LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will accept applications for certain multispecies hunting permits starting Jan. 2.

The Super Tag lottery permit will be valid for one elk of either sex, one antelope of either sex, one deer of either sex and two turkeys. Only toms and bearded hens may be hunted in the spring. One permit will be authorized for residents only, and one will be authorized for residents and non-residents.

People may apply for the residents-only permit once per year for $25. People can apply for the resident/nonresident permit multiple times per year for $10 per application.

A combo permit will be valid for one antelope of either sex, one deer of either sex and two turkeys.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three states resumed executions of death row inmates in 2018 after long breaks, but nationwide, executions remained near historic lows this year, according to an annual report on the death penalty released Friday.The report by the District of Columbia-based Death Penalty Information Center says 25 executions were carried out in 2018, the fourth consecutive year in which there have been fewer than 30 executions nationwide.

Since the death penalty was re-instated in the United States in 1976, the number of executions peaked in 1999 with 98. They were at their lowest in 2016 with 20, according to center statistics. Americans’ support for the death penalty similarly peaked in the 1990s and has declined since, according to public opinion polls by Gallup. A 2018 Gallup poll showed 56 percent of Americans supported the death penalty for a person convicted or murder.

Executions in 2018 were clustered in eight states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. About half of all the executions in 2018 took place in Texas, which carried out 13 death sentences. Tennessee was second with three. Alabama, Florida and Georgia each had two while Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota each carried out one.

Florida’s execution Thursday of Jose Antonio Jimenez for fatally beating and stabbing a woman during a burglary was the most recent. According to a list maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center , there are no other executions scheduled this year.

Nebraska, Tennessee and South Dakota were the three states that resumed executions this year. Nebraska’s execution of Carey Dean Moore was the state’s first execution in more than 20 years. It was also the first time any state has used the drug fentanyl in an execution. This year marked the first time in nearly nine years that Tennessee carried out an execution. South Dakota ended a six-year stretch without executions when it executed Rodney Berget, who was convicted of killing a corrections officer during a prison escape attempt.

Tennessee’s executions came at the end of a systematic challenge to lethal injection there while executions in Nebraska and South Dakota involved inmates who gave up challenges to their execution, said Death Penalty Information Center executive director Robert Dunham. The center doesn’t take a side in the debate over the death penalty, Dunham said, but has criticized the way states carry out the death penalty, singling out problems with bias and secrecy, among others.

All the inmates executed in 2018 were men, and all but two of the executions were carried out by lethal injection, according to a center database .

Two Tennessee inmates, David Miller and Edmund Zagorski, chose to die by electric chair because of concerns about pain associated with the state’s lethal injection procedure. Both unsuccessfully argued to courts that Tennessee’s lethal injection procedure, which uses the drug midazolam, results in a prolonged and torturous death. Before this year, the last time a state used the electric chair to execute an inmate was 2013.

The report says that 41 new death sentences have been imposed so far this year, the fourth straight year with fewer than 50 new death sentences.

And while three states resumed executions this year, Washington became the 20th state to abolish the death penalty in October, when its Supreme Court said capital punishment in the state was “imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner.”

The report notes two death row inmates were freed in 2018: California inmate Vicente Benavides and Florida inmate Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin. Benavides, who was on death row for nearly 25 years after being convicted of raping and killing his girlfriend’s 21-month-old daughter, was freed after California’s highest court ruled that false medical testimony was presented at his trial. Aguirre-Jarquin, who spent 14 years behind bars for the murder of his two neighbors, was freed after evidence showed that the daughter of one of the victims confessed to the murders and her blood was at the scene.

Seventeen inmates currently have execution dates set for 2019 , according to center records.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — More than 2,000 farmers from across the U.S. and Canada shared concerns at a Nebraska convention about low crop prices in the wake of President Donald Trump’s trade dispute with China.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that farmers met in Omaha for an annual convention hosted by Farmers Business Network, an independent farmer-to-farmer network.

