LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Gov. Dave Heineman says he’s concerned the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route through Nebraska is a “done deal,” but pointed to the Obama administration as the final decision-maker. Heineman said Wednesday that the Obama administration could effectively force pipeline operator TransCanada to reroute the line if it denied the permit. Heineman said the company would likely rather move the pipe than lose the project altogether. Farmers, ranchers and other Nebraskans who oppose the project are urging the U.S. State Department to deny the permit during hearings this week. The Republican governor has said he opposes the proposed pipeline route through the Ogallala aquifer, a massive underground U.S. water supply, but would support the project if it was moved somewhere else.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – A North Platte man who shot someone else during an argument over firewood is headed to prison for violating the terms of his probation. 39-year-old James Wilson was sentenced recently to three years in prison for the probation violation. In February, Wilson was sentenced to probation for shooting a man twice in 2009 with a .22-caliber pistol during an argument over firewood. Then in March Wilson was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance. And in June he was charged with assaulting another inmate at the jail. Wilson made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to the DUI and controlled substance charges. In exchange, the assault charge was dropped.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – State regulators in North Dakota say they support a controversial pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. TransCanada Corp.’s proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline has drawn opposition from people who fear it will harm the environment. The U.S. State Department is considering whether to approve the project. Hearings are being held this week in the six states the pipeline route would cross. North Dakota is not one of them, but Montana is. North Dakota’s Industrial Commission says the pipeline could carry Williston Basin oil to downstream markets. The group also says in its letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that it’s important the pipeline “be constructed and operated in a manner that will protect the citizens of the United States.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Business Forecast Council expects the state will have record farm income this year and continued employment growth.  In a report released Wednesday, the council says it expects job growth will slow this fall and early next year, but it should accelerate in the second half of 2012 and in 2013.  The 2011 farm income is forecast to reach a record $5.4 billion. That’s 35 percent higher than last year. Eric Thompson directs the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bureau of Business Research, which publishes the report. He says that “as long as the nation stays out of a recession, the state should be all right.”

WASHINGTON (AP) – Health officials say as many as 16 people have died from possible listeria illnesses traced to Colorado cantaloupes, the deadliest food outbreak in more than a decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that 72 illnesses and 13 deaths are linked to the tainted fruit. State and local officials say they are investigating three additional deaths that may be connected. The death toll released by the CDC Tuesday – including newly confirmed deaths in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas – surpassed the number of deaths linked to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts almost three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak. Last week the CDC reported deaths in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Maryland.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Critics of a proposed Canadian oil pipeline worry it could foul a source of drinking water for about 2 million people. But pipeline supporters accuse environmental groups of fear-mongering. Many of the speakers who signed up at Tuesday’s hearing in Lincoln fell into one of two camps: Business and union representatives who say the Keystone XL project will create thousands of jobs and environmentalists, landowners and others concerned it will leak. Pipeline opponent Dan Rudnick of Lincoln said he’d like to see a new route around the Ogallala Aquifer. John Blasingame believes the pipeline will reduce the nation’s dependence on oil from the Middle East. As he put it, “None of these people who are against the pipeline are willing to give up their automobile.” The State Department must approve the pipeline and is expected to decide by the end of the year.