LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s longest-serving senator is once again trying to outlaw mountain lion hunting, describing the animals as majestic and no threat to humans.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha argued in a committee hearing Thursday that lawmakers never should have approved a hunting season in 2012, when Chambers was out of office.

Mountain lions are native to Nebraska, but vanished in the late 1800s after settlers started poisoning and hunting them. Nebraska has four areas where mountain lion hunting is permitted. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission determines which areas can sustain hunting each session.

State officials have estimated that Nebraska has somewhere between 15 and 22 mountain lions.

Opponents of the bill say the hunting season allows officials to regulate the population.

A North Platte woman is facing felony drug possession charges after police discovered meth in her home as they searched for a man with felony warrants.

On February 22, at around 1:46 p.m., North Platte police officers responded to a residence in the 300 block of East Ninth Street in an attempt to located Juan Nila, who had multiple warrants for his arrest.

According to Investigator John Deal, an officer knocked on the front door of the residence and made contact with 22-year-old Karissa Arensdorf.

Deal says during the contact with Arensdorf, and officer in the rear of the residence observed Nila push out a window screen and attempt to escape. The officer was able to apprehend Nila and place him in custody.

Officers then reported that Arensdorf asked them to take possession of a backpack that belonged to Nila.  As the officers spoke to Arensdorf, they noticed several plastic baggies in plain view inside the residence.  Deal said the baggies contained a white residue that was believed to be methamphetamine. The substance was field tested and returned a positive result for meth.

Arensdorf was placed under arrest and charged with felony possession of methamphetamine.  She was also charged with being an accessory to a felony, a misdemeanor, because Deal says she had been told before that Nila was wanted and she would be arrested if she harbored him. He says it was clear that Nila had been staying with Karissa.

Both Nila and Arensdorf were transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and jailed.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have given initial approval to a bill that would require candidates for elected or appointed office to pay campaign violation fines.

The Legislature advanced the bill on a 40-0 vote Thursday. It would apply only to campaign violation fines, not late fees or other fines.

The sponsor, Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, says public officials should be held to a higher ethical standard because their salaries are paid by taxpayers.

The bill could prevent cases like the 2013 legislative appointment of a Bellevue businessman who owed more than $16,000 in unpaid state fines for orchestrating a smear campaign against his opponent when he ran for the seat a decade before. Patrick Shannon withdrew from the appointment a few hours after it was announced.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Federal safety regulators have cited and proposed fines and penalties for two companies connected to a worker who fell at a Scottsbluff construction site.

The worker was injured in August after falling through a floor opening at the Western Sugar Cooperative plant expansion project.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says Western Sugar and the worker’s employer, DSI Mechanical, should have covered the opening to prevent falls.

OSHA says DSI is contesting the proposed penalty of more than $8,100. The company’s lawyer didn’t immediately return a call Thursday from The Associated Press. OSHA says Western Sugar has negotiated its penalty down to $6,000 from nearly $9,100.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lawmakers are questioning a proposal that would raise Nebraska’s state sales tax and steer the extra revenue into tax credits for low-income residents and property owners.

The bill drew support from farmers on Wednesday during a Revenue Committee hearing but criticism from conservative groups and some senators who say it won’t address the underlying problem.

Sen. Tom Briese of Albion says he introduced the measure in response to continued pressure from farm and ranch land owners whose property values have soared while commodity prices have slumped.

The bill would increase Nebraska’s sales tax rate from 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent. The revenue would be used to increase the state’s earned income tax credit for low-income residents. It also would provide a tax credit for all property owners.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has announced that its Phi Kappa Psi fraternity will be suspended until December 2018, when it can request a new charter.

UNL first announced the fraternity had been suspended in December, citing concerns about alcohol use. On Wednesday, the university said that it also found evidence of fraternity members’ questionable treatment of its pledges and of members damaging property at other UNL fraternity houses.

The fraternity will not be allowed to occupy the chapter house until at least August 2019, and even then, only upper classmen would be allowed to live there. The soonest freshmen could live at the house would be 2020.

UNL says no current members will be allowed to participate or associate with Phi Kappa Psi’s UNL chapter in the future.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are again considering a bill that aims to protect gay and transgender employees from workplace discrimination.

Supporters of the measure packed a legislative committee hearing Wednesday. Bill sponsor Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln says the bill is a “common-sense” protection that lawmakers should have passed years ago.

Morfeld says employees shouldn’t be judged by the quality of their work, rather than their sexual orientation.

Several gay, lesbian and transgender residents told senators they were afraid to be themselves at work because they feared they could be fired just for having pictures of their same-sex significant others on their desks.

Social conservative groups have argued the bill would create special rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people, who aren’t considered a protected class under current state law.