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SAFE HAVEN
LINCOLN—A recent rash of child drop-offs, including two teenagers Tuesday night, prompted Gov. Dave Heineman to call a special legislative session to tighten Nebraska’s loosely worded safe-haven law. The timing of the session illustrates how badly Heineman and others want to stop what has turned into an embarrassment for Nebraska: The special session will begin Nov. 14, less than two months before they begin the regular, annual legislative session. By Nate Jenkins.
With:
SAFE HAVEN-AGE
OMAHA—While lawmakers prepare to tweak Nebraska’s much-criticized safe-haven law that allows parents to abandon kids as old as 18, they’ll find little nationwide consensus on what age limits should be written into such laws. Nebraska was the last state to enact a safe-haven law, which is intended to protect unwanted newborns from being abandoned. By Anna Jo Bratton.
AP Photo.
BALLOT MEASURES
UNDATED—Social issues so volatile that the presidential campaigns sidestepped them will be on the ballots in several states next week, including measures that would criminalize most abortions, outlaw affirmative action and ban same-sex marriage in California, one of only three states that allows it. In all, there are 153 proposals on ballots in 36 states. By National Writer David Crary. Eds: Note Nebraska mention
AP Photos SC101, SC102, CANB117.
With:
— BC-BALLOT MEASURES-GLANCE
KOSHER SLAUGHTERHOUSE
IOWA CITY, Iowa—A kosher meatpacking plant that was the site of one of the nation’s largest immigration raids was fined nearly $10 million by the state Wednesday over accusations that it violated state labor laws. Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil assessed the civil penalties against Agriprocessors in Postville for what he called repeated violations of Iowa’s wage laws from January 2006 to June 2008. By Nigel Duara. Eds: Note Nebraska mention.
BUSINESS:
ROHM & HAAS-DOW CHEMICAL
NEW YORK—Shareholders of specialty chemicals maker Rohm & Haas Co. approved a $15.3 billion buyout by Dow Chemical Co. on Wednesday. Shareholders, who voted on the deal in Philadelphia where Rohm & Haas is based, will get $78 in cash for each share they own. Eds: Note Nebraska mention.
SPORTS:
CREIGHTON MEDIA DAY
OMAHA—After becoming the first freshman in 12 seasons to lead Creighton in scoring and winning his league’s newcomer-of-the-year award, P’Allen Stinnett goes into the season a marked man. He figures to have plenty of help on a team that’s favored to win the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bluejays return three starters and seven other experienced players from a team that went 22-11. By Sports Writer Eric Olson.
AP Photos AH101-102.
T25-OKLAHOMA-BOX
NORMAN, Okla.—Austin Box dipped his head in disbelief at the sight of an all-too-easy touchdown pass that he was supposed to stop. But just as quickly as the points went up on the scoreboard, the understanding of what he’d done wrong clicked in Box’s head as a lesson of what not to do in the future. By Sports Writer Jeff Latzke.
AP Photos.
BIG 12-NOTEBOOK
COLUMBIA, Mo.—Stryker Sulak has been one of Missouri’s best defenders throughout his career. Last week against Colorado, Sulak might have played his best game yet. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end had six tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble in Missouri’s 58-0 win over the Buffaloes. The 14th-ranked Tigers (6-2, 2-2) play at Baylor (3-5, 1-3) on Saturday.
ALSO:
— NEBRASKA TRAINER—A redshirt freshman is fitting into Nebraska coach Bo Pelini’s strategy in facing fourth-ranked Oklahoma.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION:
— HOSPITAL SHOOTING—An Omaha church is stepping in to help a woman critically injured in a shooting in a hospital parking lot.
— MINISTER-SEX ASSAULT—The former director of Lincoln’s now-defunct Interfaith Council convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Boy Scout has been released from a state regional center.
— HOUSING LAWSUIT—The Justice Department is suing an Omaha condominium association and its president alleging they violated the Fair Housing Act by trying to prevent a family with children from buying an apartment.
— SAFE HAVEN-GEORGIA—The custody hearing for a troubled 12-year-old Georgia boy whose mother dropped him off at a Nebraska hospital under the state’s unique safe-haven law has been postponed.
— REGIONAL CENTER-LAWSUIT—An Omaha woman has sued the Lincoln Regional Center alleging she was sexually assaulted by a male staff member while a patient at the center in 2003.
The AP, Omaha.
