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DEVELOPING: SWINE FLU-NEBRASKA, NEB INMATE FREED
ADDS: KOSHER SLAUGHTERHOUSE-RUBASHKIN, SHARP EYE
SWINE FLU-NEBRASKA
OMAHA—The biggest challenge for Nebraska health officials trying to vaccinate people for swine flu continues to be the relatively small number of doses available. State and local officials say they have distributed 208,000 doses of vaccine within Nebraska according to population and need. But that’s well short of the 1 million doses state officials expect to ultimately receive. By Josh Funk.
AP Photos by Nati Harnik
NEB INMATE FREED
LINCOLN—The Nebraska Board of Pardons is freeing a 68-year-old man who helped kill an Omaha bartender in the 1960s. Jerry Erving Jr. was convicted in 1965. He didn’t pull the trigger, but under state law he was guilty of murder because he participated in a crime during which a murder took place.
AP Photo pursuing.
KOSHER SLAUGHTERHOUSE-RUBASHKIN
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—In the musty conference room of a South Dakota hotel, Sholom Rubashkin helps a disheveled man in a hooded sweat shirt wrap black bands around his left arm and head. Attached to each is a black box containing inscriptions from the Torah. “It’s on your arm close to your heart, on your head close to your thoughts,” Rubashkin, a leader in the Orthodox Jewish community, tells Robert Graham in a thick Brooklyn accent. Graham nods. By Nigel Duara. Eds: Note Nebraska interest. Also moving on national lines.
AP Photo IADUB101.
SHARP EYE
GUIDE ROCK—Bruce Johnston has filled his home with the carvings and paintings he has done. “I have whittled all my life,” said Johnston, 84, who lives on a farm southeast of Guide Rock. “I always had a jackknife in my pocket.” A Nebraskaland Feature by Donna Christensen of the Hastings Tribune.
SPORTS:
— UNK HONORS—Nikki Scott of the University of Nebraska at Kearney has been named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s volleyball player of the year.
— NEBRASKA TRAINER—The latest from Husker practice.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION:
— FOSTER GIRL ASSAULTED—A 15-year-old Lincoln boy has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting his mother’s 8-year-old foster daughter.
— SCHOOL BONDS-NEBRASKA Voters in three Nebraska school districts have approved bond measures, but voters in Grand Island’s Northwest Public Schools district defeated a local proposal.
— GAGE COUNTY JAIL—More than 80 percent of Gage County voters have rejected an $11.4 million bond proposal to build a replacement jail and law enforcement center.
— SUTTON LEVY OVERRIDE—Residents of the Sutton Public Schools district have approved a $1.25 levy override on a 526-262 vote.
— NEBRASKA BUDGET WOES-CHECKOFF—Complaints from Nebraska farmers and agriculture groups about using checkoff dollars to help balance the state budget appear to have worked.
— EMERGENCY-RESPONSE TEST—Next week, the state of Nebraska will be testing a communications tool as it checks its ability to handle a terrorist attack.
— FREMONT UNITY CAMPAIGN—Organizers of a Fremont campaign are inviting the community to dance in celebration of culture and unity.
— NUKE PLANT REFUELS—The Nebraska Public Power District says its nuclear power plant in southeast Nebraska is up and running after refueling.
The AP, Omaha.
