bells. Its stature helps determine the state's stature and its future. 

* Nebraska's three House members voted yes to raise the federal debt ceiling; Nebraska's two members of the Senate voted no.