Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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LINCOL (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has unveiled two proposed tax reform measures that would eliminate or reduce state income taxes. The larger plan unveiled Friday would eliminate the state’s income tax on corporations and individuals, while getting rid of $2.4 billion in sales tax breaks that Nebraska currently allows. The second bill would eliminate corporate income taxes and provide an exemption for retirement income. Married couples would receive an exemption for the first $12,000 they earn, while single filers would see a $6,...
NFL draft consultant Gil Brandt believes the uncertainty surrounding Manti Te’o could affect when he is selected in April by a team. Brandt called the story that Notre Dame’s All-American linebacker was involved in a hoax “something I have never witnessed” in his half-century in pro football. “I think some teams will say it isn’t worth the problem” to draft Te’o, said Brandt, who has the linebacker rated 19th overall in the first round. The former Dallas Cowboys general manager added Thursday...
LINCOLN (AP) — The young guys started Purdue on its way to victory over Nebraska. The old guys finished the job. Senior D.J. Byrd and junior Terone Johnson combined for 17 straight Purdue points during a crucial stretch of the second half that allowed the Boilermakers to withstand the Cornhuskers’ comeback bid and post a 65-56 win Wednesday night. The Huskers cut the Boilers’ 20-point lead to five over a 10-minute stretch. But each time Nebraska looked ready to break through for its first Big Ten Conference win, Byrd or Johnson made big shots t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lithium batteries that can leak corrosive fluid and start fires have emerged as the chief safety concern involving Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, a problem that apparently is far more serious than government or company officials acknowledged less than a week ago. The Federal Aviation Administration late Wednesday grounded Boeing’s newest and most technologically advanced jetliner until the risk of battery fires is resolved. The order applies only to the six Dreamliners operated by United Airlines, the lone U.S. carrier with 787s....
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders started work on homes in December at the fastest pace in 4 1⁄2 years and finished 2012 as their best year for residential construction since the early stages of the housing crisis. The Commerce Department said Thursday that builders broke ground on houses and apartments last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000. That’s 12.1 percent higher than November’s annual rate. And it is nearly double the recession low reached in April 2009. Construction increased last month for both single-family homes a...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights sought on Thursday to reassure American would-be adoptive parents that they will be allowed to take their children back to the United States. But some Americans with court rulings in their favor say they’re still in legal limbo. A Russian law banning adoptions by U.S. citizens was rushed through parliament in December, and sped to President Vladimir Putin’s desk in less than 10 days in retaliation over a U.S. law calling for sanctions on Russians identified as human-rights violators. Tens o...
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pennsylvania detective is trying to figure out how an apparent prankster was able to fill out a 2008 voter registration card signed “Barack H. Obama.” By the time Butler County elections officials processed the card, it went into the state’s computerized database with the last name “Obana” — that is, with an ‘n’ in place of the ‘m.’ But a detective tells The Associated Press that whoever did it was clearly trying to register using President Barack Obama’s name. The card was discovered last week when a jury commissioner in...
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Pauline Friedman Phillips, who under the name of Abigail Van Buren, wrote the long-running “Dear Abby” advice column that was followed by millions of newspaper readers throughout the world, has died. She was 94. Publicist Gene Willis of Universal Uclick said Phillips died Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Phillips’ column competed for decades with the advice column of Ann Landers, written by her twin sister, Esther Friedman Lederer. Their relationship was stormy in their early adult years, but later they...
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — From Oregon to Mississippi, President Barack Obama’s proposed ban on new assault weapons and large-capacity magazines struck a nerve among rural lawmen and lawmakers, many of whom vowed to ignore any restrictions — and even try to stop federal officials from enforcing gun policy in their jurisdictions. “A lot of sheriffs are now standing up and saying, ‘Follow the Constitution,’” said Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson, whose territory covers the timbered mountains of southwestern Oregon. But their actual powers to...
OMAHA (AP) — The Federal Reserve says U.S. farm income could decline in 2013, but it depends upon whether the drought continues. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo., said Thursday that if drought conditions persist, prices of corn and other crops would remain volatile because of tight supply. But if normal weather conditions return, crop prices would decline and lead to lower farm incomes. The USDA predicted farm income in 2012 would reach $114 billion, which would be the third-highest total on record. Crop insurance and high crop p...
LINCOLN (AP) — A new state program is showing early success in helping Nebraska juvenile offenders complete their probation by allowing them to serve it in their communities instead of in custody, the state Supreme Court’s chief justice said Thursday. Chief Justice Michael Heavican said about 80 percent of the 600 juveniles who have enrolled since the program began in July 1 have completed their probation successfully. That’s higher than the state average, he said. The program offers community-based treatment and keeps juveniles out of deten...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Eagles have hired Chip Kelly after he originally chose to stay at Oregon. The 49-year-old Kelly becomes the 21st coach in team history and replaces Andy Reid, who was fired on Dec. 31 after a 4-12 season. Kelly, who was 46-7 in four years at Oregon, interviewed with the Eagles, Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills after leading the fast-flying Ducks to a victory over Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl. But he opted to remain at Oregon before changing his mind. The Eagles are known to have interviewed 11 c...
