LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Drivers are being warned to watch out for deer in the next few weeks because breeding season is in full swing and crops are being harvested in the region.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says drivers should watch for deer, especially around dawn and dusk. During breeding season, bucks are actively searching for mates, so they may be more likely to cross a road. And farming activity may drive them out of an area.

Drivers should wear their seat belts and anticipate having to stop suddenly if they encounter a deer.Honking and flashing headlights may help frighten deer.

If drivers see a deer, they should assume others are nearby.

Drivers who hit a deer can take the carcass if they contact Game and Parks officials within 24 hours.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Farmers in southwest Nebraska are eligible to get financial help to plant cover crops.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says farmers in Frontier, Furnas, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock and Red Willow counties can receive $61.20 per acre to help.

Eric Zach with the commission says planting cover crops can help suppress weeds and improve soil health.

Farmers interested in the program must apply by Nov. 16. More information is available at Natural Resources Conservation Service offices and online at www.ne.nrcs.usda.gov .

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A normally low-profile race for a Nebraska state commission is getting special attention from opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline, who see the contest as a chance to derail the project with a candidate who firmly opposes it.

It’s unclear whether the Nebraska Public Service Commission will review the pipeline route again, but if the state Supreme Court throws out the commission’s decision last year to approve the route, project developer TransCanada would most likely have to reapply for state approval.

That possibility prompted Keystone XL opponents to try to replace retiring Republican incumbent Frank Landis with someone more skeptical about the route. Landis was one of the “yes” votes in the commission’s 3-2 decision last year to approve a route for the project.

“This is definitely a race we’re focused on for the 2018 cycle, for obvious reasons,” said Jane Kleeb, president of Bold Alliance, a pipeline opposition group. “We believe the Public Service Commission will be faced with Keystone again if we’re successful in the Supreme Court.”

The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Thursday in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the commission’s decision. A ruling isn’t expected until mid-2019.

The $8 billion, 1,184-mile pipeline would carry crude oil from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would connect with the existing Keystone pipeline that runs to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Project critics have raised concerns about spills that could contaminate groundwater and the property rights of affected landowners.

Two candidates are seeking the commission seat: state Sen. Dan Watermeier, a Republican from Syracuse who supports the pipeline, and Christa Yoakum, a Democrat from Lincoln who said she’d likely reject the pipeline if it comes before the commission again.

Bold Alliance recently launched television and radio ads urging voters to support Yoakum, and on Sunday, the group plans to host a get-out-the-vote rally in Lincoln with local and national activists. Kleeb said supporters expect to knock on 20,000 doors before the Nov. 6 election.

The winner will represent District 1, an eight-county region in southeast Nebraska that favors Republicans but also includes Lincoln, home to many pipeline opponents.

Watermeier expressed support for the pipeline as a state senator and accepted a $1,000 donation from TransCanada in December 2017, one month before he announced his bid for the commission. If elected, Watermeier said he would review all of the evidence in greater detail and give project supporters and opponents a fair hearing.

“If we’re forced to look at it again, I’ll look at it without having my mind made up,” Watermeier said. “It’s unfair to the public to have your mind made up before you go into something like this.”

Watermeier said TransCanada’s contribution wouldn’t sway his decision.

“I’ve taken donations from all sorts of groups, and I’m very up front with them that I’m not going to be an automatic yes vote,” he said.

Watermeier said he’s running for the $75,000-a-year job primarily to promote economic development by expanding broadband service in rural Nebraska and working to improve the state’s 911 services with new technology.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission regulates taxis, railroads, pipelines and other “common carriers” that transport goods and people. Although they run as partisan candidates, commissioners are akin to judges who review evidence and justify their decisions with legal rulings that can be challenged in court.

Yoakum is skeptical of Watermeier’s claims of impartiality given the TransCanada donation and his previous statements supporting the project.

She pledged not to take money from industries the commission regulates, even though she has accepted contributions from pipeline opponents. Yoakum said she would listen to officials from industries the commission regulates, but was more interested in representing the public’s interests.

“I think there’s evidence out there to show that there’s nothing for Nebraskans to gain with this pipeline,” she said. “Unless it can be proved to me that there is something, I would reject it.”

Yoakum said she has opposed the pipeline ever since she learned that TransCanada had donated to then-Gov. Dave Heineman and then-Attorney General Jon Bruning in 2010. Both campaigns returned the contributions after opponents noted that federal law prohibits donations from foreign contributions. The money at the time came from TransCanada’s main operation in Canada, instead of one of its U.S. subsidiaries.

“I just felt that something fishy was going on,” she said.

Yoakum said she has concerns about the project’s potential environmental impact and questions whether it would provide more than a negligible economic benefit to Nebraska.

Watemeier has outraised and outspent Yoakum so far, having poured more than $130,000 into his campaign, according to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. Much of his money has come from Nebraska Republicans, including former Gov. Dave Heineman and $3,700 from wealthy Falls City businessman Charles Herbster. He also has scored endorsements from some Democratic state senators who support the pipeline.

