LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Groups that want to legalize casinos at Nebraska horse racing tracks are teaming up for another effort.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that the Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and Ho-Chunk Inc. announced Wednesday that they would seek to place the issue on the 2020 ballot. The effort would involve gathering tens of thousands of signatures beginning next year.

If the effort succeeds and voters approve it, casino gambling would be allowed at racetracks in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Columbus, South Sioux City and possibly Hastings.

A similar attempt to place the question on the November 2016 ballot ended with a shortage of signatures and a lawsuit against the company circulating petitions.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. State Department to conduct a more thorough review of the Keystone XL oil pipeline’s proposed pathway after Nebraska state regulators changed the route, raising the possibility of further delays to a project first proposed in 2008.

U.S. District Judge Brian Morris of Montana said in a ruling Wednesday that the State Department must supplement its 2014 environmental impact study of the project to consider the new route. Morris declined to strike down the federal permit for the project, approved by President Donald Trump in March 2017.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission rejected pipeline developer TransCanada’s preferred route in November 2017, but approved a different pathway that stretches farther to the east. The “mainline alternative” route is five miles longer than the company’s preferred route, cuts through six different Nebraska counties and runs parallel to an existing TransCanada-owned pipeline for 89 miles.

State Department officials “have yet to analyze the mainline alternative route,” Morris wrote in his ruling. The State Department has “the obligation to analyze new information relevant to the environmental impacts of its decision.”

Last month, the State Department declared the pipeline would not have a major impact on Nebraska’s water, land or wildlife. The report said the company could mitigate any damage caused.

It’s not clear whether the additional review will delay the 1,184-mile project. TransCanada spokesman Matthew John said company officials are reviewing the judge’s decision, and noted that the project has already faced numerous federal reviews. He said company officials are still working with local, state and federal stakeholders.

“We do not anticipate that the ruling will impact the current construction preparation activities we are currently undertaking,” John said in an email.

Environmentalists, Native American tribes and a coalition of landowners have prevented the company from moving ahead with construction. In addition to the federal lawsuit in Montana that seeks to halt the project, opponents also have a lawsuit pending before the Nebraska Supreme Court. Oral arguments in the Nebraska case aren’t expected until October.

Critics of the project have raised concerns about spills that could contaminate groundwater and the property rights of affected landowners.

Pipeline opponents cheered the decision and said they were confident that the courts would find other violations of federal law raised in the lawsuit.

“We are pleased that Judge Morris has rejected all of the excuses raised by the Trump administration and TransCanada in attempting to justify the federal government’s failure to address TransCanada’s new route through Nebraska,” said Stephan Volker, an attorney for the environmental and Native American groups that filed the Montana lawsuit.

A State Department spokesman said the agency was still reviewing the judge’s order but declined to offer additional comments.

The pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would connect with the original Keystone pipeline that runs down to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.

The State Department’s new report noted two major spills in South Dakota involving the original Keystone pipeline, which went into operation in 2010, but added that TransCanada has a lower overall spill rate than average in the oil pipeline industry.

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Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The economy is expected to continue growing slowly in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states, but the ongoing trade disputes remain a concern.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says grain prices have fallen even lower since the trade disputes erupted.

The overall economic index for the region increased slightly to 54.8 in August from July’s 53.8.

That score still suggests growth because it is above 50, while any score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

The bankers remain concerned about the economy. The confidence index remained in negative territory but climbed to 46.5 in August from July’s 42.7.

According to North Platte Police, an officer responded to the 1100 block of South Tabor Avenue on July 7 after receiving a report of a sexual assault.

The officer met with a minor victim and their family.

It was determined that Miguel Sifuentes had made sexual contact with the minor over their clothing.

On August 10, after further investigation, investigators determined that there was probable cause to arrest Sifuentes and charge him with third-degree sexual assault of a child.

He was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.