Nebraska’s governor to leave hospital after he was bucked off a horse and broke his ribs

Jim Pillen is expected to be released from the hospital Friday — two days after getting nine titanium plates installed during a surgery to stabilize the ribs he broke when he was bucked off a horse last weekend. Some of the Nebraska Medicine doctors who have been treating Pillen since he was flown to the hospital in Omaha on Sunday from Columbus said he had improved significantly since the rib procedure on Christmas Day. Pillen has been breathing easier and getting around better the past two days, trauma surgeon Dr. Zach Bauman said. Pillen plans to return to work next week while continuing his recovery at the governor’s residence in Lincoln, his office said.