OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The University of Nebraska president is
proposing a 5 percent tuition hike for most students next year.
James Milliken says the increase comes to about $120 to $150
more per semester for a resident undergraduate student with 15
credit hours. The 5 percent increase would apply to both resident
and nonresident rates.
Milliken says that despite the increase, the University of
Nebraska is still a good deal compared to its peers. He says that
in 2010-11, tuition and fees in Lincoln were 26 percent less than
its peers, Omaha’s were 12.5 percent lower and Kearney’s were 19
percent lower.
Milliken announced the proposed increase on Thursday, along with
a $2.2 billion budget for 2011-12. The regents will vote June 17.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska farmers affected by flooding are
urged to contact their local Farm Service Agency office to report
losses.
Nebraska agriculture director Greg Ibach says reports can
include failure to plant acres or loss of livestock pasture due to
flooding.
He says the FSA will use the information to pursue agricultural
disaster declarations and for assistance programs.
Dan Steinkruger, executive director of the State FSA Office in
Nebraska, says farmers have until July 15 to report planting
problems. Failure to do so could make them ineligible for
assistance.
Both the Missouri and the Platte rivers in Nebraska are expected
to reach record levels later in June and remain high into fall.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning is
heading back to Nebraska after flying to Atlanta for the latest
round in the legal fight over President Barack Obama’s health care
overhaul.
Bruning was in a federal courtroom in Atlanta on Wednesday as a
three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral
arguments on whether to reverse a Florida judge’s ruling that
struck down the law.
Bruning and the attorneys general of some 26 other states
opposing the law argue that Congress didn’t have the power to
require virtually all Americans to pay for health insurance. The
Justice Department says the legislative branch exercised its
“quintessential” right.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Some Nebraska National Guard members are
getting ready for an agriculture mission to Afghanistan.
The Lincoln Journal Star says 57 members of the Nebraska Air and
Army National Guard and one Army Reservist and veterinarian from
Oklahoma are leaving for training this week and ultimately for the
Paktya Province near the Pakistan border.
The unit will focus on Afghan farmers and better wheat yields
and grassland plantings that can sustain sheep and goat herds.
Improved irrigation techniques are also a goal.
A send-off was held on Tuesday in Lincoln.
The Nebraska soldiers will replace a similar unit from Oklahoma.
An Iowa National Guard ag team also was deployed to Afghanistan
last summer.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Supreme Court has denied the
state’s request to reconsider a stay of execution for Carey Dean
Moore.
Last month, the state’s high court issued an order staying what
was to be Nebraska’s first execution using lethal injection, giving
attorneys for Moore a chance to challenge one of the execution
drugs on appeal.
The Nebraska Attorney General’s office submitted a motion asking
the state Supreme Court to reconsider the stay. On Wedneday, the
high court denied that request without comment.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Democratic Party is filing a new
complaint with the Federal Election Commission against GOP Senate
front-runner and state Attorney General Jon Bruning, alleging he
failed to account for expenditures on his campaign finance reports.
The party had filed complaints with the FEC and the IRS in
December, weeks after Bruning announce he was launching an
exploratory committee for a Senate race to challenge Democratic
incumbent Sen. Ben Nelson. Those complaints said Bruning failed to
register a previous Senate exploratory committee with the FEC,
among other things.
On Wednesday, the party amended its complaint to the FEC, saying
Bruning failed to account for nearly $67,000 in his first-quarter
campaign finance report.
Bruning campaign manager Trent Fellers dismissed the complaints
as Nelson “using the Nebraska Democratic Party to play dirty.”