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A new government survey suggests the number of people seeking emergency treatment after consuming energy drinks has doubled nationwide during the past four years, the same period in which the supercharged drink industry has surged in popularity in convenience stores, bars and on college campuses. From 2007 to 2011, the government estimates the number of emergency room visits involving the neon-labeled beverages shot up from about 10,000 to more than 20,000. Most of those cases involved teens or young adults, according to a...
NEW YORK (AP) — Conrad Bain, a veteran stage and film actor who became a star in middle age as the kindly white adoptive father of two young African-American brothers in the TV sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” has died. Bain died Monday of natural causes in his hometown of Livermore, Calif., according to his daughter, Jennifer Bain. He was 89. The show that made him famous debuted on NBC in 1978, an era when television comedies tackled relevant social issues. “Diff’rent Strokes” touched on serious themes but was known better as a family comedy...
SIDNEY (AP) — Cabela’s Inc. is planning to open two new stores to sell outdoor gear and sporting goods in South Carolina and Minnesota in 2014. The Sidney, Neb., company said Tuesday that the Greenville, S.C., store will be its first in that state. The Woodbury, Minn., store will be fourth Minnesota store. The Greenville store will have 100,000 square feet when it opens in spring 2014 near the intersection of Interstates 385 and 85. The Woodbury store will have 85,000 square feet and open in the fall of 2014 in the Tamarack Village sho...
WASHINGTON – Braced for a fight, President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled the most sweeping proposals for curbing gun violence in two decades, pressing a reluctant Congress to pass universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting. A month after that horrific massacre, Obama also used his presidential powers to enact 23 measures that don’t require the backing of law...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Lance Armstrong has finally come clean. Armstrong confessed to doping during an interview with Oprah Winfrey taped Monday, just a couple of hours after a wrenching apology to staff at the Livestrong charity he founded and has now been forced to surrender. The day ended with 2 1/2 hours of questions from Winfrey at a downtown Austin hotel, where she said the world’s most famous cyclist was “forthcoming” as she asked him in detail about doping allegations that followe...
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) – John Elway has been down this lonely road before. The quarterback-turned-front office executive has now been a part of two playoff runs that ended not in the confetti-filled celebration expected of the AFC’s No. 1 seed but with a painful introspection about what all went wrong in a stunningly early exit from the postseason party. Elway experienced it as a player in 1996, when the Denver Broncos were upset at home by the Jacksonville Jaguars, 30-27, then bounced back to...
WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential Senate Democrat says he will back President Barack Obama’s choice of Chuck Hagel for the top job at the Pentagon. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement Tuesday that he met with Hagel for 90 minutes on Monday and the Republican reassured him on issues ranging from Israel to gay rights. Schumer said he found Hagel’s responses to be genuine and not stated to quiet his critics. The Democrat urged his Senate colleagues who also had concerns about Hagel’s nomination to support him. The meeting occurre...
Eugene Patterson ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Eugene Patterson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor and columnist whose impassioned words helped draw national attention to the civil rights movement as it unfolded across the South, has died at 89. Patterson, who helped fellow whites to understand the problems of racial discrimination, died Saturday evening in Florida after complications from prostate cancer, according to B.J. Phillips, a family spokeswoman. Patterson was editor of the Atlanta C...
LINCOLN – Gov. Dave Heineman called Tuesday for ridding Nebraska of its individual and corporate income taxes and making up the difference by ending as much as $2.4 billion in sales tax breaks for businesses, and all goods and services – except for food – are on the table. The Republican governor unveiled his tax overhaul plan and budget proposal in his annual State of the State address to lawmakers. “Are we going to be satisfied with a mediocre tax system that won’t create the jobs of the future for our sons and daughters?” Heineman as...
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Flu season is hitting its stride and it may be shaping up to be a bad one in Tennessee. Based on data from the Tennessee Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are characterizing the flu as “widespread” in the state and list it among 24 states with high levels of influenza-like illnesses. Dr. Kelly Moore, the medical director of the Tennessee Immunization Program, said that it is still too early to draw final conclusions, but right now, this season seems similar to the last really bad one i...
LINCOLN (AP) — Every two weeks, the Park Middle School multipurpose room becomes a courtroom complete with judicial bench and judge, attorneys and defendants — and their parents. Alissa Harrison, an eighth-grader who loves photography but until recently did not love school, showed up like clockwork twice a month last semester — a defendant working to change her ways. She thinks she has, with the help of the mock courtroom and all those who took the time to make it happen: the judge and the a...
RED CLOUD, Neb. (AP) — Red Cloud Postmaster Brad Young has come to treasure the three murals displayed in the post office there. “It’s something so unique,” he said. “I’ve been here going on 25 years. After a while the biggest thing is that I would never want anything to happen to them. Maybe that’s the lucky thing about being in a small town; we really don’t have any problems.” Red Cloud is one of four area towns included in a Depression-era government program that placed murals in post offices. A new book from the Nebraska State Historical So...
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — Platte County residents, like Nebraskans across the state, are spending more money for a chance to match their lucky keno numbers or peel open a top-prize pickle card. The Nebraska Department of Revenue’s annual charitable gaming report shows players spent $247.3 million on keno, pickle cards, bingo and raffles during the fiscal year ended June 30. Total wagers on the games, which must financially benefit nonprofit entities, increased 2.85 percent from the 2010-11 amount of $240.46 million, according to the report rel...