Yoakum has spent more than $51,000 so far and still has about $30,000 on hand. More than $19,000 of her funding has come from the Bold Alliance, and she received $5,000 from California billionaire and liberal activist Tom Steyer.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Open enrollment begins Thursday on the Health Insurance Marketplace.

The nonprofit organization Nebraska Appleseed says more than 88,000 Nebraskans found their insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace during the 2017-18 open enrollment period, with 90 percent receiving tax credits to make their plans more affordable.

HealthCare.Gov open enrollment runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15.

The statewide assisters and Enroll Nebraska are again available for free, in-person consultations to help find health coverage.

People also can compare and purchase insurance plans online at Healthcare.Gov or by calling the Health Insurance Marketplace toll-free at 1-800-318-2596.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police say three people have been arrested in connection with the death of a Lincoln man killed earlier this month.

Police say in a news release that 27-year-old James Richard Howard, of Lincoln, was arrested in Leon County, Texas, on Friday. He’s charged in a Nebraska warrant with being an accessory to a felony in the death of 42-year-old Stacy Talbot.

Police say 32-year-old Jesse James Wilson and 34-year-old Sherry Lynn Thomas, both of Lincoln, were arrested Saturday in Clovis, New Mexico. Wilson is charged with theft, and Thomas is charged with attempt of a felony in an unrelated case.

Police didn’t detail what roles those arrested are suspected of having in Talbot’s death.

Talbot was found Oct. 18 in a Lincoln street with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at a Lincoln hospital.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Administrators say the University of Nebraska at Kearney is launching a digital repository to preserve scholarly and creative work.

A university news release says the repository will store content from faculty, researchers, students and staff, as well as select items from the university archives.

The repository will be administered by the university’s Calvin T. Ryan Library and will be accessed online. It will let the Nebraska university’s researchers share data and findings with scholars across the globe. A video feature can be used to document musical and theatrical performances or classroom presentations.

The repository will be part of the worldwide Digital Commons Network.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Opponents of a ballot measure to expand Medicaid in Nebraska have launched a new radio ad urging voters to reject it.

The 30-second spot unveiled on Friday argues that the proposal would cost too much and allow more patients into an already crowded Medicaid system. The ad was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity-Nebraska, a Libertarian-leaning advocacy group funded by the billionaire Koch brothers.

Jessica Shelburn, the group’s state director, says allowing more people into Medicaid could stress the system that was designed for society’s most vulnerable populations.

Supporters of the measure say it would provide coverage to low-income people working jobs in construction, restaurants and other low-wage industries. The measure would extend coverage to an estimated 90,000 uninsured people.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers may have to fill a projected $232.6 million budget shortfall when they craft a new two-year state budget next year, based on new estimates approved Friday.

The Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board predicted that the state will collect $4.89 billion in tax revenue in the upcoming fiscal year and $5 billion the year after that, for a total of $9.89 billion.

Those estimates fall short of the projected spending during the two-year budget cycle, and even though tax revenues are growing, the increases are less than what the state has historically collected. The board also predicted the state will collect an additional $69 million in the current fiscal year that ends on June 30, but state law requires that money to go directly to Nebraska’s cash reserve.

Forecasting board members said the national economy appears to be slowing after years of strong growth, and in Nebraska, businesses are struggling to fill jobs because of a skilled worker shortage.

“I think the economy has probably peaked,” said Tonn Ostergard of Lincoln. “We’re seeing some continued decline, but (the economy) is still historically strong. It’s inevitable that we’ll have an economic downturn.”

For lawmakers, the predictions suggest another tight budget year that will prevent any large new spending bills from passing. Adding to the concern is a sluggish farm economy and tariffs that are slated to go into effect as a result of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.

Another unknown is the upcoming ballot measure to expand Medicaid under the federal health care law, which would bring an influx of federal money into Nebraska but also increase costs for state government if voters approve it.

“There are a whole lot of challenges out there that this economy has got to work through,” said state Sen. John Stinner, who chairs the budget-writing Appropriations Committee.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said the $69 million increase this fiscal year shows that the economy is still growing, but he warned that Medicaid expansion would create new budget challenges. Ricketts, a Republican, opposes the expansion measure.

“Medicaid expansion for able-bodied adults would make property tax relief nearly impossible,” he said.

Stinner said he will push lawmakers to rebuild the state’s cash reserve as much as they can and give priority to K-12 school funding. Lawmakers have relied on the state’s cash reserve to balance budget shortfall over the last several years.

The estimates are likely to change before the new session begins on Jan. 9, but the current forecast suggests that lawmakers will begin the year “with not a lot of money,” said Legislative Fiscal Analyst Tom Bergquist.

One tax-policy think tank argued that the lower-than-expected revenues are a result of previous state tax cuts.

“This highlights the importance of bolstering the cash reserve and examining our revenue system to make sure we can sustain investments in education, health care and other services essential to a strong economy,” said Renee Fry, executive director of the OpenSky Policy Institute.