OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Former 1992 Democratic presidential candidate Bob Kerrey says he will not make a decision this week on whether to run for the U.S. Senate seat he once held.
The former one-term Nebraska governor and two-term U.S. senator is mulling a run to replace U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, who announced last month that he would not seek a third term. Both Democrats and Republicans have acknowledged that Kerrey is the Democrats’ best hope for retaining the seat.
Kerrey had said earlier this month during a nearly week-long trip to Nebraska that he would make a decision shortly after returning to New York, where he’s lived and worked for the past decade. But more than a week later, he’s still weighing his options.
Kerrey says he expects to decide sometime next week.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) – Fireplace ashes have been blamed for a fatal house fire in Scottsbluff.
Deputy State Fire Marshal Mike Turner says the ashes were improperly disposed on the house’s back porch Thursday. The fire was reported a little after 8:20 p.m.
Authorities say 92-year-old Salome Blanco Sr. died of smoke inhalation. His wife, Ramona, escaped.
Gering fire crews were called in to help extinguish the blaze.
Turner says a neighboring residence was damaged as well.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) – Trial has been delayed in a lawsuit over Fremont’s ordinance that bans hiring or renting to illegal immigrants.
A combined lawsuit led by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund is challenging the voter-approved ban as discriminatory.
The case had been scheduled to be heard in federal court on April 10. A U.S. magistrate on Monday granted a joint motion moving the trial to May 15. A pretrial conference is set for April 30.
Both sides have filed summary judgment motions, which would result in a judge ruling in the case before it goes to trial.

ODESSA, Neb. (AP) – Buffalo County authorities have released the name of a 19-year-old man who was killed when the pickup he was driving was rammed by a train at an Odessa crossing.
The accident occurred about 8:40 p.m. Wednesday when the Kansas-bound coal train struck the pickup.
Buffalo County Attorney Shawn Eatherton on Thursday identified the victim as Jimmy Ray Barnett. Barnett’s hometown has not been verified.
Eatherton says an autopsy has been ordered.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says no one on the train was injured and there was no derailment of the three locomotives and 123 cars full of coal.
Davis says the crossing had white X markings and stop signs but no gates or flashing lights.