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POWER STRUGGLE
OMAHA—Five western Nebraska public power cooperatives are accusing a Colorado-based electric provider of grossly overcharging them for electricity. The utilities also claim in a lawsuit that Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc., as well as its president and several board members, are holding its Nebraska members captive by demanding they pay $220 million to buy out their Tri-State contracts. By Margery A. Beck.
LIABILITY DISPUTE
OMAHA—People injured on the job are usually entitled to file a worker’s compensation claim, but a Union Pacific conductor who hurt his knee walking to work wants the same benefit. The Nebraska Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on Oct. 9 about whether the Omaha-based railroad should be held responsible for the injuries Glenn Holsapple sustained when he stepped in a pothole in April 2006 in Marysville, Kan. By Business Writer Josh Funk.
CALL CENTER FINED
SALT LAKE CITY—Children as young as 13 were manning phone banks for a company that does market research and political surveys from call centers in seven states, including Nebraska, federal investigators said Tuesday. Children that young can’t legally be employed except on farms. By Business Writer Paul Foy.
BUSINESS:
MOODY’S-STOCK
OMAHA—The mounting regulatory pressure on Moody’s Investors Service and the other major credit rating agencies appears to be making investors nervous. Regulators and lawmakers have proposed new regulations to reduce conflicts of interest and improve transparency in the $5 billion-a-year industry because of its role in the subprime mortgage mess, and Congress plans to hold hearings on Wednesday. By Business Writer Josh Funk. Eds: Also moving on national lines.
DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINES
WASHINGTON, D.C.—A voter advocacy organization asked the U.S. Justice Department Tuesday to undo the sale by Diebold Inc. of its voting machine business, saying the transaction promotes a monopoly. Voter Action, based in Seattle and Amherst, Mass., said in a letter to the department’s antitrust division that the transaction is a grab for market share. The sale creates monopoly power in violation of federal antitrust laws, the group said. Eds: Note Nebraska mention. Also moving on national lines.
SPORTS:
STRUGGLING NEBRASKA
LINCOLN—The leaves are yet to turn colors here, and the Nebraska volleyball team already has lost four matches. That’s one more loss than the Cornhuskers had all of last season. It’s more, in fact, than any of the previous five Nebraska teams had in a single season. By Sports Writer Eric Olson.
With AP Photo NENH101
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION:
— HEALTH REFORM-TOLL—A new report projects that if federal policymakers don’t enact health care reforms, health care costs and the number of uninsured people in Nebraska would surge over the next decade.
— NEW YEAR’S SHOOTING—An Omaha man has pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of manslaughter stemming from a 2008 shooting that left another man dead.
— DOANE CENTER-CEREMONY—Doane College is set to honor two Omaha-area men and their families for their combined $9.5 million contribution toward a new gymnasium and fitness center on the Crete campus.
— INSURER THREATENED—A Lincoln woman who helped a former football coach make racially charged threats at an insurance company has been sentenced to a year in jail.
— LINCOLN BODY—Police are trying to find out whether the death of a 29-year-old Lincoln man was the result of a crime.
The AP, Omaha.
