OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The company trying to build a pipeline to carry Canadian oil south to the Gulf Coast says its efforts to force Nebraska landowners to agree to the project remain on hold because of several pending lawsuits.

Earlier this month, a Holt County judge issued a temporary injunction blocking TransCanada’s eminent domain efforts there. Company spokesman Mark Cooper says a York County judge is expected to issue a similar order Thursday.

Cooper says TransCanada plans to ask judges in seven Nebraska counties to delay action on its other eminent domain cases until the lawsuits are resolved.

The proposed pipeline still needs presidential approval before it could be built across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska to connect with existing pipelines. It would carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Attorney General Doug Peterson is slated to meet with western Nebraska law enforcement to discuss the impact of Colorado marijuana on the region.

Peterson and his criminal bureau chief, John Freudenberg, will visit the region on Thursday and Friday. Peterson has said he opposes Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana, and supports a lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma to have it declared unconstitutional.

Colorado’s decision has riled some western Nebraska law enforcement officers who say marijuana coming into Nebraska has increased their workload.

Peterson is expected to visit Chadron and Gering on Thursday and Sidney and North Platte on Friday.

Mid-Plains Community College has made great strides the past three years. That’s according to data indicating significant improvements to policies and procedures.

“Every three years we come up with a strategic plan for shaping our future,” said Andy Long, area vice president of student affairs and McCook Community College. “It’s developed based on community input sessions, employee feedback, a student engagement survey and feedback we receive from our accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission.”

MPCC is required to demonstrate continuous advancement as part of its accreditation process. The college participates in the Academic Quality Improvement Program, one of several pathways leading to reaffirmation of accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission.

Accreditation is important to MPCC because without it, credits would not be universally transferrable, and the college could not administer federal financial aid.

A total of 19 action projects were focused on during the 2012-15 cycle. Of those, nine tie directly back to MPCC’s strategic plan.

“With each of the action projects, an objective was determined,” said Long. “Team leaders then had to demonstrate how the objective was reached.”

The action projects included:

• Improving intra-college communication
• Improving intra-college communication 2
• Restructuring of the college’s website
• Support for technology users
• Student support services awareness
• Meeting the needs of business and industry
• Employee development training
• Enhancing career service offerings
• College readiness

Among the many improvements, a systemized approach was developed to communicate existing strategies to align with business and industry.

The college’s website was divided into three sites. The mpcc.edu section was redesigned to make it more attractive to potential students. A CampusWeb area was created as a resource for current students, and a third site, The Portal, was built with an employee focus. It became the “go-to” place for budgets, leave requests, transportation reservations and other internal employee documents.

Another action project led to the development of a plan that would ensure all students seeking employment had prepared an acceptable resume and cover letter, knew how to complete a suitable job application, could locate job opportunities and had the chance to prepare for a job interview. It also called for one-on-one counseling between a career development professional and students in the last semester of their planned programs.

A Help Desk was implemented to provide technical and maintenance support to students and employees of MPCC, and a “You Rock” award was introduced to recognize MPCC employees who demonstrated exceptional customer service skills.

 

A new training team was put together to make sure developmental training opportunities were provided to all employees – regardless of full-time or part-time status. Training opportunities included webinars, job aids, articles and audio programs among many other things.

“The great thing about this process is we use a variety of data to identify our needs, have collaboration from all parts of the college to develop solutions and do this on an ongoing basis,” said Long. “We’re always looking to make Mid-Plains better with the processes we put in place.”

Now that the 2012-15 cycle is coming to an end, attention is turning to the 2015-18 cycle. The community input sessions have already happened.

“During those sessions, the public, in all six campus areas, students and staff were asked three questions,” said Chuck Salestrom, area associate vice president of public information and marketing. “The questions were, ‘What is the college doing well?’, ‘What improvements can we make to better serve our constituency?’ and a general overall question asking what the college should be doing.”

According to Salestrom, more than 1,000 responses were collected. From those answers, a new set of objectives and action projects will be formulated. Details about the action projects will be released in the near future.

A 38-year-old Wallace man has been charged with felony theft after he allegedly stole a pickup and tools from a Wallace farmer.

