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DEVELOPING:
ADDS: WHITE MINORITY, NEB COLLEGE DISPUTE
XGR–PRENATAL CARE
LINCOLN—A legislative committee on Tuesday ensured that lawmakers will debate whether to allow illegal immigrants and some legal residents to continue receiving prenatal care. The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee voted to advance the measure (LB1110) to the full Legislature, where it is expected to be the most hotly debated issue of the current legislative session. By Nate Jenkins.
XGR–NO STATE TREASURER?
LINCOLN—Lawmakers disagree about whether a proposal to eliminate the state treasurer’s office in Nebraska would save money. During debate Tuesday on a proposed constitutional amendment (LR284CA), Sen. Dennis Utter of Hastings said money would be saved because existing state agencies can handle jobs now done in the office. By Nate Jenkins.
With:
— XGR–WATER WOES—Lawmakers may tackle the issue of how to pay for solutions to some of the Nebraska’s water problems.
— BUDGET WOES—Many state agencies would face 2 percent budget cuts, but several key services—including the Nebraska State Patrol and centers that care for mentally disabled people—might be spared.
— BOOZE BILL VETO—Nebraska lawmakers have easily overturned Gov. Dave Heineman’s first veto of the legislative session.
TORNADO FORECAST
OKLAHOMA CITY—Forecasters say a wetter-than-usual winter and a jet stream ripping over the part of the country known as “tornado alley” will lead to an active spring—perhaps starting with the strong twister that nicked a small western Oklahoma town Monday night. By Tim Talley. Eds: Note Nebraska interest.
AP Photos. AP Graphic MONTHLY TORNADOES.
NEB COLLEGE DISPUTE
LINCOLN—Nebraska’s six community colleges will work together to resolve their funding dispute, and Metropolitan Community College will drop its lawsuit against the other colleges, officials announced Tuesday. State Sen. Greg Adams of York, who helped mediate the dispute over the past two years, announced the agreement. Adams said all the colleges will work together over the next year to develop a new funding formula to be implemented July 2011.
BED-BOUND GRANDMA
LINCOLN—Prosecutors will review autopsy results before deciding whether to file additional charges against three relatives of an elderly Lincoln woman who died after being left in a urine- and feces-soaked bed for eight days. Police Capt. David Beggs said Betty Wickline, 77, died at a nursing home on Monday. He would not comment on the circumstances.
WHITE MINORITY
WASHINGTON—Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years. In fact, demographers say this year could be the “tipping point” when the number of babies born to minorities outnumbers that of babies born to whites. By Hope Yen.
BUSINESS:
— GM DEALERS-NEBRASKA—General Motors is reinstating several Nebraska car dealers, but the company is not releasing a list of the dealers so it’s not clear how many will be included. Eds: Moved on state news and financial lines.
— TRIBUNE CHANGES—The Hastings Tribune has a new publisher to replace the newspaper’s longtime leader, Don Seaton. Eds: Moved on state news and financial lines.
— MEAT PLANT BUYER—A new company has formed to buy the former Premium Protein Products plant in Hastings and set it back on course for production.
SPORTS:
BKC–BIG 12 TOURNAMENT
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Big 12 tournament gets started this week in Kansas City. For more than half the teams, it will be a warm-up for the real madness of March. That’s because, barring a major meltdown, the conference will likely get seven teams into next week’s NCAA tournament. By Sports Writer John Marshall. Eds: Note Nebraska interest.
AP Photos KSOW115, KSOW110, TXRA104, OKOKL203.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION:
— TERRY-ROBOCALLS—Nebraska’s U.S. Rep. Lee Terry is among a group of congressional Republicans targeted by a Democratic-aligned group pressuring lawmakers to pass health care reform.
— FOG FATAL—Investigators are trying to determine whether foggy conditions caused a crash that killed a woman.
— FATAL SPRING BREAK—Auburn authorities say alcohol may have played a role in an accident that killed one Nebraska student athlete and injured another traveling in Alabama for Spring Break Monday.
— UNL BUDGET CUTS—University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Harvey Perlman has announced plans to cut $3.6 million from the budget and eliminate 21 jobs.
— DEPUTY KILLED—A semi driver has been charged with misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide in connection with a crash that killed a Platte County sheriff’s depputy last August.
— CHICAGO-TO-OMAHA RAIL—Gov. Chet Culver says the Iowa Transportation Commission has approved as much as $1 million for the study of Chicago to Omaha passenger rail service through Iowa.
— POT HOUSES—Lincoln police have netted several hundred 1,000 marijuana plants and arrested five people in a raid of three houses.
— INGLEWOOD COLLISION—Authorities say a woman was fatally injured in a collision between a tractor-trailer and a car on U.S. Highway 77 south of Fremont.
— CANDIDATE DUI ARREST—A candidate for sheriff in western Nebraska has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
— NEB ASSAULT DEATH—A 20-year-old Scottsbluff man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the August stabbing death of another man.
— LINCOLN INFANT DEATH—Police now say someone killed a 23-month-old Lincoln boy.
— CSI-BLOOD EVIDENCE—The attorney for an Omaha-based crime-scene investigator facing trial this month in an evidence-tampering case is seeking to drop his client.
— RAPE TRIAL—A 30-year-old Lincoln man has been found guilty of robbing a convenience store last March and raping the store’s clerk.
— TEEN BANK SUSPECT—A 15-year-old Grand Island boy faces adult charges of robbery.
The AP, Omaha.