Brian Brown farms corn and soybeans with his son near Central City and attended the convention. He says farmers want more access to China’s market, which is largely closed after the dominant export market nearly stopped buying U.S. soybeans in response to Trump’s trade tariffs.

Brown says many people will go out of business if the economy doesn’t change.

A Nebraska Farm Bureau report says the trade dispute has already cost Nebraska farmers more than $1 billion.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Officials at Scotts Bluff National Monument have broken ground for a visitor center expansion and renovation project.

Public officials, monument employees and the public attended a groundbreaking ceremony ahead of construction, which is set to start next month.

Monument Superintendent Dan Morford says the project will cost an estimated $3.2 million and construction will take nine months to a year.

Monument officials also unveiled a new logo in celebration of its centennial in 2019. Centennial coordinator Kayla Gasker says she hopes the logo reminds people of the pioneer spirit.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — The Western Nebraska Regional Airport is growing in popularity as an alternative for airline passengers who don’t want to drive to Denver.

The airport saw more than 1,000 boardings in November and is on track for the same in December.

Airport officials recently met with officials from SkyWest Airlines to discuss the many requests they’ve received for additional flights. Increasing the number of flights requires the airport to consistently be at 80 percent of its capacity. Airport Director Raul Aguallo says the airport is currently at around 60 percent, and he’s confident it will hit 80 percent in the next two years.

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced today the conclusion of a two-year-long drug and gun operation, dubbed Operation Brass Catcher.  This investigation involved the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Omaha Police Department.  The arrests of these individuals were first announced in June 2017 when law enforcement officials conducted early morning operations in Northeast and Northwest Omaha, armed with arrest warrants for 22 individuals on federal and state charges for firearms and narcotics violations.  In addition to these arrest warrants, agents and officers served a number of search warrants.  Search warrants resulted in the seizure of several firearms, eleven pounds of marijuana, $10,000 in cash and a vehicle.

Operation Brass Catcher began as a seven-month long investigation centered on individuals involved in the trafficking and possession of firearms and narcotics. The vast majority of these individuals had gang affiliations and extensive criminal backgrounds. “This investigation involved federal agents and local law enforcement officers removing some very dangerous individuals from our streets,” said U.S. Attorney Kelly, “We are very pleased with the significant sentences that were handed down by both the federal and state courts.  It is impressive to see the resolution, coordination and cooperation among these investigative agencies, and the Douglas County Attorney’s Office, in this very successful investigation and subsequent prosecutions.”

George Lauder, ATF Special Agent in Charge, added, “This investigation has served as a wake-up call to those who would choose to bring gun violence into our neighborhoods.  In partnership with the Omaha Police Department, ATF will continue to identify and bring to justice, those who use firearms in furtherance of their criminal activities.”

Below are the names of the individuals convicted and their sentences.

FEDERAL Defendants

1. WILLIAMS, Kendall, Age 22,  3055 Redick Avenue, Omaha

18 USC 922(d)(1) transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person

12 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

2. HOLBERT, Khyre, Age 22,  Address 3331 N. 53^rd Street, Omaha

18 USC 841(a)(1)(b)(1) distribution crack cocaine; 18 USC 924(c) use or carry of a firearm during a drug transaction

                        240 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

3. BECK, Jr., Breck, , Age 21,  Address 6061 Camden Street, Omaha

18 USC 922(g)(1) felon in possession of a firearm

                        21 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

4. HOLMES, Jr., Curtis A., Age 27

18 USC 841(a)(1)(b)(1) distribution of a controlled substance crack cocaine

151 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

5. JACKSON, Sidney, Age 25,  Address 2215 Ellison Street, Omaha

18 USC 922(g)(1) felon in possession of a firearm; 18 USC 841(a)(1)(b)(1) distribution crack cocaine; 18 USC 922(k) knowingly possess or manufactures a firearm that lacks a serial number or contains an altered or obliterated serial number; 18 USC 924(c) use or carry of firearm during drug transaction.

