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DEVELOPING: UNIVERSITY CREDIT AUDIT, MISSOURI RIVER DAMS
ADDS: WESTERN STORM, KOSHER SLAUGHTERHOUSE-TRIAL, JOBLESS CLAIMS, DREAM FACTORY
UNIVERSITY CREDIT AUDIT
LINCOLN—A $15,300 first-class, roundtrip ticket to China and a $630 pen are some of the questionable purchases by University of Nebraska employees revealed in an audit from state Auditor Mike Foley. Foley said Thursday that the audit of the university’s credit-card program found a lack of controls on how employees use the cards. Public dollars are used to pay the invoices and annual purchases using the cards total more than $40 million a year. By Nate Jenkins.
WESTERN STORM
DENVER—A slow-moving autumn storm showed no signs of letting up in Colorado and the western Plains on Thursday, blanketing areas already buried with as much as 3 feet, closing schools and businesses and delaying flights. Roads across Colorado and Wyoming were snow-packed and icy from the first big winter storm of the season in the West, and the snow’s not likely to stop anytime soon. The storm spread a blanket of white from northern Utah’s Wasatch Front to western Nebraska’s northern border with South Dakota. By Ivan Moreno. Eds: Note Nebraska mention and some duplication with Nebraska sidebar, BC-NE–Western Storm-Nebraska. Also moving on national lines.
AP Photos COEA101, COEA106, COEA105, COEA104, COEA103, COEA102, COEA107.
With:
— WESTERN STORM-NEBRASKA—The snow from a slow-moving storm is piling up in Nebraska’s Panhandle. National Weather Service observers reported 12 inches of snow in Rushville and 11 inches in nearby Clinton on Thursday morning.
MISSOURI RIVER DAMS
PIERRE, S.D.—An association of states and American Indian tribes along the Missouri River meets Thursday to examine a study of whether changes are needed in the law that authorized the purposes for the series of dams and reservoirs on the river. States have quarreled about whether water should be managed to support upstream recreation or downstream barge traffic. Eds: Note Nebraska interest.
KOSHER SLAUGHTERHOUSE-TRIAL
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—A former kosher slaughterhouse supervisor testified Thursday that the plant scrambled to get workers new identification documents the night before a massive immigration raid. Former Agriprocessors, Inc., supervisor Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza said managers provided permanent resident cards to 20 employees and had them fill out new applications the night before the May 2008 raid at the Iowa plant, where nearly 400 workers were arrested. Guerrero-Espinoza said the cards were fraudulent and manufactured in Minneapolis a week before the raid. By Nigel Duara. Eds: Note Nebraska interest.
BUSINESS:
JOBLESS CLAIMS
WASHINGTON—The number of people claiming jobless benefits for the first time dropped less than expected last week, evidence that the labor market remains weak even as the economy is recovering. The Labor Department said Thursday its tally of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment insurance fell by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 530,000. Analysts expected a steeper drop to 521,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. By Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber. Eds: Note Nebraska mention. Moving on state and national news and financial lines.
AP Photos ARDJ202, ARDJ201.
ALSO:
— VISE-GRIP PLANT—The owner of a Fairbury manufacturing company says it has a deal to buy the abandoned Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt. Eds: Moved on state news and financial lines.
SPORTS:
DREAM FACTORY
SALINA, Kan.—It was clear to Jerome Schoel that his son, Jon, was having a good time watching over a sea of fans clad in red and white cheering on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. “He doesn’t speak, but you could tell by his facial features. He enjoyed it,” Jerome said. An AP Member Feature by Tim Unruh of The Salina (Kan.) Journal.
AP Photo pursuing.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION:
— SEX-ASSAULT SENTENCING—A 28-year-old Chadron man convicted of two counts of sexual assault of a child has been sentenced to 4-to-5 years in prison on each count.
— NEB MANSLAUGHTER SENTENCE—A 28-year-old Nebraska man has been given 21 years in prison for manslaughter in one county, domestic assault in another.
— CHIEF’S HOME BURGLARIZED—A 19-year-old Falls City man has been given up to 16 years in prison for three convictions, including one for burglarizing the police chief’s home.
— CAR DEALER IMPRISONED—A Lincoln used-car dealer has been sentenced to 3 1/2-to-7 years in prison for defrauding banks.
— COLORADO SUSPECT—Norfolk police have arrested a man suspected of a beating death in Colorado.
— GAGE COUNTY JAIL—Mail-in ballots have been sent to more than 15,000 Gage County voters who’ll be deciding whether to raise their taxes for a new jail.
— RARE FIND—Outstanding checks and unclaimed wages, not 2,000-year-old pottery and tribal spears, are usually what lands in the Unclaimed Property Division of State Treasurer Shane Osborn’s office.
— SCHOOLS-LOW STANDARDS-NEBRASKA—Nebraska is one of two states not included in a new report that gauged the strength of states’ student achievement standards for 2007. Eds: Can package with BC-US–Schools-Low Standards moving on national lines.
— HOSPITAL MERGER—North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has signed off on the merger of the two largest health systems in the Dakotas. Eds: Note Nebraska mention.
— FLORIDA FLIGHTS—Folks who want to escape winter’s cold can catch nonstop flights from Omaha to two Florida destinations for four months beginning in January. Eds: Moved on state news and financial lines.
— SMART GRID-NEBRASKA—Two Nebraska electrical districts will be sharing about $2.3 million in federal stimulus funding aimed at digitizing power systems. Eds: Moved on state news and financial lines.
— THANKSGIVING BASKETS—A North Platte church is stepping in to make and hand out Thanksgiving baskets after the Salvation Army announced it was canceling that food basket program so it could concentrate on its Christmas program.
— NEB VET SCHOOL—A state commission has signed off on elevating the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s veterinary department to a school of the same.
The AP, Omaha.