On February 13, deputies with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office responded to the report of a vehicle theft from a farm south of Wallace.

Deputies learned that the owner of the farm was missing a green 2002 Ford F350 pickup, which contained several thousand dollars worth of tools.

After speaking with the victim, deputies learned that the suspect in the case was Robert Smith.

Authorities say they spoke with Smith several times on the phone. They say Smith claimed ownership of the vehicle and refused to tell them the location of the pickup and tools.

Through their investigation, deputies were able to confirm that Smith did not own the pickup.

On February 24, deputies located Smith and placed him under arrest.

He was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center on a charge of felony theft by unlawful taking.

• Today: A slight chance of rain between 9am and 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 44. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 15 to 25 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
• Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 7. Wind chill values as low as -10. Blustery, with a north wind 14 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph.
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 19. Wind chill values as low as -8. North wind around 11 mph.
• Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around -5. Wind chill values as low as -17. North wind 6 to 9 mph becoming southeast after midnight.
• Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 23. South southeast wind 6 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
• Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 11.
• Saturday: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill that would freeze Nebraska’s minimum wage at $8 an hour for most high school students has advanced out of a legislative committee.

The Business and Labor Committee voted Tuesday on the measure, which would apply to high school students younger than 19. Nebraska’s minimum wage increased from $7.25 to $8 an hour on Jan. 1, and is scheduled to rise again to $9 in 2016.

Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete has said she introduced the bill to help businesses that rely on high school aged employees. Some rural grocery stores have said they’re already struggling, and the higher wage would make it harder to stay in business.

Another bill that would increase the wage for tipped employees, such as restaurant servers, failed to advance.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Members of Nebraska’s local food movement say bakers and gardeners are being choked out by rules meant for larger businesses.

A legislative committee heard public testimony Tuesday on two measures to ease regulations on small-scale food operations.

A bill by Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha would allow cities, states and counties to designate vacant land for community gardens. It would also exempt free seed exchanges from regulations that apply to commercial seed operations.

Advocates say the measure is about making agriculture accessible to low-income families.

A measure by Sen. Rick Kolowski of Omaha would allow for potentially non-hazardous foods like fresh produce, baked goods and jams to be prepared in personal kitchens and sold on a small scale.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says Nebraska should pay $3.7 million in damages to Kansas in a long-running legal dispute over use of water from the Republican River.

The justices on Tuesday also agreed with the recommendations of a special master who found that Nebraska should pay $1.8 million on top of actual damages for using more than its legal share of the river’s water in 2005 and 2006.

The dispute centers on a 1943 compact allocating 49 percent of the river’s water to Nebraska, 40 percent to Kansas and 11 percent to Colorado.

Since 1999, Kansas has complained that Nebraska uses more than its fair share of water from the river, which originates in Colorado and runs mostly through Nebraska before ending in Kansas.

A weekend traffic stop on I-80 in Keith County led to the seizure of 27 lbs. of marijuana and two arrests.

Just after 2:30 p.m. (MDT) on Sunday, February 22, a trooper stopped an eastbound, 2012 Volkswagen Jetta for following to close near the Ogallala exit on I-80 in Keith County. The trooper was given consent to search the vehicle. The search led to the seizure of 27 lbs. of marijuana, and 10 grams of hashish. The drugs were located in luggage in the trunk of the vehicle.

The driver of the vehicle, Richard J. Zuppelli, 28, of Buffalo, New York, and a passenger in the vehicle Shawn M. Reynolds, 28, Buffalo, New York, were each lodged in the Keith County Jail on a charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have approved a $7 million cash transfer to prevent the state’s child welfare system from running out of money by mid-April.

Senators approved the funding measure on Tuesday. It now heads to Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Lawmakers have blamed the Department of Health and Human Services for the funding shortfall, saying past administrators denied that they needed help last year when senators asked them.

A department official told lawmakers the shortfall was caused by a variety of factors, including higher rates for foster care services, higher-than-expected mileage costs, unpaid bills and the loss of some federal foster care payments.

The federal government demanded reimbursement from the state for child welfare expenses submitted by a private contractor that weren’t properly documented.