60 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

6. GREEN, Trevon, Age 25,  Address 2215 Ellison Street, Omaha

18 USC 841(a)(1)(b)(1) distribution marijuana; 18 USC 924(c) use or carry of a firearm during a drug transaction

27 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

7. ROBINSON, Terrance, Age 20,  Address 5316 S. 86^th Parkway #6,  Omaha

18 USC 841(a)(1)(b)(1) distribution marijuana; 18 USC 924(c) use or carry of a firearm during a drug transaction

72 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

8. NOBLE, Jr., Lynell, Age 25,  Address 5904 Henninger, Omaha

18 USC 922(d)(1) transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person

18 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

9. HARRIS, Andrell, Age 24,  Address 3332 Blondo Street,  Omaha

18 USC 922(g)(1) Felon in Possession of a Firearm

                        46 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

10. CUNEGIN, Kortney, Age 31,  Address 6033 N. 167^th Court, Omaha

18 USC 922(g)(1) Felon in Possession of a Firearm

                        63 months Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

11. McCARTY, Cary, Age 27, address 7505 N. 11^th Street, Omaha

18 USC 922(g)(1) felon in possession of a firearm

                        33 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

12. WILLIAMS, Loren, Age 26,  Address 5337 N. 33^rd Avenue, Omaha

18 USC 922(d)(1) transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person

                        24 months’ Supervised Release (probation) – U.S. Probation Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

13. HART, James, Age 28, Address 5415 48^th Avenue, Omaha

18 USC 841(a)(1)(b)(1) distribution crack cocaine; 18 USC 924(c) use or carry of a firearm during a drug transaction

            36 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

14. BURRUS, James, Age 26,  Address 1303 S. 10^th Street, Omaha

18 USC 841(a)(1)(b)(1) distribution of methamphetamine

60 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

15. PERKINS, Drelin, Age 20, Address 6329 N. 24^th Street, Omaha

18 USC 922(d)(1)  transfer of firearm to prohibited person

24 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

16. MAYFIELD, Mylon, Age 20

18 USC 922(d)(1)  transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person; 18 USC 1512(a)(2)(a) witness tampering

18 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

17. DAMPEER, Kiwan, Age 21

18 USC 841(a)(1)(b)(1) Distribution of a controlled substance marijuana; 18 USC 924 (c) possession of a firearm during a drug transaction

60 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

18. COKES, Robert, Age 31, Address 1519 N. 31^st Street, Omaha

18 USC 1512(a)(2)(a) witness tampering

15    months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

19. BRYE, Larry, Age 26

18 USC 922(g)(3) drug user in possession of a firearm

24 months in Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

STATE Defendants

1. HICKS, Christopher, Age 23,  Address 4619 N. 80^th Avenue, Omaha

Convicted on 2 counts of delivery or distribution of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (felon)

Sentenced to 20-24 years on each count – consecutive for a total of 40-48 years in Nebraska Department of Corrections

2. PERRY, Detrelle, Age 22, Address 5316 S. 86^th Parkway #6, Omaha

Felony flight to avoid arrest and Possession of a firearm by a prohibited person

3 years to 40 months in Nebraska Department of Corrections

 

3. GREEN, Devante,  Age 24,  Address 4483 Ellison Avenue, Omaha

Possession of a stolen firearm

            24 months’ probation

 

4. COOK, Nathaniel, Age 23, Address 3325 N. 41^st Street, Omaha

Possession of a firearm by a prohibited person

20 years in Nebraska Department of Corrections

 

5. BENNETT, Norman, Age 32, Address 11514 Camden Avenue, Omaha

Possession of a firearm by a prohibited person

13 years in Nebraska Department of Corrections

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State officials say Nebraska collected less net revenue than expected in November.

The Department of Revenue reported Friday that the state last month netted $390 million, which is 2.3 percent below the certified forecast of $400 million.

The department says collections were lower for all four major tax categories: individual and corporate income, sales-and-use and miscellaneous.

Tax receipts are still above projections for the current fiscal year, which began on July 1. The state has collected $1.85 billion so far since then, nearly 2 percent above the forecast of $1.816 billion.

The tax collections help determine how much money lawmakers and the governor have at their disposal.